1975–76 Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball team

1975–76 Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball
1975–76 Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball
Mid-American Conference Champions
NCAA tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Mid-American Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 19
AP	No. 10
Record	25–3 (15–1 MAC)
Head coach	Eldon Miller ;
Assistant coaches	Dick Shilts ; Rich Walker;
Home arena	University Arena
	Seasons ← 1974–75 1976–77 →

Last updated November 29, 2025

1975–76 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 10 Western Michigan	15	–	1	.938	25	–	3	.893
Miami (Ohio)	14	–	2	.875	18	–	8	.692
Toledo	13	–	3	.813	18	–	7	.720
Central Michigan	8	–	8	.500	12	–	14	.462
Bowling Green State	8	–	8	.500	12	–	15	.444
Kent State	7	–	9	.438	12	–	14	.462
Ohio	7	–	9	.438	11	–	15	.423
Ball State	5	–	11	.313	11	–	14	.440
Northern Illinois	2	–	14	.125	5	–	21	.192
Eastern Michigan	1	–	15	.063	7	–	20	.259

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1975–76 Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball team was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college basketball team that played in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The Broncos, representing Western Michigan University (WMU), finished the season 25–3 overall and 15–1 in the conference, won the MAC championship and reached the Sweet Sixteen of the 1976 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. They finished the season ranked No. 10 in the AP Poll and No. 19 in the UPI Poll.^[1]

Season

The Broncos were featured in a Sports Illustrated article in the February 9, 1976, issue.^[2] After starting the season 16–0, the Broncos entered the AP Poll as the No. 17-ranked team. In the MAC showdown against Miami in Kalamazoo, a Western Michigan University (WMU) record 10,519 fans attended the game.^[2]

In an early-season game, WMU beat Wisconsin–Green Bay (UWGB) 51–50 on a put-back by Jeff Tyson with one second left on the clock. The Broncos led by 10 points early in the second half, but UWGB took the lead by one point with 10 seconds remaining. After a timeout, WMU missed a long 25-foot field goal, but Tyson was able to get the rebound and score.^[3]

NCAA tournament

In the NCAA tournament, Western Michigan defeated Virginia Tech 77–67 in overtime. They lost to No. 2-ranked Marquette in the Sweet Sixteen by 5 points, 62–57.^[4]

Roster

The following players were on the 1975–76 team:^[5]

Dave Carnegie
Rod Curry
Tom Cutter
Dale DeBruin
Paul Griffin
Jimmie Harvey
Jim Kurzen
Marty Murray
Bob Pyykkonen
Herman Randle
Mark Rayner
Mike Reardon
Dave Roland
S. L. Sales
Marc Throop
Jeff Tyson

The team was coached by Eldon Miller, along with assistant coaches Dick Shilts and Rich Walker.^[6]

Schedule

The Broncos finished the season 25–3 and first place in the MAC with a 15–1 record.^[7]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
December 1, 1975*		Grand Valley State	W 107–73	1–0	Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
December 3, 1975*		Wisconsin–Parkside	W 77–74	2–0	Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
December 6, 1975*		at Wisconsin–Green Bay	W 51–50	3–0	Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena (2,052^[3]) Ashwaubenon, WI
December 10, 1975*		at Northern Iowa	W 91–61	4–0	McElroy Auditorium (~850^[8]^[9]) Waterloo, IA
December 13, 1975*		Michigan State	W 78–68	5–0	Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
December 15, 1975*		Detroit	W 81–71	6–0	Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
December 20, 1975*		Wisconsin–Oshkosh	W 115–83	7–0	Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
January 3, 1976		at Bowling Green	W 67–57	8–0 (1–0)	Anderson Arena Bowling Green, OH
January 7, 1976		at Eastern Michigan	W 78–58	9–0 (2–0)	Bowen Field House Ypsilanti, MI
January 10, 1976		Toledo	W 78–73	10–0 (3–0)	Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
January 14, 1976*		Loyola (IL)	W 79–77	11–0	Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
January 17, 1976		at Northern Illinois	W 78–65	12–0 (4–0)	Chick Evans Field House DeKalb, IL
January 21, 1976		Kent State	W 75–53	13–0 (5–0)	Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
January 24, 1976		at Ball State	W 62–57	14–0 (6–0)	Irving Gymnasium Muncie, IN
January 28, 1976		Miami	W 82–68	15–0 (7–0)	Read Fieldhouse (10,519^[1]) Kalamazoo, MI
January 31, 1976		Ohio	W 75–59	16–0 (8–0)	Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
February 4, 1976*	No. 17	at Loyola (IL)	W 80–73	17–0	Alumni Gym Chicago, IL
February 7, 1976	No. 17	at Central Michigan	W 76–73	18–0 (9–0)	Daniel P. Rose Center Mount Pleasant, MI
February 11, 1976	No. 15	Eastern Michigan	W 85–73	19–0 (10–0)	Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
February 14, 1976	No. 15	at Toledo	L 80–88	19–1 (10–1)	Field House Toledo, OH
February 21, 1976	No. 17	Northern Illinois	W 91–74	20–1 (11–1)	Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
February 25, 1976	No. 16	at Kent State	W 73–63	21–1 (12–1)	Memorial Gym Kent, OH
February 28, 1976	No. 16	Ball State	W 93–67	22–1 (13–1)	Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
March 1, 1976*	No. 16	at No. 8 Notre Dame	L 86–95 ^OT	22–2	Athletic and Convocation Center South Bend, IN
March 3, 1976	No. 14	at Miami	W 73–58	23–2 (14–1)	Millett Hall Oxford, OH
March 6, 1976	No. 14	Bowling Green	W 71–58	24–2 (15–1)	Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
March 13, 1976*	No. 16	vs. Virginia Tech NCAA tournament Round of 32	W 77–67 ^OT	25–2	Athletic and Convocation Center South Bend, IN
March 18, 1976*	No. 10	vs. No. 2 Marquette NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen	L 57–62	25–3	LSU Assembly Center (14,150^[4]) Baton Rouge, LA
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Statistics

The following table lists the individual player statistics for the season.^[10]

Player	GP	GS	Pts	Avg	FG	FGA	Pct	FT	FTA	Pct	Reb	Avg	PF	FO	A
Jeff Tyson	28	28	501	17.9	212	425	.499	77	109	.706	132	4.7	83	3	63
Tom Cutter	28	28	362	12.9	140	217	.645	82	108	.759	298	10.6	84	2	57
Jimmie Harvey	28	28	356	12.7	163	323	.505	30	44	.682	100	3.6	73	1	42
Paul Griffin	28	28	303	10.8	115	192	.599	73	100	.730	277	9.9	82	5	84
Marty Murray	28	0	248	8.9	85	218	.390	78	108	.722	41	1.5	64	2	50
Jim Kurzen	28	28	198	7.1	79	170	.465	40	51	.784	44	1.6	53	0	72
Dave Carnegie	24	0	63	2.6	27	50	.540	9	17	.529	61	2.5	29	0	2
Dale DeBruin	19	0	48	2.5	17	33	.515	14	27	.519	40	2.1	25	0	7
S. L. Sales	18	0	42	2.3	18	40	.450	6	15	.400	19	1.1	15	0	0
Mike Reardon	21	0	40	1.9	17	36	.472	6	11	.545	9	0.4	8	0	0
Herman Randle	21	0	38	1.8	15	50	.300	8	14	.571	9	0.4	7	0	0
Marc Throop	12	0	10	0.8	2	8	.250	6	13	.462	15	1.3	9	0	0
Bob Pyykkonen	5	0	4	0.8	2	6	.333	0	1	.000	3	0.6	1	0	0
Dave Roland	6	0	3	0.5	0	5	.000	3	7	.429	1	0.2	1	0	1
Rod Curry	5	0	2	0.4	1	6	.167	0	0	–	5	1.0	1	0	0
Mark Rayner	1	0	0	0.0	0	0	–	0	0	–	2	2.0	1	0	0
WMU totals	28		2218	79.2	893	1779	.502	432	625	.691	1176	42.0	536	14	392
Opp. totals	28		1898	67.8	776	1817	.427	346	484	.715	–	–	581	–	330

Rankings

References

1 2 "2013–14 WMU Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). Western Michigan University. p. 54. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
1 2 Hannon, Kent (February 9, 1976). "Who's Who In Kalamazoo. Western Michigan (16–0) is a new big shot, but just in its hometown". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on November 2, 2009. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
1 2 McGinn, Bob (December 7, 1975). "Last Shot Tips UWGB". Green Bay Press Gazette. p. D-1. Retrieved March 16, 2018– via newspapers.com.
1 2 "Official Basketball Box Score – Marquette vs Western Michigan – 3/18/76" (PDF). Western Michigan University. March 18, 1976. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
↑ "Statistics Summary for 1975–76". Western Michigan University. July 2, 2009. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
↑ "NCAA Tournament Team". Western Michigan University. October 23, 2010. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
↑ "2013–14 WMU Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). Western Michigan University. pp. 85–86. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
↑ Evans, Burke (December 10, 1975). "UNI outclassed by Broncos 91–61". The Courier. p. 23. Retrieved March 16, 2018– via newspapers.com.
↑ Evans, Burke (December 10, 1975). "UNI outclassed by Broncos 91–61". The Courier. p. 24. Retrieved March 16, 2018– via newspapers.com.
↑ "1975–76 Men's Basketball Stats". Western Michigan University. July 2, 2009. Retrieved January 24, 2014.

External links

Western Michigan University men's basketball media guide Archived 2012-09-27 at the Wayback Machine

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[record_book_p54-1] 1 2 "2013–14 WMU Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). Western Michigan University. p. 54. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.

[si-2] 1 2 Hannon, Kent (February 9, 1976). "Who's Who In Kalamazoo. Western Michigan (16–0) is a new big shot, but just in its hometown". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on November 2, 2009. Retrieved January 22, 2014.

[uwgb_game-3] 1 2 McGinn, Bob (December 7, 1975). "Last Shot Tips UWGB". Green Bay Press Gazette. p. D-1. Retrieved March 16, 2018– via newspapers.com.

[marquette_box_score-4] 1 2 "Official Basketball Box Score – Marquette vs Western Michigan – 3/18/76" (PDF). Western Michigan University. March 18, 1976. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.

[season_stats-5] "Statistics Summary for 1975–76". Western Michigan University. July 2, 2009. Retrieved January 24, 2014.

[6] "NCAA Tournament Team". Western Michigan University. October 23, 2010. Retrieved January 24, 2014.

[7] "2013–14 WMU Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). Western Michigan University. pp. 85–86. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.

[8] Evans, Burke (December 10, 1975). "UNI outclassed by Broncos 91–61". The Courier. p. 23. Retrieved March 16, 2018– via newspapers.com.

[9] Evans, Burke (December 10, 1975). "UNI outclassed by Broncos 91–61". The Courier. p. 24. Retrieved March 16, 2018– via newspapers.com.

[10] "1975–76 Men's Basketball Stats". Western Michigan University. July 2, 2009. Retrieved January 24, 2014.

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v t e Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball
Venues	East Hall gymnasium (1913–1938) Oakland Gymnasium (1938–1957) Read Fieldhouse (1957–1992) Lawson Arena (1992–1994) University Arena (1994–2027) Kalamazoo Event Center (planned for 2027)
Rivalries	In-state MAC schools
Culture & lore	Buster Bronco The Zoo
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26