Knight is back in Sweet 16 without making changes
mercurynews.com
Texas Tech coach Bob Knight showed up for his news conference looking rather fresh and fashionable in a lavender sweater. What, does he have a new endorsement deal with Benetton? Even worse, Knight engaged in merriment with reporters, which certainly could be viewed as one of the seven signs of the apocalypse.
Who could predict that the Sweet 16 would give us the NutraSweet Knight? Surely, this will be interpreted as yet another sign that Knight is busy reinventing himself, evolving from old-school disciplinarian into a shining, new-age Knight.
Please.
Knight, 64, hasn't changed. It's become a trendy story line: Outdated coach is removed from his kingdom at Indiana, finds redemption in a backwater Texas town, becomes kinder and gentler, and suddenly re-emerges as a relevant figure.
Knight's son, Pat, a Tech assistant, actually has encouraged the angle by describing his father as "a little more laid back." But if you ask Knight's players about their coach's alleged softening, they literally laugh. If that's our story to tell and sell, they aren't buying. They appreciate Knight's tough love, and his teaching. But Tech's practices and meetings never will consist of Knight singing "Kumbaya" with his players.
Bob Knight guffaws at the theory that he's getting mooshy after all these years. And he politely waves off suggestions that this season represents one of the best coaching jobs of his 39-season career.
"I haven't changed any," he said. "But all coaches have to work harder at teaching kids today than ever before because kids aren't nearly as grounded in fundamentals as they once were. But I don't sit here and analyze myself. What really concerns me is trying to figure out what flies I'm going to use next time I go fishing."
The fishing expedition is delayed. As Knight leads Texas Tech into Thursday night's matchup against West Virginia in the semifinals of the Albuquerque Regional, understand that we're seeing a true giant of American sports in his element, proving that old-school methods still work.
The perceptions of Knight are all over the board. Those who dislike him always will view him as a bully. Those who respect him always will stress his attributes. Knight, meanwhile, isn't into image-making. He knows that the anti-Knight sides, and the pro-Knight sides, are entrenched.
And so is he. Knight still clings to the set of stubborn beliefs that were his foundation at Army and Indiana. He runs the motion offense, with players setting hard screens to create openings for shooters. He insists on playing gritty man-to-man defense. He demands toughness, intelligence, unselfishness and sound fundamentals. He enforces academic standards and graduates his players. And yes, Knight still occasionally vents his mind with howling gusts of political incorrectness. (Earlier this week, Knight went out of his way to demean Indiana coach Mike Davis.)
Knight has 854 wins, 25 short of tying Dean Smith's Division I men's record. He has been coaching college teams for 39 seasons, and the desire to teach and win is as potent as ever. That, more than anything else, explains why Knight is in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1994.
"To me, he's the same," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, a close friend who has known Knight since 1988. "He's a terrific competitor, he has tremendous knowledge of the game, and he's an excellent teacher. He must be awfully tough to coach against because his teams are so well-prepared. His system works. It never stopped working."
Indeed, this Texas Tech team reflects Knight's core values. Give him a hungry, coachable group of players who are willing to learn, willing to sacrifice, and he'll maximize their talent. Knight took over a lost-in-the-wilderness Texas Tech program four seasons ago, and he has led the Red Raiders to four 20-win seasons and three NCAA Tournaments. Knight can scoop up these basketball tumbleweeds and still make a team out of them.
Knight's reappearance in the Sweet 16 is being portrayed as a revival. And there's some truth in that, only because he had to start over after his dismissal from Indiana in 2000. But it isn't as if Knight's coaching suddenly has improved. In the latter years at Indiana, his recruiting declined, and that was the source of his teams' limitations. Knight pretty much got all that he could from those Indiana teams. The recruiting took a positive turn late in Knight's regime, which partially explains why the Hoosiers under Davis reached the 2002 NCAA title game before losing to Maryland.
Wednesday, I asked Knight if the reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated.
"I don't know where our demise ever was," he said. "I think in the last (19) years we've been in the NCAA Tournament every year but once. And we've had teams that got into the tournament that probably had to give their last gasps of energy just to get in there. ...Those (Indiana) kids in my mind were really able to accomplish something that might have been thought of as being out of reach_just like these kids now."
Knight's friends have a different take. They're pleased that he's been vindicated.
"It pained all of us when he got criticized," La Russa said. "For a while the talent he had wasn't competitive enough. There was an opinion being expressed out there that the game had passed him by, and he wasn't the same coach. But if you give him an even chance with talent, he'll have a good team and he'll win."
Before the season, Texas Tech was picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 and miss the NCAA Tournament. Look at Knight now, among the remaining 16.
Some say he's back. Truth is, he never went away.
arty: 
