NCAA Basketball: Top 10 teams Bob Knight has ever coached

By Joey Loose | Nov 3, 2023

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA, UNITED STATES - 2020/02/08: Welcome remarks from fans as NCAA basketball coach Bob Knight, who took the Indiana Hoosiers to three NCAA national titles, returns to Assembly Hall, Saturday, February 8, 2020 in Bloomington. Bob Knight coached the Hoosiers to NCAA basketball championships in 1976, 1981, and 1987. (Photo by Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) /

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Bob Knight and his coaching staff during the 1983 season. Bob Knight Old Images 83 Knight And Coaching Staff /

9. 1983 Indiana (24-6)

Three future NBA players were on a very experienced Hoosiers roster in 1983, including Randy Wittman and Jim Thomas, who both averaged double-digit points per game. Among the top six players that season, only fellow future NBA center Uwe Blab wasn’t a senior. A future NBA head coach, Wittman led the way, averaging 19.0 points per game while each of the top four scorers were all solid rebounders as well.

Thanks to a 10-0 start to the season, a Hoosiers squad that started the season with potential reached the #1 spot in the AP poll just before New Year’s. They’d suffer their first loss in their Big Ten opener on the road at Ohio State, but bounced back nicely in the weeks to come. The Hoosiers would drop a few more games and would be swept by a tough Iowa squad, but got revenge on Ohio State on Senior Night and finished the regular season 13-5, good for a regular season title by a margin of two games in a tightly-contested Big Ten race.

It’s a shame, however, that this talented Hoosiers squad didn’t last further into the Big Dance. Back before the field was at 64 schools, the Hoosiers were a 2-seed and took care of business in their first game against 7-seed Oklahoma. Their season would end in the Sweet Sixteen by Kentucky’s hand in a 64-59 loss.

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