COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : WEST REGIONAL : Indiana Whips Seminoles, 85-74

His act continues, from the cracks about the bullwhip to the sarcasm about mistreating his players to the annual pastings his team gives Florida State in the NCAA tournament.

Bob Knight continues to be amused, and as long as his Indiana Hoosiers continue to advance through the draw of West Regional, the smirking isn’t going to stop.

Beaten Thursday night were the Florida State Seminoles, by a score of 85-74 and to a tune reminiscent of last year. In the second round of the 1991 Southeast Regional, Indiana eliminated Florida State, 82-60.

“This one was a lot like last year,” Knight noted, “except we played better last year. Tonight, we were up to an 18-point lead--and we did it despite making a hell of a lot of errors.

“Last year, we went from 27 up to 19. This year, we went from 18 up down to seven. The games were, really, almost identical.”

Florida State (22-10) toyed with a fresh angle for a while. The Seminoles broke to an 11-4 lead, shot 52% in the first half and trailed at halftime, 40-38, after Byron Wells hit a three-point shot before the buzzer.

The scoreboard clock at The Pit showed 15:34 in the second half before Florida State scored again.

Indiana (25-6) opened the second half with a 10-0 run, then turned it into an 18-5 run and eventually a 71-53 lead with 8:41 remaining.

By way of explanation, Knight returned to the tyrant theme that launched a thousand sound bites the previous day.

“When we went in at halftime, everybody took their uniforms off, and we had them stand in a cold shower,” Knight quipped. “We had ‘em in for two minutes, out for four, in for two minutes, out for four. There’s a strict procedure here.

“It really showed in the second half. We utilized what we like to call ‘cerebral reversal.’ ”

Knight’s leading scorer, reserve center Eric Anderson, made six of his first seven shots, dived for a loose ball, cut his chin, took six stitches and came back to close out an 8-for-12, 24-point performance.

Greg Graham also contributed 19 points as a reserve for Indiana.

Thus, the bullwhip lives to see another day, but just to make sure, Knight had to make another comment about it.

“I’ve got a soft tip on the whip, which I used on the kids yesterday,” he deadpanned. “Every kid got four lashes. It doesn’t hurt as much as the metal tip. It’s the idea that’s important.”