Army Black Knights men's basketball

{{Infobox college basketball team

|current = 2024–25 Army Black Knights men's basketball team

|name = Army Black Knights men's basketball

|logo = Army West Point logo.svg

|logo_size = 150

|institution = United States Military Academy

|conference = Patriot

|location = West Point, New York

|coach = Kevin Kuwik

|tenure = 2nd

|arena = Christl Arena

|capacity = 5,043

|nickname = Black Knights

|NCAAchampion3 = 1923, 1944

|NCAAchampion2 = 1944

|NCAAfinalfour =

|conference_tournament =

|conference_season =

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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 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 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,{{cite book|title=ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game|editor-last=ESPN|publisher=ESPN Books|location=New York, NY|year=2009|page=536|isbn=978-0-345-51392-2}} when they went undefeated (15–0),{{cite web|title=Army Black Knights School History|website=sports-reference.com|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/army|accessdate=March 8, 2022}} 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.{{Cite book |last=Noles |first=Jim |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1096218534 |title=Undefeated: From Basketball to Battle - West Point's Perfect 1944 Season |publisher=Casemate Publishers |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-61200-512-6 |location=Philadelphia |oclc=1096218534}}

Head coach Bob Knight turned down the 1968 NCAA tournament invitation in favor of the NIT,{{cite news|url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/new-york/syracuse/syracuse-herald-journal/1968/02-21/page-81|title=NCAA Taps 8 Tourney Fives|newspaper=Syracuse Herald-Journal|p=82|date=February 21, 1968|access-date=April 25, 2024}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/03/army-basketball-ncaa-tournament-mike-krzyzewski-bob-knight-coach-k-never-made-5-teams|title=The Odd Reason Army Has Never Made the NCAA Tournament|last=Chase|first=Chris|website=USA Today|date=March 11, 2015|access-date=April 25, 2024}}

As of 2025, 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 38 eligible teams overall to have never participated in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.{{cite news|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/kryzyzewski-knight-coached-at-army-no-ncaa-tournament-teams-have-played-there/2016/01/31/70a5dc50-c7ae-11e5-a4aa-f25866ba0dc6_story.html|title = Kryzyzewski, Knight Coached at Army. Army Still Has Not Made an NCAA Tournament Appearance|newspaper= The Washington Post|last=Feinstein|first=John|date=February 1, 2016|access-date=April 25, 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/category/william-mary| title = Wall Street Journal blog: March Madness Claims New Victims|access-date=March 18, 2008}} 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.){{cite web|last1=McDaniel|first1=Mike|title=St. Francis Brooklyn to Eliminate Entire Athletics Program|url=https://www.si.com/college/2023/03/21/st-francis-brooklyn-terriers-eliminate-entire-athletics-program|access-date=August 2, 2023|website=Sports Illustrated|date=March 21, 2023}}

The Black Knights have played in the National Invitational Tournament eight times{{cite web|url=http://www.goarmysports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?%26DB_LANG%3DC%26ATCLID%3D205025306%26DB_OEM_ID%3D11100 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2011-05-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527094420/http://www.goarmysports.com/ViewArticle.dbml |archive-date=2010-05-27 }} 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.

class="wikitable" {{CollegePrimaryHeader\|team=Army Black Knights\|Year\|Round\|Opponent\|Result}}
align="center" \| 1961	First Round	Temple	L 66–79
align="center" \| 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
align="center" \| 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
align="center" \| 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
align="center" \| 1968	First Round	Notre Dame	L 58–62
align="center" \| 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
align="center" \| 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
align="center" \| 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.

class="wikitable"

{{CollegePrimaryHeader|team=Army Black Knights|Year|Round|Opponent|Result}}

align="center"

| 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.

class="wikitable"

{{CollegePrimaryHeader|team=Army Black Knights|Year|Round|Opponent|Result}}

align="center"

| 2021

First Round

Bellarmine

L 67–77

align="center"

| 2025

First Round
Quarterfinals

Elon
Florida Gulf Coast

W 83–78
L 65–68

Head coaches

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
{{CollegePrimaryHeader\|team=Army Black Knights\|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