The 1986–87 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team represented Indiana University. Their head coach was

Bobby Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940) is an American former basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-ti ...

, who was in his 16th year. The team played its home games in Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana, and was a member of the Big Ten Conference. The team is noted for having achieved much success without much

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

talent. The Hoosiers finished the regular season with an overall record of 24–4 and a conference record of 15–3, finishing 1st in the Big Ten Conference. As Big Ten Conference co-champions with

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

, IU was named a one-seed in the 1987 NCAA Tournament. They won solidly over Fairfield,

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

, and Duke in NCAA play, but they needed

Ricky Calloway Richard Marlon Calloway (born December 12, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player. He played one season in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Sacramento Kings during the 1990-91 NBA season, 1990–91 season. Bor ...

's rebound lay-in to beat

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

, 77–76, to get to the Final Four. Once there, Indiana beat one-seed UNLV, 97–93, despite ten 3-pointers by UNLV guard Freddie Banks, which is still the Final Four record. In the championship game versus

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

, which featured three future long-time professional players, Indiana trailed 73–70 in the last minute. However, two late shots by Keith Smart, including the last at 0:05, won the game for Indiana. "The greatness in this team", coach

Bob Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940) is an American former basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-ti ...

said, "may be the greatness no other team here has had, to the degree that this one did – almost a total resolve not to recognize or be a part of defeat. This team played the last five minutes of critical games as well as I've ever seen a team play."

Roster

Schedule/Results

, - !colspan=8 style=, Regular Season , - , - !colspan=8 style=, NCAA Tournament

Rankings

Awards and honors

Steve Alford Stephen Todd Alford (born November 23, 1964) is an American men's college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach for the Nevada Wolf Pack of the Mountain West Conference (MWC). Born and raised in Indiana, he was a ...

, Big Ten Player of the Year * Dean Garrett, Big Ten Freshman of the Year *

, Naismith College Coach of the Year * Keith Smart, NCAA Men's MOP Award

Team players drafted into the NBA

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1986-87 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team Indiana Hoosiers Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball seasons NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship seasons NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons Indiana 1986 in sports in Indiana 1987 in sports in Indiana