Kentucky Wildcat Basketball – Bob Knight: Seriously, he just needs to go

It’s OK to choke your players as long as they are not a “one and done”

Here we go again. Bobby Knight has opened his mouth yet again and not only trashed John Calipari, but now is telling outright lies about Kentucky’s basketball players.  Is there really no shame?

The latest comes from a Bobby Knight appearance in front of a lot of Hoosier boosters in Wabash, Indiana at an event called “An Evening with Bobby Knight”.  Now I can only assume what an evening of Bobby Knight actually like, but I can only imagine the package deal included a dinner at 4:00 PM, “Matlock” reruns, and a healthy dose of Metamucil and shots of prune juice.

Then Grandpa took to the stage to talk of the glory days 25 years ago and probably neglected to mention his double digit loss seasons his teams had 10 of his last 13 years as coach.    The other two years he had nine losses and he quit halfway through his last season with a 12-8 record.  What does this mean?

Knight was a great coach, but the game obviously passed him by and he became irrelevant.  Yet he gets a paycheck from ESPN to expond his views and his speaking engagements to the throngs of redclad inbreds.  And Knight can’t talk about last year’s Hoosiers thrilling run to the Final Four or how Tom Crean has the top rated class coming in next year.  He can’t talk about those things because sadly, as nice a guy Tom Crean is, Indiana basketball is sadly irrelevant now and show no signs of coming out of their dark place.

So what does Knight do?  He brings up Kentucky and John Calipari.  Thing is, I almost forgot Indiana had a team until this story surfaced and I can hardly imagine John Calipari being asked about the Hoosiers.  But that is what thy do in Indiana nowadays.  They hate.

But even this time, Knight took it one step too far.  Instead of attacking Calipari, he went after Kentucky’s players and told outright lies:

"“Kentucky, year before last, started five players in the NCAA Tournament games that had not been to class that semester”"

Knight is a paid basketball commentator.  He knows good and well that he is telling an outright lie, yet he proceeds to do so.  Or if it is true, prove your facts.  Where are you getting this information from?  And is it his position to be telling outright lies about students that are at another school?

What makes this even more troubling is that Knight is making these comments about a player currently enrolled at Kentucky, Darius Miller.  Miller started in the NCAA games and as far as I know, there has never been an issue with Miller’s grades.  The fact that a current player is being bashed makes it more unforgivable.

The Big Blue Nation should be livid over this.  Knight attacking Calipari  is one thing.  John Calipari is a man and can take care of himself, but to deride 18 and 19 year old players and accuse not only them of not attending class, but to also implicate the school as if this is a well known fact, instead of the inane ramblings of a old man, who clearly has no basis for what is coming out of his mouth.

ESPN needs to step up and admonish Knight for this.  Obviously, this was not a ESPN event, but I am sure that Knight, speaking as one of the faces of ESPN’s Gameday, has some things in his contract that can trigger penalties or warnings.  And the University of Kentucky needs to stand up and denounce Knight for this.  They need to put the pressure on ESPN to have Knight publicly apologize to the University of Kentucky and the young men he is slandering.

Once again, he is not attacking a grown man, he is making up lies about 18 and 19 year old players.  And it needs to stop.

In case you want to see Knight’s comments, here is the video:

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