My Two Cents: Saturday Was About Future, But 50-Year Flashback Also Wonderful at Indiana
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Current Indiana students have no idea who Steve Downing is. Not only were they not born when the smooth big man nearly won a national title for the Hoosiers in 1973, but most of their parents weren't born either,.
And that doesn't matter one bit. Not at Indiana.
At a blueblood program like Indiana, history does matter. So much. It's why it matters that Mike Woodson — like Downing, an Indianapolis native and former Hoosier star — was hired as head coach two years ago. It was time for Indiana to tap back into that Bob Knight legacy, and so far, it's working out nicely.
Saturday reminded us why that matters. Woodson's Hoosiers opened their 2022-23 basketball season with an exhibition game against Marian University, an NAIA school in Indianapolis that's nationally ranked in their small division. Downing, a long-time administrator at Indiana after his playing career, is the current athletic director at Marian, so setting up the game just made sense. One phone call, and it was done.
Downing, who is seven years older than Woodson, has been a friend since they were kids. Downing was Knight's first great player, though we do have to remember that Downing was already there before Knight got to Indiana. He was a high school legend in Indy and played with George McGinnis on that Indiana Washington team that went undefeated and won the 1969 state title. McGinnis left early for the pros when Knight arrived, but Downing stayed.
Former Indiana great Steve Downing is now the athletic director at Marian University in Indianapolis. (Tom Brew/HoosiersNow.com)
I've known Mike Woodson for 46 years now and I like to think I know all of his stories. But I heard a new one on Saturday during the postgame press conference, and I couldn't help but laugh.
We really do learn something new every day.
"Steve Downing, who is the AD there, is a great, great friend of mine and has been for many, many years,'' Woodson said. "I talk about it all the time. In '76 when IU was playing for the national title, I sat at his house. His wife cooked a big-ass pot of chili and man, I probably ate four, five, six bowls of that chili, man. I've been starving ever since. So I'm going to see her here in a few and I'm going to tell her, she's going to get that chili going again.
"Steve and I have been friends for a long time, and I'm proud of the job he's done as an AD at Marian and giving them an opportunity, I'm going to do it every year that I'm here; that they can come in here and play.''
OK, so it is about chili after all.
Indiana's highly anticipated regular season starts Monday, and the Hoosiers will play one more exhibition game on Thursday, against St. Francis. These things matter, not the outcome so much as just getting on the court with another team, and fine-tuning some things the Hoosiers have been working on for months.
So this was worthwhile, Indiana's 76-42 win. It was good, and it was fun, getting our first taste of the Hoosiers' impressive freshman class. And with Downing here, it was the perfect time to honor Indiana's 1972-73 team at halftime.
Downing was there, of course, and captain John Ritter, too. They were the key seniors on that team, and Downing was the Big Ten Player of the Year. Steve Ahfeldt and Jerry Memering got nice ovations, too. So were many of the young guys who would be a part of the great 1975 and 1976 teams a few years later. (Knight, who's now 82 years old, did not participate.)
Downing spoke for the group, and got a bit emotional about the return to Assembly Hall as a group. “I can’t tell you how heartfelt it is to be back,” he said.
They were Knight's second team at Indiana and the fiery coach, who was just 32 years old at the time, showed his greatness that season. Minnesota was the best team in the Big Ten that year, a preseason top-five group that was considered the heavy favorite to win the league and get the only NCAA Tournament bid, which is how it worked back then. Indiana was unranked early, but that changed over time.
The Hoosiers and Gophers split their regular-season series, but Indiana won its last four games to win the league by one game. They beat Purdue in the season finale at the new Assembly Hall to seal the deal and get that NCAA berth.
Indiana beat Marquette and Kentucky in the regional, which was something of a surprise at the time, setting up a meeting with mighty UCLA and center Bill Walton.
It was an epic matchup, and the Hoosiers were in the game after erasing an 18-point deficit. Late in the second half, Downing and Walton both had four fouls. Downing, who scored 26 points against Walton, got his fifth foul on what many thought was a bad call, including the Indiana big man. After he was out, the Hoosiers had no one who could stop Walton, and UCLA pulled away 70-59
There was still a third-place game back then, and Indiana beat Providence by 20. That Final Four experience would prove to be beneficial going forward.
Downing averaged a double-double for the season, with 20.1 points and 10.6 rebounds a game. Five players averaged in double figures, the senior Ritter (15.6) freshman guard Quinn Buckner (10.6) and sophomore forwards John Laskowski (10.3) and Steve Green (10.1). Jim Crews, who was there Saturday, too, also played a lot, but this was pretty much a six-man team. Tom Abernethy played some off the bench, too.
It was great to see so many of them back in Assembly Hall on Saturday.
Here's a funny story about this 1973 team. When Terry Hutchens, my former colleague at the Indianapolis Star, and I were writing the book ''Missing Banners'' six years ago, we had a long talk about that group — because we left them out of our final five teams.
Many of you have read the book, of course, but the concept was that Terry and I looked back on five Indiana teams that could have won a national title but came up short. Hence, the ''missing'' banners. The book has sold very well — thank you for that — and it's also led to a lot of good, lively debate.
We tried to balance the book out over time, so the 1975, 1992/93, 2002 and 2013 teams were obvious selections. Those chapters are great. We came down to a final decision on whether to include the 1973 team or the 1980 Hoosiers, which was Woodson's senior year at Indiana and, full disclosure, my senior year, too.
Terry was leaning more toward the '73 season, I was siding with the '80 group, because they were preseason No. 1, had a miracle finish to the Big Ten season with Woodson returning for the final six games to win the league. But they lost in the regional semifinals to Purdue, the only time the bitter rivals have played in the NCAA Tournament.
I finally won the argument, partly because I was writing those chapters and really wanted to relive them all with Woodson, Isiah Thomas, Ray Tolbert and Steve Risley among others. They turned out great too, I don't mind saying, and then Terry included some good stuff on the '73 team in the final chapter, where we talked about a handful of other great IU teams that didn't make the cut.
It was nice to see that group again, because it's been a very long time since most of them have been together. Downing, probably one of the most loyal Bob Knight soldiers ever, refused to set foot in Assembly Hall for years. He even went to Texas Tech to work with Knight when The General coached there.
Thankfully, all of that angst has cooled since Knight returned to Assembly Hall in February of 2020. Downing's friendship with Woodson, someone he helped recruit to Indiana, makes that really easy now.
And that's the way it should be.
Saturday was a lot about the future, seeing Indiana's talented young team, but it was also a great day to look back, too.
Fifty years later. So nice.
Order your copy of 'Missing Banners'
If you haven't read ''Missing Banners,'' it's still easy to get a copy. It's available online at Barnes & Noble and Amazon, among others, so just CLICK HERE to order.
If you would like an autographed copy, I'd be happy to mail you one of those as well. Just send me an email at tombrew@hilltop30.com or message me on social media.
Indiana coach Mike Woodson during Saturday's exhibition game against Marian. (USA TODAY Sports)
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- GAME STORY: Former high school teammates Jalen Hood-Schifino and Malik Reneau had dazzling debuts in their first game at Indiana, leading the Hoosiers to a 74-42 exhibition game victory over Marian on Saturday at Assembly Hall. CLICK HERE
- THOMPSON SHOWS VERSATILITY: Indiana forward Race Thompson scored 13 points, six rebounds and two blocks, including a 3-for-4 night from 3 during Indiana's exhibition game against Marian on Saturday. CLICK HERE
- WATCH MALIK RENEAU DUNK: Indiana freshman Malik Renau had 12 points and seven rebounds at halftime against Marian and also had a huge dunk. Watch the highlight here. CLICK HERE
- WATCH RACE THOMPSON 3-POINTER: Sixth-year forward Race Thompson hit Indiana's first 3-point shot of the season on Saturday in an exhibition game against Marian. CLICK HERE
- JACKSON-DAVIS, BATES OUT: Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis and guard Tamar Bates won't play in Saturday's exhibition game against Marian University. CLICK HERE
