1969–70 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team

The 1969–70 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team represented the University of Iowa in intercollegiate basketball during the 1969–70 season. The team was led by Ralph Miller and played their home games at the Iowa Field House. The Hawkeyes finished the season 20–5 and won the Big Ten title with a 14–0 conference record. To date, this is the last outright regular season conference title for the Iowa men's basketball team.

1969–70 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball
Big Ten Champions
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Sweet Sixteen Mideast Regional, Third Place
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 7
AP	No. 7
Record	20–5 (14–0 Big Ten)
Head coach	Ralph Miller (6th season)
Assistant coaches	Lanny Van Eman Dick Schultz
MVP	John Johnson
Home arena	Iowa Field House (Capacity: 13,365)
Seasons ← 1968–69 1970–71 →

1969–70 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 7 Iowa	14	–	0		1.000			20	–	5		.800
Purdue	11	–	3		.786			18	–	6		.750
Ohio State	8	–	6		.571			15	–	9		.625
Illinois	8	–	6		.571			15	–	9		.625
Minnesota	7	–	7		.500			13	–	11		.542
Michigan	5	–	9		.357			10	–	14		.417
Wisconsin	5	–	9		.357			10	–	14		.417
Michigan State	5	–	9		.357			9	–	15		.375
Northwestern	4	–	10		.286			9	–	15		.375
Indiana	3	–	11		.214			7	–	17		.292
Rankings from AP Poll

After opening the season 3–4, the Hawkeyes won 17 of their final 18 games. Led by a nucleus of players known as the "Six Pack" – John Johnson, Chad Calabria, Fred Brown, Glenn "Stick" Vidnovic, Dick Jensen, and Ben McGilmer – the team averaged 98.7 points per game including a conference-record 102.9 points per game in Big Ten games. They opened NCAA tournament play with a 104–103 loss to eventual National runner-up Jacksonville. The Hawkeyes regrouped to defeat Notre Dame 121–106 in the Mideast Regional Third-Place game.

Roster

1969–70 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown G 3 Jim Hodge 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) — Sr   F/C 4 Dick Jensen 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) — Sr Madrid, Iowa 10 George Conway — — Jr   11 Gary Lusk — — So   F/C 14 Ben McGilmer 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) — Sr   24 Ken Grabinski — — So   G 32 Fred Brown 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) — Jr Milwaukee, Wisconsin C 33 Tom Miller 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) — Jr   40 Omar Hazley — — Jr   42 Lynn Rowat — — So   G 43 Chad Calabria 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) — Sr Aliquippa, Pennsylvania F 44 Glenn Vidnovic 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) — Sr McKeesport, Pennsylvania F 50 John Johnson 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Sr Milwaukee, Wisconsin 51 Joe Miranda — — Sr   52 Tom Schulze — — Sr	Head coach Ralph Miller (Kansas) Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt

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Schedule/results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
12/6/1969*		at Southern Illinois	L 67–73	0–1	–	–	–	SIU Arena  Carbondale, Illinois
12/9/1969*		St. Francis (PA)	W 81–68[2]	1–1	–	–	–	Iowa Field House (12,909) Iowa City, IA
12/11/1969*		No. 7 Duquesne	W 98–87[3]	2–1	23 – Vidnovic	13 – Johnson	–	Iowa Field House  Iowa City, IA
12/18/1969*		at Cincinnati	L 105–114[4]	2–2	33 – Johnson	–	–	Armory Fieldhouse (7,000) Cincinnati, Ohio
12/20/1969*		Creighton	L 88–97	2–3	–	–	–	Iowa Field House  Iowa City, IA
12/22/1969*		Drake Rivalry	W 101–78[5]	3–3	23 – Calabria	13 – Johnson	–	Iowa Field House (13,503) Iowa City, IA
12/26/1969*		vs. St. John's Rainbow Classic	L 55–57	3–4	–	–	–	Honolulu International Center  Honolulu
12/30/1969*		at Hawaii Rainbow Classic	W 111–60[6]	4–4	33 – Johnson	–	–	Honolulu International Center  Honolulu, HI
1/3/1970		No. 17 Purdue	W 94–88[7]	5–4 (1–0)	–	–	–	Iowa Field House  Iowa City, IA
1/6/1970		at Michigan	W 107–99[8]	6–4 (2–0)	34 – Johnson	–	–	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, Michigan
1/10/1970		at Wisconsin	W 92–74[9]	7–4 (3–0)	31 – Johnson	–	–	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, Wisconsin
1/24/1970*	No. 20	Tennessee Tech	W 96–68[10]	8–4	25 – Calabria	11 – McGilmer	–	Iowa Field House  Iowa City, IA
1/31/1970	No. 20	Indiana	W 100–93[11]	9–4 (4–0)	31 – Vidnovic	–	–	Iowa Field House  Iowa City, IA
2/3/1970	No. 20	Minnesota	W 90–77[12]	10–4 (5–0)	33 – Johnson	–	–	Iowa Field House  Iowa City, IA
2/7/1970	No. 20	at Indiana	W 104–89[13]	11–4 (6–0)	33 – Johnson	–	–	New Fieldhouse  Bloomington, Indiana
2/10/1970	No. 14	Wisconsin	W 119–100[14]	12–4 (7–0)	29 – Tied	8 – Johnson	–	Iowa Field House  Iowa City, IA
2/14/1970	No. 14	Michigan State	W 103–77[15]	13–4 (8–0)	36 – Johnson	–	–	Iowa Field House  Iowa City, IA
2/17/1970	No. 11	at Illinois Rivalry	W 83–81[16]	14–4 (9–0)	22 – Brown	–	–	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, Illinois
2/21/1970	No. 11	at Ohio State	W 97–89[17]	15–4 (10–0)	38 – Johnson	–	–	St. John Arena  Columbus, Ohio
2/24/1970 7:30 pm	No. 9	Northwestern	W 116–97[18][19]	16–4 (11–0)	49 – Johnson	–	–	Iowa Field House (13,503) Iowa City, IA
2/28/1970	No. 9	at Purdue	W 108–107[20][21]	17–4 (12–0)	26 – Johnson	12 – Johnson	–	Purdue Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, Indiana
3/3/1970 7:30 pm	No. 8	Ohio State	W 113–92[22]	18–4 (13–0)	37 – Johnson	–	–	Iowa Field House  Iowa City, IA
3/7/1970	No. 8	at Northwestern	W 115–101[23]	19–4 (14–0)	32 – Johnson	–	–	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, Illinois
NCAA tournament
3/12/1970*	No. 7	vs. No. 4 Jacksonville Regional semifinal	L 103–104[24][25][26]	19–5	27 – Brown	8 – Tied	–	St. John Arena  Columbus, Ohio
3/14/1970*	No. 7	vs. No. 9 Notre Dame Regional consolation	W 121–106[27][28]	20–5	31 – Tied	11 – Vidnovic	–	St. John Arena (13,865) Columbus, Ohio
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Rankings

Main article: 1969–70 NCAA University Division men's basketball rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Final
AP	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	18	20	20	14	11	9	8	7
Coaches	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	11	9	8	7	7

Player stats

Player	Games Played	FG-FGA	FG%	FT-FTA	FT%	Rebounds	Points	Avg.
John Johnson	25	289-508	.569	121-161	.752	253	699	27.9
Chad Calabria	25	181-330	.548	117-146	.801	139	479	19.1
Fred Brown	24	180-360	.500	69-86	.802	91	429	17.9
Glenn Vidnovic	25	150-278	.540	133-152	.875	164	433	17.3
Ben McGilmer	25	100-178	.562	58-70	.829	109	258	10.3
Dick Jensen	23	29-80	.363	14-29	.483	111	72	3.1

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Awards and honors

• John Johnson – Third-Team All-American, AP and UPI; school-records of 27.9 ppg and 49 points in a single game vs. Northwestern on Feb. 24, 1970

Team players in the 1970 NBA draft

See also: 1970 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	7	John Johnson	Cleveland Cavaliers

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References

1. "1969-70 Iowa Hawkeyes Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
2. "Hawks Topple St. Francis" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. December 10, 1969. p. 4. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
3. "Hawks Jell, Jolt No. 7 Duquesne!" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. December 12, 1969. p. 5. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
4. "Cincinnati Burns Iowa, 114-105" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. December 19, 1969. p. 7. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
5. "Hawks Blast Rival Drake, 101-78" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. December 23, 1969. p. 3. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
6. "UI Gets 7th" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. December 31, 1969. p. 1. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
7. "53 by Mount – Iowa Wins, 94-88". The Des Moines Register. January 4, 1970. p. 29. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
8. "Hawks Win AT Michigan!" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. January 7, 1970. p. 5. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
9. "Hawks Zoom In First Half, Crush Badgers, 92-74". The Des Moines Register. January 11, 1970. p. 29. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
10. "Preliminaries Over for 8-4 Hawkeye Cagers" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. January 27, 1970. p. 4. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
11. "Drake Goes 9-0; It's Iowa, 100-93". The Des Moines Register. February 1, 1970. p. 30. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
12. "Iowa Takes Big Ten Top, 90-77!". The Des Moines Register. February 4, 1970. p. 17. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
13. "Rowdy Fans Fire Up Iowa to 6-0". The Des Moines Register. February 8, 1970. p. 29. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
14. "Whew! Hawkeyes Outlast Badgers,119·100" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. February 11, 1970. p. 4. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
15. "103-77 Romp Lifts Iowa to 8-0". The Des Moines Register. February 15, 1970. p. 27. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
16. "Iowa Mark to 9-0, 83-81" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. February 18, 1970. p. 6. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
17. "Johnson's 38 Send Iowa to 10-0!". The Des Moines Register. February 22, 1970. p. 33. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
18. "Iowa Wins 13th In Row". New York Times. February 25, 1970. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
19. "Johnson, Iowa Rip NU, Stay 2-Up on Purdue" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. February 25, 1970. p. 8. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
20. Jares, Joe (March 9, 1970). "The Dealers roll to a title: Led by 'J.J.' Johnson, Iowa's slick combo came on late with the acid to edge Purdue and take the Big Ten championship". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
21. "Champion Hawks Eye 15th Straight Tonight" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. March 3, 1970. p. 4. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
22. "Hawks Roll Past Buckeyes for 15th Straight" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. March 4, 1970. p. 8. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
23. "Hawkeyes End With Perfect Big 10 Slate". The Logansport Press. March 8, 1970. p. 14. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
24. "Hawks Lose Heartbreaker to Jacksonville" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. March 13, 1970. p. 8. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
25. "Iowa's Bubble Bursts, 104-103!". Des Moines Register. March 13, 1970. p. 25. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
26. "Jacksonville vs. Iowa Box Score, March 12, 1970". Sports Reference. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
27. "Miller's Hawkeyes Rip Irish". The Gazette (Cedar Rapids). March 15, 1970. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
28. "Notre Dame vs. Iowa Box Score, March 14, 1970". Sports Reference. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
29. "1969-70 Iowa Hawkeyes Roster and Stats". sports-reference.com. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
30. "1970 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved January 15, 2016.