Читать книгу Indiana University Olympians. From Leroy Samse to Lilly King онлайн

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It was momentous enough that the 1975–76 Indiana Hoosiers, at 32–0, are the last NCAA champions to go undefeated. Buckner and May? They were 40–0.

They were key pieces on the US team that exacted revenge in the Montreal Olympics for what happened at Munich in 1972. Officials had awarded a do-over to the Soviet Union, which beat Team USA 51–50 for the gold medal.

“That was all part and parcel to the additional drive that many of us had, to right that wrong,” Buckner said. “They stole it. It’s that simple.”

Buckner and May were 32–0 in college and 7–0 in the Olympics. They were 1–0 versus the Soviet Union. They helped the Hoosiers to a 94–78 victory over the reigning world champions in an exhibition before a sellout of 17,377 at Indianapolis’s Market Square Arena on November 5, 1975. May scored thirty-four points on thirteen-of-fifteen shooting.

That was not Buckner’s first experience against the Soviets, nor was it his first in international basketball. He was on a team that toured China in 1973 as part of US diplomacy.