Just My Type

The Interview

Bob Knight
COLLEGE HOOPS ANALYST

The General moved to the ESPN studio after retiring from coaching in February 2008.

Dan Patrick: With your players, was it ever important to be a Number 1 seed?

Bob Knight: No. Sometimes the mentality of kids is, We're the Number 1 seed, so we should go all the way. Sometimes that affects your thinking on how to get there.

DP: Did you practice differently during the NCAA tournament?

BK: You don't practice very much, even [before] the championship game. In '87 we played a very, very tough semifinal with Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon. We were very tired, so all day Sunday and Monday we did almost no work at all. I don't think we ran a single step. That was by far the most important ingredient in enabling us to stay with Syracuse in the championship game.

DP: What was the name of the play that won that game?

BK: The name of the play was "Daryl Thomas made a great pass." We didn't have any plays. We played on recognition. Syracuse missed a free throw, and we were down by a point with about 28 seconds to go. One of the best compliments I ever got as a coach was from Curt Gowdy—one of my alltime favorite people—telling me as I walked off the court, "You're the only coach in the history of basketball who wouldn't have taken a timeout there." And the reason I didn't is because we knew we had to get the ball to Steve Alford. But Syracuse did a really good job on him. We got the ball into Daryl inside, and he made a little fake and knew right where Keith Smart was and hit him with a perfect pass. And that's the picture I have up at home, the ball leaving Daryl's hand on the way to Keith.

DP: Do you have fun calling games, being part of the media?