Hoosier Favorite No. 21? Picking Favorite Indiana Basketball Players, One Number At a Time

There are no names on the Indiana basketball jerseys, just a number, and those digits mean a lot to all Hoosiers fans. We want to know who your favorites are, resuming with the No. 21 in Indiana basketball history that's meant the most to you. Pick your favorite, and we'll do this every day for the rest of the summer.

Haley Jordan | Jul 18, 2022

USA Today

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Welcome back to our summer series where Hoosier basketball fans can vote on their favorite Indiana players to ever wear each number. Today, we resume with all the best to wear No. 21.

Hoosier favorite?

Every day we're going to give you four choices along with a short player bio to pick your favorite Hoosier who wore a certain number.

Here are your four No. 21 jersey choices in alphabetical order so that we're not showing bias. Be sure to take the poll below via Twitter.

(Editor's Note: We'll take results for 48 hours on the poll and then share results on this story the next day, so keep coming back to see the results.)

Quinn Buckner (1972-76)

Guard Quinn Buckner from Phoenix, Ill. ranks as Indiana's 40th all-time leading scorer with 1,195 total points shooting 43.2 percent from the field.

Buckner was a member of the Hoosiers team that advanced to the 1973 Final Four, former head coach Bob Knight's first Final Four appearance in his second year of coaching the Hoosiers.

Indiana fell 70-59 to UCLA but defeated Providence 97-79 in the National Third Place Game.

Fast forward three years, and Buckner helped lead the Hoosiers to the 1976 NCAA title defeating Michigan 86-68 for Indiana's third championship and Knight's first with the team.

Throughout his Hoosiers career, Buckner was team captain in 1974 and 1976 and was a key role in leading the Hoosiers to four Big Ten regular season championships throughout his time on the roster.

Buckner went on to be a starter and captain of the 1976 Olympic team, which one a gold medal.

Bobby Leonard (1952-54)

Bobby "Slick" Leonard from Terre Haute, Ind. is perhaps best known for hitting the winning free throw in the Hoosiers' 1953 NCAA championship win over Kansas, Indiana and former head coach Branch McCracken's second NCAA title.

Leonard was named a third team All-American in 1953 and got bumped up to second team the following season. He finished his Hoosiers career with 779 points averaging 15.9 points per game.

Following his Hoosiers career, Leonard was selected by the Baltimore Bullets as the tenth overall pick in the 1954 NBA draft. He spent the majority of his professional career with the Lakers. He wasn't done yet as he later moved on to coach the ABA's Indiana Pacers for nearly 12 years before becoming a color commentator for the Pacers in 1985.

Winston Morgan (1981-86)

Guard/forward Winston Morgan started in 50 out of 107 games played for the Hoosiers finishing with 478 points and 300 assists. Although he only shot one three-pointer, he did indeed make it for a perfect 100 percent. More impressive, Morgan shot 51.5 percent from the field.

Under Coach Bob Knight, Morgan helped lead the Hoosiers to four NCAA Tournament appearances upon the Anderson Ind. native's arrival following Indiana's NCAA championship win over North Carolina in 1981.

Chris Reynolds (1989-93)

Guard Chris Reynolds made the NCAA Tournament with the Hoosiers in each of his seasons under Coach Bob Knight.

The best of those appearances was in the 1992 tournament when Indiana knocked off No. 1 seed UCLA to advance to the Final Four versus Duke who won 81-78.

Reynolds scored 480 total points at Indiana shooting 50 percent from the field and 61.1 percent from the free throw line.

A couple decades later, Reynolds became Bradley University's 10th director of athletics in 2015 and was promoted to vice president for intercollegiate athletics in 2018, a position he still holds.

All-time No. 21's at Indiana

Here are all of the players who have worn No. 21 at Indiana:

Jerome Hunter — (2018-21)
Freddie McSwain Jr. — (2016-18)
Joe Fagan — (2013-14)
Ben Allen — (2005-07)
Mark Johnson — (2001-05)
Richard Mandeville — (1993-98)
Chris Reynolds — (1989-93)
Mike D’Aloisio — (1988-89)
Winston Morgan — (1981-86)
Quinn Buckner — (1972-76)
John Hickey — (1969-70)
Harold Curdy — (1966-67)
Dave Holland — (1961-62)
Leroy Johnson — (1958-60)
Hallie Bryant — (1954-57)
Bobby Leonard — (1952-54)
Otto Case — (1950-51)
Sheldon Turner — (1949-50)
Tyrie Robbins — (1948-51)
Dean Daniels — (1944-45)
Dick Wittenbraker — (1941-43, 1945-46)
Max Hasler — (1939-41)
Bob Dro — (1938-41)
Taylor Hoffar — (1930-33)
Maurice Massy — (1929-31)

Vote for your favorite No. 21 on Twitter

You'll be able to vote on Twitter for your favorite player with each number. Here's the link to today's poll for No. 21.

Hope you're enjoying all the throwback photos! Hoosier Favorite #iubb player to ever wear No. 21? Read the blurb about each nominee, and vote below! https://t.co/Kf6c0dl0a5
— Indiana Hoosiers on SI (@HoosiersNowFNSI) July 18, 2022