Bob Knight built his best team ever, a blend of talent and health. Nowhere was this more evident than in his selection to the 12-man roster for the 1984 U.S. Olympic team.
Of course, the Generals eliminated future Hall of Famers Charles Barkley and John Stockton. But he left behind three others who would go on to make the 1992 Olympic “Dream Team” — Patrick Ewing, Michael Jordan and Chris Mullin.
For a coach who has seemingly won it all — 902 games, three national championships, 11 Big Ten championships, Olympic gold medals and multiple Coach of the Year awards — his early scouting reports on Jordan might would be his crowning achievement.
“If we were to pick the three or four best athletes I’ve ever seen play basketball, he (Jordan) would be one of them. I think he’s the best athlete I’ve ever seen play basketball, bar none. ” Knight said at the time. “In terms of competitiveness, ability, skills and athleticism, he’s the best athlete, he’s one of the best competitors, he’s one of the most skilled players. To me, that makes him my The best basketball player I’ve ever seen.”
That’s high praise from Knight, who often extols the greatness of his Ohio State teammates Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek, or his fellow Indiana students Quinn Buckner, St. The greatness of guys like husband Downing or Scott May.
Knight even encouraged Portland Trail Blazers general manager Stu Inman to select Jordan with the second overall pick. Inman selected the oft-injured Sam Bowie, who missed the Olympic trials, allowing Jordan to slip to third place with the Chicago Bulls.
For Knight, who died Wednesday at age 83, celebrity was never a concern.
When he assembled the last U.S. Amateur Olympic team to win a gold medal, he did so with the same philosophies that led the Indians to the first two national championships — defense, cutting, athleticism and selflessness. No one understands this concept better than 19-year-old linebacker Steve Alford, the son of a prominent high school coach in Indiana who has known Knight since the third grade.
Alford was the only player on the 1984 roster who wasn’t a first-round draft pick.
Barkley, on the other hand, was Auburn’s offensive star and weighed in at 284 pounds. Knight initially asked the 6-foot-6 forward to slim down to 215 and wasn’t impressed with Barkley’s defense.
“‘Fun’ is a good word for Barkley,” Knight said during the selection process. “He’s a very talented player. He has to become a better defensive player. He has to work on strengthening what he does. He has a good chance (of making the team) if he can. “If If he can’t do that, he won’t make the team. “
He didn’t.
Instead, Knight opted for an eclectic mix that included Jordan’s North Carolina teammate Sam Perkins, who all had All-Conference and All-American credentials. Eleven of the 12 went in the first round of the 1984 or 1985 NBA draft; nine were top-10 picks.
The names range from household names like Ewing or Jordan, to college stars like Joe Klein and Jon Koncak, to established players like Vern Fleming, Jeff Turner or Leon Wood. Forgotten name.
But each possessed some skill that Knight admired, and the result was one of the most dominant Olympic performances in modern Olympic history, albeit during the Soviet boycott of the Los Angeles Games.
The U.S. team’s average score was 95.4 to 63.3. Eight wins came by double digits, including a 96-65 win over Spain in the final game, with four players — Jordan (17.1), Mullin (11.6), Ewing (11.0) and Alford (10.3) – Double-digit scorer. Wayman Tisdale leads the team with 5.9 rebounds and Wood leads the team with 7.9 assists.
Jordan later said that if he had known what Knight’s team would be like, he probably wouldn’t have played on Knight’s team. But at a coming-out party that sealed Jordan’s monumental NBA career, he won Knight over with an unsigned note, written on a yellow piece of paper and signed in Knight’s name. Special stayed in the locker room before giving his pregame speech.
“The note said ‘Coach: Don’t worry. We’ve endured too much – we can’t lose it now,'” Knight recalled in his autobiography, “Knight: My Story.” “I still have that paper, and I have no doubts about its authorship. At that time, I knew what Michael Jordan’s handwriting looked like. I looked at the note, and everyone looked at it. Michael Head down, but he couldn’t help but want to see what I was going to do. I just said, ‘Okay, let’s go play.'”
Indiana plans to hold a moment of silence in Knight’s honor before Friday’s men’s exhibition game and Saturday’s football game against Wisconsin. The football, men’s and women’s basketball teams will also wear Robert Montgomery Knight’s “RMK” patch.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball