The Army Black Knights men's basketball team represents the United States Military Academy in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college basketball. Army currently competes as a member of the Patriot League and plays its home games at Christl Arena in West Point, New York. The Black Knights are the oldest college basketball team in the United States to have never appeared in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

History Bob Knight, the coach with the most wins in NCAA men's basketball history, began his head coaching career at Army from 1965 to 1971 before moving on to Indiana. One of Knight's players at Army was Mike Krzyzewski, who later was head coach at Army before moving on to Duke and becoming the winningest men's basketball coach in NCAA Division I history.

Since its inception in 1903, Army retrospectively has been awarded a national championship, has made eight NIT appearances, has refused two NCAA tournament invitations, in 1944 and 1968, and has an overall 49.7% winning percentage.

The Black Knights were retroactively ranked as the nation's top college team by Premo-Porretta for 1923 season and were retroactively listed by the Helms Athletic Foundation as the national champion for 1944, when they went undefeated (15–0), but declined an invitation to the NCAA tournament due to World War II. While the NCAA lists the historical Helms selections for reference, neither the Helms title nor the Premo-Porretta ranking are officially recognized as national championships. The 1944 squad was captained by Edward C. Christl, who earned a posthumous Distinguished Service Cross during World War II and for whom the Black Knights' home arena is named.

Head coach Bob Knight turned down the 1968 NCAA tournament invitation in favor of the NIT, because he believed the Black Knights had a better chance of winning the NIT with Lew Alcindor and UCLA playing in the NCAA tournament. Further, Madison Square Garden was close enough to West Point to allow the Corps of Cadets to attend the games, and Army had participated in the NIT seven times in 10 years, including four of Knight's five seasons as head coach. They would go on to lose their first game of the 1968 NIT to Notre Dame.

As of 2025, the Black Knights are one of only three active Division I programs that were playing college basketball in 1939—when the inaugural NCAA tournament was held—but have never participated in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. Army shares this distinction with William & Mary and The Citadel. (St. Francis Brooklyn was also part of this group before it discontinued athletics in 2023.)

The Black Knights have played in the National Invitational Tournament eight times and also played in the 2016 edition of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT), their first appearance in a postseason tournament in 38 years, losing to NJIT in the first round.

Seasons

In 119 seasons, the Black Knights have a record of 1262–1276.

Postseason results

National Invitation Tournament The Black Knights have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) eight times. Their combined record is 13–10.

1961 First Round Temple L 66–79 1964 First RoundQuarterfinalsSemifinals3rd Place Game St. BonaventureDuquesneBradleyNYU W 64–62W 67–65L 52–67W 60–59 1965 First RoundQuarterfinalsSemifinals3rd Place Game St. LouisWestern KentuckySt. John'sNYU W 70–66W 58–54L 60–67W 75–74 1966 First RoundQuarterfinalsSemifinals3rd Place Game ManhattanSan FranciscoBYUVillanova W 71–66W 80–63L 60–66L 65–76 1968 First Round Notre Dame L 58–62 1969 First RoundQuarterfinalsSemifinals3rd Place Game WyomingSouth CarolinaBoston CollegeTennessee W 51–49W 59–45L 61–73L 52–64 1970 First RoundQuarterfinalsSemifinals3rd Place Game CincinnatiManhattanSt. John'sLSU W 72–67W 77–72L 59–60W 75–68 1978 First Round Rutgers L 70–72

CollegeInsider.com tournament The Black Knights have appeared in one CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). Their record is 0–1.

2016 First Round NJIT L 65–79

CBI results The Black Knights have appeared in two College Basketball Invitational (CBI). Their record is 1–2.

2021 First Round Bellarmine L 67–77 2025 First RoundQuarterfinals ElonFlorida Gulf Coast W 83–78L 65–68

Head coaches Joseph Stilwell 1902–041908–111913–14 41–14 No coach 1904–06 10–8 Harry Fisher 1906–07 9–5 B.H. Koehler 1907–08 9–3 Harvey Higley 1911–13 19–6 Jacob Devers 1914–16 16–9 Arthur Conrad 1916–17 3–8 Ivens Jones 1917–19 11–9 Joseph O'Shea 1919–21 30–7 Harry Fisher 1921–231924–25 46–5 Van Vleit 1923–24 16–2 Ernest Blood 1925–26 11–6 Leo Novak 1926–39 126–56 Valentine Lentz 1939–43 31–31 Edward Kelleher 1943–45 29–1 Stewart Holcomb 1945–47 18–13 John Mauer 1947–51 33–35 Elmer Ripley 1951–53 19–17 Bob Vanatta 1953–54 15–7 Orvis Sigler 1954–58 39–47 George Hunter 1958–63 63–48 Tates Locke 1963–65 40–15 Bob Knight 1965–71 102–50 Dan Dougherty 1971–75 31–66 Mike Krzyzewski 1975–80 73–59 Pete Gaudet 1980–82 12–41 Les Wothke 1982–90 92–135 Tom Miller 1990–92 10–46 Mike Conners 1992–93 4–22 Dino Gaudio 1993–97 36–72 Pat Harris 1997–2002 42–96 Jim Crews 2002–09 59–140 Zach Spiker 2009–16 102–112 Jimmy Allen 2016–2023 98–112 Kevin Kuwik 2023– 0–0

All-Americans

The following Army players were named NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans:

William Copthorne – 1910 (Helms Athletic Foundation) William Roberts – 1913 (Helms Athletic Foundation) Elmer Oliphant – 1915 (Helms Athletic Foundation) Gene Vidal – 1918 (Helms Athletic Foundation) Harry Wilson – 1927 (Helms Athletic Foundation) Dale Hall – 1944 (Consensus Second Team), 1945 (Consensus Second Team) Gary Winton – 1977 (AP Honorable Mention), 1978 (AP Honorable Mention) Kevin Houston – 1987 (NABC Third Team)

Academic All-Americans

The following Army players were named Academic All-America:

Mike Silliman – 1964 John Ritch – 1965 Robert Sherwin – 1972, 1973 Steve Rothert – 1989

Basketball Hall of Fame

The following Army players and coaches have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame:

Ernest Blood – 1960, former coach John Roosma – 1961, former player Elmer Ripley – 1972, former coach, inducted as a contributor Harry A. Fisher – 1973, former coach, inducted as a contributor Bob Knight – 1991, former coach Mike Krzyzewski – 2001, former coach and player, inducted as a coach

Major awards

Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Award: Outstanding Scholar-Athlete of the Year John Ritch – 1965

Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award Robert Sherwin – 1973

Haggerty Award Kevin Houston – 1987

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year Randy Cozzens – 1985 Kevin Houston – 1987

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year Les Wothke – 1985

Patriot League Men's Basketball Coach of the Year Pat Harris – 2001–02 Zach Spiker – 2012–13

Patriot League Men's Basketball Rookie of the Year David Ardayfio – 1990–91 Alex Morris – 1992–93 Kyle Wilson – 2012–13

Patriot League Men's Basketball Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Nelson – 2008–09 Josh Caldwell - 2020-21 Josh Caldwell - 2021-22

References

External links