If your point is that Knight was such an insufferable egomaniac prick that he ran off Bird in 10 minutes, well we are in agreement.

A coach squandering talent doesn’t mean he didn’t have that talent on his roster. You can intuit what that means about that coach.

My point is Knight was a way better coach than Henson. He did more with less talent over the entire course of his career.

Again, just look at the talent comparison during the 80s.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

We don’t need to examine talent on roster to know Knight was a better coach than Lou.

Knight just was. He introduced concepts on offense that nobody had seen before. We just need to roll the tape.

Knight had plenty of talent some he used, some he squandered. The mark of a well rounded coach is incorporating talent into a program and system.

Knight sucked at that.

Glad we agree on Knight vs. Lou.

But I am not sure I really understand what you are saying in your last two lines. Knight sucked at being a well rounded coach? He did not incorporate talent into a program? Expand on where you going with this.

I don't think there is another coach in the land that could have taken the 87 team and won a championship. He took the little talent he had on that team and brought them together and got something great from them. The two teams they beat in the final four were WAY more talented than they were

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Knight ran off Bird and cost IU maybe two natty titles.

You understand?

One situation does not define the entire mans career. You cannot say he sucked at something based on one thing from the 70s, when his career as a whole says something different.

And as I have explained on here before the Bird situation was not all Knight either. He did not "run off" Bird. He had a part in it and he was not going to bend for anyone. But Bird has stated that it was as much about hating Bloomington and a bigger city area compared to where he was from. Bird is one of the toughest hard nosed players that has ever played the game. A hard ass prick for a coach was not going to run him off. There was more going on.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Get ass cancer and die.

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Can I do your wife one more time before I pass? I love that she smells like stale tuna

What the hell

Correct on both counts. Like many college freshman, Bird had culture shock. That will mess people up.

'87 is a great example of Knight pushing a good team to greatness.

If Knight squandered anyone, I think it might have been Damon Bailey. Bailey was on some exceptional teams, of course, but he should have been scoring a little more his first three years. I can't remember who it was against--Kansas?--but I remember him passing up on some shots and my dad screaming, "He should transfer to Purdue!"

Again, he was on some good teams (Henderson, Cheaney, two Grahams, and Eric Anderson, whom I once held to 20 points [or more] in the first half of a seventh-grade game), so . . .

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Good stuff Tommy!

Bailey is one of the more intriguing guys that Knight ever coached. He came in with such fan fare and it really does seem as if he under achieved. But I think that maybe partly to those high expecations and when you actually look at his college numbers they are better than you would think.

It still amazes me that a white kid from Indiana had such hype that it lead to Knight going to a middle school game to watch him. That alone is impressive.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

that is good Z

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

With the way hoops are now, it's hard to describe the phenomenon that was Damon Bailey. 40,000 showed up to see him in the state finals.

Yeah it was a special time. I remember watching the state championship game on tv that year. That place was insane. He was truly like a rock star. Down by 6 points late in the game he just refused for his team to lose scored 11 straight to lead them back to the title.

Great article on him

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/h ... /70442874/

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
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This turned into a solid thread.

Indiana high school hoops is amazing. There's a few good books on the '54 Milan team that are definitely worth the read, especially The Greatest Basketball Story Ever Told: The Milan Miracle.

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I want to check that book out. Love stuff like that.

Currently reading The Legends Club by Feinstein on Dean Smith, Coach K and Jimmy V. Really good stuff.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

It's a great book. Read it several times. I don't think I have read the Feinstein one, but it sounds interesting. A Season on the Brink was fantastic.

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Guy from Washington Post wrote a book called "Where The Game Matters Most," chronicling the final year of Hoosier Hysteria. Pretty good read if you love what Indiana high school hoops used to be.

Yes it was, one of my all time favorites. I have read several books by Feinstein. He always does a good job.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I need to check that one out. Thanks

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I'm sure someone will write a book someday about an excellent AAU tournament held one weekend during the summer

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

i still have an IU Bailey jersey. He was awesome

I still have an Uwe Blab jersey.

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get out of here!?!?!

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I consider the hijacking of a Boers thread to a history lesson in IU Basketball a huge upgrade.

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"The Burning Building" or something like that? "Towering Inferno?" He had a nickname something like that.

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"Burning Skyscraper" because of his ginger mane.

One of the 83 Hoosiers tells this story:

Uwe Blab was extremely intelligent, and picked up the motion offense right away. Knew where the other 4 guys were supposed to be in the half court, etc. But he could not catch a pass while moving. The rule was, Blab had to be posting up, feet stationary on the block, before you threw him the ball.

One day in practice, Blab is flashing from the opposite block to the ball side and Wittman leads him with a pass. Blab just watches the ball sail past him. Knight explodes, says "I know you have terrible effing hands, but at least make an effing effort." Blab says "If he is too stupid to throw me the ball while I am moving, I am not too stupid to try to catch what I can't," words to that effect. Players say it was the only time they saw Knight speechless.

some of the Blab and Knight stories are great.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."