Merely a Tall Tale? : In Possible Hoax, Knight Says He Will Have a 6-Foot-8 Recruit from Former Yugoslavia

Bob Knight apparently scored either a recruiting coup or a con job.

The coach of the nation’s No. 1 college basketball team says a 6-foot-8 recruit from the former Yugoslavia will enroll at Indiana, but no one knows who the player is--or whether he even exists.

One national recruiting analyst says it’s a hoax.

“I’ve heard the name, but I was informed that the kid doesn’t exist,” said Bob Gibbons, editor of All-Star Sports Report in Lenoir, N.C. “Knight’s playing games.”

On his television show Sunday, Knight said Indiana had received word that a player named Ivan Renko intends to enroll and play basketball for the Hoosiers, a final addition to an already impressive freshman class for next season.

But who is Ivan Renko?

“There is no such person,” Gibbons told the Indianapolis Star. “I’m positive. He was supposed to be located in New Hampshire. I called people that I know there, not to mention every prep school in the area, to see if there was such a player. There was none.”

Knight could not be reached immediately for comment Tuesday. But on his radio show Monday night, he said Renko was brought to his attention in July when he spoke at a coaches’ clinic in Europe. Knight cited NCAA rules and the situation in Renko’s homeland as precluding further comment.

Indiana sports information director Kit Klingelhoffer also said Tuesday he could not comment because of NCAA regulations.

“Anybody who follows the political situation of civil unrest in Yugoslavia can appreciate the fact that we’d just like to let it go at that,” Knight said. “Let it suffice to say that we’re very pleased.”

Craig Miller, a spokesman for USA Basketball, the governing body for U.S. teams in international play, also never heard of Renko. Miller said no such person played for the Croatian team that won the silver medal in the Olympic Games last summer.

If there is an Ivan Renko, Knight might have violated an NCAA rule simply by mentioning him. The NCAA prohibits a coach from commenting about a player until the player has signed a letter of intent.

“The kid would lose his eligibility at Indiana until it is shown it was not a recruiting advantage,” Bob Oliver of the NCAA’s Legislative Services Department said.

NCAA scholarship limitations drop from 14 to 13 next season. With the loss of four seniors from this season’s team, the Hoosiers’ roster will stand at 13 with the addition of six recruits: Steve Hart of Terre Haute, Sherron Wilkerson of Jeffersonville, 6-10 Robbie Eggers of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and three Californians, 7-foot Richard Mandeville of La Canada, Monte Marcaccini of Sherman Oaks and Robert Foster of Los Angeles.

Several recruiting analysts rate that group the third-best recruiting class in the country, behind those of Kansas and Duke.

“I think he’s tired of people dabbling in his recruiting,” Gibbons said.

“I think he’s going to show all of us that he’s still Bob Knight. I’m totally convinced that it’s bogus and Knight’s just playing games.”