| Pos | Indiana 1976 | Pts | 3pt | 2pt | FT | Att | Reb | Stl | Blk | Fl | Actual Season Stats,Ht |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-PG | Quinn Buckner | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 6'3,8.9 Pts, 2.8 Reb,nba |
| 2-SG | Bob Wilkerson | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6'6,7.8 Pts, 4.9 Reb,nba |
| 3-SG | Tom Abernethy | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6'7,10.0 Pts, 5.3 Reb,nba |
| 4-PF | Scott May | 16 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6'7,23.5 Pts, 7.7 Reb,nba |
| 5-C | Kent Benson | 20 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 6'10,17.3 Pts, 8.8 Reb,nba |
| Pos | Bench | Pts | 3pt | 2pt | FT | Att | Reb | Stl | Blk | Fl | Actual Season Stats,Ht |
| 1-PG | Jim Wisman | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6'2,2.5 Pts, 0.8 Reb |
| 2-SG | Jim Crews | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6'5,3.3 Pts, 0.7 Reb |
| 3-SG | Mark Haymore | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6'8,1.8 Pts, 2.2 Reb |
| 4-PF | Rich Valavicius | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6'5,2.4 Pts, 1.8 Reb |
| 5-C | Bob Bender | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6'2,2.1 Pts, 0.8 Reb |
| 16 Turnovers | 74 | 0 | 35 | 4 | 11 | 28 | 11 | 5 | 17 | ||
| Pos | UCLA 1975 | Pts | 3pt | 2pt | FT | Att | Reb | Stl | Blk | Fl | Actual Season Stats,Ht |
| 1-PG | Pete Trgovich | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6'4,10.2 Pts, 3.3 Reb |
| 2-SG | Dave Meyers | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6'8,18.3 Pts, 7.9 Reb,nba |
| 3-SG | Marques Johnson | 9 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6'7,11.6 Pts, 7.1 Reb,nba |
| 4-PF | Richard Washington | 12 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6'11,15.9 Pts, 7.8 Reb,nba |
| 5-C | Ralph Drollinger | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7'1,8.8 Pts, 7.4 Reb,nba |
| Pos | Bench | Pts | 3pt | 2pt | FT | Att | Reb | Stl | Blk | Fl | Actual Season Stats,Ht |
| 1-PG | Jim Spillane | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5'11,4.5 Pts, 1.2 Reb |
| 2-SG | Andre McCarter | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6'3,7.0 Pts, 2.3 Reb,nba |
| 3-SG | Casey Corliss | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6'6,3.1 Pts, 1.3 Reb |
| 4-PF | Wilbert Olinde | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6'7,3.1 Pts, 2.0 Reb |
| 5-C | Brett Vroman | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7'0,3.5 Pts, 2.6 Reb,nba |
| 26 Turnovers | 51 | 3 | 16 | 10 | 14 | 31 | 4 | 5 | 15 |
We’ve been meaning to play Indiana in our all-time NCAA Final Four ever since the football team won the title, but work wiped us out for a full week. Tonight, we finally snuck it in after midnight.
We did decide to reshuffle the All-Time Final Four seeds after the latest recalculations. New data showed that the 1972 UCLA team and the 1976 Indiana team really were the two best teams left in the tournament and shouldn’t meet in a semifinal. As a result, 2001 Duke will face 1972 UCLA in the other semifinal.
Bobby Knight’s 1976 Indiana team—still the last squad to go undefeated in actual play, but an upset victim of Draymond Green’s Michigan State team way back in the first 96-team Value Add Basketball tournament—left no doubt in this one. The 1975 UCLA squad, whose starting lineup averaged 6'9" to become the tallest in history, won the rebounding and free-throw battles but was otherwise no match. This UCLA team had won the title in the next 32-team tournament we created and shocked us by moving near the top of the all-time rankings, despite barely cracking our top 20 initially based on how strong we thought the cards were.
The game was tied 28–28 late in the first half, but the Hoosiers simply would not allow the ball to get into UCLA’s massive front line. This was the last title team of the John Wooden dynasty, but it was nowhere near as dominant as the multiple undefeated runs led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton earlier in the era. UCLA’s final nine games that season included a 103–81 blowout loss at Washington, a narrow home escape against a mediocre Cal team, and a close tournament win over Montana. In the Final Four, they beat Louisville by one point in overtime before defeating Kentucky.
We didn’t even notice this until after we played our Value Add Basketball game—where 1976 Indiana crushed 1975 UCLA 74–51—but the very next game for the players who remained on this UCLA roster the following year was a neutral-site No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup against Indiana to open the 1976 season. The result was nearly identical, with Indiana winning 84–64. That made Indiana 1–0, and when the teams met again in the Final Four, Indiana held UCLA to the same 51 points as in this Value Add Basketball Game in a 65–51 win, improving to 31–0 before beating Michigan to finish 32–0—the last undefeated season in college basketball.
In the actual Final Four game, Indiana held UCLA to 21-for-61 shooting from the floor (box score here: https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/1976-03-27-indiana.html).
As usual, it was Indiana’s big men—Scott May and Kent Benson—who carried the day. The duo averaged more than 40 points per game that season and combined for 36 in this one to seal the title.
The 1976 Indiana team will now await the winner of Duke 2001 and UCLA 1972 to decide the all-time champion of our 300 Value Add Basketball Teams.
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