Bob Knight on how "Scared To Death" Indiana Basketball Players Became Great during March Madness

[@albertleffler962]

I took a month long video seminar from Coach Knight in 1984. Watching sports was no fun after that. The mystery was gone. Mastery.

[@jamesm.3967]

As every year passes we see 2 things. 1. Timing is everything 2. Knight was the right man in the right era.

[@projoebiochem]

The movie Hoosiers has more parallels to the Knight transition at IU than to the real story of the Milan High School. That Milan team had been to the Indiana Final Four the year before. They were a small school, but had a history of success. That story of complaints about style of play are more like what happened at IU in the transition from Watson (zone defense and run and gun) to Knight (man-to-man and deliberate motion offense). I’m pretty sure that David Anspaugh and Mario Puzo were at IU as students at that time. If Scott May hadn’t gotten hurt, that ‘75 team would have walked away with the championship. One loss by 2 points when your leading scorer is out with a broken arm over two full seasons.

[@davidneal1895]

The Milan folks weren't initially pleased about the "Cat and Mouse" offense they ran in real life. While Puzo and Anspaugh put a lot of Knightisms into Hackman's mouth, Milan's offense initially almost offended their fans for its relatively slow pace. Indiana (state and school) basketball was get up the floor, get an open look inside 30 feet and fire. Heck, in the actual Milan state title game, you see guys jacking it from 30 feet. Crispus Attucks put up 97 in the state title game the following year. But, the tone in the state was set by the Hurryin' Hoosiers and when they stopped Hurryin' so did the state (and the Big Ten -- the conference's team scoring records into the early 1990s were from late 1960s teams). I still remember coming home from Lafayette Square with Mom and seeing the end of the 1975 loss. I might have cried or been too stunned to cry -- as far as I knew, IU never lost.

[@davidkohl3239]

😊😊

[@doogboh]

Bobby Knight said that he deserved screenwriting credit for how much he wrote of Coach Dale's dialogue. Anyhow -- great score by the peerless Jerry Goldsmith.

[@donaldtaeger918]

Robert Montgomery Knight. Higher deities ask for his input regarding anything associated with basketball/ discipline. RIP Coach Knight. We definitely miss you.

[@markangelou9368]

Knight saw cheating as a sign of weakness

[@paulkeilman3510]

That's one thing I agree with him on.

[@WilliamTyndale1]

Not Buck though. Notice that Buck couldn't change the topic fast enough. You don't get the perch without paying the dues and Buck knows where the Buck stops and that the whole system is now contaminated with the stench the Knights calls out in Sam Gilbert. Buck didn't get where he is without playing ball and he isn't going to stick around long going down that path, whereas Knight could speak freely having long since retired.

[@charlespierce7902]

Coming from a guy whose College coach said Knight couldn't guard a refrigerator

[@MrAitraining]

I'm confused why I'm seeing all these great interviews now for the first time. Was this a show on a channel somewhere yrs ago? Maybe somewhere I didn't subscribe to or maybe I just missed them

[@sunnybeech74]

It's a series called "Undeniable". I'm not sure what all channels carry it but the episodes are excellent! Joe Buck hosts most of them. Dan Patrick hosts the others.

[@jamescox9427]

As to the Sam Gilbert story, I remember the rumor that when the number 3 player in the state of Indiana signed with UCLA, he was seen driving around in a brand new Trans Am.

[@billkammerzell9082]

A rumor. Of course.

[@greggsadler4387]

A few things to consider: 1. Knight in the 70s was different than Knight at other times. 2. Knight was more bombastic with the media after Connie Chung screwed him over. 3. While he was irascible, he still was respected by his players, with literally only a couple exceptions.

[@douglascarlson9006]

"... with literally only a couple exceptions" ... Oh really? I was there when it all started, my first year as student in Bloomington was Knight's 2nd year as coach ... I knew a player on the '76 champs and a player on Woodson's team in the late 70s ... A couple exceptions? ... Here's a quick list of unhappy players who left the program with parting words for Knight's tactics ... - Mike Miday - Billy Cunningham - Derek Holcomb - Lawrence Funderburke - Tommy Baker - Donny Cox - Rick Rowray - Chris Lawson - Luke Recker - Ricky Calloway - Jason Collier - Neil Reed I could go on and on ...

[@georgesouthwick7000]

According to John Havlicek, when Bobby Knight was a player at Ohio State, he wasn’t a very good defensively.

[@soulpatrolhawaii5409]

I read the same, lack of defensive ability limited Knight as a player and kept him from being pro level. Maybe that’s why he was passionate about defense as coach….?

[@billkammerzell9082]

I'd believe Havlicek.

[@mikemcgrath6150]

Not being able to physically but knowing how and teaching are different things.

[@vapinbachelor289]

And Joe knocks another one out of the Park. You can put Bobby on the Same line with Dean Smith, Jimmy V, Coach K and Roy Williams as one of the Elites.

[@roberthill799]

Valvano does not belong in that group and his program was badly bent.

[@davidneal1895]

A former IU player whose opinion (on basketball, if nothing else) you would definitely respect said to me about 10 years ago, "If Coach Knight got the players Dean Smith did, he would've never lost. And, I don't mean winning the national title every year. I mean one loss every five or six years."

[@ronniespach9482]

@@roberthill799 I agree - and I went to NCSU.

[@jab1289]

@@davidneal1895 Dean Smith was a big cheater. So was Coach K.

[@lawschoolpro]

He’s right, you see how bs college basketball is these days.gonna say ncaa was right for holding their position on non payment for so many years. Gonzaga beating the crap out of Kansas today…..cmon man. Money has infiltrated the ncaa.

[@projoebiochem]

Remember that Kansas was playing without one of their best players.

[@JK-br1mu]

Yah, the people who kept pushing for professionalization of amateur sports were idiots.

[@projoebiochem]

I would agree with you if everyone in the process EXCEPT the athletes weren’t making so much money. It was one thing when Bo Schembechler was criticized for making twice as much money as a regular faculty member, but when HCs are making $5-$10M/yr and coordinators and ADs are making 7 figures, it starts to seem like someone is being taken advantage of.

[@jasonbroom7147]

And look at the NBA, these days. Defense? We talkin' bout DEFense? Pacers scored 145 points against a mediocre Lakers team...and GAVE UP 150 POINTS! "Watch me Dunk...now watch me tre-tre".

[@cliffordnewell2445]

Bobby Knight: a legacy of venom

[@tecolutla11]

At Texas Tech he needed handles to keep him in line

[@richardcarlisle9205]

Bobby knew basketball. His ego just got bigger than the game.

[@bigdaddymak1439]

He's the greatest coach of all time, never cheated, graduated his players, they became doctors, lawyers and pillars of their communities. This generation is way too soft we need leadership like Knight's

[@flpndrox]

The GOAT coach wouldn't have ran off Larry Bird, ​@@bigdaddymak1439just saying.

[@KenWesaw]

Did they bury him upside-down so everybody could kiss his ass like he requested ?

[@Eddie-jz6ss]

Larry Bird left on his own.

[@RobertDetert]

He hated Knight. Best thing Larry Legand did was leave IU. Knight would have fucked him up as a player and he'd have never become Larry Legand.

[@MrAitraining]

@@RobertDetert so false. Larry leaving IU had nothing to do with bob knight. He never even went to a practice. He enrolled for a few weeks and left because the school was too big and he had no money for extras. And in his own words on the sit down he did at all star weekend with reggie miller and isiah he said he doesnt think he would have had any problem playing for knight.

[@soonerwhirle]

​@RobertDetert Bird didn't have two nickels to rub together. He had a couple of shirts and a couple of pairs of jeans in his closet. He left before formal practices even started.

[@ronmcgee1868]

I'm an IU grad. Bob was a gigantic, egotistical bore.

[@eagleeye761]

the college game is no longer in the realm of student anything.... a far cry from Knight's perception...

[@jimmoran973]

His voice sounds a bit like Mike Leach......minus the laugh lines.

[@JK-br1mu]

Joe Buck needed to have to the balls to start off the interview, before saying anything else, with................"What's up, Knight?"

[@Steven-kl6lh]

Yeah but like other dictators...the rules didn't apply to him on the sidelines...👎

[@RobertDetert]

Screw Bob Knight. Physically and verbally abused almost all of his players.

[@peterwinkler4934]

I know he was a great coaching mind, but Bob Knight was a bully who abused his players for years. There's absolutely no excuse for Knight's behavior.

[@kennetzel6101]

Did you play for him? Because the vast majority of those who did would never say that. So, unless you have first=hand knowledge you are better off staying quiet.

[@billkammerzell9082]

He is so full of it. He is so full of himself. He was a bully and a mental case. He could not coach today. He actually was disrespectful to one of the greatest coaches ever. John Wooden.

[@paulkeilman3510]

Larry Bird was there in the state then he drove him out.

[@derjaeger3321]

Right coach for right kid. I wonder if Bird was a regular in classes?

[@beowulf3303]

The atmosphere at IU wasn’t a good fit for Bird!! I believe it was Benson that actually ran Bird off!!

[@projoebiochem]

Bird was a poor kid from a small town. IU was the favored state school for the kids of Indiana professionals like doctors and lawyers. Farm kids went to Purdue (Indiana’s land-grant ag school). Bird just didn’t fit in. Knight dropped the ball by not checking in with his recruit in the first couple of weeks of school. Bird went home because he was homesick and felt like he didn’t fit in, not because of anything that Knight did.

[@beowulf3303]

I think Benson is commenting below…….

[@beowulf3303]

Or above!!

[@nickpaunovich6329]

Bully

[@KenWesaw]

Knight won a lot at indiana but he's nothing to be proud of

[@robkinstle29]

Coach Wooden was a class act. Knight was not.

[@beowulf3303]

Coach Knight didn’t cheat to win….. Wooden did!!

[@derjaeger3321]

Yes Knight had a problematic personality, but if you sent your kid to team coached by Knight you can bet he went to class, he would graduate, and he would keep his nose clean. Knight ran.a clean and honest program and if the truth would be known, UCLA probably was more in the grey area.

[@robkinstle29]

@@beowulf3303 Coach Wooden didn't need to cheat to win he was the greatest coach in BB History. Knight was such a narcissist he really believed that no one at IU was getting paid. Complete BS

[@robkinstle29]

@@derjaeger3321 Again see below. Do you really think Isaiah Thomas went to IU with no $$ for the family?

[@derjaeger3321]

@@robkinstle29 Yes I do. Knight was crazy but there was never a hint of any impropriety in his program.