Bird nearly doubled the Sycamores win total year-over-year from 13 to 25 after sitting out just one year in 1975-76, rather than two, after IU signed papers for Birds release. Indiana State nearly became the most recent undefeated national champion, reaching the 1979 national title game with a 33-0 record. As the 1992-93 NBA season approached, Bird decided he could not continue. Birds 19 points in the 1982 NBA All-Star Game, including 12 of the Easts last 15, earned him the games MVP trophy. Home-game attendance hovered around 3,100 when Bird arrived at Indiana State, but as he had done in Springs Valley, Bird single-handedly packed the house and elevated his team to respectability and more. Former professional NBA player, coach, and NBA executive Larry Bird is well known globally. Or write about sports? Both Dinah and Larry studied at Indiana State University. Birth Year: 1956. The highlight of Bird's three-year collegiate career came in 1979, when he led the Sycamores to a 33-0 record and their first NCAA Tournament berth in the program's history. Season-ticket sales tripled. Career Stats Game Log Splits. TV stations showed film clips of Bird instead of commercials. Finally, with the Celtics in a decline that hit bottom in 1996-97, Bird decided to take the plunge. Find out more. The Sycamores went 81-13 during Bird's three-year career. the official stats partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB. "By noon, Bird appeared at a press conference, a rarity in his scheme of things. Thats what a coach has to do.. An undefeated IU team with a healthy Scott May or Larry Bird, let alone both, wouldve made for a compelling matchup with Woodens final UCLA team. Larry Bird's best teammates included Robert Parish, Kevin McHale and Dennis Johnson. Do you have a sports website? No shit! Play Index. Bird was often checked by Magic Johnson in Michigan State's 2-3 matchup zone in theepic clash of two all-time greats. Anytime you have Bird on the floor, anything can happen, Portlands Clyde Drexler told theBoston Heraldafter the game. Bird was so self-confident that he was known to waltz up to the opponents bench before tipoff and predict a 40-point performance for himself. * 21+ (19+ CA-ONT) (18+ NH/WY). His back was also hurting, but Bird came back in the third period to help lift the Celtics to an emotional 124-121 victory. Larry Bird is an Indiana basketball legend, starting at Springs Valley High School and running through his playing days at Indiana State . We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. I ran across this short narrative while reading Bobby Knight's book- "Knight-My Story", and thought it might be interesting to share to the board. Now the Sycamores are 33-0, they are ranked No. Larry Bird was such a player. Drafted into the NBA by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in . He's an impressive figure with incredible rivalries, but there are still tons of things that younger NBA fans should know about Larry Legend. On a grander scale, however, college basketball may have needed Birds run with Indiana State to really make March Madness the spectacle it is today. I could do that. He did some commercials and appeared in a few films, including Michael JordansSpace Jam. Hardly a change of clothes each day. Jobbade sedan i Celtics frn 1992 till 1997 och coachade sedan Indiana Pacers frn 1997 till 2000. His coaching career was shot out of a Larry Bird-sized cannon with the Sycamores going 33-1 and posting a .971 winning percentage in his rookie campaign. Larry Bird is recognized as one of the greatest NBA players of all time. Im new at this (coaching) game but I feel I can get the job done, he said. Enter your information to receive emails about offers, promotions from NCAA.com and our partners. UCLA beat Montana by just three points in its second tournament game, proving the Bruins were a resilient, but mortal, champion. He definitely had a softball swing, Hayes recalled. The high school senior was drawing interest from top programs across the country, especially after he added six inches and 50 pounds in roughly two years, but he was focused on the in-state schools recruiting him. IU peaked at No. On Aug. 18, 1992 he announced his retirement as a player. This type of behavior was par for the course with Knight, but a new experience alltogether for Bird. Even though he had never coached a game in his life, the Pacers had no qualms about turning over the reins to Bird. Twelve of the top 14 picks in that years draft were seniors, with the other two non-seniors being juniors Kenny Carr and Bernard King, so staying all four years of college was still very much the norm then. If you are having difficulty accessing any content on this website, please visit our Accessibility page. The story was news to me. Thanks Jimmie. Scott Horner. Larry Bird, AKA "Larry Legend," was selected by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NBA Draft. At the time, Bird was a junior at Indiana State University and decided he wanted to play his senior year . Bird enjoyed a phenomenal collegiate basketball career at Indiana State (30.3 points per game in a three-year career that included a trip to the national championship game). His Mom and Dad divorced while Bird was in HS, His dad shot and killed himself a year later. He earned the Rookie of the Year honours and also led a mediocre team . The Sycamores went undefeated and reached No. Two months later, he signed his NBA contract with the Boston Celtics. The players looked up to see Coach Knight, just recently returned from an out of state trip, having an absolute cow and cussing up a storm, throwing shit and marching across the floor from the open doorway he had been peeking through. ), We did a great deal of checking before he made his decision and the college allowed him to enroll, Northwoods academic dean Jim McElhiney told The Indianapolis News in September 1974. In a nationally televised game against Portland in March, Bird pulled off one final miracle performance he scored 16 points in the fourth quarter, including the Celtics last nine points and a game-tying 3-pointer with two seconds left. On May 12, 1997, Bird was named head coach of the Indiana Pacers. Larry Bird - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more . Bird chose IU because he likes coach Bobby Knight, the players, the fans and the way they have things set up there, according to The Noblesville Ledger. Join us for a March Madness Webinar on Tuesday, March 7 at 8pm ET. Larry Bird played 13 seasons for the Celtics. If the answer was yes, then theres a chance there would be national championship banners from 1975 and 1976 hanging inside Assembly Hall right now. That story is largely lost to time and even better, he did it mostly because of a dare. Larry Bird was a co-star of one of the greatest college basketball national championship games ever - Bird vs. Magic, when the undefeated Indiana State Sycamores took on the co-Big Ten champion . Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP. His Mom and Dad divorced while Bird was in HS, His dad shot and killed himself a year later. Born in 1956, in the state of Indiana, this player is known as the biggest reason behind why the Boston Celtics were led to the NBA championship in 1981, 1984, and 1986. . IU would have definitely won 1 or 2 more titles had Bird stuck around and become the player he eventually did. Join us for a March Madness Webinar on Tuesday, March 7 at 8pm ET. In the last 7 years, I've been covering everything related to the career and job seeking world. Following a sophomore season that was shortened by a broken ankle, Bird emerged as a star during his junior year. The following season . The following comes from The Tampa Bay Times: His best NCAA tournament game came in the Final Four against DePaul, when he scored 35 points with 16 rebounds and nine assists (all were NCAA tournament highs for him) while shooting 16-of-19 from the field. The hours he had spent working on his shot as a youngster paid big dividends in the NBA. He initially enrolled at Indiana University in 1974 but dropped out before the season began. And the rest is history. He was a 12-time All-Star, a two-time NBA Finals MVP and a nine-time member of the All-NBA First Team. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Bird took just two shots that night and made both, according to the Philadelphia Daily News, while he helped teammates Carl Nicks and Steve Reed score 50 combined. Fans were filling not only Boston Garden, which sold out the final 541 games of Birds career, but arenas all over the country to witness Birds exploits. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NCAA or its member institutions. "'You appear to be enjoying this,' one reporter commented. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Three-time NBA champion with Boston Celtics - 1981 . So, what will Larry Bird's age, height, and weight be in 2021? Theres no guarantee Bird wouldve stuck around for his senior season if he had stayed at IU, but doing so couldve allowed him to be the featured scorer on the Hoosiers if he wanted a larger share of shots after playing alongside Benson, the No. As a senior at Springs Valley High School, Bird averaged nearly 31 points and 21 rebounds per game. He was unflappable and virtually unstoppable. Subscribe to Stathead Basketball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Basketball Reference Database. Career information head-to-head including championships won, season and playoff stats, honors and awards and more. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. In an effort to stop Bird, Bradley coach Dick Versace installed what was referred to as the "Bird's Nest Defense," where two defenders would guard Bird and the other three defenders would cover the four other Sycamores. Few played tougher than Bird, who would leap into crowds and over press tables for loose balls. What if former IU football coach Clyde Smith hadnt resigned after an open and undercover campaign to oust him? We had guys last year who didn't care about passing. RotoWire names five under-the-radar players who could add value to your rosters as we approach fantasy playoffs. Their coach, Bill Hodges, is in his first year, the first rookie ever to take an undefeated team to the tournament final. Nearly 30 years ago, then-college basketball star Jamal Mashburn saw Larry Bird in a hotel prior to a week of scrimmages between The Dream Team and some of the country's top college players. He was such a deadly shooter that he sometimes practiced 3-pointers with his eyes closed. The following year Bird posted the third-longest free-throw streak in NBA history, hitting 71 consecutive attempts. ", In Bird's own words, here's the value he placed on ball movement: "My feeling about passing is that it don't matter who's doing the scoring as long as it's us. According to The New York Times, Hodges once said his primary contribution during Indiana States national runner-up season was not messing up Larry Bird.. 2022-23 Season Schedule; In a first-round series that year, Bird badly bruised his face in a second-quarter fall in Game 5 against Indiana. 1,400 points): 30.3 points, 16th all-time on the NCAA career scoring list: 2,850 points, Tied for 23rd all-time in career double-doubles: 68 double-doubles, Tied for 24th all-time in points in a season: 973 points (1979), Tied for 24th all-time in consecutive double-doubles in a season: 16 double-doubles (1979). The following year was Birds last. What if IU hired Jerry Tarkanian instead of Bob Knight, What if IU had solved Syracuses zone in 2013. He was there to prove a point. But even those legendary players didnt fill Boston Garden, wowing fans and dominating games as Bird did. Indiana womens basketball Q&A: HooplaWyatt on the Big Ten Tournament. Their top eight scorers eventually played in the NBA and they were a 31-1 juggernaut that ran through the Big Ten gauntlet unscathed and suffered their only loss of the season against Kentucky, 92-90, in the regional final. Player Season Finder . Let me be clear, college basketball would look and feel the same if Bird never transferred from IU to ISU, but the 1979 national championship game Bird vs. Magic is still the highest-rated college basketball game of all-time, with a 24.1 rating for a game in which 38 percent of all TVs in the country that were turned on at the time were tuned into Indiana State vs. Michigan State on NBC. Years later Bird admitted.."if i had it to do all over again, I'd have gone back to Bloomington, after he had gone home". The 1979-80 Celtics improved by 32 games to 61-21 and returned to the top of their division. Bird finished with 49 points, 14 rebounds, 12 assists and four steals. Larry Bird was a standout in Boston and one of the NBAs most iconic players ever. Layed him out cold. He pulls people together. He was a superstar in college basketball, in essence. Only a few photos exist from the game, but seeing it live would have been legendary. With Bird in the mix, IUs 1978 team wouldve been built around him, Woodson and Radford. On February 6, 1988, Larry Bird won his 3rd consecutive 3-point Contest while still wearing his warm-up jacket. He won the Rookie of the Year award, 3 MVP awards, 2 Finals MVP awards and 3 NBA championships. Larry Bird averages for the NBA season and Playoffs, including points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and other categories, year by year and career numbers. Under the leadership of Hodges, Bird and Co. went undefeated during the 1978-79 season and advanced to face Magic and his Spartans. With five seconds remaining and the Celtics trailing 107-106, Bird stole an Isiah Thomas inbounds pass and fed Dennis Johnson, whose layup gave Boston the win. OT: Larry Bird College Statistics. He missed the competition, and with each passing year the urge grew to get back into the NBA in a more active capacity. But he has said many times over the years that he would have never been able to play for Bob Knight. Magic Johnson was in the class of 1977. For one day, Bird got to prove he wasnt just a basketball player icing up in the locker room; he was a star at anything he wanted to try. Sucker punch in OVC tournament leads to 3 ejections. He left campus not long after that and literally hithhiked home. RELATED: The complete results from the best #MarchMadnessMoments bracket. "He was named an Indiana All-Star.". In Game 7 of the 1988 Eastern Conference semifinals against Atlanta, Bird engaged in a memorable fourth-quarter shootout with the Hawks Dominique Wilkins. 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Learn more and register, College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com Blog and Articles. Fans always seemed to be willing to give a ride to Birds parents, who couldnt afford a car of their own. What if Sam Wyche didnt leave IU after only 1 season? Bird poured in 20 points in the final period to outdo his counterpart and lead the Celtics to victory even though he had bronchial pneumonia. NCAA Tournament. After the 2011-12 season, Bird stepped down as the Pacers president of basketball operations, citing health issues. 18 Alabama and No. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Other notable performances by Bird include his career-high 49 points against Wichita State in February 1979, scoring 29 points in the first half against Butler in December 1978, just 10 months after he dropped 47 on the Bulldogs on the road. 'Coach, I'm dead,' moaned Bird. Larry Bird was born on 7 December 1956, making him 64 years old as of today, 2 August 2021. 10 Bird Was A Part Of The Most Watched College Game Ever . Check out the top highlights and plays from Larry Bird's storied NBA career. His last-second heroics, ranging from seemingly impossible reverse layups to miraculous 35-foot bombs over multiple defenders, never ceased to amaze those who followed his career. Odds & lines subject to change. The 1977 Hoosiers were led by senior center Benson (19.8 ppg, 10.5 rpg) and freshman guard Mike Woodson (18.5 ppg, 6.7 rpg), while just up the road, Bird was averaging 32.8 points on 54 percent shooting, along with 13.3 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.8 steals per night in his first season with Indiana State. Its also fair to speculate that the south wall of Assembly Hall might be a little more crowded if Larry Bird had never transferred from IU. ", The New York Times' Dave Anderson: "[Bill] Hodges likes to say that his primary contribution to the Sycamores this season has been 'not messing up Larry Bird. "He's a great passer and an excellent rebounder. Born: December 7, 1956 in West Baden, Indiana us College: Indiana State University High School: Springs Valley in French Lick, Indiana Lost to most people in the basketball statistics for the Springs Valley team that year, however, was a short piece in a Bedford newspaper that noted, "The freshman free-throw trophy was presented to Larry Bird. Russell Westbrook is being left wide open on offense, and hes still hurting the Clippers. Birth State: Indiana. Attended Indiana University for only 24 days. 5 ranking than their final record that was just one game above .500, having not cracked the AP poll after December 20. It determined the balance of power in the NBA throughout the 1980s, arguably the most important era in NBA history, helping to reestablish the Celtics as the best team in the Eastern Conference during this time.
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