The Bears did what 31 other teams couldn’t accomplish this season. They defeated previously unbeaten Gonzaga in a battle of the top two NCAA Tournament teams, 86-70, winning their program’s first men’s tournament national championship.
The 28-2 Bears’ physicality and aggressiveness flustered the 31-1 Bulldogs from the start, and they led by as many as 19 points in the first half at Lucas Oil Stadium.
And now the 1976 Indiana champions — the last to survive a season without a loss — can celebrate.
There will be a lot of excuses and explanations in trying to figure out what went wrong for Gonzaga.