Army men’s basketball seeks return to glory

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Zach Spiker winced at the score after the most intense game of the season: Navy 75, Army 66.

That it came in front of a home crowd of 5,291 on Jan. 10, the largest attendance in the history of West Point’s Christl Arena, made it that much more difficult for Army’s head coach.

“We’re working hard to develop a culture of winning, an attitude of believing you can win any and every game,” said Spiker, in his sixth year at Army. “We’re getting close to turning that corner. We did a few years ago. We’ve got to get back to that point.”

Reminders of past glory hang all around the 30-year-old home court: six NIT banners from the 1960s, when the tournament was as tough as any and Army basketball made headlines with Bob Knight as head coach and Mike Krzyzewski his stalwart captain.

Knight departed with a 102-50 record in six seasons after his only losing campaign in 1970-71. Krzyzewski, who graduated from West Point in 1969, succeeded Dan Dougherty as head coach in 1975 and posted three winning seasons and a 73-59 record in five years before leaving for Duke.

Since Coach K left in 1980, Army has had only two winning seasons: in 1984-85 with its all-time leading scorer Kevin Houston, and two years ago under Spiker, when it finished 16-15.

Now After Saturday’s loss at Bucknell, Army is now 6-2 on the road and sits 11-6 overall, though only 2-4 in the Patriot League as key contributors have been injured.

The Black Knights opened the season with five straight wins before Krzyzewski and his then-No. 2 Duke Blue Devils halted the streak. Army was within single digits in the second half before fading and losing by 20.

Beating the program that helped shape him into Coach K was both bittersweet and an eye-opener.

“I think Army could play anybody that we played and have a chance to beat them,” said Krzyzewski, whose 1976-77 Army team won its first seven games.

The Black Knights soon proved their old coach right, defeating Southern California 85-77 in overtime in Los Angeles.

“We can play with any team on our schedule. I think we’ve proven that in our nonconference schedule,” said Spiker, the second Army coach to win at least 10 games in five straight seasons.