Photo from Google Images
I’ll be honest- my favorite moment from this year’s March Madness festivities was listening to all the mass media attention that focused on The General, my hero- Coach Bob Knight. While most people only know Coach Knight as the coach who moved a chair out of his way during a college basketball game or being the master of a four letter word, others of us know Coach Knight as being a basketball genius, a what you see is what you get kind of guy and a man who proved that doing things his way isn’t so bad after all.
Coach Knight’s basketball success is a product of running a clean program and placing value on his players graduating. Funny, how those two important standards and keys to success seem to be non-factors in college sports today. Knowing where The General stands and his sense of humor- are you really surprised he refused to say the word “Kentucky”? Instead he referred to the Wildcats as “the team playing from the SEC”. HA- Classic Knightisms!
John Calipari is known for running a “one and done” program in Lexington and who seems to recruit for the NBA and not the classroom makes Calipari a coach and a program that would not pass in the Coach Knight School of basketball. It’s simple people- Coach Knight respects the game of college basketball. And I happen to respect his sense of humor.
Kentucky is the first team to win the NCAA National Championship with a team loaded with one and done players- proving now that it can be done. But how is this good for the game of college basketball? At first, I thought that maybe Calipari has commitment issues. According to VH1’s Basketball Wives– it’s a common characteristic in the NBA. His track record of one and done is pretty impressive unless you are a Wizard’s fan.
We can all assume that NCAA rules were broken in the Calipari strategy to be crowned king at the dance, but what happens if there’s an investigation and players were paid, they never went to class or what if they exchanged merchandise for tattoos? The players will be gone and Calipari might even be Knicks too. Ultimately, the team playing from the SEC wins and history is left with an asterisk. Take notes- this is the new model for an ego driven program of short success, but college basketball should really consider taking Knight Classes.