1975–76 Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball team
American college basketball season
The 1975–76 Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball team was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college basketball team that played in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The Broncos, representing Western Michigan University (WMU), finished the season 25–3 overall and 15–1 in the conference, won the MAC championship and reached the Sweet Sixteen of the 1976 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament . They finished the season ranked No. 10 in the AP Poll and No. 19 in the UPI Poll .[ 1]
Season
The Broncos were featured in a Sports Illustrated article in the February 9, 1976, issue.[ 2]
After starting the season 16–0, the Broncos entered the AP Poll as the No. 17-ranked team.[ 3] In the MAC showdown against Miami in Kalamazoo, a Western Michigan University (WMU) record 10,519 fans attended the game.[ 2]
In an early-season game, WMU beat Wisconsin–Green Bay (UWGB) 51–50 on a put-back by Jeff Tyson with one second left on the clock. The Broncos led by 10 points early in the second half, but UWGB took the lead by one point with 10 seconds remaining. After a timeout, WMU missed a long 25-foot field goal, but Tyson was able to get the rebound and score.[ 4]
NCAA tournament
In the NCAA tournament , Western Michigan defeated Virginia Tech 77–67 in overtime. They lost to No. 2-ranked Marquette in the Sweet Sixteen by 5 points, 62–57.[ 5]
Roster
The following players were on the 1975–76 team:[ 6]
Dave Carnegie
Rod Curry
Tom Cutter
Dale DeBruin
Paul Griffin
Jimmie Harvey
Jim Kurzen
Marty Murray
Bob Pyykkonen
Herman Randle
Mark Rayner
Mike Reardon
Dave Roland
S. L. Sales
Marc Throop
Jeff Tyson
The team was coached by Eldon Miller , along with assistant coaches Dick Shilts and Rich Walker.[ 7]
Schedule
The Broncos finished the season 25–3 and first place in the MAC with a 15–1 record.[ 8]
Date time, TV
Rank#
Opponent#
Result
Record
Site (attendance) city, state
December 1, 1975 *
Grand Valley State
W 107–73
1–0
Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
December 3, 1975 *
Wisconsin–Parkside
W 77–74
2–0
Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
December 6, 1975 *
at Wisconsin–Green Bay
W 51–50
3–0
Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena (2,052[ 4] )Ashwaubenon, WI
December 10, 1975 *
at Northern Iowa
W 91–61
4–0
McElroy Auditorium (~850[ 9] [ 10] )Waterloo, IA
December 13, 1975 *
Michigan State
W 78–68
5–0
Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
December 15, 1975 *
Detroit
W 81–71
6–0
Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
December 20, 1975 *
Wisconsin–Oshkosh
W 115–83
7–0
Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
January 3, 1976
at Bowling Green
W 67–57
8–0 (1–0)
Anderson Arena Bowling Green, OH
January 7, 1976
at Eastern Michigan
W 78–58
9–0 (2–0)
Bowen Field House Ypsilanti, MI
January 10, 1976
Toledo
W 78–73
10–0 (3–0)
Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
January 14, 1976 *
Loyola (IL)
W 79–77
11–0
Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
January 17, 1976
at Northern Illinois
W 78–65
12–0 (4–0)
Chick Evans Field House DeKalb, IL
January 21, 1976
Kent State
W 75–53
13–0 (5–0)
Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
January 24, 1976
at Ball State
W 62–57
14–0 (6–0)
Irving Gymnasium Muncie, IN
January 28, 1976
Miami
W 82–68
15–0 (7–0)
Read Fieldhouse (10,519[ 1] )Kalamazoo, MI
January 31, 1976
Ohio
W 75–59
16–0 (8–0)
Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
February 4, 1976 *
No. 17
at Loyola (IL)
W 80–73
17–0
Alumni Gym Chicago, IL
February 7, 1976
No. 17
at Central Michigan
W 76–73
18–0 (9–0)
Daniel P. Rose Center Mount Pleasant, MI
February 11, 1976
No. 15
Eastern Michigan
W 85–73
19–0 (10–0)
Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
February 14, 1976
No. 15
at Toledo
L 80–88
19–1 (10–1)
Field House Toledo, OH
February 21, 1976
No. 17
Northern Illinois
W 91–74
20–1 (11–1)
Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
February 25, 1976
No. 16
at Kent State
W 73–63
21–1 (12–1)
Memorial Gym Kent, OH
February 28, 1976
No. 16
Ball State
W 93–67
22–1 (13–1)
Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
March 1, 1976 *
No. 16
at No. 8 Notre Dame
L 86–95 OT
22–2
Athletic and Convocation Center South Bend, IN
March 3, 1976
No. 14
at Miami
W 73–58
23–2 (14–1)
Millett Hall Oxford, OH
March 6, 1976
No. 14
Bowling Green
W 71–58
24–2 (15–1)
Read Fieldhouse Kalamazoo, MI
March 13, 1976 *
No. 16
vs. Virginia Tech NCAA tournament Round of 32
W 77–67 OT
25–2
Athletic and Convocation Center South Bend, IN
March 18, 1976 *
No. 10
vs. No. 2 Marquette NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen
L 57–62
25–3
LSU Assembly Center (14,150[ 5] )Baton Rouge, LA
*Non-conference game.
# Rankings from
AP Poll . (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
Statistics
The following table lists the individual player statistics for the season.[ 11]
Player
GP
GS
Pts
Avg
FG
FGA
Pct
FT
FTA
Pct
Reb
Avg
PF
FO
A
Jeff Tyson
28
28
501
17.9
212
425
.499
77
109
.706
132
4.7
83
3
63
Tom Cutter
28
28
362
12.9
140
217
.645
82
108
.759
298
10.6
84
2
57
Jimmie Harvey
28
28
356
12.7
163
323
.505
30
44
.682
100
3.6
73
1
42
Paul Griffin
28
28
303
10.8
115
192
.599
73
100
.730
277
9.9
82
5
84
Marty Murray
28
0
248
8.9
85
218
.390
78
108
.722
41
1.5
64
2
50
Jim Kurzen
28
28
198
7.1
79
170
.465
40
51
.784
44
1.6
53
0
72
Dave Carnegie
24
0
63
2.6
27
50
.540
9
17
.529
61
2.5
29
0
2
Dale DeBruin
19
0
48
2.5
17
33
.515
14
27
.519
40
2.1
25
0
7
S. L. Sales
18
0
42
2.3
18
40
.450
6
15
.400
19
1.1
15
0
0
Mike Reardon
21
0
40
1.9
17
36
.472
6
11
.545
9
0.4
8
0
0
Herman Randle
21
0
38
1.8
15
50
.300
8
14
.571
9
0.4
7
0
0
Marc Throop
12
0
10
0.8
2
8
.250
6
13
.462
15
1.3
9
0
0
Bob Pyykkonen
5
0
4
0.8
2
6
.333
0
1
.000
3
0.6
1
0
0
Dave Roland
6
0
3
0.5
0
5
.000
3
7
.429
1
0.2
1
0
1
Rod Curry
5
0
2
0.4
1
6
.167
0
0
–
5
1.0
1
0
0
Mark Rayner
1
0
0
0.0
0
0
–
0
0
–
2
2.0
1
0
0
WMU totals
28
2218
79.2
893
1779
.502
432
625
.691
1176
42.0
536
14
392
Opp. totals
28
1898
67.8
776
1817
.427
346
484
.715
–
–
581
–
330
Rankings
References
^ a b "2013–14 WMU Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF) . Western Michigan University. p. 54. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014 .
^ a b Hannon, Kent (February 9, 1976). "Who's Who In Kalamazoo. Western Michigan (16–0) is a new big shot, but just in its hometown" . Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on November 2, 2009. Retrieved January 22, 2014 .
^ "Western Michigan 1976 AP Men's Basketball Rankings" . College Poll Archive. Retrieved January 22, 2014 .
^ a b McGinn, Bob (December 7, 1975). "Last Shot Tips UWGB" . Green Bay Press Gazette . p. D-1. Retrieved March 16, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
^ a b "Official Basketball Box Score – Marquette vs Western Michigan – 3/18/76" (PDF) . Western Michigan University. March 18, 1976. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014 .
^ "Statistics Summary for 1975–76" . Western Michigan University. July 2, 2009. Retrieved January 24, 2014 .
^ "NCAA Tournament Team" . Western Michigan University. October 23, 2010. Retrieved January 24, 2014 .
^ "2013–14 WMU Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF) . Western Michigan University. pp. 85– 86. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014 .
^ Evans, Burke (December 10, 1975). "UNI outclassed by Broncos 91–61" . The Courier . p. 23. Retrieved March 16, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
^ Evans, Burke (December 10, 1975). "UNI outclassed by Broncos 91–61" . The Courier . p. 24. Retrieved March 16, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
^ "1975–76 Men's Basketball Stats" . Western Michigan University. July 2, 2009. Retrieved January 24, 2014 .
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