Part Four: The 1981 Indiana Hoosier National Championship Team

Written by: Bill Murphy (@Williamindiana2)

Check out the first three parts of his five-part series by following the links below:

Part One: The 1940 Indiana Hoosiers

Part Two: The 1953 Indiana Hoosiers

Part Three: The 1976 Indiana Hoosiers

It was Indiana University Basketball history repeating itself. Just like in the 1975 season, the 1980 team was suppose to win it all. And, just like the 1975 team, injuries derailed the Hoosier juggernaut destined to hang another banner in Assembly Hall.  

Starters Randy Wittman and Mike Woodson would go down. Late in the season Woodson would return and lead Indiana to a Big Ten championship and an elite  eight game.

The 1981 team would return 3 starters as both Woodson and Carter had graduated.  The Hoosiers were ranked fourth in the preseason polls but after starting 7 and 5 Indiana would drop out of the top 20.

Indiana would start the season hosting Ball State. All-American sophomore Isiah Thomas would not play, but the Hoosiers led by Ray Tolbert 's 14 points defeated the Cardinals 75 to 69. Isiah would play in the game and he would go on to connect on 10 of 15 shots for 21 points to lead the Hoosiers past Murray State 59 to 41.  The enemy from the south, Kentucky, invaded Bloomington to play IU. The score was tied at 62 with just over 2 minutes to go when Isiah hit Tolbert alone for a slam dunk. However, Ray missed the dunk and the Wildcats came down to score winning the game 68 to 66. The Hoosiers record dropped to 2 and 2 with a 68 to 64 loss to Notre Dame in South Bend. 

Next led by Kitchel's 22 Indiana clobbered an out-manned California 94 to 58. Landon Turner playing his best ball of his career as he helped Indiana to victories over both Baylor and Oral Roberts. 

Indiana traveled to Chapel Hill. The Hoosiers led at half by 6, but North Carolina took it to IU in the second half outscoring Indiana 41 to 26 to win 65 to 56.

IU went to Manhattan, Kansas and behind Randy Wittman 's 14 points left with a 51 to 44 win over K State. 

The Hoosiers crossed the ocean to Honolulu to participate in the Rainbow Classic.  In game 1, Isiah paced the Hoosier scoring as Indiana beat Rutgers 55 to 50. However, game 2 saw Clemson defeat Indiana and then by game 3 the Hoosiers lost again to Pan American 66 to 60 as some Indiana players in a state of shock put it as who has even heard of Pan American.  The Hoosiers record had dropped to 7 and 5 while some wondered if the season was slipping away.  After a team meeting in which team members aired out some concerns, they started to right the ship by defeating a visiting Michigan State team. Then, behind a brilliant shooting performance by Ted Kitchel who would hit on 11 of 13 shots from the field and 18 out of 18 from the charity strip, defeated Illinois.  The Hoosiers would lose 2 out of their next 3 to both Iowa and Michigan.  Indiana romped over Northwestern behind Isiah Thomas and Ray Tolbert as Landon Turner found his way into Knight 's doghouse playing only one minute.  Indiana would win the next 4 games before traveling to West Lafayette and losing to Purdue 68 to 66. 

Indiana would again beat Northwestern before going to Iowa City where even though they lost the game they found Landon Turner who hit 7 of 9 shots accounting for 18 points. Indiana would end the regular season with 4 straight wins including against Michigan State in the final game of the regular season. 

The Hoosiers traveled to Dayton to take on Maryland.  They played a nearly perfect game against the Terrapins winning 99 to 64 behind Tolbert 's 26 and Turner 's 20.  

As it happened, the Mideast Regional was scheduled to be played in Bloomington, Indiana.  The Hoosiers came home with a chance to win two and go to the final four.  First up was Alabama Birmingham, who Indiana defeated 87 to 72. Next was Saint Joseph's of Philadelphia.  The Hoosiers beat 78 to 46

After 5 years Indiana was coming back to Philadelphia to try to win another NCAA Championship.  The Hoosiers took on Dale Brown and his LSU Tigers. IU trailed by 3 at the half, but roared back in the second half outscoring LSU by 40 to 19 winning 67 to 49.

Indiana would take on North Carolina in a rematch of a game earlier in the year that the Tar heels had won. Carolina led most of the first half but with time winding down Isiah hit Randy in the corner for a shot at the buzzer to give IU a 27 to 26 lead at half. This was a game that was almost delayed because President Reagan had been shot. The NCAA had determined he would be alright so the game went on. The second half would see the Hoosiers come out charging and outscored Carolina 36 to 24 to capture their fourth NCAA title 63 to 50 behind Isiah 's 23 points. As it says in the bible, “..and a little child shall lead them..” and so it was.