4
Page 10 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 29, 1984
Lookina back to '76:
No. 1 ranked Hoosiers
top Michigan to take title
By TOM KEANEY
Michigan won't be fighting for an
NCAA title on Monday, but think back
to eight years ago when the Wolverines
were there in the finals of college
basketball's most prestigious tour-
nament. It was 1976, Michigan versus
the number-one-ranked Hoosiers of In-
diana.
The site was the Spectrum in
Philadelphia. Indiana was an over-
whelming favorite to walk away with
their 32nd victory of the season against
no losses, and their first NCAA
chamionship under head coach Bobby
Knight.
"BEFORE THE season even started
we expected to be national champs,"
recalls Kent Benson, the former
Hoosier now playing forward for the
Detroit Pistons. "It (winning the
NCAA) was our goal from the begin-
ning. Every game we played was to
win, not just to keep from getting.
beaten.'
Benson, who was named most
valuable player ofwthe NCAA tourney
that year, had good reason to be con-
fident about his team's chances. Hewas
playing on what turned out to be one of
the best college teams ever to take the
court. The starting five, Benson, Scott
May, Quinn Buckner, Bob Wilkerson,
and Tom Abernethy, were all drafted
Into the NBA. In fact all of them except
for Abernethy went in the first round.
The talent for a winning team was
there, but it was head coach Bobby
Knightbwho orchestrated the in-
dividuals into a team.
"COACH KNIGHT was able to get the
talented players molded together into a
team that was like a family," said Ben-
son. "With the tremendous conditioning
we had in preseason, we were always in
much better shape than our opponen-
ts.
Wolverine
r ashbac k
Talented as they were though,. the
Hoosiers were leery of the surprising
Michigan team. Overshadowed by their
conference rival during the regular
season, the Wolverines led by coach
John Orr had quietly worked their way
to, a 21-6 regular season record and a
berth in the NCAA.
Unlike Indiana, Michigan didn't have
lofty hopes at the beginning of the
season. "We knew we had a good
team," said head coach John Orr who is
now coach at Iowa State. "But of course
we weren't looking toward it (the
NCAA) at the beginning of the
season."
MICHIGAN HAD a good season,
going 14-4 in the Big Ten, second only to
Indiana's 18-0. So come tournament
time, Orr and the Wolverines were
quite a bit more confident than they had
been at the season's start.
"At that time we thought we were
pretty good," said Orr, who was
national coach of the year that season.
"We had a good record, and two of our
four losses had been close ones against
Indiana."
Wolverine forward Rickey. Green
thinks they were a little more cautious.
"We had that feeling that we might be
able to do it, but we didn't go out every
game thinking it was ours. There was
always that 'might."'
MICHIGAN'S STRENGTH that year
was in their quickness. They were a
small team, Phil Hubbard being the
tallest at 6-7. But Orr called the team
the best he has ever coached, adding,
"Maybe the best Michigan has ever
had."
The Wolverines starting five, Green
(now with the Utah jazz), Phil Hubbard
(now with the Cleveland Cavaliers),
Steve Grote, Wayman Britt, and John
Robinson, carried Michigan past
Wichita State, Notre Dame, and
Missouri in the early rounds of the
tournament. Suddenly Michigan found
itself in the final four. Michigan
waltzed through the semi-finals, run-
ning an undefeated Rutgers squad right
off the court, 86-70.
Indiana's opponent in the semis was
the defending champion UCLA Bruins.
The Hoosiers had no trouble beating
them for their 31st consecutive victory
of the season, 65-51. It had become an
all-Big Ten fina in the tournament
tournaments. The first time two con-
ference opponents had squared off for
the final in the history of the com-
petition.
BOTH TEAMS were confident. In-
diana had every reason to be. They had
beaten Michigan twice during the
regular season. Still..,.
"People were saying, 'you beat them
twice, there's no way you can beat them
again,"' said Kent Benson. "But the
closeness of the team combined with
the players' talent gave us a very con-
fident feeling. We knew we were going
to win."
Michigan's Rickey Green looked at it a
little differently. "We were confident
because we had played them so close in
the regular season games," said the
junior college transfer. "At home we
only lost to them by six points, and in
the overtime game (at Indiana), it was
just a matter of some free throws down
the stretch. We didn't feel like we were
out of it."
THE WOLVERINES came out in the
first half of the championship game and
showed that they were far from "out of
it," coming up with a six point lead at
the half. Indiana just wasn't playing
like national champions.
Benson attributes a large part of that
to the fact that Bobby Wilkerson got in-
juried and left the court unconscious.
"When we heard that he was alright at
halftime, we came out and played like
we' knew we could in the second half,"
he said.
Meanwhile Michigan was elated at
the first half results. Green remem-
bers, "There was no doubt in our min-
ds. We were thinking, 'Hey! We're
going to win this thing! "' But it was not
to be. The Hoosiers came out of the
locker room for the second half and
played what John Orr even now
describes as "the best half ever played
in college basketball." Indiana over-
powered the exhausted Wolverines,
taking the ball to the inside almost at
will.
Michigan's lead was quickly erased
as Indiana went on to outscore their Big
Ten rival by 24 points in the second half.
What started out looking like a tremen-
dous upset for the underdog turned into
a 86-68 rout for the favorite as Bobby
Knight and a bunch of future NBA stars
gave Indiana University its first NCAA
championship since 1953. A feat that the
Hoosiers duplicated just five years
later.
I
I
4
-S rts Information photo
Former Michigan All-America. Rickey Green lays the ball in during the
1976 NCAA championship game at Philadelphia while Quinn Buckner looks
on. The 86-68 loss to Indiana was the Wolverines' last appearance in the tour-
nament final.
Pistons corral Bulls
A
By MIKE REDSTONE
Special to the Daily
PONTIAC - The Pistons probably
wouldn't mind playing the Chicago
Bulls a few more times this week.
Following a 22-point win Tuesday night
in Chicago, the Pistons'found the going
tougher, but beat the Bulls again last
night at the Silverdome, 108-101.
The Bulls played dead in the first half
as they shot only 46% from the field.
Detroit countered with 59% shooting
and 11 of 12 from the line to take 57-42
halftime lead. The Pistons held on to
the 15-point lead until the last five
minutes of the fourth quarter.
BOTH BILL Laimbeer and Kelly
Tripucka were cold from the field as the
Bulls closed to within two at 101-99. But
Kent Benson hit a clutch 12-foot jumper
with 1:39 left, and one second left on the
shot clock and Detroit scored the next
six points to finish off the Bulls.
John Long and Laimbeer led the
Pistons to their fifth straight win with
18 points apiece while Quintin Dailey
had a game high 30 points for the Bulls.
Simulatng careerorietedB .S. s.. condaan
V WILD n h r summercrpedicihfltgnrc
AMERICA I rwtica=l.cr4)s-ctLr. 1- to --ta.
IS small goup camping. Field studes ad
RIencounters with deep ecological prob-
CAMPUS (m it n sn fae i
N IION IA)BON SOCIE Y EXPEDITION INSITIVT'
Sharon. Ct. 06069 (203 ) 36--522
"We hung in the game long enough to
get a chance, and then he made a great
shot when the clock was running out,"
said Chicago coach Kevin Loughery of
Benson's key shot. "It was a
desparation shot, but he made it."
Wings 4, Toronto 2
By SCOTT SALOWICH
Special to the Daily
DETROIT - A late third period goal
by Kelly Kisio gave the Red Wings a 4-2
victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs
last night. Play-off fever was in the air
as were several of the octupi that
Wings' fans traditionally toss onto the
ice in times of high, hockey hysteria.
"I've never seen an octupus before
and I'm glad I wasn't near any of
them," said Kisio who netted his 22nd
and 23rd goals.
Rookie Steve Yzerman and Captain
Danny Gare also scored for the Wings.
The Leaf's vented their frustration in
an altercation between Colin Campbell
and Leaf Jim Koren in which Koren bit
Campbell on the back. "It's a dog-eat-
dog world out there, literally," said
Campbell.
Join the
Daily
Sports Staff!
i
SPRING TUNE UP
" Brakes Adjusted
F
" Oil and Lubrication
" Gears Adjusted
" Safety Check
. $19.95
I
I
I
KEEP YOUR BICYCLE
SAFE AND
EFFICIENT
mm inm m ma -save this coupon ---- -m - m
i
I* I .i - -