Indiana State University Athletics

History & Tradition-page 6 - GoSycamores.com?Official Web Site of Indiana State Athletics

ISU Athletics History & Tradition-Dream Season

Road to The Final Four

The following was 1978-79 season-in-review was written by former ISU Sports Information Director Ed McKee shortly after the conclusion of the Dream Season. To finish the 1978-79 basketball season in the championship game of the NCAA Tournament was a most unlikely outcome for the Indiana State University basketball team. Not that the Sycamores did not expect to have a good team last October...but other factors kept preseason pollsters from considering the ISU club. Four starters were gone from the 1977-78 team which had compiled a 23-9 record en route to the NIT. Head Coach Bob King stepped down four days before practice was to start due to ill health. Assistant Bill Hodges assumed his first head coaching job in the midst of most unusual circumstances. Hodges put the Sycamores through the paces those first weeks and soon discovered new personnel adequate to fill the shoes of departed starters. Of course, Hodges could build a team around All-America Larry Bird (French Lick, Ind.) who had earned that status in every conceivable poll the previous season. Brad Miley (Rushville), a defensive specialist, also returned after seeing considerable action in the 1977-78 campaign. What was uncertain and soon to be proven was the play of newcomers like Alex Gilbert (East St. Louis, Ill.) and Carl Nicks (Chicago, Ill.) and the inexperienced Steve Reed (Warsaw).The final 33-1 record was the result of the blend of those talents in the starting line-up--combining passing, shooting, rebounding, and defense into the finest season in Indiana State history. To backup the starters were two outstanding substitutes in Leroy Staley (Tampa, Fla.) and Bob Heaton (Clay City, IN) who formed what local sportswriters called the "magnificent seven."Their season was nothing short of magnificent. The Sycamores toppled eight opponents in the Missouri Valley Conference at home and on the road. They achieved their goal of entering the NCAA Tournament by winning the conference tournament in three games on their floor.Finally earning the Number 1 blessing of both major wire services shortly before the tourney, the Sycamores still had to prove themselves over the cynicisms of a nation of fans yet to see their talents on television. The NCAA tourney provided the medium to "win over" the doubters. The NCAA Tournament proved to be quite the forum for just that.The perfect season ended in a loss to Michigan State in the national championship game, 75-64, but Bill Hodges offered these remarks, "This was more than we ever expected. I could not be more proud of this team and its accomplishments. This has been a great year and we hold our heads up nigh, no matter what the final outcome of the final game." He was appointed head coach permanently on February 1.Hodges received Coach of the Year honors from AP, UPI, and The Sporting News.Bird repeated as a consensus All-American and earned recognition as Player of the Year from AP, UPI, USBWA, The Sporting News, Basketball Weekly and earned the John Wooden Award and Eastman Award. He completed the season with a school record 973 points for an average of 28.6. Carl Nicks, a junior, averaged 19.3 points per game.

A Dream Season...