Ball State Cardinals men's basketball

College basketball program in Muncie, Indiana, U.S.

2024–25 Ball State Cardinals men's basketball team

University

Ball State University

First season

1920–21; 104 years ago

Head coach

Michael Lewis (3rd season)

Conference

Mid-American

Location

Muncie, Indiana

Arena

Worthen Arena
(capacity: 11,500)

Nickname

Cardinals

Student section

The Nest

Colors

Cardinal and white

Uniforms

Home

Away

NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen

1990

NCAA tournament round of 32

1989, 1990

NCAA tournament appearances

1964*, 1981, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1995, 2000
*at Division II level

NAIA tournament second round

1957

Conference tournament champions

1981, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1995, 2000

Conference regular season champions

1981, 1982, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1998, 2000

Conference division season champions

1998, 2000, 2002, 2009, 2016, 2017, 2020

Ball State–Indiana State rivalry
Statistics
Sport	Men's basketball
Teams	Ball State Cardinals Indiana State Sycamores
First meeting	February 11, 1922 Indiana State 47, Ball State 12
Latest meeting	November 6, 2018 Ball State 86, Indiana State 69
Meetings total	131
All-time series	Indiana State leads, 73–60
Largest victory	Indiana State, 65–19 (1922–23)
Longest win streak	Indiana State, 8 (1969–1973) Ball State, 5 (1953–1955)
Current win streak	Indiana State, 1 (2020–present)

Ball State–Butler rivalry
Statistics
Sport	men's basketball
Teams	Ball State Cardinals Butler Bulldogs
First meeting	December 23, 1924 Butler 27, Ball State 13
Latest meeting	November 23, 2013 Ball State 53, Butler 67
Meetings total	105
All-time series	Butler leads, 67–38
Largest victory	Butler, 67–17 (1921–22)
Longest win streak	Butler, 13 (1958–1964) Ball State, 7 (1977–1982)
Current win streak	Butler, 1 (2012–present)

The Ball State Cardinals men's basketball team represents Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. The Cardinals first basketball season was 1920–21. The school's team currently competes in the Mid-American Conference. The team last played in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in 2000.

The Cardinals have had various levels of success throughout their 94 seasons of competition. Although there was little success in the program from its start until the 1970s, the next two decades would be the highlight of the program's performance. Ball State became a sporadic leader in the Mid-American Conference, winning a record seven MAC tournaments between 1981 and 2000. The Cardinals also accomplished a large feat during the 2001 Maui Invitational Tournament, when they upset #4 Kansas and #3 UCLA on consecutive days. In 2017, the Cardinals beat #8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Purcell Pavilion by a score of 80-77, breaking a sixteen year drought against ranked teams.

Rivals

Ball State's rivals in men's basketball are against other in-state, out-of-conference programs Butler (since 1924), Evansville (since 1929), Indiana State (since 1922), and Valparaiso (since 1927). Prior to moving to the Division I Mid-American Conference in the 1971–72 season, Ball State shared conferences with its rivals, in the Indiana Intercollegiate Conference and later Indiana Collegiate Conference, both Division II.

All-Time Results by season

Main article: List of Ball State Cardinals men's basketball seasons

Postseason

NCAA Division I tournament

The Cardinals have appeared in seven NCAA Division I Tournaments. All of their tournament appearances have been automatic bids given to the Cardinals as a result of winning the MAC tournament. Their overall NCAA Tournament record is 3–7. Ball State's most successful year was 1990, when they reached the Sweet Sixteen but lost to eventual national champion UNLV, 69–67. It was the closest game UNLV played in that tournament - they won their five other games by an average margin of 23 points, including a 30-point win over Duke in the national championship game.

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
1981	#12	Round of 48	#5 Boston College	L 90–93
1986	#14	Round of 64	#3 Memphis State	L 63–95
1989	#9	Round of 64 Round of 32	#8 Pittsburgh #1 Illinois	W 68–64 L 60–72
1990	#12	Round of 64 Round of 32 Sweet Sixteen	#5 Oregon State #4 Louisville #1 UNLV	W 54–53 W 62–60 L 67–69
1993	#15	Round of 64	#2 Kansas	L 72–94
1995	#12	Round of 64	#5 Arizona State	L 66–81
2000	#11	Round of 64	#6 UCLA	L 57–65

National Invitation tournament

The Cardinals have appeared in four National Invitation Tournament tournaments. Their overall NIT record is 3–4. Their most successful year in the NIT was 2002, when the Cardinals gained all three of their NIT victories but lost to eventual national runner-up South Carolina.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1991	First round	Cincinnati	L 55–83
1992	First round	Utah	L 57–72
1998	First round	Memphis	L 67–90
2002	Opening Round First round Second Round Quarterfinals	South Florida Saint Joseph's LSU South Carolina	W 98–92 W 75–65 W 75-65 L 47–82

CollegeInsider.com tournament

The Cardinals have appeared in two CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournaments (CIT). Their combined record is 2–2.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2016	First round Second Round Quarterfinals	Tennessee State UT Martin Columbia	W 78–73 W 83–80 L 67–69
2017	First round	Fort Wayne	L 80–88

NCAA Division II tournament

The Cardinals have appeared in the NCAA Division II tournament one time. Their record is 0–2.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1964	Regional semifinals Regional 3rd-place game	Southern Illinois Jackson State	L 81–88 L 71–92

NAIA tournament

The Cardinals have appeared in the NAIA tournament one time. Their record is 1–1.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1957	First round Second Round	Troy State Texas Southern	W 98–70 L 72–97

1990 Sweet Sixteen team

After the departure of head coach Rick Majerus, Ball State responded under new coach Dick Hunsaker by having the best season in the school's history. This group of Cardinals became the first team in the Mid-American Conference history to win two consecutive MAC regular season conference championships as well as back-to-back conference tournament titles. The 1990 Ball State basketball team also became the first team in the MAC to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament in its current format. The Cardinals lost in the Sweet 16 to the eventual national champions UNLV Runnin' Rebels, 69–67.

The team was led by many transfer players and two of Coach Hunsaker’s key transfers, starting forwards Paris McCurdy and Curtis Kidd, were high school teammates. They both signed to play their college ball at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock. However, because of disciplinary reasons, the two had to find a new school. Former coach Rick Majerus gave them a second chance, and they came through. The two became the key assets to Ball States Sweet 16 run.

The Cardinals finished the regular season at 26-7 before heading to the NCAA tournament. The Cardinals were a 12 seed and began the tournament at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City. They upset the Oregon State Beavers in what was star point guard Gary Payton’s last game in college. Ball State then had to play the Louisville Cardinals next. They ended up defeating Louisville late in the game by a final score of 62–60. Meanwhile, in Muncie, fans stormed the village (the center of Ball State's off campus social scene) after the win. Ball State advanced to face the top-seeded UNLV Runnin' Rebels. Ball State shut down one of the best offenses in college basketball history and had a chance to win it in the final seconds. Down by two, the Cards made a deep pass to tie or take the lead but it was picked off.

Players

Retired numbers

Main article: List of NCAA men's basketball retired numbers

The Cardinals have retired two numbers in their history:


No.	Player	Position	Career	Ref.
10	Ray McCallum	PG	1979–1983
42	Bonzi Wells	SF	1994–1998

NBA players

Three Cardinals players have gone on to play professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA)

International players

Jarrod Jones (born 1990), American-Hungarian basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Marcus Norris (born 1974), 2003–04 Israeli Basketball Premier League Defensive Player of the Year
Terrence Watson (born 1987), American-Israeli basketball player for Hapoel Eilat of the Israeli Basketball Premier League

References

"Brand Colors - Ball State University". Retrieved May 23, 2017.
"Rivals Ball State, Butler Meet Saturday in Indy". Ball State Athletics. November 30, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
"All-time series: Evansville" (PDF). Ball State Men's Basketball Record Book. Ball State Sports. p. 30. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
"MBB Hosts Indiana State as Part of Saturday Twinbill". Ball State Sports. December 4, 2014. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
"Men's Hoops Opens 2009-10 Season Tonight Against Valpo". Ball State Sports. November 13, 2009. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
Matthew, Tyson (August 15, 2006). "How Sweet It Was: The Story of Ball States 1990 Sweet 16 Season" (PDF). Ball State Library. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
Joe, Juliano (March 18, 1989). "Ball State Coach Leads A Rapid Rise". Archived from the original on September 14, 2015. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
Rhoden, William (March 15, 1989). "BASKETBALL; Unfamiliar Spotlight for Ball State". The New York Times. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
Berkowitz, Steve (March 22, 1990). "COMMENTARY : A Cinderella Story for the Sweet 16: Ball State and Coach". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
Engel, Mac (March 15, 2011). "The Greatest Dunk You Forgot: #UNLV vs. #BallState in '90 #NCAA Tournament". Sports Blog Star. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
"20 Years Ago Ball State Helped Begin Mid-Major Revolution". LanceWilkerson.com. March 25, 2010. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
^ "Twenty-Five Years and Still in the Game, Bonzi Celebrates Silver Anniversary". ballstatesports.com. Retrieved 2020-11-15.

External links

Official website

v t e Ball State Cardinals men's basketball
Venues	Ball Gymnasium (1925–1963) Irving Gymnasium (1963–1992) Worthen Arena (1992–present)
Culture & lore	Charlie Cardinal
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1942–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

Ball State University

Located in: Muncie, Indiana

Academics

Colleges	Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning Miller College of Business College of Communication, Information, and Media Teachers College
Other	Burris Laboratory School Center for Business and Economic Research Center for Energy Research/Education/Service Center for Middletown Studies Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities

Athletics

Teams	Baseball Men's basketball Women's basketball Football
Venues	Ball Diamond Irving Gymnasium Scheumann Stadium Worthen Arena
Lore	Bronze Stalk Trophy Charlie Cardinal Indiana State rivalry Marching Band

Campus

Student life

People

Founded: 1918
Students: 21,597
Endowment: $212.8 million
Category

v t e Mid-American Conference men's basketball
Teams	Akron Zips Ball State Cardinals Bowling Green Falcons Buffalo Bulls Central Michigan Chippewas Eastern Michigan Eagles Kent State Golden Flashes Miami RedHawks Northern Illinois Huskies Ohio Bobcats Toledo Rockets Western Michigan Broncos
Future teams	UMass Minutemen (joining in 2025)
Championships & awards	MAC tournament Regular season champions Player of the Year
Seasons	1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

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