Army Black Knights men's basketball

Last updated
Army Black Knights
Basketball current event.svg 2023–24 Army Black Knights men's basketball team
Army West Point logo.svg
University United States Military Academy
Head coach Kevin Kuwik (1st season)
Conference Patriot
Location West Point, New York
Arena Christl Arena
(Capacity: 5,043)
Nickname Black Knights
ColorsBlack, gold, and gray [1]
     
Uniforms
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Kit body basketball.svg
Kit shorts blanksides2.png
Kit shorts.svg
Home
Kit body vegasgoldsides.png
Kit body basketball.svg
Kit shorts vegasgoldsides.png
Kit shorts.svg
Away


Pre-tournament Premo-Porretta champions
1923, 1944
Pre-tournament Helms champions
1944

The Army Black Knights men's basketball team represents the United States Military Academy in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college basketball. Army currently competes as a member of the Patriot League and plays its home games at Christl Arena in West Point, New York.

Contents

History

Bob Knight, the coach with the most wins in NCAA men's basketball history, began his head coaching career at Army from 1965 to 1971 before moving on to Indiana. One of Knight's players at Army was Mike Krzyzewski, who later was head coach at Army before moving on to Duke and becoming the winningest men's basketball coach in NCAA Division I history.

Since its inception in 1903, Army retrospectively has been awarded two national championships, has made eight NIT appearances, has refused two NCAA tournament invitations, in 1944 and 1968, and has an overall 49.7% winning percentage.

The Black Knights were retroactively named national champions by Premo-Porretta for 1923 and by the Helms Athletic Foundation for 1944, [2] when they went undefeated (15–0), [3] but declined an invitation to the NCAA tournament due to World War II. The 1944 squad was captained by Edward C. Christl, who earned a posthumous Distinguished Service Cross during World War II and for whom the Black Knights' home arena is named. [4]

Head coach Bob Knight turned down the 1968 NCAA tournament invitation in favor of the NIT, [5] because he believed the Black Knights had a better chance of winning the NIT with Lew Alcindor and UCLA playing in the NCAA tournament. Further, Madison Square Garden was close enough to West Point to allow the Corps of Cadets to be attend the games, and Army had participated in the NIT seven times in 10 years, including four of Knight's five seasons as head coach. They would go on to lose their first game of the 1968 NIT to Notre Dame. [6]

The Black Knights are one of only three original major programs that were playing college basketball in 1939, when the inaugural NCAA tournament was held, that are still active Division I programs and one of 34 eligible teams to have never participated in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament . [7] [8] Army shares this distinction with William & Mary and The Citadel. St. Francis Brooklyn was a major program in 1939, and never made an NCAA tournament appearance but discontinued athletics in 2023, [9] and is no longer eligible for the tournament.

The Black Knights have played in the National Invitational Tournament eight times [10] and also played in the 2016 edition of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT), their first appearance in a postseason tournament in 38 years, losing to NJIT in the first round.

Seasons

In 119 seasons, the Black Knights have a record of 1262–1276. [3]

Postseason results

National Invitation tournament

The Black Knights have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) eight times. Their combined record is 13–10.

YearRoundOpponentResult
1961 First RoundTempleL 66–79
1964 First Round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
3rd Place Game		St. Bonaventure
Duquesne
Bradley
NYU		W 64–62
W 67–65
L 52–67
W 60–59
1965 First Round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
3rd Place Game		St. Louis
Western Kentucky
St. John's
NYU		W 70–66
W 58–54
L 60–67
W 75–74
1966 First Round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
3rd Place Game		Manhattan
San Francisco
BYU
Villanova		W 71–66
W 80–63
L 60–66
L 65–76
1968 First RoundNotre DameL 58–62
1969 First Round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
3rd Place Game		Wyoming
South Carolina
Boston College
Tennessee		W 51–49
W 59–45
L 61–73
L 52–64
1970 First Round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
3rd Place Game		Cincinnati
Manhattan
St. John's
LSU		W 72–67
W 77–72
L 59–60
W 75–68
1978 First RoundRutgersL 70–72

CollegeInsider.com tournament

The Black Knights have appeared in one CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). Their record is 0–1.

YearRoundOpponentResult
2016 First RoundNJITL 65–79

CBI results

The Black Knights have appeared in one College Basketball Invitational (CBI). Their record is 0–1.

YearRoundOpponentResult
2021 First RoundBellarmineL 67–77

Head coaches

CoachYearsRecord
Joseph Stilwell 1902–04
1908–11
1913–14		41–14
No coach1904–0610–8
Harry Fisher 1906–079–5
B.H. Koehler1907–089–3
Harvey Higley 1911–1319–6
Jacob Devers 1914–1616–9
Arthur Conrad1916–173–8
Ivens Jones1917–1911–9
Joseph O'Shea1919–2130–7
Harry Fisher1921–23
1924–25		46–5
Van Vleit1923–2416–2
Ernest Blood 1925–2611–6
Leo Novak1926–39126–56
Valentine Lentz1939–4331–31
Edward Kelleher 1943–4529–1
Stewart Holcomb1945–4718–13
John Mauer 1947–5133–35
Elmer Ripley 1951–5319–17
Bob Vanatta 1953–5415–7
Orvis Sigler 1954–5839–47
George Hunter1958–6363–48
Tates Locke 1963–6540–15
Bob Knight 1965–71102–50
Dan Dougherty1971–7531–66
Mike Krzyzewski 1975–8073–59
Pete Gaudet 1980–8212–41
Les Wothke 1982–9092–135
Tom Miller 1990–9210–46
Mike Conners1992–934–22
Dino Gaudio 1993–9736–72
Pat Harris1997–200242–96
Jim Crews 2002–0959–140
Zach Spiker 2009–16102–112
Jimmy Allen 2016–202398–112
Kevin Kuwik 2023–0–0

[11]

All-Americans

The following Army players were named NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans:

Academic All-Americans

The following Army players were named Academic All-America:

Basketball Hall of Fame

The following Army players and coaches have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame:

Major awards

Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Award: Outstanding Scholar-Athlete of the Year

Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award

Haggerty Award

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year

Patriot League Men's Basketball Coach of the Year

Patriot League Men's Basketball Rookie of the Year

Patriot League Men's Basketball Defensive Player of the Year

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References

  1. ↑ Army Brand Guidelines (PDF). April 13, 2015. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  2. ↑ ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 536. ISBN   978-0-345-51392-2.
  3. 1 2 "Army Black Knights School History". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  4. ↑ Noles, Jim (2018). Undefeated: From Basketball to Battle - West Point's Perfect 1944 Season. Philadelphia: Casemate Publishers. ISBN   978-1-61200-512-6. OCLC   1096218534.
  5. ↑ "NCAA Taps 8 Tourney Fives". Syracuse Herald-Journal. February 21, 1968. p. 82. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  6. ↑ Chase, Chris (March 11, 2015). "The Odd Reason Army Has Never Made the NCAA Tournament". USA Today . Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  7. ↑ Feinstein, John (February 1, 2016). "Kryzyzewski, Knight Coached at Army. Army Still Has Not Made an NCAA Tournament Appearance". The Washington Post . Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  8. ↑ "Wall Street Journal blog: March Madness Claims New Victims" . Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  9. ↑ McDaniel, Mike (March 21, 2023). "St. Francis Brooklyn to Eliminate Entire Athletics Program". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2011-05-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ↑ "Army Black Knights Index". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
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