'you Love Him And You Hate Him'

Knight told the players: "Be patient, look for openings. Let's get started right this time and play like hell the first five minutes. It's just like the score is 4-0 and we've still got 20 minutes to play. Plenty of time. Let's go."

They did play like hell the first five minutes. Hell as in bad. Knight screamed at Thomas during a timeout; he told the players they were backing down. They listened. They went back and began playing even as Knight continued to rail at Thomas on the bench.

But Cleveland State was firmly convinced that it was going to win. Each time Indiana crept closer the Vikings would get a bucket. Time was now slipping away. Indiana was down by 10. With the Vikings spread out, Indiana was in desperate trouble. The last thing it wanted against a quicker team was to have to chase. Now it had to chase.

This was not Indiana basketball. The Vikings were killing time and holding the lead. Before, there had been hope. Now there was none. Alford made the last basket of the season. The clock ran to zero. It was 83-79.

There were no tears in the Indiana locker room. People don't cry when they are in shock. Knight didn't rant. He told the players he was disappointed, that they had backed down—again. No screams. But it would get worse.

Knight's only outburst was brief. It came when he turned and saw Dakich, who was trying very hard—like everyone else—to be invisible. "Jesus," Knight said angrily, "I have to watch this——team play like it did last year and then I turn around and the first person I see is goddam Dakich."

The players dressed in record time. Thirty minutes after their season had ended they were heading for the airport. The campus was empty when they arrived. The team met for the last time as a group in its regular meeting room. One year earlier Knight had dismissed his most disappointing team ever from this room. This team had given him many happy moments. But all that was forgotten now. First, the three seniors were excused. Then Knight addressed the players who would return for the 1986-87 season.

"You people have a lot of work to do if you want to be any good next year," he said. "The way you played these last two games won't beat anyone. Not anyone. We'll see you here a week from Sunday at four o'clock."

That was it. The season was over, but the suffering was not. The good times had ceased to exist. Victories over Notre Dame, Illinois, Purdue, Michigan State, Iowa—all forgotten. All Knight could see in his mind's eye at that moment was defeat. All the questions and self-doubts came racing back.

But the year had not been a lost cause. As the others left, Knight called one of the departing seniors. Morgan, back into the room. On this same spot a year ago Knight had told Morgan he didn't want him back for his final season, that he was finished playing basketball at Indiana. Now Morgan was finished after five long years.