Knight Provokes a Storm

Indiana University Coach Bob Knight’s decision to bench all but one of his veteran basketball players in Sunday’s game at Illinois has drawn quick criticism from fans around the state, including those in the university’s home town of Bloomington.

“The station has been getting quite a few calls this morning. It’s been a ‘what-the-hell’s-going-on’ type thing,” Joe Smith, sports director of radio station WBWB in Bloomington, said Monday. “It’s just frustrating. They just can’t understand it.”

Knight, apparently unhappy with the recent play of most of his regulars--including 1984 U.S. Olympian Steve Alford--started four freshmen along with 7-foot-2 senior center Uwe Blab in Sunday’s nationally televised game against the Illini. Indiana scored just 12 points in the first half and lost, 52-41.

Although Knight refused to answer any questions about his actions on Sunday, he was willing to talk Monday night on his weekly radio show.

“If my primary purpose around here at Indiana is to go out and win basketball games, I can probably do that, maybe as well as anybody can,” Knight said. “I’d just cheat, get some money from a lot of people around Indianapolis who would like to run the operation that way and get the best basketball players I can, and then we’d beat everybody all the time.”

Knight said he left forwards Winston Morgan and Mike Giomi at home Sunday because “I think there comes a time that somebody needs to be jolted a little. And if jolting them doesn’t get them playing to what their potential is, then they’ve got to think about dropping out of it or playing somewhere else.”

Alford, a sophomore guard, was the team’s most valuable player last year and led the nation in free-throw shooting percentage. He was the team’s scoring leader again this season at about 20 points a game.

Knight said his greatest regret was benching Alford.

“I didn’t enjoy sitting through a ballgame without playing Steve and one or two other guys,” he said. “I felt Steve could sit out an entire game, watch kids who I know are going to play awful hard, and by Steve’s own admission today, play a lot harder than we had all year.”

Smith, at the radio station, said most of his callers wondered why Alford didn’t get to play.

Sam Alford, Steve’s father and the basketball coach at New Castle, Ind., High School, said: “Coach Knight always seems to have reasons and thinks things out. I’m sure that they’ll turn it around and be winning soon.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt who’s the captain of the ship (at Indiana),” the elder Alford said. “Steve went to Indiana because he thought it was the best basketball program in the country and the best one for him. He doesn’t have any doubts about that.”

Alford said he hasn’t talked with his son about the lineup change: “As a coach, you have to make tough calls. Steve’s just got to handle things.