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. 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