Army Black Knights men's basketball

The Army Black Knights men's basketball team represents the United States Military Academy in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college basketball. Army currently competes as a member of the Patriot League and plays its home games at Christl Arena in West Point, New York.

Army Black Knights
2022–23 Army Black Knights men's basketball team
University	United States Military Academy
Head coach	Jimmy Allen (7th season)
Conference	Patriot
Location	West Point, New York
Arena	Christl Arena (Capacity: 5,043)
Nickname	Black Knights
Colors	Black, gold, and gray^[1]
Uniforms
Home Away
Pre-tournament Premo-Porretta champions
1923

History

Bob Knight, the one-time winningest men's basketball coach in NCAA history, began his head coaching career at Army from 1965 to 1971 before moving on to Indiana. One of Knight's players at Army was Mike Krzyzewski, who later was head coach at Army before moving on to Duke and becoming the winningest men's basketball coach in NCAA Division I history.

Since its inception in 1903, Army retrospectively has been awarded two national championships, has made eight NIT appearances, has refused two NCAA tournament invitations, in 1944 and 1968, and has an overall 49.7% winning percentage. The Black Knights are one of only four original Division I teams in history to have never participated in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and one of 35 elgibile teams.^[2][3] Army shares this distinction with William & Mary, The Citadel, and St. Francis Brooklyn. However, the Black Knights have played in the National Invitational Tournament eight times,^[4] and were retroactively named national champions by Premo-Porretta for 1923 and by the Helms Athletic Foundation for 1944,^[5] when they went undefeated (15–0),^[6] but declined an invitation to the NCAA tournament due to World War II. The 1944 squad was captained by Edward C. Christl, who earned a posthumous Distinguished Service Cross during World War II and for whom the Black Knights' home arena is named.^[7] The Black Knights played in the 2016 edition of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT), their first appearance in a postseason tournament in 38 years, losing to NJIT in the first round. The Black Knights did receive an NCAA Tournament invite in 1968, but head coach Bob Knight refused the bid, claiming they had a better chance to win the NIT. They would go on to lose their first game of the NIT to Notre Dame.^[8]

Seasons

Main article: List of Army Black Knights men's basketball seasons

In 119 seasons, the Black Knights have a record of 1262–1276.^[6]

Postseason results

National Invitation tournament

The Black Knights have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) eight times. Their combined record is 13–10.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1961	First Round	Temple	L 66–79
1964	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	St. Bonaventure Duquesne Bradley NYU	W 64–62 W 67–65 L 52–67 W 60–59
1965	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	St. Louis Western Kentucky St. John's NYU	W 70–66 W 58–54 L 60–67 W 75–74
1966	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	Manhattan San Francisco BYU Villanova	W 71–66 W 80–63 L 60–66 L 65–76
1968	First Round	Notre Dame	L 58–62
1969	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	Wyoming South Carolina Boston College Tennessee	W 51–49 W 59–45 L 61–73 L 52–64
1970	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	Cincinnati Manhattan St. John's LSU	W 72–67 W 77–72 L 59–60 W 75–68
1978	First Round	Rutgers	L 70–72

CollegeInsider.com tournament

The Black Knights have appeared in one CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). Their record is 0–1.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2016	First Round	NJIT	L 65–79

CBI results

The Black Knights have appeared in one College Basketball Invitational (CBI). Their record is 0–1.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2021	First Round	Bellarmine	L 67–77

Head coaches

Coach	Years	Record
Joseph Stilwell	1902–04 1908–11 1913–14	41–14
No coach	1904–06	10–8
Harry Fisher	1906–07	9–5
B.H. Koehler	1907–08	9–3
Harvey Higley	1911–13	19–6
Jacob Devers	1914–16	16–9
Arthur Conrad	1916–17	3–8
Ivens Jones	1917–19	11–9
Joseph O'Shea	1919–21	30–7
Harry Fisher	1921–23 1924–25	46–5
Van Vleit	1923–24	16–2
Ernest Blood	1925–26	11–6
Leo Novak	1926–39	126–56
Valentine Lentz	1939–43	31–31
Edward Kelleher	1943–45	29–1
Stewart Holcomb	1945–47	18–13
John Mauer	1947–51	33–35
Elmer Ripley	1951–53	19–17
Bob Vanatta	1953–54	15–7
Orvis Sigler	1954–58	39–47
George Hunter	1958–63	63–48
Tates Locke	1963–65	40–15
Bob Knight	1965–71	102–50
Dan Dougherty	1971–75	31–66
Mike Krzyzewski	1975–80	73–59
Pete Gaudet	1980–82	12–41
Les Wothke	1982–90	92–135
Tom Miller	1990–92	10–46
Mike Conners	1992–93	4–22
Dino Gaudio	1993–97	36–72
Pat Harris	1997–2002	42–96
Jim Crews	2002–09	59–140
Zach Spiker	2009–16	102–112
Jimmy Allen	2016–present	81–96

^[9]

All-Americans

The following Army players were named NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans:

• William Copthorne – 1910 (Helms Athletic Foundation)
• William Roberts – 1913 (Helms Athletic Foundation)
• Elmer Oliphant – 1915 (Helms Athletic Foundation)
• Gene Vidal – 1918 (Helms Athletic Foundation)
• Harry Wilson – 1927 (Helms Athletic Foundation)
• Dale Hall – 1944 (Consensus Second Team), 1945 (Consensus Second Team)
• Gary Winton – 1977 (AP Honorable Mention), 1978 (AP Honorable Mention)
• Kevin Houston – 1987 (NABC Third Team)

Academic All-Americans

The following Army players were named Academic All-America:

• Mike Silliman – 1964
• John Ritch – 1965
• Robert Sherwin – 1972, 1973
• Steve Rothert – 1989

Basketball Hall of Fame

The following Army players and coaches have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame:

• Ernest Blood – 1960, former coach
• John Roosma – 1961, former player
• Elmer Ripley – 1972, former coach, inducted as a contributor
• Harry A. Fisher – 1973, former coach, inducted as a contributor
• Bob Knight – 1991, former coach
• Mike Krzyzewski – 2001, former coach and player, inducted as a coach

Major awards

Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Award: Outstanding Scholar-Athlete of the Year

• John Ritch – 1965

Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award

• Robert Sherwin – 1973

Haggerty Award

• Kevin Houston – 1987

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

• Randy Cozzens – 1985
• Kevin Houston – 1987

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year

• Les Wothke – 1985

Patriot League Men's Basketball Coach of the Year

• Pat Harris – 2001–02
• Zach Spiker – 2012–13

Patriot League Men's Basketball Rookie of the Year

• David Ardayfio – 1990–91
• Alex Morris – 1992–93
• Kyle Wilson – 2012–13

Patriot League Men's Basketball Defensive Player of the Year

• Marcus Nelson – 2008–09
• Josh Caldwell - 2020-21
• Josh Caldwell - 2021-22

References

1. Army Brand Guidelines (PDF). April 13, 2015. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
2. "Kryzyzewski, Knight coached at Army. Army still has not made an NCAA tournament appearance. - The Washington Post". The Washington Post.
3. "Wall Street Journal blog: March Madness Claims New Victims".. Accessed March 18, 2008.
4. . Archived from the original on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2011-05-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 536. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
6. "Army Black Knights School History". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
7. Noles, Jim (2018). Undefeated: From Basketball to Battle - West Point's Perfect 1944 Season. Philadelphia: Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978-1-61200-512-6. OCLC 1096218534.
8. Chris Chase (11 March 2015). "The odd reason Army has never made the NCAA tournament". ftw.usatoday.com. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
9. "Army Black Knights Index". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Army Black Knights men's basketball.

• Official website