By Rob Miech
<rob.miech@lasvegassun.com>
LAS VEGAS SUN
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NCAA SNAPSHOT
OUR FINAL FOUR: Georgia Tech, St. Joseph's, Stanford,
Texas.
OUR NEXT FOUR: Arizona, Duke, Gonzaga, Kentucky.
KUDOS: To former UNLV assistant Derek Thomas, who took
over the Western Illinois program and then suffered losses, by an
average of 19 points, in the Leathernecks' first eight games this
season.
Alas, the 'Necks beat Norfolk State on Wednesday to give Thomas
his first victory as a head coach.
UNDER THE RADAR: Dayton. Former Michigan State assistant
Brian Gregory took over for Oliver Purnell, who bolted for Clemson
after nine seasons, and the Flyers haven't missed a beat.
EXPOSED: Arizona State. The Sun Devils and sophomore
center Ike Diogu have been hyped mercilessly since, oh, May. That
started within the ASU sports information department and has
trickled into the media cattle herd.
The Devils dropped to 4-2 on Wednesday when they lost at
Northwestern, and they've also lost to Nebraska. The good news is
that ASU opens its Pac-10 slate with three consecutive home games.
The bad news is that they're against Arizona, Stanford and Cal.
GAME OF THE WEEK: Saturday -- No. 11 Texas (5-1) at No. 3
Duke (7-1). Prediction -- Texas 88, Duke 77.
(Honorable mentions: Saturday -- Marquette at Wisconsin, Gonzaga
at Stanford, Michigan State at UCLA, St. Joseph's at California.
Monday -- San Diego State at Arizona. Tuesday -- Dayton at
Cincinnati, Illinois at Missouri.)
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If Bob Knight hadn't somehow lost his grip on that clench ...
"I can remember my fingers slipping off his Adam's apple, or I would
have killed him," Knight said, of an incident with West Point cadet Danny
Schrage in the 1960s, in "Bob Knight: His Own Man."
Jack Isenhour, author and a player on Knight's first collegiate team at
Army, included that bit with a string of other choking evidence in what is
perhaps the most harrowing part of his excellent recent release on his
former mentor.
In "Same Knight, Different Channel," (Brassey's, Inc., $24.95),
Isenhour offers an thoroughly impartial, detailed, insightful and
entertaining look at the circumstances and surroundings that allowed
Knight to thrive in his first post.
During that era, no less a hoops figure than Bob Cousy recalled
watching Knight latch onto a player's throat as he backed the cadet
against an arena corridor. After that, the choking incidents fire
rat-a-tat-tat, up to the Neil Reed incident at Indiana.
Isenhour, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, attempts to make sense of
the coach who ruled his life nearly 40 years ago, writing "his reputation
for honesty is put in jeopardy when he claims to not know what he's seeing
on the Reed tape."
Yet, Isenhour writes, by then the throat clutch had become Knight's
signature move.
Among other things, Isenhour concludes that winning, in anything and at
any cost, is the main Knight's main objective, at the cost of honesty,
integrity and character.
Knight was born with those seeds, but West Point allowed them to
blossom.
It is likely that the shaping of an abrasive coach by an environment
that demanded absolute respect for authority, tough tactics, incredible
discipline and winning by any means would not have been tolerated at any
other institution.
West Point in the 1960s.
In 1965-66, Isenhour bared witness to Knight's first chapter when he
averaged 1.6 points as a reserve guard.
The temper, the acting out and the defiance were all, if not
acceptable, at least tolerated at, of all places, a bastion of decorum.
" ... at an institution dedicated to training leaders in the art of
war, the ultimate competition, winning matters," Isenhour wrote. "It
matters a lot. So while to outsiders Knight might have seem crazed, almost
insane, to the insiders in charge of the Academy, he was a role model."
"Same Knight" is a must read for any hoops fan the least bit intrigued
by Knight, or anyone of any coaching eminence (attention, Pete Newell) who
feels compelled to blindly defend The General's latest indiscretions.
Isenhour illustrated the stressful, mind-numbing West Point way of
life, and it's a valuable body of work. Impeccably researched and well
written, the book is rich in detail and chronological events.
He sent along a thanks after receiving our initial review.
"I tried to be fair," Isenhour wrote, "and not to take any of it too
seriously."
Isenhour begins and ends his tale with the roundabout manner in which
he tracked Knight for input, being forgotten about at times, dodged at
others and then kept on leashes of varying lengths until finally being
given access on a few occasions.
Knight joined Army coach Tates Locke, once had a fistfight with Locke
and then took over when Locke left for Miami (Ohio) in May 1965.
However, Knight -- who got ejected from a game against Washington State
in the Far West Classic in Portland, Ore., around Christmas 1964, for
arguing with officials as an Army assistant -- wasn't simply given the
reins to the Black Knights' program.
Details of this transition reveal that the Army brass was well aware of
the caustic characteristics and hard-edged nature of this wunderkind hoops
coach. Thus, the decision was given much thought.
A bit more than two weeks later, the administration offered a
24-year-old Knight the job on a Friday. To make them stew, he said he'd
have an answer for them on Monday as he half-heartedly pondered an
assistant's offer from Duke coach Vic Bubas.
Knight accepted the Army position.
A scene or two of insubordination with superiors followed for a coach
who wouldn't have put up with such antics, had the roles been reversed.
Later, he even boasted about never having to wear a uniform during his
stretch at Army.
That should dispel gung-ho, patriotic, John Wayne images of Knight that
some might hold.
Success must have helped. The Black Knights were 102-50, with four NIT
appearances at Madison Square Garden when that was a big deal, during a
six-year run under Knight.
Isenhour eloquently revealed Knight's foundation.
"You guys all owe us something," Bobby Seigle, a retired Army colonel,
said at an Indiana University reunion in June 2000. "Somebody had to train
him to be who he is."
Upon first glance, a book written by a former Knight player is apt to
be discounted for obvious reasons. However, Isenhour handled the subject
with commendable fairness and objectivity.
"What was it about that first season at West Point that began the
transformation of this hothead from Orrville, Ohio, into one of the most
influential and controversial basketball coaches of all time?" Isenhour
wrote.
Knight boasted that his Army practices would be, and were, the most
difficult part of a day in the life of a hoops-playing cadet. Hardly,
according to Isenhour.
"Bob Knight started his head coaching career with players whose
schooling included hand-to-hand combat and exposure to tear gas," Isenhour
wrote. "In comparison, his practices were a welcome relief.
"So the idea that cadets approached the field house on an average day
quaking at the thought of another afternoon with Bob Knight was just so
much rhetoric."
Like a lot of Knight's act, whose dishonesty and hypocrisy is exposed
by Isenhour.
Initially, Isenhour aimed to analyze that '65-66 season. However, there
was too much else -- the three national championships at Indiana, the
blowup at Bloomington, the transition to Texas Tech and the disturbing
behavior patterns -- to ignore.
Not surprisingly, Knight has issues with Isenhour, who was not invited
to a mini-reunion of former West Point players in Lubbock for the first
Texas Tech game of this season.
A Knight spokesman mentioned possible legal action. However, he also
admitted to Isenhour that neither he nor Knight had read "Same Knight."
"His primary objection," Isenhour wrote us, "is that a book that
started out to be about his first season ended up covering his (Indiana)
firing and relocation to Texas Tech.
"Any catharsis that occurred had more to do with reliving old memories
of West Point than any memories of playing basketball. The place was
insane. At the time Knight, uh, Coach Knight, was just another tough guy
with a bad haircut."
"Same Knight" is hardly another soft sports book that caters to a
famous figure. It's a look at a tyrant who was allowed to dictate early
on, until someone finally had enough of him and his act. Then again,
someone was waiting in the wings to hire him.
CHAPTER TWO: Knight's abrasiveness continues to boil, or did
anyone miss his weekend tantrum about how Tech should drop basketball if
the 15,098-seat United Spirit Arena continued to be less than half-filled
for games?
That's been the case for three of the Red Raiders' last four games.
"I'm really, really, really disappointed in attendance," Knight told
the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. " ... this team works like hell ... if we
can't have a better attendance ... we're spending too much money on
basketball and I think we ought to give it up."
SAME OL', SAME OL': UCLA and adidas teamed up to bring Ben
Howland to Westwood so the Bruins would never again get embarrassed by Cal
State Northridge, Detroit, Princeton, Colorado State or Northern
Arizona.
Tough, demanding and defensive-minded, Howland supposedly possessed all
the teaching fundamentals to turn the moribund program around.
If, that is, one losing season after five Sweet 16 appearances over a
six-year stretch qualifies as moribund. Apparently, it did to plenty of
folks, those who matter and those who don't. Thus, Howland was brought in
to save the day.
Right. Looked like nothing has changed Wednesday night, when UC-Santa
Barbara pulled off a 61-60 victory. Upset? Hardly. The Gauchos schooled
their disorganized foes.
Wait until Saturday, when the rugged Michigan State Spartans push UCLA
around Pauley Pavilion after ceremonies that will dedicate the court to
Nell and John Wooden.
NO NEW REBEL: Diligent UNLV basketball fans had to root around
deep for this one. However, if any of you discovered that a top-50 recruit
named Jason P. Smith fell into coach Charlie Spoonhour's, you were
duped.
Like "The Onion," the hilarious publication that is pure fiction, "The
Hoosier Gazette" ran an item recently about Purdue coach Gene Keady
signing the wrong "Jason P. Smith" out of a "Yorktown High."
According to the Gazette, the "nerdy," 5-foot-6, 128-pound Jason Smith
on the Yorktown team signed the Purdue scholarship offer when a school
counselor mistook the legal papers for academic scholarship application
documents.
Legally binding, the honor-student Jason vowed to use the Purdue
scholarship for a free college education. The athletic Jason, a 6-6,
215-pounder considered among the best players in the nation, was out of
luck.
"The Boilermakers have a serious problem on their hands," wrote the
Gazette.
"The other Jason gets a 2.5 GPA and the NCAA minimum score on his SAT
and he gets a full ride because he can run fast and put a stupid orange
ball in a hoop?" nerdy Jason told the Gazette. "It looks like coach Keady
is going to be stuck with me for four years."
Of course, scholarships are renewed annually, so that was one tip-off.
Also, below the mast head of the publication is, "Indiana's first source
for inaccurate news and commentary since 2003."
The last line of the story reads, "(The athletic Jason) will be
attending UNLV next fall."
Sorry, Rebels fans. If you fell for it, consider yourself a punk'd
bystander to the usual in-state college basketball high jinks in Indiana.
