Army Black Knights men's basketball

Army Black Knights men's basketball
Army Black Knights men's basketball
	2024–25 Army Black Knights men's basketball team
University	United States Military Academy
Head coach	Kevin Kuwik (2nd season)
Conference	Patriot
Location	West Point, New York
Arena	Christl Arena ; (capacity: 5,043)
Nickname	Black Knights
Colors	Black, gold, and gray;
Uniforms
Home	Away ;
Pre-tournament Premo-Porretta champions
	1923, 1944
Pre-tournament Helms champions
	1944

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.

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 two national championships, 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 named national champions by Premo-Porretta for 1923 and by the Helms Athletic Foundation for 1944,^[2] when they went undefeated (15–0),^[3] but declined an invitation to the NCAA tournament due to World War II. 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.^[4]

Head coach Bob Knight turned down the 1968 NCAA tournament invitation in favor of the NIT,^[5] 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 be 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.^[6]

The Black Knights are one of only three original major programs that were playing college basketball in 1939, when the inaugural NCAA tournament was held, that are still active Division I programs and one of 34 eligible teams to have never participated in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament .^[7]^[8] Army shares this distinction with William & Mary and The Citadel. St. Francis Brooklyn was a major program in 1939, and never made an NCAA tournament appearance but discontinued athletics in 2023,^[9] and is no longer eligible for the tournament.

The Black Knights have played in the National Invitational Tournament eight times^[10] 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.^[3]

Postseason results

National Invitation tournament

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

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1961	First Round	Temple	L 66–79
1964	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	St. Bonaventure Duquesne Bradley NYU	W 64–62 W 67–65 L 52–67 W 60–59
1965	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	St. Louis Western Kentucky St. John's NYU	W 70–66 W 58–54 L 60–67 W 75–74
1966	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	Manhattan San Francisco BYU Villanova	W 71–66 W 80–63 L 60–66 L 65–76
1968	First Round	Notre Dame	L 58–62
1969	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	Wyoming South Carolina Boston College Tennessee	W 51–49 W 59–45 L 61–73 L 52–64
1970	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	Cincinnati Manhattan St. John's LSU	W 72–67 W 77–72 L 59–60 W 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.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2016	First Round	NJIT	L 65–79

CBI results

The Black Knights have appeared in one College Basketball Invitational (CBI). Their record is 0–1.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2021	First Round	Bellarmine	L 67–77

Head coaches

Coach	Years	Record
Joseph Stilwell	1902–04 1908–11 1913–14	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	1921–23 1924–25	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