March Madness is usually about the chaos, but the 1987 NCAA basketball tournament was different. It felt heavy. It felt like a collision of eras. You had Bobby Knight, the general of the "Old Guard," trying to prove his motion offense could still win in a world that was rapidly changing. Then you had the arrival of the three-point line. People forget how much that changed things. Coaches hated it. Some fans thought it was a gimmick. But by the time the final buzzer sounded in New Orleans, the sport had shifted on its axis forever.
It wasn't just about Indiana winning. It was about how they did it.
The Three-Point Line Changed Everything (And Nobody Knew How to Use It)
1987 was the first year of the universal three-point shot in college hoops. Before this, it was a patchwork of conference rules. The line was set at 19 feet, 9 inches. Honestly? That’s a layup for modern guards. But back then, it was a psychological barrier. Teams like Providence, led by a young Rick Pitino and a skinny guard named Billy Donovan, realized the math before anyone else did. They bombed away. They made it to the Final Four basically because they figured out that three is more than two while everyone else was still trying to dump the ball into the post.
Providence was a six-seed. Nobody expected them to be there. But they took 280 threes that season. That sounds like a weekend's worth of shots for a modern NBA team, but in the context of the 1987 NCAA basketball tournament, it was revolutionary. They were the "Billy the Kid" Friars. They hunted the long ball, and it terrified traditionalists.
The Big Three: UNLV, Indiana, and Syracuse
If you ask anyone who watched the 1987 NCAA basketball tournament live, they’ll tell you about UNLV. Jerry Tarkanian’s "Runnin' Rebels" were a freight train. They came into the tournament 33-1. They played a style of defense that felt like being trapped in a phone booth with a swarm of bees. They were the favorites. Everyone assumed Tark the Shark would finally get his ring in '87.
Then you had Syracuse. Jim Boeheim had Dwayne "Pearl" Washington the year before, but in '87, he had Sherman Douglas and a freshman named Derrick Coleman. They were athletic, long, and played that 2-3 zone that would eventually become Boeheim’s trademark for the next four decades.
And then, Indiana.
✨ Don't miss: Simona Halep and the Reality of Tennis Player Breast Reduction
Bobby Knight’s Hoosiers weren't the most talented team on paper. They didn't have the raw NBA lottery talent that Syracuse or UNLV boasted. But they had Steve Alford. If you gave Alford an inch of daylight, the ball was through the net. He was the ultimate weapon for Knight’s rigid, screen-heavy motion offense. They were disciplined. They were tough. And they were playing for a coach who was at the absolute peak of his powers.
The Road to the Superdome
The early rounds were a blur of upsets and near-misses. One of the biggest "what ifs" involves a 14-seed named Austin Peay. They knocked off Illinois in the first round. They nearly beat Providence in the second. Imagine the timeline where Austin Peay makes a deep run—it almost happened.
But the Final Four in New Orleans was the heavy hitters.
Indiana vs. UNLV in the semifinal was the real championship for many fans. It was a clash of cultures. Knight vs. Tarkanian. The straight-laced Midwest vs. the glitz of Vegas. UNLV jumped out early. It looked like they were going to run Indiana out of the gym. But Knight’s teams didn't panic. They chipped away. They exploited UNLV's aggressiveness. Indiana won 97-93. It was a high-scoring, frantic masterpiece that proved the Hoosiers could play fast if they had to.
Syracuse, meanwhile, handled Providence. The Cinderella run ended. Pitino’s three-point barrage finally went cold against the Syracuse zone.
That Final Minute in New Orleans
The championship game between Indiana and Syracuse is legendary for a reason. It wasn't just the ending; it was the tension. The lead swapped hands constantly. With 30 seconds left, Syracuse was up by one. They had a chance to seal it at the free-throw line.
🔗 Read more: NFL Pick 'em Predictions: Why You're Probably Overthinking the Divisional Round
Freshman Derrick Coleman stepped up.
He missed the front end of a one-and-one.
If he makes that, Syracuse probably wins. If he makes that, Jim Boeheim doesn't have to wait until 2003 to get his championship. But he missed. Indiana got the rebound. They didn't call a timeout. Bobby Knight trusted his players to run the break.
The ball ended up in the hands of Keith Smart. Smart wasn't the star. Alford was the star. Everyone in the building expected the ball to go to Alford. Syracuse over-rotated. Smart took a dribble toward the baseline, rose up from about 16 feet, and let it go.
Swish.
The image of Smart jumping for joy while the Syracuse players stood frozen is the defining photo of the 1987 NCAA basketball tournament. Syracuse had five seconds left, but they couldn't get a clean look.
💡 You might also like: Why the Marlins Won World Series Titles Twice and Then Disappeared
Why 1987 Still Matters Today
We look back at this tournament as the birth of the modern era. It was the moment the "One Shining Moment" montage really became a cultural staple. It was the year we realized the three-point shot wasn't a gimmick; it was a tactical nuclear weapon.
There's also the Knight factor. This was the last of his three national championships. It cemented his legacy before the later controversies started to overshadow his coaching brilliance. It showed that "The System" worked.
Statistical Anomalies of the '87 Run:
- Steve Alford shot 7-of-10 from the three-point line in the title game.
- Indiana won the title despite shooting zero free throws in the second half of the championship game until the very end.
- The 1987 tournament saw the highest average scoring per game since the mid-70s because teams were still figuring out how to defend the arc.
What You Can Learn from the 1987 Hoosiers
If you're a student of the game or just a fan of sports history, the 1987 tournament offers a masterclass in poise. Indiana wasn't the fastest team. They weren't the highest jumpers. But they were the best at "the little things."
Actionable Insights for Basketball Historians and Players:
- Study the Motion Offense: If you want to understand spacing, watch the 1987 Indiana game film. Notice how Steve Alford never stops moving. His gravity opened up the floor for Keith Smart’s final shot.
- The One-and-One Lesson: Syracuse lost because of a missed free throw. It’s a cliché, but the 1987 final is the ultimate evidence that games are won at the charity stripe.
- Adaptability Wins: Bobby Knight was a traditionalist, but he let Alford shoot the three. He adapted his rigid philosophy just enough to utilize the new rule. In any competitive environment, the person who integrates new tools the fastest usually wins.
The 1987 NCAA basketball tournament wasn't just a series of games. It was the bridge between the old-school, post-up era and the modern, perimeter-oriented game we see today. It gave us one of the greatest finishes in sports history and a reminder that in March, anyone can become a hero with one shot from the baseline.
For those looking to dive deeper, tracking down the full broadcast of the Indiana-UNLV semifinal is a must. It’s a faster-paced game than you’d expect for the 80s and shows exactly why that Vegas team was so feared. Check out the "30 for 30" documentaries on the era for more context on the Knight-Tarkanian rivalry, which was just as intense off the court as it was on it.