COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT UPDATE : EAST : Sometimes Knight Can Be Apologetic

Indiana Coach Bob Knight, criticized for several incidents this season, says he’s sometimes sorry for the way he treats players.

In an interview with Bob Costas for NBC’s “Now” broadcast Wednesday night, Knight was asked who in Indiana has the authority to criticize the coach.

“You know who has (the right) to?” Knight said. “Bob Knight has (the right) to, and I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve done that. I can’t tell you and I don’t even discuss it, the number of times I’ve gone home and said, ‘God, I wish I hadn’t gotten on that kid like that. I wish I didn’t think I had to get on him. . . .’ ”

Still, Knight defended his tactics as necessary to win, said he tells the parents of potential recruits just what their sons can expect at Indiana and advises free-spirited players to steer clear.

“If you want to do your own thing, if you want to play your game--at Indiana, we’re going to play my game,” he said.

Coach Kevin Bannon is using television commercials to help pace his 15th-seeded Rider Broncs (21-8) in their first-round East Regional game against second-seeded Connecticut (27-4).

“I’ve told the guys we’ll break the game into TV timeouts and go TV timeout to TV timeout. We’ll break the game into five-minute segments,” Bannon said.

“If we can stick with them during those five-minute periods, who knows? The fact that there will be so many timeouts will be to our advantage.”