by Kent Sterling
Jeremy Hollowell would have seen a lot of this last season as Bob Knight loudly encouraged him to play somewhere else.
Bob Knight hasn’t been the head coach at Indiana in over 13 years. That means it’s unlikely any kid currently in high school can recall a time when the big man in the red sweater prowled the sidelines for the Hoosiers.
But that doesn’t mean Knight isn’t still a figure looming over the Hoosiers. People who learned the game of basketball by watching Knight’s Indiana teams still view Indiana through those lessons.
Knight was very generous with students and fans in teaching them the game. There were a couple of seasons when Knight would reveal the precise game plan for his opponent during the pregame. I never understood giving the opposing coach that advantage, but maybe that was the point – Knight showing them that he could kick their asses after telling them exactly how he would do it.
Click here to follow Kent on Twitter
What I know about basketball, I learned with watching Knight’s teams and listening to him and members of his staff talk about the game. I’ve learned a lot since from Dan Dakich, which is fruit from the same tree.
When I watched Indiana beat Washington last night in the first round of the 2K Sports Classic, I yelled at the TV almost every time Jeremy Hollowell touched the ball, and I wasn’t thrilled with much of Will Sheehey’s play either. Hollowell drove into an obvious charge, and Sheehey yelled at Luke Fischer after a brutal no-look behind the back turnover.
Both plays would have been reason for a Knight explosion, and I can’t help but evaluate Hollowell and Sheehey through a prism that is heavily influenced by Knight.
In my mind, Indiana Basketball is still partly defined by the impatience Knight showed for mental errors, and Knight would never have allowed Hollowell to continue to play while dumping offensive possessions through mental indifference.
The game of basketball has changed over the past 20 years, or more specifically the kids playing the game have changed. They don’t respond positively to what they perceive to be an ogre barking anymore. They have been coddled, pampered, and told they can do no wrong for their first 18 years, and are not emotionally equipped to hear blunt criticism – particularly in the way Knight dispensed it.
The younger IU fans look at the Hoosiers win against Washington as a sign that the Hoosiers are functioning at a high level. The guys older than 30 saw last night’s game as an indictment of a system that does not penalize imprecise play.
I got a text last night from Marty Jenkins, a college basketball reporter for 101ESPN in St. Louis. Marty, 30, is originally from Carmel, Indiana, and he loves the Hoosiers. He wrote, “Dear God they look good. I know it’s Washington, but IU looks really solid. Lots of talent, confidence, and depth.”
My initial thought was that Marty had lost his mind. Didn’t he see Hollowell’s four turnovers and three fouls – all of which could have been avoided? Didn’t he see the three Sheehey turnovers?
I had a lot of conversations with Marty when I was in St. Louis, and can anticipate what he would say, “Didn’t you see Indiana shoot 52% from the field and 86% from the line? Didn’t you see Troy Williams put up 22 and eight? Were you in the can when Noah Vonleh scrapped for his 18 and nine? And what about the wealth being spread among all the starters with everyone shooting between 10 and 13 times?”
Marty would be right. Indiana was charged with only 13 turnovers and scored 102 points, so it wasn’t all bad. Williams and Yogi Ferrell were outstanding, but the Knight generation sees the reasons Indiana might lose, not the plays where the team functions as it should.
That makes Tom Crean’s job more difficult than it would have have been if he followed a less demonstrative coach so generous with teaching basketball to yokels, who now all believe themselves to be experts.
These Indiana Hoosiers have very little in common with those who played for Knight during his last five seasons. First, this team was assembled by a coach who recruits with energy. Second, there is a tolerance for bad plays from young players still learning the game. Third, Hollowell isn’t playing at UAB or Austin Peay.
Sloppy basketball still drives me crazy, but Indiana is a different team led by a different coach. The Hoosiers are 5-0, so who am I to bitch?
Dear Kent,
You are completely correct in your comments. I was in HS when Coach Knight was hired at IU. My love of well played basketball (and much of my own coaching) came from attending his clinics, watching his tapes, and YEARS of watching the Bob Knight show on channel 4. I had season tickets in Bloomington for yrs, but abandoned IU basketball with his departure and the subsequent hirings of Davis and Sampson. I have not watched IU for yrs on principle. But people I know have been raving about Noah Vonleh, and I decided to check out the UConn game and see what he was about.
Kent, I shut it off after 5 min. It was unwatchable. IU doesn’t value the ball. They don’t help defensively at all. They consistently fail to read the floor and drive into trouble and turn it over. Yogi Ferrell drives into traffic, jumps into the air, and then tries to bail himself out by bouncing a pass through 5 guys to a player who isn’t open. It’s as if he’d rather make ONE sports center play than a easy one that yields a basket. The youthful fans you describe are saying: “Oh.. we only lost by 1”. IU was absolutely TERRIBLE and managed to lose by ONE. IU has become everything I once laughed at in other teams.
I shut it off and won’t watch again. Oh well, I guess I can go back to watching Brad Stevens’s Butler Bulldogs and The Masters from Augusta National in May…. Oh wait…..
Kent: Marty II shared your “spot-on” article on “Knight’s Shadow” at IU. As a former Jr. High Coach, I learned my teachings thru my late brother (40 years as a HS Coach) and by listening and learning thru RMK at his summer camp (which MJII attended for years). I quit on IU when Coach was gone but when I will be TV remote flipping and “sometimes” see Indiana on the set; within a matter of minutes I can’t watch anymore with the constant barrage of turnovers, bad shot selection but MOST of all, no Help Defense (especially from weak side). One more thing I can’t tolerate and that’s Crean running and screaming down the sidelines (like 80% of coaches nowadays). “Teaching” basketball is done at practice – Coach Knight’s favorite part of Coaching. My Best, Marty Jenkins I
Great to hear from you. Marty is a great guy with a bright future. I enjoyed working with him a great deal. You should be very proud.