The Rewind: One last championship for Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers

In the National Championship Game, the No. 1-seeded Hoosiers and No. 2-seed Syracuse Orangemen (now Orange) were fairly matched from a personnel standpoint. The Orangemen featured point guard Sherman Douglas and future NBA star Rony Seikaly at center, with freshman power forward Derrick Coleman also playing a key role (although not one he’d want).

Because so much of Indiana’s game focused on the guards, the mismatch between Seikaly and Hoosier center Todd Jadlow wasn’t much of an issue in the post, because this was a game played on the perimeter, led by Alford’s lights-out shooting, where he hit a remarkable seven of 10 from beyond the arc. This came despite punishing double coverage from Howard Triche and Steve Thompson throughout the night.

Alford only hit four shots in the first half, but each was a three, so the coverage, albeit tight, was ultimately negligible going into the second half. It’s fair to say that the constant attention given to Alford, who still nailed big shots throughout the game, made it easier for Smart to get the space he needed to make his fateful jumper in the second half.

Syracuse was ahead most of this game, led by Coleman’s 19 points, so much of the game itself is a literal back and forth between the Orangemen and the Hoosiers. Jim Boeheim’s signature 2-3 zone defense kept pressure out of the middle, but it also created several opportunities for both Thomas and Alford to do what they needed to do to avoid allowing Syracuse to go on the sort of run that could spell curtains for any other team.

Syracuse’s biggest run of the night came in the first half as it had six unanswered, going ahead 24-20 with just over seven minutes left before halftime.

For his team's part, Douglas exploited the Hoosiers’ man-to-man defense, finding holes and coming away with 20 points on some spectacular shots. Jadlow took much of the punishment on the drives from Seikaly, to the tune of 18 points. It got pretty bad for Jadlow, who couldn’t do a thing as Douglas tossed alley-oops to Seikaly, leaving him to stare at the bucket as the Syracuse big man jammed the ball through.

Smart wasn’t much of a factor in the first half, scoring only four points. Being slightly undersized, the Syracuse switch in and out of zone defense kept him relatively quiet in the half.

The Orangemen also controlled the boards most of the game. Practically all the second-chance shots went their way, and between Coleman and Seikaly, Syracuse outrebounded the Hoosiers 28-15 in the first half alone.

The second half was just as much a battle as the first, but this was one that Syracuse seriously looked like it could win. As a whole, there were 19 lead changes in the game, leading to 10 ties, something that when I originally saw the game in ’87, I didn’t quite remember.

Something else I didn’t remember is that the Hoosiers only led a couple times in the second half before the game ended.

Even though I knew the outcome of the game, watching just how exacting Syracuse was gave me just a bit of heartburn, especially when Triche hit a shot in the lane and got fouled soon after with 38 seconds to go in the game, putting the Orangemen up 73-70.

While both teams were locked at each other's throats throughout the National Championship Game, with a game this tight, only two things can crown a champion: executing plays and exploiting mistakes.

The Mistake

“I said, ‘Steve, don’t try to keep Coleman from getting the ball. Everybody else, front your guy… make them throw it to Coleman. When that pass comes to Coleman… if you can’t get the ball, grab his arm, foul him.’ So, we put him on the free throw line, and he was not a good free throw shooter.” – Bob Knight

Derrick Coleman missed front end of a one and one, which, if both shots were made, would've put Syracuse ahead 75-72 with 26 seconds to go. Not quite a buzzer-beater moment compared to Villanova or Duke, but the difference is that between Alford, Thomas and Smart, the three controlled the possession and created a last-second shot on their terms.

Instead, Syracuse was clinging to a one-point lead when Coleman missed. Thomas rebounded and immediately handed the ball off to Alford, who walked the ball past half court. Alford passed right to Smart, who passed back to Alford and cut over to the left.

Alford set the play with the clock down to 14 seconds and passed back to Smart as the team sets its screens and positions to leave the final shot of the game to either of the two guards, or Thomas, the center, under the basket.

Smart looked for an inside man to pass to, possibly in hopes of at least drawing a foul. Thomas, seeing an opportunity to beat Coleman, shot out to the left to grab the pass from Smart. Thomas drove in, and it's here that Thomas could've taken the shot himself, but Coleman quickly recovered and got right in Thomas' face, reducing the chance that his jump shot would see pay dirt with six seconds left.

“People say, well you guys didn't call a timeout. But that was Knight. We knew what to do in different situations; that all came out in practice. As a coach now I see that sometimes when you call a timeout and draw up a play, the player only sees what you show him and doesn't take what the defense is giving. That shot came out of the motion offense, and that's an offense where you learn to take what the defense gives you.” – Keith Smart

Thomas turned, boxed out Coleman and passed back to Smart. The moment was here. Smart took the pass beyond the arc. He could have launched a three in hopes of nailing it, but instead he saw Syracuse's second mistake of leaving a lane open, and with that same six seconds, Smart drove in for a higher-percentage shot, shot and effectively ended the game as the clock drained to one second.

Indiana was determined to make that rebound into the final play of the game, and as the Hoosiers were down one, if they missed the shot, if any of the passes went astray, the game is over and the Orangemen are National Champions.

All the pressure lay firmly on the shoulders of the Hoosiers, and they simply did not break. 

The Shot 

“I always say that the history of the shot is always chasing me to do things the right way. It's an honor, but it always makes me feel that people are looking up to that moment, and I have to make sure that I do all the right things. I still bump into people all the time who want to talk about. I don't mind. I'll talk about it as much as they want.” – Keith Smart

Knowing his shot was all-or-nothing, Smart chose not to shoot after the initial pass. Seeing the open lane, Smart put himself in the best position to nail the shot.

Seeing his shot develop, Smart did the right thing by stepping into the shot, launching with a high arc, reducing any chances of the ball being swatted away by the defender. Instead of pushing his body away from the ball, Smart flows with the shot, gliding forward as the perfectly arced shot finds nothing but the bottom of the net.

While we say that the buzzer-beater is often more about luck than skill, it's skill that wins out here as Smart used proper mechanics, his instincts and his ability as a shooter to follow through with the right shot at the right time. It was neither rushed or launched haphazardly.

"I was glad it went in. I was praying it went and it did, that's what matters. I just went to spot and that was it." – Keith Smart

It was exactly the shot it needed to be following a fundamental aesthetic of how to shoot a perfect jumper, part of a well-executed play by the Hoosiers to win the 1987 NCAA National Championship. 

Epilogue

Despite tremendous success as the head coach of the Orangemen leading up to their loss in the National Championship Game, many thought Boeheim couldn’t bring it home for Syracuse. Regardless, in defeat, Boeheim was pragmatic about Syracuse’s fate, noting just how close his players were to being champions themselves.

“It wasn't a foul shot that lost the game. It came down to the last shot and they had to have it. You did everything you could to win. There's only one team better, and that isn't by much." – Jim Boeheim

Boeheim is still with Syracuse today, and while the National Championship loss certainly served as a blow, he went on to finally win one in 2003.

The Hoosiers would not see the Final Four again until a run in 1992 that took them up against Coach K and Duke. Unlike ’87, the master could not beat the pupil, as the Blue Devils beat the Hoosiers 81-78 and went on to win the Championship Game against Michigan.

For Knight, this Final Four appearance turned out to be his last, as he never got higher than an Elite Eight again and suffered his final years at Indiana with a string of first-round knockouts to teams like Richmond and Pepperdine.

Knight was dismissed as head coach of the Hoosiers in 2000 following an altercation with a student that triggered a “zero tolerance policy” put into place. This came after video of Knight allegedly choking former Indiana player Neil Reed during a practice surfaced, ending a legacy spanning nearly 30 years.

None of the players on the 1986-87 Indiana Hoosiers team went on to great careers in the NBA. Both Alford and Smart briefly knocked around the league but never found the level of success or adulation they had in those halcyon days in Bloomington.

That said, their legacy is one of a kind, and if Bob Knight instilled anything in his players, it was the ability to succeed playing fundamental basketball, lessons both Alford and Smart would take into their own careers as coaches.

In the 30 years since this game was played, the Indiana Hoosiers haven’t been the same team, going through five head coaches since Knight left, with only one Final Four appearance in 2002 to show for it, but the legacy surrounding this game lives on today, giving Hoosier fans and alumni eternal hope that the ghosts of the past will fuel the teams of the future on to that one shining moment where Indiana can rise above all once again.

Quotes from NY Daily News, Deadspin, and YouTube

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• The Rewind: George Mason's improbable run to the Final Four
• The Rewind: Michael Jordan's last All-Star Game
• The Rewind: Remembering 'The Catch' 35 years later