NCAA Basketball: Top 10 teams Bob Knight has ever coached
By Joey Loose
2. 1987 Indiana (30-4)
The previous season had ended in utter disappointment, as the Hoosiers had been upended by 13-seed Cleveland State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Now, Steve Alford and Daryl Thomas were both seniors and the rest of this lineup had more experience under their belts. The entire starting five averaged at least 11 points per game while Alford was the clear leader, putting up 22.0 points and 3.6 assists on average.
A road trip to Vanderbilt handed the Hoosiers their first loss of the season in early December, but that was their only blemish prior to Big Ten play. They won eleven straight games before falling on the road against #1 Iowa. They’d get revenge against the Hawkeyes at home a month later and even won a triple overtime thriller in Madison against Wisconsin in February. They’d drop a few tough road games late in the season, but still came away with another Big Ten regular season crown, setting themselves up well for the postseason.
Earning a top seed in that 1987 NCAA Tournament, the Hoosiers would take care of their business unlike the season before. They had no trouble with 16-seed Fairfield and made easy work of 8-seed Auburn in the second round. Each of their remaining games were close calls but the Hoosiers triumphed over 5-seed Duke and survived a tough LSU squad by a single point. At the Final Four, they prevailed 97-93 against UNLV before clinching Knight his third championship with a 74-73 nail-biting win over Syracuse in the title game, with Alford’s 23 points leading the charge.