PERFECT: Bob Knight and Indiana's 2-year quest. College basketball's last unbeaten champion

by Bob Hammel

""Perfect"" is what Indiana’s 32-0, national-championship basketball season was—and it’s what no major college men’s team has been able to achieve in the thirty-five years since.

Nearly two full generations have been born into basketball awareness since those days. ""Perfect"" aims to bring the golden names of those seasons and their achievements into perspective, and to explain why Assembly Hall still erupts when pictures of coach Bob Knight or scenes from that season show on the giant scoreboard screen during Hoosier games.

It ties together two chronicles from those ""Knight with the Hoosiers"" (1975) and ""All the Way"" (1976), both by author Bob Hammel. Including box scores from the 1974-75 season that introduced this group of players and their young coach to the top of the national ranking, this new work by Hammel, the one reporter who covered all sixty-four games, offers a fresh perspective on the unique achievements of this two-season era.

Hammel introduces these great IU teams to new generations of basketball fans and presents an invitation for warm reminiscence to members of the generations who lived through those years and celebrated with their best-in-the-land team. Relive the Hoosiers’ happy history in ""Perfect.""

Genres: Sports

632 pages

First published March 24, 2011

About the author

Bob Hammel served as a sports editor and columnist on Indiana newspapers for 50 years. For 30 of those years he was sports editor and columnist for the Bloomington Herald-Times. The recipient of many honors and awards for sports writing, he is the author of eight books, including Beyond the Brink with Indiana (IUP, 1987) and A Banner Year (IUP, 1993). With Bob Knight, he co-authored Knight: My Story. Hammel lives in Bloomington, Indiana."

Reviews

[Thomas A. Van Horn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dedication

Every young athlete, musician, or scholar should consider reading this book. It is a story of crushing disappointment that ended with that disappointment, never forgotten, being the engine of dedication and desire which led to success. The struggles along the way, and the collective efforts to improve, are lessons of life from which anyone can benefit . It transcends sports

[Michael Fleeter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of two volumes in one book. Each one reviewing, game-by-game the 1975 and 1976 IU basketball seasons, respectively. The first one was much more thorough than the second one. In fact, the 1976 season, was simply represented by a collection of game-day summaries. It was like reading the paper after every game. The 1976 season deserved better than that. The 1975 season was represented by a more complete story, going into Knight's coaching history a bit, and the background of individual players. I found the 1975 volume an interesting read, and the 1976 season, tedious to get through. Its a shame, as I'm sure that 1976 Championship season has some remarkable stories to tell.

[Lance · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good recapture of the two seasons when the best team college basketball has ever seen played together. However, since the entire book was simply a compilation of news articles about the games without any new insight or interviews from the coaches or players now to give their memories and insights, this book isn't telling us anything new and therefore is just another collection of articles.