I think the caption for the accompanying picture should be something like, "Doy-uhh... what ha-ha-happened?"I don't know why I take such delight in Pat Knight's Texas Tech Red Raiders getting absolutely dump-trucked by Kansas last night 109-51.... oh, no, wait... I do know! Because he doesn't deserve his job!
I know Pat's team knocked off Texas over the weekend (I saw some of the game -- hooray for living in Texas) and that's a fine victory... but the mark of a good coach/team is the ability to not suffer a letdown after a big win. That victory means pretty much nothing now after the steamrolling the Red Raiders took last night.
See, I imagine that Pat allowed his team to feel absolutely wonderful about that win over Texas instead of reminding them that they had a huge game on the road against Kansas coming up. And sure, I understand that it was senior night at KU and that KU is a far superior team... but, he lost by almost sixty freakin' points!
Can you imagine if IU lost by 58 points? Or UCLA? Don't you think there would be immediate calls for Dakich's or Howland's jobs? I do. I think the Universities would be embarrassed and would be looking for someone to take the fall.
Of course, Patrick showed glimpses of his father's classiness during his halftime interview when he said, "Nobody showed up to play tonight."
Got nothing to do with you, though, right.... "Coach"?
7 comments:
Although the score was slightly less skewed, I think that IU's showing at MSU the other night was equally embarrassing and indicative of poor coaching. I don't expect Dakich to be back.
The only reason Bobby stepped down midseason is so that he could force TT to give Pat a chance even though he didn't deserve it. The irony of him saying he's too "tired" to coach, and then taking the ESPN gig is incredible, especially given his history with the media. I still think that the jury is out on Pat's future at TT. I think their program is a little bit more forgiving than IU and may just keep a "wait and see" attitude for another season.
Pat "Nepotism" Knight is exactly what the folks in Lubbock deserve.
They deluded themselves into thinking that Bob Knight would magically turn their program into a national power, and when it didn't happen they went ahead and agreed to let his son become the "coach in waiting," almost as though he had some sort of God given, genetically inherited coaching ability.
Texas Tech is a 2nd rate basketball school located in the desolate West Texas prairie, and the only reason that Pat Knight will be able to keep his job is because so few other legit coaching candidates would ever consider taking that job.
What's interesting is that IU hasn't really been playing defense all season long... they just happened to run into a buzz saw that was MSU at home on senior day.
Also, have you seen their offense? Very stagnant and 1-on-1 oriented. This is mostly the work of Kelvin Sampson. There is only so much Dakich can do with players who don't particularly want to play for him, and were given a free pass to do whatever they wanted previously. He can't install a motion offense mid-season.
Defense is effort, and IU simply doesn't want to play defense. That point, however, does have a lot to do with the coach. If Dakich can motivate these guys to hustle and play D, they could be the most dangerous team in March. But I wouldn't count on it, these players never game him a chance.
Pat Knight deserves to be coaching as much as I deserve to be writing professionally.
I agree Dowd, although you're a pretty good writer.
Off the topic, why do so many people think Thad Matta is such a great coach? Especially this season? Is he that much better than Painter?
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J - you left out the part about TT setting a school record for a loss in the game BEFORE the Texas game. So, out of their last 3 games, they lost 2 of them by a HUGE margin. Setting the same record for loosing margin twice in the span of a week is pretty much grounds for firing at a lot of places.
Yep.... embarrassing.
Oh, and hey... they lost by 58... and only scored 51!!!
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