Project 880

Whether it happens tonight or not, Bob Knight will become the winningest coach in men’s basketball history. The fact that the historic game is happening now, rather than a year ago, and in Texas instead of Indiana is what makes this bittersweet. More entertaining than the potential outcome of the UNLV game, however, is the media coverage of the event. Take Pat Forde’s column (“Knight’s record-setter could have been much more“), for instance, projecting an alternate-reality career for the Hall-of-Fame coach.

Pat Forde has some history covering Bob Knight, not all of it appreciated. Despite his experience, Forde’s memory of Knight’s recruiting of in-state blue-chippers is short. And his math is poor.

The approaching milestone will be downplayed, as usual. Indiana University coach Bob Knight isn’t about to make a big deal about this, his impending 1,000th career victory as a college basketball coach.

Knight blew away Dean Smith’s record of 879 wins years ago, and he wouldn’t cater to a coronation then. Putting the record out of sight now should produce a similar reaction.

Bob Knight won his 600th game in 1993, around the time his Calbert Cheaney-led was making the Final Four. That was a 31-win season, only the fourth 30-win season of his career (two coming in 1974-76 and another in the ’87 title season). For all the deserved press about his string of 20-win seasons, Coach Knight only won as many as 25 eight times. To be playing for his 1000th win in late 2006, his teams would have had to average more than 30 wins a season for the 13 season since his last Final Four appearance. Even for a coach who once went 63-1 in a two-season span, that’s a ridiculous pace to assume.

Some people wondered whether Knight had lost it after he won his fourth national title in 1993, with Eric Montross and Calbert Cheaney forming an overpowering inside-outside combination for the Hoosiers. But after a few lean years, he signed Indianapolis point guard Jason Gardner and Indiana staged a revival.

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With homegrown products Greg Oden, Josh McRoberts, Dominic James and Mike Conley Jr. leading the way, the No. 1 Hoosiers are heavy favorites to give The General championship No. 6 in Atlanta come April.

Bob Knight was in state when Jason Gardner — Jared Jefferies imaginary teammate in Forde’s what-if IU Final Four teams — was recruited to Arizona. True, it is likely Bob Knight would have kept Sean May in town, filling a huge void in the frontcourt for IU, but it is highly unlikely that Knight’s style would have fit the likes of Greg Oden (Ohio State), Josh McRoberts (Duke), Dominic James (Marquette) and Mike Conley (Ohio State) enough to convince them to go to IU. To think so shows how far departed Forde is from the reality of recruiting by the two previous Hoosier head coaches.

The magic elixir for Forde’s concoction? Some anger management classes for a then 45-year-old at the end of a failing marriage, whose infamous chair toss was only the latest in the list of controversial public explosions? Please. Not only would such an intervention have been unlikely to have had the imagined effect on the person, but in Forde’s mind the anger was the only thing getting in the way of Knight’s ability to walk on water. There are happy bigots and centered disciplinarians in this world. A placid Coach Knight wouldn’t have changed his views about the motion offense and what sacrifices are required of players to make it work, and that was as much a turnoff for prospective players as anything Coach might throw their way.