villashots.blogg.se

Indiana won 65-51.įor Indiana University, there is an iconic picture taken after the 86-68 championship game win over Michigan of May and Buckner, with a smiling Knight. ``Coach Knight had a way of making sure we didn’t get caught up with the media and worrying about that stuff.’’ ``I honestly don’t remember one word that the UCLA players talked about,’’ starting forward Tom Abernathy said.

Some of the Bruins said that night they’d beat the Hoosiers if they got another shot at them in the tournament. I just think that’s what it’s all about, taking everybody’s best shot. Remembered Buckner, ``There was not a not a hint of pause.’’ Remembered May, ``You want to play every good team. Here's Buckner and May, about the time Knight came to them before the season to ask if they thought the Hoosiers should accept a made-for-TV game with defending national champion UCLA for an opener. I’d say we didn’t feel it, if it was there, even after we got to 20, 25, 30. If you’re asking me how much pressure, there wasn’t any, I don’t think, for us. May on how Knight kept his team focused and in a cocoon, far from the outside world that would cause trouble by bringing up such subjects as perfect records: ``He made it pretty normal for us. That’s what’s really cool about the teammates you’ve had for 40 years that Coach Knight put together.’’ Here’s a guy that comes off the bench, not that good of a player, and he makes you feel like a million dollars. But Scott May sprints to the top of the key and gives me a big bear hug.

He mentioned the time, as a freshman, he was put in late in the game and threw an assist to May: ``Scott is on the cover of Sports Illustrated, the best player in the country.

Reserve guard Jim Crews, now coaching Saint Louis, remembered the closeness of the team. RELATED: Longest active NCAA Tournament streaks Wilkerson, on the demanding taskmaster that was Bob Knight: ``We didn’t know what day we were going to be in the doghouse, but we were sure it was going to be at least two out of the five.’’ So Sean was in the audience with a lot of folks in red, hearing stories from the last perfect team. ``I called coach Williams (as in his Carolina boss, Roy) and he said he’d be mad at me if I didn’t come, because he knows how important it is.’’ ``First thing I did was go to the airport and book a ticket,’’ he said. Sean did not hear from his father that he was coming for sure until Tuesday morning, while driving to work in Chapel Hill. ``I said, `Dad, you know what, it’s not about you, it’s about the 13 other guys who were on that team.’’ ``He wasn’t going to come,’’ he said of his father. The younger May won a national championship himself for North Carolina in 2005, and is now a Tar Heels’ assistant. But he was cajoled by a younger man sitting in the audience Tuesday night. At least one, 1976 national player of the year Scott May, considered not attending since Knight would be absent. ``We were special because of one man, Bob Knight, who’s not here,’’ Buckner said to the Assembly Hall crowd. During the halftime ceremony, he was dutifully introduced, his picture put on the video board to loud applause. Knight, still estranged from the school that fired him, was the conspicuous empty chair. I didn’t realize they were sitting right behind the bench, so I had to catch my breath a couple of times early when I walked out there.’’ ``Because you don’t want to disappoint on a night that is so important to so many people, and a night that brings that memory. ``To say all of us don’t feel that a little bit would be an understatement,’’ coach Tom Crean said of the pressure of playing in front of their famous predecessors. ``That’s something I’m going to remember,’’ Yogi Ferrell said. Nine of the 1976 Hoosiers made it Tuesday, sitting just behind the Indiana bench, watching the current team rally past Wisconsin 59-58. A relentless powerhouse who in the day before NCAA Tournament seeding, had to beat four top-10 opponents in the Sweet 16 and Final Four to get to the trophy, and perfection. They were Bob Knight’s creation, roaring through the season of their dreams 32-0. ``I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.’’ To Bobby Wilkerson, the defensive specialist who played guard, but was known to be assigned to stop centers. ``We’ve got to live that every day for the last 40 years, so it’s like it happened yesterday.’’ And I’ll remember that till the day I die, and I sit here humbled by that thought.’’’ He said, take a look at this team, you’ll never see another one like it. Coach Knight said it (then) and none of us knew what he meant. To Quinn Buckner, the team leader at guard.