This was before the 3 point shot and shot clock and I bet you can find numerous examples of good programs losing big leads once those two elements came. Iowa beat MSU recently by scoring 23 points in 90 seconds!! That wouldn’t be possible in 1981.
I remember Justin Johnson? Of Iowa nearly hitting every 27-30 foot three in the final 45 seconds against IU in Iowa City during the Eric Gordon year nearly making the total comeback. Three point shot definately gives teams a chance in final few minutes.
Shot clock, too. I remember my freshman year at IU going to an Iowa game that was quite close throughout. With about 5 minutes left Knight decided to run the clock down, since IU had just a narrow 4 point lead. IU held the ball for about a 3 minute possession and ended up winning the game.
Track meet.
If you're talking 1984, it was more like 10 minutes.
That is one of the best posts I've ever read here. Thank you.
All good points, but it was a fine tuned team on both ends of the court and one never worried about mental lapses for long stretches of a game. Hell, one didn't worry about the mental lapses for much more than nano-seconds.
remember the Iowa game as well....seemed like they ran the 4 corners for damn near half an hour. Was that when Iowa had the twin towers? (Stokes and Payne, both 7 footers). I remember them standing around in the lane, looking at the bench, wondering "WTF are we supposed to do?" as the clock kept winding down.... And the Assy Hall crowd cheering just got louder by the minute.
Yep. On both counts . . . toughest game in the entire tourney was at the Hall, against UAB.
Yes, I am. I thought it might’ve been much longer, but I wasn’t sure if my memory was exaggerating! Btw, it was rather exciting watching them play keep away for that long.
I used to play pick up with a guy who was on that MD team as a reserve. He said Lefty said IU couldn't shoot and the only video he showed them (he later assumed) was from 1 game where we must've had an off-night shooting. He said he started getting a bad feeling watching IU warmup, with how well we were shooting.
Think about it , this game was closer to the first NCAA championship than it is to today
Great to see Steve Bouchie at the end of the game. Steve is from my hometown of Washington. I started watching IU because of him. Notice how many points IU scored 99 pts without a 3 pt shot and a shot clock. I miss those days when guys weren't forced to chuck it because of the clock. This was a great blowout because Albert King and Buck Williams became very good pros.
Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson would like a word.
Did they play at IU ? Magic I will give you not sure in different ways Oscar and West are any better overall
Do you remember how dead eye Wittman and Kitchel were? I think that's the most under-appreciated duo on any IU team. Thomas, Tolbert, and Turner (late in the season and perhaps the key to winning it all) were very good, but those 2 shooters were studs.
The last 10 games in 81, that was the best team I have ever watched. Period. Not just IU teams, but any college basketball team.
82/83 when Big Ten had a pro distance 3 point line they were lights out. Didn't Bobby say how much he hated it but also knew he had the 2 best shooters in the conference?
82/83 season Big Ten had 3 pt line at 22'9'' I believe was distance. Ted Kitchel and Randy Wittman and they were deadly. Different than they way Alford got his . It was conference only ACC was 17'7 inside the top of the key circle.
I don't think it was ever that far; isn't that NBA? 21' or 20'9" is what I was thinking.
NBA three point line is 23'9" from the center of the basket, except in the corners.
I looked said, 19-9 for 82 but I thought it was deeper than that . Kitchel and Wittman could really hit them though. A big what if if Kitch didnt hurt his back even with no 3 pt in the tournament. That is the Yr RMK put the Big Ten banner up in honor of the fans for support after Kitch went down .
Just seeing Landon play on this video brings back memories of just how well he played...
Seemed further, long time ago maybe it was Wittman and Kitchel would shoot longer than right on the line. I know the ACC was so short it was ridiculous.
During the experimental days in 82/83, the ACC 3-point line was two feet INSIDE the top of the key. This is ridiculous
