Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball
The Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team represents Indiana University Bloomington in NCAA Division I college basketball and competes in the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers play at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on the Branch McCracken Court in Bloomington, Indiana on the Indiana University Bloomington campus. Indiana has won five NCAA Championships in men's basketball (1940, 1953, 1976, 1981, 1987) – the first two under coach Branch McCracken and the latter three under Bob Knight. For forty-seven years and counting, Indiana's 1976 squad remains the last undefeated NCAA men's basketball champion.
The Hoosiers are sixth in NCAA Tournament appearances (40), seventh in NCAA Tournament victories (67), tied for eighth in Final Four appearances (8), and 10th in overall victories.[2] The Hoosiers have won 22 Big Ten Conference Championships and have the best winning percentage in conference games at nearly 60 percent. No team has had more All-Big Ten selections than the Hoosiers with 53. The Hoosiers also rank eighth in all-time AP poll appearances (560) and sixth in the number of weeks spent ranked No. 1 (54).[3] Every four-year men's basketball letterman from 1973 to 2019 earned at least one trip to the NCAA basketball tournament.[4]
A 2019 study listed Indiana as the fifth most valuable collegiate basketball program in the country.[5] Indiana has ranked in the top 20 nationally in men's basketball attendance every season since Assembly Hall opened in 1972, and often in the top five.[6]
Indiana has two main rivalries including in-state, against the Purdue Boilermakers (see Indiana–Purdue rivalry), and out-of-state, against the Kentucky Wildcats (see Indiana–Kentucky rivalry).
Indiana players wear warm-up pants that are striped red and white, like the stripes of a candy cane. They were first worn by the team in the 1970s under head coach Bob Knight.[7] At the time they were in keeping with the fashion trends of the 1970s, and a tribute to the Harlem Globetrotters who started the trend, but despite changing styles they have since become an iconic part of playing for Indiana. IU star guard Steve Alford said, "As you watch television and you watch the IU games, that's the first thing you saw, was the team run out in the candy stripes. So when you finally got to put those on, those are pretty special."[7] Rusty Stillions, Director of Indiana's Equipment Operations, said the pants were originally available only for team members. However, changes in licensing agreements permitted the general public to buy them as well.[7] They have since become a staple at games and other Indiana basketball events.
The team is widely noted for its simple game jerseys. Unlike most schools, Indiana does not have players' names on the back of jerseys that players wear on the court.[8] The notion behind the nameless jerseys is that players play for the team name on the front, not the individual's name on the back. In keeping with Indiana's longstanding principle of putting team over player, the Hoosiers have never retired any jersey numbers. Adidas is the current outfitter of Indiana athletics.
