Michael Kent Benson (born December 27, 1954) is an American former collegiate and professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. Benson was a two time All-American at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

, winning the 1976 Helms Foundation Player of the Year and helping lead the Hoosiers to the 1976 NCAA championship with a perfect 32–0 record, with Benson being named the 1976 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player. Benson was the No. 1 overall pick of the

1977 NBA draft The 1977 NBA draft was the 31st annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 10, 1977, before the 1977–78 season. In this draft, 22 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players ...

by the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

, playing 11 seasons in the NBA for Milwaukee (1977–1980), the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Li ...

(1980–1986),

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

(1986–1987) and

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

(1988).

High school career

Kent Benson attended

New Castle Chrysler High School New Castle High School is a public high school in New Castle, Indiana whose name is commonly abbreviated to NCHS. It is part of the New Castle Community School Corporation and has an enrollment of approximately 1,200 students. NCHS is the larges ...

, located in

New Castle, Indiana New Castle is a city in Henry County, Indiana, east-northeast of Indianapolis, on the Big Blue River. The city is the county seat of Henry County. New Castle is home to New Castle Fieldhouse, the largest high school gymnasium in the world. Th ...

. He was named " Indiana Mr. Basketball" in 1973. He scored 1,496 points and had 1,585 rebounds in three varsity seasons playing for Coach Cecil Tague.

College career

Benson chose to attend

, located in

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County, Indiana, Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside ...

, playing

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for Coach

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 ...

. As a freshman, Benson averaged 9.3 points per game, while shooting 50.4 percent. He helped lead Indiana to the CCAT Championship, and to a 23–5 record and a

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

title. In his sophomore season (1974–1975), Benson helped lead the Hoosiers to an undefeated conference record (18–0) and on to an

Elite Eight In the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight teams, representing the regional finals, or national quarterfinals. In Division I and Divis ...

appearance, where they lost their only game of the season to

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

92–90, despite 33 points and 23 rebounds from Benson. Helping lead the team to a 31–1 record on the season, Benson averaged 15 points and 8.9 rebounds a game. With seniors

Quinn Buckner William Quinn Buckner (born August 20, 1954) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played collegiate basketball for the Indiana University Hoosiers, and won a national championship in 1976. He was a captain of both ...

and

Scott May Scott Glenn May (born March 19, 1954) is an American former professional basketball player. As a college player at Indiana University, May led the Hoosiers to an undefeated record and national championship in the 1975–76 season. He was a two-t ...

, he helped lead Indiana to the 1976 national championship in a 1975–1976 season where the Hoosiers won every game they played, finishing 32–0. Benson was voted the 1976

NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player At the conclusion of the NCAA men's and women's Division I basketball championships (the "Final Four" tournaments), a media panel selects a Most Outstanding Player (MOP). It is usually awarded to a member of the championship team. There have been ...

. The 1976 Indiana team is the most recent team to complete an undefeated campaign in Division I. Benson averaged 17.3 points and 8.8 rebounds a game on the season with his college season high of 57.8 percent from the field. He scored his career high of 38 points against

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

. In the 1976 NCAA tournament, Benson scored 20 points with 13 rebounds against St. John's in the 90–70 regional quarterfinal win; He scored 15 points and had five rebounds in the 74–69 sweet sixteen win over Alabama; In the Regional Final, he scored 18 points with 9 rebounds in the 65–56 win over Marquette; In the Final Four semi-final 65–51 victory against UCLA, Benson had 16 points and 9 rebounds; In the National Championship, he scored 25 points with 9 rebounds in the Hoosiers' 86–68 victory over Michigan. Of the undefeated 1975–76 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team, Benson said, “If the team wins, everybody wins. Coach Knight knew the potential that could be with that team. He molded us and made us a team.” After the perfect season during his junior year, "Benny" became the lone star for Indiana after May and Buckner both left after their senior years for the next level. He averaged 19.8 points and 10.4 rebounds a game his senior season. He led them to a 16–11 record, but Indiana received no post season appearance. Benson was named the Big Ten's 1977 Player of the Year, while also receiving All-American honors for the second straight season. Kent Benson ended his college career with 1,740 points (15.3) and 1,031 (9.0) rebounds, a 71.5% free throw and 53.6% field goal percentage. He is the third all-time rebounder in Indiana Hoosier history with 1,031 rebounds.

Professional career

After graduating from

in 1977, Benson was the number one overall draft pick of the

by the

. Two minutes into his very first game as a professional, Benson elbowed

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

center

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran. Given name Karim * Karim A ...

in the abdomen, and Abdul-Jabbar gave Benson a concussion with a retaliatory punch. Abdul-Jabbar broke his hand in the incident and was out for two months; otherwise, he could have potentially been suspended by the NBA. Meanwhile, Benson missed only one contest and was back in action four days later against Chicago, playing 24 minutes. On April 6, 1979, Benson scored a career high 28 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, recorded 5 assists, blocked 3 shots, and stole the ball 3 times while helping lead the Bucks to a 140-131 victory over the

. Benson spent eleven seasons in the

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 ...

with Milwaukee (1977–1980), Detroit (1980–1986), Utah (1986–1987) and Cleveland (1988). He averaged 9.1 points and 5.7 rebounds in 680 regular season games. He wore jersey #54 for his entire career. Benson never quite lived up to the potential of a number one NBA draft pick. Twice in his career, he was traded for a player that helped his former team get "over the hump" and contend for an NBA title. In 1980, the Bucks traded him to the

for

Bob Lanier Robert Jerry Lanier Jr. (September 10, 1948 – May 10, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who was a center for the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Lanier was inducted int ...

, who would help the Bucks to consecutive Eastern Conference finals appearances in 1983 and 1984. In 1986, the Pistons traded him along with

Kelly Tripucka Peter Kelly Tripucka (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1981 to 1991. He was a two-time NBA All Star and averaged over twenty points a game ...

to the

for

Adrian Dantley Adrian Delano Dantley (born February 28, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player and coach who played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Dantley is a six-time NBA All-Star, a two-time All-NBA selection an ...

, who would help lead the Pistons to the Eastern Conference finals in 1987 and the NBA Finals in 1988. Benson played in Italy following his two-game tenure with Cleveland in 1988. He played one year in Italy before retiring. “I had prepared myself o leave the sport, he said. “I had an opportunity to stay and play in Italy for five more years. I actually walked away with two years left to go on my contract and just felt it was time to move on. Basketball was good to me and I was good to it, but I was ready to move on.”

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , align="left" , 1977–78 , align="left" ,

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

, 69 , , , , 18.7 , , .465 , , .000 , , .652 , , 4.3 , , 1.4 , , 1.0 , , 0.8 , , 7.7 , - , align="left" , 1978–79 , align="left" ,

, 82 , , , , 26.0 , , .518 , , .000 , , .735 , , 7.1 , , 2.5 , , 1.1 , , 1.0 , , 12.3 , - , align="left" , 1979–80 , align="left" ,

, 56 , , , , 24.8 , , .494 , , .000 , , .680 , , 5.9 , , 2.3 , , 1.0 , , 1.3 , , 8.8 , - , align="left" , 1979–80 , align="left" ,

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, 17 , , , , 29.5 , , .460 , , .250 , , .750 , , 7.1 , , 3.0 , , 1.1 , , 1.1 , , 12.1 , - , align="left" , 1980–81 , align="left" ,

, 59 , , , , 33.2 , , .473 , , .000 , , .772 , , 6.8 , , 2.9 , , 1.2 , , 1.1 , , 15.7 , - , align="left" , 1981–82 , align="left" ,

, 75 , , 72 , , 32.9 , , .505 , , .273 , , .804 , , 8.7 , , 2.1 , , 0.9 , , 1.3 , , 12.5 , - , align="left" , 1982–83 , align="left" ,

, 21 , , 15 , , 28.5 , , .467 , , .000 , , .760 , , 7.4 , , 2.3 , , 0.7 , , 0.8 , , 9.9 , - , align="left" , 1983–84 , align="left" ,

, 82 , , 58 , , 21.1 , , .550 , , .000 , , .822 , , 5.0 , , 1.6 , , 0.9 , , 0.6 , , 7.1 , - , align="left" , 1984–85 , align="left" ,

, 72 , , 35 , , 19.5 , , .506 , , .000 , , .809 , , 4.5 , , 1.3 , , 0.7 , , 0.6 , , 6.6 , - , align="left" , 1985–86 , align="left" ,

, 72 , , 51 , , 18.7 , , .484 , , .500 , , .795 , , 5.2 , , 1.1 , , 0.8 , , 0.7 , , 6.5 , - , align="left" , 1986–87 , align="left" ,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, 73 , , 2 , , 12.3 , , .443 , , .286 , , .810 , , 3.2 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 4.5 , - , align="left" , 1987–88 , align="left" ,

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, 2 , , 0 , , 6.0 , , 1.000 , , .000 , , .500 , , 0.5 , , 0.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 2.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 680 , , 233 , , 23.1 , , .493 , , .206 , , .757 , , 5.7 , , 1.8 , , 0.9 , , 0.9 , , 9.1

Playoffs

, - , align="left" , 1977–78 , align="left" ,

, 9 , , , , 11.4 , , .478 , , .000 , , .545 , , 1.7 , , 0.3 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 3.1 , - , align="left" , 1983–84 , align="left" ,

, 5 , , , , 25.8 , , .432 , , .000 , , .600 , , 6.0 , , 1.4 , , 1.0 , , 1.4 , , 7.6 , - , align="left" , 1984–85 , align="left" ,

, 9 , , 1 , , 15.8 , , .543 , , .000 , , .867 , , 4.0 , , 0.4 , , 0.9 , , 0.2 , , 7.0 , - , align="left" , 1985–86 , align="left" ,

, 4 , , 0 , , 13.8 , , .400 , , .000 , , .000 , , 3.3 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.5 , , 2.0 , - , align="left" , 1986–87 , align="left" ,

, 2 , , 0 , , 1.5 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 29 , , 1 , , 14.9 , , .483 , , .000 , , .694 , , 3.2 , , 0.5 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 4.7

Personal life

After the NBA, Benson worked for Kruse International, doing car auction commentary and The College Network, after working in life insurance and estate planning for 14 years. Benson has four daughters, Andrea, Ashley, Elizabeth and Gennie. Ashley played volleyball at

, where she was an All-American. She then became an assistant volleyball coach. Gennie played volleyball at

Vincennes University Vincennes University (VU) is a public college with its main campus in Vincennes, Indiana. Founded in 1801 as Jefferson Academy, VU is the oldest public institution of higher learning in Indiana. VU was chartered in 1806 as the Indiana Territo ...

Honors and awards

* Benson was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999. * The Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame inducted Benson as a member in 1989. * Benson was voted the 1976

. * Benson was named " Indiana Mr. Basketball" in 1973.

References

External links

Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, Kent 1954 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Italy American men's basketball players Basketball players from Indiana Centers (basketball) Cleveland Cavaliers players Detroit Pistons players Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball players Milwaukee Bucks draft picks Milwaukee Bucks players New Castle Chrysler High School alumni Pallacanestro Cantù players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from New Castle, Indiana Utah Jazz players