Indiana University Athletics
No One Did it Better – Reliving 1976 National Basketball Championship Perfection
2/12/2026 9:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – They walked a little slower, moved more gingerly, talked with wisdom's patience rather than youth's exuberance.
But the glory from Indiana's 1976 basketball perfection, and the perspective that delivered it, still resonated, first at Cook Hall, then at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
It's what you'd expect from a national championship team, the last major college squad to go undefeated. Fifty years doesn't diminish the accomplishment. It some ways, it enhances it.
As Bobby Wilkerson, a do-it-all guard on that 32-0 team said during this week's anniversary celebration, "We're probably the greatest college team to ever play, and that's something to hold on to for our families and loved ones."
Those Hoosiers, coach Bob Knight's Hoosiers, won by blowout and by cliffhanger; they won with discipline and toughness and a foundation, All-America center Kent Benson said, based on a key Knight principle that "mental is to physical as four is to one."
That approach has been updated by Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti to produce a 16-0 national championship, giving the Hoosiers the last undefeated major college season in both sports.
"That's incredibly humbling to have watched that kind of success," said Quinn Buckner, the point guard and team captain for those 1976 Hoosiers as well as a football player for coach Lee Corso before that. "It brings people together. For many people, that makes them stand taller, put their shoulders back. For that, we can all be proud 50 years later."
Buckner, who went on to play and coach in the NBA, and who is now on the IU Board of Trustees, said he was never nervous during games, "Because we were so well prepared. We practiced at game speed all the time. We reacted based on what we were seeing. We didn't have to think about it. We were so well drilled, the games were easy.
"We did what we'd been doing in practice. If you didn't," he added with a smile, "you'd hear about it."
Jim Crews was a reserve guard on that national title team, and later a Hoosier assistant coach and then the head coach at the University of Evansville and Saint Louis University.
The key, he said, was Knight's approach -- "practice equals execution equals game reality."
"If you practice a certain way," he says, "it will show up in the game. It's a domino effect.
"He taught us how to listen. When you do that, you're concentrating, you're getting knowledge and getting a purpose. That's what we had. Every play in practice was important. It was the same in a game no matter the score. Each play, you do it right."
It's the same approach Cignetti used to deliver so much success -- every play, first to last, go all out.
In that '76 national championship game, the Hoosiers faced Michigan for the third time, having won by six points in Ann Arbor and by five points in overtime at Assembly Hall during the regular season.
With Wilkerson out with an injury in the opening minutes, IU trailed by six at halftime before dominating the rest of the way to win 86-68.
Knight's halftime message -- make history.
"Here we are, 50 years later," Benson said. "I'm so excited and blessed to have played with these guys and for Coach Knight at IU."
In the aftermath, Knight told Hoosier fans to "take a good look, because you'll never seen a group like this again."
"That's been the case," Buckner said.
Motivation in 1976 came from 1975's 31-1 season. That team was unbeatable until All-America forward Scott May's late-season broken arm created vulnerability Kentucky exploited in its 92-90 Elite Eight victory.
Afterward, Knight called in his returning leaders and asked them if they wanted to play national champion UCLA in the 1975-76 season opener in Saint Louis.
"We said yes," Buckner said, "and pounded them (84-64). That's when most people recognized that we were really good."
One unnamed UCLA player, Buckner added, had doubts, saying the Bruins had treated it as a "practice game."
"When we played them again in the Final Four," Buckner said, "I didn't want to just beat them, I wanted to bury them."
IU did just that, routing UCLA 65-51 and then Michigan for the national championship.
Beating the Wolverines without the 6-foot-7 Wilkerson, who was athletic enough to guard every position, including center, was a big deal. Buckner said Wilkerson was, by far, the Hoosiers' best athlete.
"We had 20 minutes to make history," said Tom Abernathy, a forward on that team. "Quinn was unbelievable. He played the best half I've ever seen. (Benson) was great. Scotty May was great. Those three did not hold back."
They weren't the only ones, reserve guard Scott Eells said.
"Guys stepped up. It went off perfectly."
It was historic then. Fifty years later, it still is.
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – They walked a little slower, moved more gingerly, talked with wisdom's patience rather than youth's exuberance.
But the glory from Indiana's 1976 basketball perfection, and the perspective that delivered it, still resonated, first at Cook Hall, then at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
It's what you'd expect from a national championship team, the last major college squad to go undefeated. Fifty years doesn't diminish the accomplishment. It some ways, it enhances it.
As Bobby Wilkerson, a do-it-all guard on that 32-0 team said during this week's anniversary celebration, "We're probably the greatest college team to ever play, and that's something to hold on to for our families and loved ones."
Those Hoosiers, coach Bob Knight's Hoosiers, won by blowout and by cliffhanger; they won with discipline and toughness and a foundation, All-America center Kent Benson said, based on a key Knight principle that "mental is to physical as four is to one."
That approach has been updated by Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti to produce a 16-0 national championship, giving the Hoosiers the last undefeated major college season in both sports.
"That's incredibly humbling to have watched that kind of success," said Quinn Buckner, the point guard and team captain for those 1976 Hoosiers as well as a football player for coach Lee Corso before that. "It brings people together. For many people, that makes them stand taller, put their shoulders back. For that, we can all be proud 50 years later."
Buckner, who went on to play and coach in the NBA, and who is now on the IU Board of Trustees, said he was never nervous during games, "Because we were so well prepared. We practiced at game speed all the time. We reacted based on what we were seeing. We didn't have to think about it. We were so well drilled, the games were easy.
"We did what we'd been doing in practice. If you didn't," he added with a smile, "you'd hear about it."
Jim Crews was a reserve guard on that national title team, and later a Hoosier assistant coach and then the head coach at the University of Evansville and Saint Louis University.
The key, he said, was Knight's approach -- "practice equals execution equals game reality."
"If you practice a certain way," he says, "it will show up in the game. It's a domino effect.
"He taught us how to listen. When you do that, you're concentrating, you're getting knowledge and getting a purpose. That's what we had. Every play in practice was important. It was the same in a game no matter the score. Each play, you do it right."
It's the same approach Cignetti used to deliver so much success -- every play, first to last, go all out.
In that '76 national championship game, the Hoosiers faced Michigan for the third time, having won by six points in Ann Arbor and by five points in overtime at Assembly Hall during the regular season.
With Wilkerson out with an injury in the opening minutes, IU trailed by six at halftime before dominating the rest of the way to win 86-68.
Knight's halftime message -- make history.
"Here we are, 50 years later," Benson said. "I'm so excited and blessed to have played with these guys and for Coach Knight at IU."
In the aftermath, Knight told Hoosier fans to "take a good look, because you'll never seen a group like this again."
"That's been the case," Buckner said.
Motivation in 1976 came from 1975's 31-1 season. That team was unbeatable until All-America forward Scott May's late-season broken arm created vulnerability Kentucky exploited in its 92-90 Elite Eight victory.
Afterward, Knight called in his returning leaders and asked them if they wanted to play national champion UCLA in the 1975-76 season opener in Saint Louis.
"We said yes," Buckner said, "and pounded them (84-64). That's when most people recognized that we were really good."
One unnamed UCLA player, Buckner added, had doubts, saying the Bruins had treated it as a "practice game."
"When we played them again in the Final Four," Buckner said, "I didn't want to just beat them, I wanted to bury them."
IU did just that, routing UCLA 65-51 and then Michigan for the national championship.
Beating the Wolverines without the 6-foot-7 Wilkerson, who was athletic enough to guard every position, including center, was a big deal. Buckner said Wilkerson was, by far, the Hoosiers' best athlete.
"We had 20 minutes to make history," said Tom Abernathy, a forward on that team. "Quinn was unbelievable. He played the best half I've ever seen. (Benson) was great. Scotty May was great. Those three did not hold back."
They weren't the only ones, reserve guard Scott Eells said.
"Guys stepped up. It went off perfectly."
It was historic then. Fifty years later, it still is.
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