Bob Knight apologizes for his comments about Kentucky

On Saturday night, Bob Knight created a significant ripple in the college basketball corner of the intrawebs when he made a comment that Kentucky's five first round draft picks in 2010 hadn't attended class in the spring semester.

The statement was blatantly incorrect. Of the five, only Daniel Orton had skipped out on his school work at the end of the spring semester. John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and Eric Bledsoe all left school in good academic standing, and Patrick Patterson graduated from Kentucky in three years.

Knight made a statement apologizing for his comments: "My overall point is that 'one and dones' are not healthy for college basketball. I should not have made it personal to Kentucky and its players and I apologize."


I'm not going to get into whether or not Knight should be reprimanded. I'm not going to worry about whether he should have to apologize, either. Personally, I don't take much of what Knight has to say seriously. He was a great coach in a different era, but his view of the college athletics is better suited to the 50's and 60's than the age of twitter. If anything, I'd hope that this incident helps push Knight off of ESPN's telecasts as it reinforces the notion that he simply does not do the research necessary to be considered 'knowledgeable' about college basketball in the here and now.

What does bother me, however, is the idea that one-and-done's are not healthy for college basketball. That may be the most erroneous statement he made.

College basketball diehards like myself will watch every game possible, regardless of who is on the court. I get just as much enjoyment out of watching a guy like David Lighty as I do out of watching the Kevin Durants and John Walls of the world.

But folks like myself are few and far between. Everyone loves the NCAA Tournament. Its the greatest spectacle in sports. But outside of the month of March, college basketball is largely a niche sport. They need marketable superstars just as much as the NBA, the NFL, and Major League Baseball do. For the casual fan to tune into a December or January game, it needs to feature players that will one day be competing for NBA titles. It needs the kids that will be the next generation of superstars.

Having the most talented american basketball prospects on a college court, even if it is for just one season, makes the sport more relevant. More talent on the court makes for a better game, which puts more eyeballs on TV sets.

It may hurt the credibility of the notion that these student-athletes are students and not just athletes.

But how many 'one-and-done' players did Jim Harrick have at Georgia or did Clem Haskins have at Minnesota?

If Knight wanted to criticize the one-and-done process for lacking educational integrity, he would have been better off picking on the OJ Mayo's of the world, not a John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and Eric Bledsoe.
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Bob Knight is really making himself popular in Kentucky

Bob Knight has never been a guy unafraid to voice his opinion.

And as such, we've found out that Knight dislikes John Calipari and the idea of a one-and-done player. Back in 2009, Knight said that the Kentucky program lacked integrity and has since taken the chance to use his status as a broadcaster for ESPN's college basketball telecasts to bash the Wildcat program.

During a speech in Wabash, IN, over the weekend, Knight once again took a shot at Calipari, saying that "Kentucky, year before last, started five players in the NCAA tournament games that had not been to class that semester. That’s that one and done philosophy." Jump to the 4:00 mark:



The problem?

Knight's criticism is completely inaccurate. Of the four one-and-done players, three -- John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, and DeMarcus Cousins -- left the school in good academic standing. Wall was a model student. As was Patrick Patterson, who earned his degree in three years before leaving for the NBA. Only Daniel Orton opted to skip class during the spring semester.

I would bash on Knight more in this post, but Big Blue Nation handled that for me.
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