When Bob Knight shared a bold take on Quinn Bucker and Bobby Wilkerson's defensive abilities during Indiana Hoosiers' undefeated season

Bob Knight coached Indiana’s 1975-76 legendary basketball team. He once made a bold statement about two of his most trusted players, Quinn Buckner and Bobby Wilkerson, during an ESPN interview in 2011.

The Interview was posted on YouTube by Scott Agness in March 2011. Knight touched on what made that iconic Hoosiers team different from all the other teams that tried and failed to go undefeated.

When asked what separated his squad from others, Knight gave credit to the true leaders of the team.

“Well, I think they were probably better than the others who attempted perfection, because they actually reached it,” Knight said (Timestamp 0:23 - 0:55).

“We had a team that, in my opinion, had the best pair of defensive guards ever to play college basketball in Quinn Buckner and Bobby Wilkerson. Everyone else on that team filled vital roles, whether they started or came off the bench. It was just an exceptional group of kids."

The 1975-76 Indiana team finished the season 32-0, winning the NCAA title and cementing itself as the last undefeated men’s team in Division I basketball history.

Knight had a disciplined system and he combined it with no-nonsense leadership. But as he noted, his stifling defence, spearheaded by Buckner and Wilkerson, made the difference.

Buckner, a four-year starter at Indiana, was known for his toughness and high basketball IQ, and he was the captain of the team and a vocal leader. He later went on to win an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in 1984 and also captained the U.S. Olympic gold medal-winning team in 1976.

Wilkerson, equally fierce on the defensive end, was known for his versatility and ability to guard multiple positions. He was instrumental in the team's success and went on to play several years in the NBA, including a stint with the Denver Nuggets.

Bob Knight revealed how he got the team to go unbeaten

During the interview, Knight was asked about the moment he realized that his team was capable of going undefeated.

"What I did with that team is probably the neatest thing, in my mind, that I’ve ever seen come to fruition,” Knight said (Timestamp 1:03 - 1:54). "The day before practice started in the 1975-76 season, I had our team sit down, and I told them this: 'There’s a team that can win the Big Ten. There’s a team that’ll win the NCAA. But neither of those is our goal. Our goal this year is to go completely undefeated, from our opening game through the NCAA championship. That’s what this team is capable of doing, and I expect it to do just that.'

"I said that the day before practice opened and those kids believed it. And they did it."

It was Knight’s fifth season at the helm of the Hoosiers, and his team dominated Big Ten play with an 18-0 record, just as they had the year before in 1974-75. However, that season ended in heartbreak as Indiana fell to Kentucky in the Elite Eight, suffering their only loss.

But in 1975-76, the Hoosiers completed their mission, capping off a historic undefeated run with an 86-68 win over Michigan in the national championship game.