Excerpts from Bob Knight’s ESPN Debut

March 13, 2008 -- Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight made his ESPN debut Wednesday alongside host Rece Davis and analyst Digger Phelps. Following are some excerpts from Knight, who will serve as a men’s college basketball studio analyst during the remainder of Championship Week, including Selection Sunday, and through the NCAA Tournament.

On strength and balance of Big East:

Knight: “I think there are more top flight teams in the Big East than any conference in the country…and therefore, I don’t think we can consider a game in the Big East from here on as an upset.”

On a segment called “Knight’s Insights,” fans submitted questions to Bob Knight via ESPN.com and he answered them on the air. Some samples:

Ian (New Haven, Conn.): “How do you prepare your team for potential multiple opponents in a tournament setting?”

Knight: “I’ve always operated under the theory that I want to just get ready for the next game. I don’t spend a lot of time even thinking about what might be the second or third game. If we get into a position where we’ve got control of the game toward the end where it’s going to be difficult to lose it, I will then start talking to players about the next game. I call it the last game-next game theory.”

Rece Davis: “When you were coaching at Indiana, how did you look at handling the Big Ten Tournament when you were almost always a lock for the NCAA Tournament every year?”

Knight: “I voted against it every year that we had it so maybe that’s why we didn’t play very well in it. I’ve never been in favor of the post-season tournaments because I’ve always felt that the conference championship over whatever it is – 16 or 18 games – is a tremendous accomplishment for a team and why put them through something else.”

Justin (Jasper, Ind.): “If you were back into coaching, would you consider hiring Digger to be one of your assistants?”

Knight: “I would want to hire Digger but as my media consultant…I think he would be perfect at handling all of my press conferences and all the things that I have to do with the media.”

(Later in response to Davis who brought up Digger matching his highlighters with his ties), Knight: “We’re going to get my highlighter to match my hair.”

Mike (Mariposa, Calif.): “Which is more challenging – fly fishing or coaching basketball?”

Knight: “When you’re casting a fly, you can miss where you’re casting. You just pick it up and cast it again. You never know if a kid is going to do what you’ve told him to do and actually, I’ve had flies that have reacted a lot better to my instructions over the years than a lot of the players I’ve had, so maybe I’m better at fly fishing than coaching.”

Source: ESPN

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