Most basketball fans know that Larry Bird first enrolled at Indiana before leaving after less than a month on campus, only later turning up at Indiana State. Stop and consider what might have happened had he stayed.
IU signed Bird in 1974 and he showed up on campus that fall, albeit briefly.
Bob Knight was still new at Indiana, having arrived in 1971. He was an immediate success, getting to the NIT in his first season and the Final Four in his second. In his fourth season, he had a great team that lost its first game in the Elite Eight because Scott May broke his arm.
Bird would have been on that 31-1 team. He would have been on the 32-0 1975-76 national championship team. And when that team lost key players, he would have become the leader of the 1976-77 team that went 16-11 and didn’t make the tournament. And in 1977-78, Indiana would have been in the Final Four and might have played Duke in the Finals.
And also in 1978, Bird would have dealt with Magic Johnson at Michigan State…unless of course he decided to go to Indiana instead. Unlikely, but not impossible.
Because if Bird had stuck around, there’s a strong chance that Indiana would have won four straight national championships.
Disagree?
Keep in mind that in 1979, Bird took a team of mostly non-descript players to within one win of an undefeated national championship.
And finally, keep in mind that Bob Knight was selling the basketball world on motion offense. Put it all together and Indiana would have been on a UCLA-type path.
To be sure, Knight’s temperament would have eventually derailed things, it wouldn’t have been a problem for Bird, who had no problem with being coached hard by Bill Fitch in the NBA, but it would have come up.
By the time it did though, IU would have four championships.
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