Mark Montieth: Knight’s first Final Four team at IU set the stage for future success

Editor’s note: This is an extended version of a column that ran in the March 31, 2023, issue of IBJ.

Fifty years ago, Indiana University reached the Final Four of the NCAA Basketball Tournament with the first and unlikeliest of the five Bob Knight teams to do so. While hardly his greatest team, it still ranks as perhaps his most interesting. Also, one that offered a clear glimpse into his coaching future.

It was massively fortunate. But perhaps singularly unlucky as well.

With a slightly kinder nudge from the hand of fate, it could have won it all despite having by far the youngest team in the 1973 tournament, and perhaps the youngest still to this day. Average age: 19.8 years. It had the youngest coach, too. Knight was 32, slender with black hair and in the final days of relative anonymity within the college basketball world.

Center Steve Downing and forward John Ritter were the only senior starters, holdovers from the Lou Watson era whom Knight was fortunate to inherit. Both were in their third season as starters, having started for Watson as sophomores. Starting forward Steve Green and sixth man John Laskowski were sophomores but in their first season of varsity competition. Starting guards Quinn Buckner and Jim Crews were freshmen, of all things, taking advantage of the new NCAA rule allowing first-year players to be eligible for varsity competition. Knight desperately needed them both.

They came together almost by happenstance.

Downing, accustomed to a laid-back brand of coaching, had been skeptical of playing for the young fire-breathing coach from West Point. He had once watched him on television, ranting and raving during an NIT game, and declared he would never play for a coach like that. When Knight was hired, he called Butler coach George Theofanis and asked to transfer. Theofanis, in a gracious move that seems unfathomable today, told him to stay put, that Knight would help him flourish.

Ritter, caught up in a racial controversy that divided the team his sophomore season, also had given thought to transferring before Knight arrived. IU’s football coach, John Pont, even called him over to his office to tell him he could stay in school on a football scholarship (but not play) if he wanted to quit basketball.

Buckner’s first choice out of high school was UCLA, and he had taken a recruiting visit there. But his father, a former IU football player, ordered him to join his older sister in Bloomington on the last day a letter of intent could be signed.

Crews initially wanted to go to Maryland and join that blossoming program. He established a strong connection with assistant coach George Raveling and would have joined a talented team filled with future pros, but h decided to stay closer to his home in Normal, Ill.

Laskowski, a South Bend native, had verbally committed to Notre Dame coach Johnny Dee and was introduced at the team’s annual banquet as an incoming recruit. But Dee was fired the next day and his replacement, Digger Phelps, wasn’t interested in Midwestern kids. Laskowski was looking at the likes of Butler and Indiana Central and only got an IU offer after telling his high school coach, Bob Donewald, he wasn’t concerned about playing time. He committed to IU on June 10 before his freshman year.

Ritter, from Goshen, had also given serious thought to Notre Dame coming out of high school but Dee, in a bizarre killjoy move, attached an addendum to his offer: “I’m not sure you’re good enough to play for us.” It was an odd thing to say to a player who already had invitations from UCLA, Kansas and other elite programs.

It was a fascinating mix of players. Some old, some new, some borrowed. And, yes, some were blue at times, either about the prospect of playing for Knight or when bearing the brunt of his wrath. Still, they meshed. A team caught amid the transition between two drastically different coaches managed to become a cohesive group.

Earlier this week, five members of its six-man core gathered at Marian University, where Downing is athletic director, to relive their season together. Green was out of town but was interviewed separately via phone.

Players from IU’s 1972-73 basketball team gathered last week at Marian University to reminisce. From left, John Laskowski, John Ritter, Quinn Buckner, Steve Downing, Jim Crews. They are seated in the same order they were in their official 1972-73 team photo. (IBJ photo/Eric Learned)Here’s their story:

Knight’s first team at IU in the 1971-72 season started 0-4 in Big Ten play but finished 9-5 in the conference and 17-8 overall. It qualified for the NIT but lost its first game to Princeton. That became the starting point for the ’73 Final Four team.

Ritter: We’re flying back (after the NIT loss) and coach Knight called me up to the front of the plane. He said, “We struggled getting the ball up the floor this season, but I want you to know we’re trying to recruit a couple of guards out of Illinois. And if we get ‘em, we will be able to get the ball up the floor next year.”

Knight didn’t mention them by name, but it was Buckner and Crews. Buckner wound up starting as a safety on IU’s football team in the fall of 1972 and was hoping to get a short break after the season ended before joining the basketball team. No such luck.

Buckner: We played at Purdue the last football game on a Saturday. I’m from the south side of Chicago, so I’m ready to go home for the weekend. My mom and dad are there, and I’m going home with them. I see (Bloomington sportswriter) Bob Hammel after the game. I say “Bob, how you doing?” He says, “Great game, Quinn. What are you doing now?” I say, “I’m going home.” He says, “No, coach expects you to be at practice tomorrow.” I go, “What!?”

I was going home. And I wasn’t coming back until Monday. I had to bring my ass back to Bloomington. I was so pissed off; I didn’t know what to do.”

Buckner was needed as soon as possible because Knight was installing a new offense that would become legendary in college basketball. A “motion” offense that required constant screening, movement and patience. Buckner started in IU’s season-opener seven days after his final football game, a victory over Harvard.

Green: That summer, Coach got Laz, Steve Ahfeld (an upcoming senior) and myself jobs as so-called counselors at Willis Reed’s camp in New York. Mostly we were just going to be playing basketball. Before we left, he (Knight) sat us down and showed us his new offense. He had come up with the motion offense. We started picking for each other in the pickup games, and we loved it. I was thinking: Wait a minute, we shouldn’t be beating these guys. It was the greatest invention this slow white guy had ever seen.

Buckner: Motion offense, hell! All I knew was to throw it to this man (Downing).

Downing: I always tell this story. In my mind I was a good shooter. But Quinn would never, ever give me the ball when I would go out to the wing. I remember a timeout where I grabbed him and said, “Quinn, I’m open! Give me the damn ball!” And he would always ignore me. He never gave me the ball when I’m out on the wing.

Buckner: Now mind you, I’m a freshman and this is a senior. So that pissed him off as much as anything. Telling a senior what to do. But coach Knight had said not to throw him the ball. (Steve) didn’t know that. If the man tells me not to throw it, I’m not throwing you the ball out there. 

Ritter: When you got to the Celtics, did you do the same thing to Larry Bird?

Buckner: I hurried up and got it to Larry.

Downing: Jimmy, you were a great shooter, but you never complained (about getting more shots).

Crews: So, the motion offense …  one thing that always hit me, when coach Knight introduced us to the motion offense, he said, “If you have a question, ask the question. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll know it by tomorrow.” Because he was still figuring it out. That really impressed me.

There was a lot of movement, but you had to throw it to Steve. John could really shoot it and Laz could shoot it and Greeno could really, really shoot. But in practice it would be, throw it to Steve. And Steve would be like Meadowlark Lemon in there the way he handled the ball. In the game, we didn’t work up a sweat. Just throw it to Steve.

Downing: Coach Knight is the first coach who ever drew up a play so I could score. My high school coach always said, “We’re not going to run nothing for you. You’re playing with (George) McGinnis. You’re playing with one of the best players in the country. If you score, you’re going to have to rebound. I averaged 21 rebounds my senior year.

Ritter: I think I got 21 rebounds as a senior, too. For the whole year.

Although IU was expected to do well in the 1972-73 season, it wasn’t picked to win the Big Ten. That honor went to Minnesota, which returned the core of the team that won the league title the previous season. Reaching the Final Four wasn’t even a thought for IU’s players.

Laskowski: The goal every year was to win the Big Ten championship. (Knight) always said, “We’re here to win the Big Ten championship.”

Ritter: We weren’t even thinking about getting to the Final Four. We were just trying to teach Crews and Buckner how to get their diapers on.”

Downing: We were just trying to get through those practices.

IU won its first five games to climb to ninth in the national rankings but stumbled at South Carolina on Dec. 22. It led by as many as 16 points but lost, 88-85, as future Pacer Kevin Joyce scored a career-high 41 points—25 in the second half. South Carolina’s lineup also featured three other future pros, Alex English, Brian Winters and Mike Dunleavy Sr. The loss guaranteed more difficult practices to get through, but getting home was challenging enough.

Downing: Quinn, tell the story. John Ritter, coming back from South Carolina. You’ve got to tell that story.

Ritter: (smiling) Old wives’ tale. Never happened.

Buckner: Let him tell it. Go ahead, John.

Downing: No, he ain’t going to tell it right.

Crews: Dec. 22, 1972. Every year on Dec. 22, I think of that. I’m dead serious.

Downing: Really?

Buckner: We basically got our ass kicked. What I remember is, we were coming through the (locker room) door after the game. And all I could hear was (slaps table hard every few seconds). I thought, What the hell is that? Coach Knight was throwing Coke cans against the door! I thought, What the hell did I get into?

Then we had to get back on the plane.

Crews: (Knight) yelled, “John! Get up here!”

Downing: And John jumped … .

Ritter: To give you the visual, I had my seat belt fastened. He yelled, “Ritter, get up here!” (Ritter demonstrates getting thrown back in his seat by his still-buckled seatbelt.)

Buckner: I was crying!

Ritter: Oh, yeah, real funny, huh?

Buckner: I was just glad it was you and not me.

Ritter: I thought we had a big enough lead I didn’t have to shoot it anymore. I only shot once in the second half (he finished with 15 points while hitting 6-of-12 shots).

Buckner: I didn’t know you made decisions like that.

Ritter: (Knight) wanted me to shoot more; he just didn’t want me to ever miss any. I got yelled at either way. If you shoot and miss you get yelled at. If you don’t shoot you get yelled at. But you get used to it.

Crews: I don’t know if you remember this or not. We flew back into Indy instead of Bloomington because there was bad weather. It was Christmas break for a few days. We fly into Indy. Guys are getting off the plane, and they’re scattering like cats. Everyone is getting into cars. Well, whose car do you think the two dumb freshmen are in?

Laskowski: You were in Knight’s car?

Crews: Yeah! These older guys knew better. But my parents were going to pick me up at the airport. All we had to do was drive from the plane to where my parents were at the airport. I was like, “See you later, Quinn.”

Buckner: I don’t remember that.

Downing: I don’t remember it like that, now. You all were getting into cars and coach calls out my name and says, “Get in this car!” I’m trying to get in another car, and he (Buckner) locks the door. He’s pointing out there to coach Knight’s car. I’m yelling, “Open this door!” But he locked me out. He heard coach yelling. I’m pulling on the handle and he’s laughing. I had to ride back with coach Knight.

Buckner: I didn’t lock the door. But I didn’t unlock the door.

Downing: And I had a good game that day (28 points and 14 rebounds)!

The players survived that night and rebounded to put together an eight-game winning streak later in the season. They also won their final four Big Ten games to finish 22-6 overall and 11-3 in the conference but seemed destined for a runner-up finish behind Minnesota. The Gophers, however, blew a 13-point halftime lead and lost a home game to ninth-place Iowa on Monday, March 5. IU then clinched a tie for the title the following Saturday by beating Purdue in a noon game at Assembly Hall. And that night, incredibly, Minnesota lost at last-place Northwestern to leave the Hoosiers alone in first. Big Ten champions.

Green: When Minnesota got beat Monday night, there was a spontaneous bonfire at the Tenth Street Stadium. All the fraternities were going down there, and I went with mine. All of a sudden a cheerleader yells out, “Hey there’s a player here!” I don’t think coach Knight would have approved of me being there. But I was getting caught up in it.

Then on Saturday, after we beat Purdue, I rode up from Bloomington to Hinkle Fieldhouse to see my younger brother, Bruce, play in the semi-state for Milan (High School). My dad and I went out to eat afterwards at Sam’s Subway. Somebody came up and said, “Congratulations, you won the Big Ten!”

I said, “No, we’re tied.”

He said, “No, Northwestern just beat Minnesota.” I couldn’t believe it.

Buckner: I remember coach Knight saying in the locker room after we beat Purdue … he knew they (Minnesota) were going to lose at Northwestern. I’m sitting there thinking, That’s crazy. But they went to Northwestern and stunk it right up. That locked me into Coach. For him to know that … .

If Indiana and Minnesota had tied for the Big Ten title they would have met in a playoff at the University of Illinois to determine who represented the conference in the NCAA tournament. Only 25 teams were admitted to the tournament that year—and only conference champions. IU, ranked sixth in the final wire service poll, headed for Nashville, Tenn., where it defeated fifth-ranked Marquette and Kentucky. The team returned to Assembly Hall on Saturday evening while the high school state finals were being played. The players walked across the court during a break with Downing holding aloft the trophy for the regional championship and received a standing ovation. It remains a prized memory for them to this day.

The smaller tournament field meant it only took two victories to get to the Final Four, although that wasn’t yet a trademarked name for the conclusion of the tournament. And it so happened IU’s first opponent in St. Louis would be UCLA, featuring legendary coach John Wooden and All-American center Bill Walton. The Bruins had won the previous six national championships and eight overall since 1964.

Some of IU’s players claim to have been confident heading into the game, but not all of them.

Downing: We weren’t intimidated by anybody.

Buckner: One of the great things coach Knight did was make sure we were playing against the game and not against all that other crap. It’s so hard to win. If you’re not fully engaged in that process and you get caught up in that other b.s., you can’t win. To worry about who you’re playing against? You have to be prepared.

Crews: I might have been the most naïve guy in the world. I didn’t even know it was the Final Four, to tell you the truth. It was just on to the next game.

Green: You have to remember, UCLA … I had watched them win championships going back to seventh grade; I had their pictures on my bedroom wall. To play against them, … I remember thinking, My God … . It was an out-of-body experience for me.

Playing on national TV then was a big, big deal. And (NBC announcer) Curt Gowdy was introducing the starting lineups on the public address system. It was like a dream. Oh my god, Curt Gowdy is going to say my name on national TV! I was kind of a tourist.

It was the last game I played scared.

Laskowski: I agree with Steve, because when I’m growing up through elementary, junior high, high school, UCLA is winning all the time. That was the feeling I had, too. Like, I can’t believe a guy like me is here playing UCLA. And look, there’s Johnny Wooden over there! And you have to remember, coach Knight was not coach Knight yet. For us, we knew it could happen, but he wasn’t quite there yet.”

Green and Laskowski each hit one shot and they combined to make 2-of-13. Green recalls hitting his first attempt and not feeling a thing. Just numbness. Still, IU—a 14-point underdog—led by 5 points midway through the first half before UCLA’s pressure defense and shot-making built a 20-point lead later in the period. IU trailed by 18 at halftime, fought back to within 2 points on a second consecutive basket by Ritter with 5:51 remaining, but ultimately lost, 70-59.

A major turning point, an irritant that remains stuck in the conscience of IU’s players and fans even today, occurred with 9:24 left. Walton drove to the basket, and as described by an Indianapolis Star reporter, “ran right over Downing” for what would have been his fifth foul. Downing was called for the foul, however, his fourth, and then fouled out with 7:57 left. He finished with 26 points in 25 minutes. Walton finished with 14 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists.

Downing: I think about that all the time, but only at this time of the year (around Final Four weekend). It was a bad call.

Buckner: It was a bad call.

The loss to UCLA brought about a lot of what-ifs—not only regarding the controversial foul call, but regarding the players IU could have had on the team. Two freshmen who would become three-year starters and first-round picks in the NBA draft were on campus but academically ineligible. Most likely Scott May and Bobby Wilkerson would have made a difference.

And then there was George McGinnis. Or, rather, there wasn’t George McGinnis. A high school teammate of Downing’s, he had averaged 30 points and 15 rebounds as a sophomore in Watson’s freewheeling system and then signed with the Pacers. He obviously would have been a major factor if he had stayed two more years and played against UCLA. He obviously made a practical decision, though. A month later he would be named finals MVP after leading the Pacers to their third ABA championship.

Ritter: George told me he was watching that (UCLA) game and thinking, Maybe I might have made a difference. 

Everyone in unison: Maybe?

Ritter: George said it was the only time he regretted going pro.

Crews: He only would have wanted to come for that week, though.

Laskowski: (laughing) No, he didn’t want to be there the rest of the time.

Ritter: George was smart. He didn’t want any part of Bobby Knight.

IU’s season wasn’t finished with the loss to UCLA, however. It had to stay in St. Louis for a consolation game against Providence on Monday night, before UCLA defeated Memphis State for its seventh straight title. IU won easily, 97-79. Downing and Ritter scored 21 points each. Green and Laskowski, far more relaxed, combined for 24 points on 12-of-20 shooting. Buckner added 15 and hounded Providence All-American Ernie DiGregorio into 7-of-22 shooting.

Knight had downplayed how seriously he planned to take the game in his comments to reporters, but his players tell a different story.

Ritter: He made it clear to me that I was the reason we lost to UCLA. And then when we were on the bus for the Providence game, he got on the bus and looked at me in the back and said, “If John Ritter is ready to play basketball, I’ll guess we’ll go on over to the game.”

Green: Even after the UCLA game we felt we had had a great season. But the next day we had a film session, and coach Knight gets pissed. I remember looking around and thinking, “What are you pissed about? We got beat by UCLA like everybody else does.” I’m thinking, I’ve still got a lot to talk about this summer.

That’s when I realized, OK, you’re never going to be satisfied.

Crews: Coach was kind of ticked at us. At least he was pretending to be ticked at us. But who came in and was nice and complimentary and encouraged us? Do you guys remember who he brought in?

Downing: Havlicek (John, the Boston Celtics Hall of Famer who had been Knight’s teammate at Ohio State).

Crews: So, he left the room and Havlicek was telling us we had done good, … all the things coach probably felt, too. But he wasn’t going to say it because he wanted us to win the next game.

The team was greeted by Bloomington’s mayor and various university officials when it landed at the Monroe County airport late that night. It was taken to Assembly Hall, where a crowd of about 5,500 fans waited for a celebration of its season that didn’t break up until about 2 a.m. Ritter skipped it. Having taken the brunt of Knight’s locker room harangues at halftime of the UCLA game and in the previous day’s film session, he took advantage of his hard-won freedom by going back to Bloomington by car with his girlfriend.

Downing was voted the Big Ten’s Most Valuable Player for that season and became a first-round draft pick of the Celtics. Ritter, voted an academic All-American, tried out for the Pacers and played in a few exhibition games but began his professional working career with Eli Lilly and Co.. He later made a few recruiting trips with Knight, including one to visit a high school kid named Larry Bird. Green, Laskowski and Buckner played professional basketball before settling into the real world. Crews went into coaching, working as an assistant to Knight for eight years before landing head coaching jobs at Evansville, Army and St. Louis.

Knight, of course, led teams to national championships in 1976, ’81 and ’87. Those seasons overshadow the accomplishments of the 1972-73 team, but it can take pride in winning the first of his 11 Big Ten championships and providing Knight’s first Final Four experience. It also helped the coach get a five-year contract extension during the Final Four, one that bumped his $20,000 annual salary to $28,500, for starters.

For the players, however, the fondest memories of the season aren’t all about the victories. They are about the private moments on airplanes and locker rooms, the bonding experiences that transcend time. They were a blended family, brought together by two different coaches with drastically different approaches to basketball, and made it work.

Downing: It was a good team. Everybody got along real well. That’s what I appreciated. We all got along.

Ritter: I was blessed to play for coach Knight and to play with people like you guys. I always liked playing basketball with you guys.

Buckner: We loved playing with you, too.

Laskowski: Fifty years ago this week. Can you believe it? Our Final Four was 50 years ago this week.

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Montieth, an Indianapolis native, is a longtime newspaper reporter and freelance writer. He is the author of three books: “Passion Play: Coach Gene Keady and the Purdue Boilermakers,” “Reborn: The Pacers and the Return of Pro Basketball to Indianapolis,” and “Extra Innings: My Life in Baseball,” with former Indianapolis Indians President Max Schumacher.