It’s Been a Good Knight

When he heard last spring that Bob Knight was coming out of a one-season exile to coach at Texas Tech, Andre Emmett was more than a little skeptical about his own future in Lubbock.

“I didn’t think I could play for him,” Emmett recalled earlier this week. “I thought my kind of game didn’t fit how he coached. But it’s turned out pretty good.”

Emmett, who averaged 7.7 points as a freshman last season on a 9-19 team, considered joining an exodus of players--either by choice or Knight’s nudging--after the controversial Hall of Fame coach arrived in town.

The Red Raiders are one of college basketball’s biggest surprises this season, and Emmett is a main reason. The 6-foot-5, 200-pound guard is leading Texas Tech (15-4) in scoring with an 18.3-point average, fourth best in the Big 12 Conference.

But Emmett is clearly not the only reason for Tech’s sudden turnaround from a team that was picked to finish near the bottom of the conference for a fourth consecutive season to one ranked No. 20 in the nation, the men’s basketball team’s first Top 25 ranking in five years.

You could point to senior center Andy Ellis, the league’s fifth-leading scorer at 18.0. Or you could point to junior forward Kasib Powell and the other three junior college transfers Knight picked to fill out his depleted roster.

“Obviously, he’s had huge numbers,” Nebraska Coach Barry Collier said of Emmett before the Cornhuskers upset Texas Tech, 80-69, in Lincoln on Wednesday night. “He’s really been consistent for them. But he’s benefited from the excellent play of Andy Ellis and Powell. There’s no question Emmett has had a great year, but you can’t stop there.”

There’s also the influence of Knight. He left Indiana under a cloud 16 months ago for violating a “‘zero tolerance” policy on verbal or physical abuse instituted by university president Miles Brand, but Knight’s resume includes three national titles in Bloomington and 779 career victories.

While Knight briefly found himself in the eye of another storm after nearly coming to blows with the manager of the Compaq Center in Houston after a game there earlier this season, Knight has used his Good Bob side to charm the fans who keep pouring into the school’s United Spirit Arena.

Attendance has jumped more than 4,000 from last season, to an average of 13,473. The team’s recent win over then-No. 6 Oklahoma State was its third consecutive sellout at 15,098. The Red Raiders followed that victory by beating sixth-ranked Oklahoma on Saturday.

“I’d like to think the 15,000 fans had a little bit to do with it”said Sooners Coach Kelvin Sampson. “It’s not just the team and the coach; the environment and atmosphere raises the level of play. That’s as tough an environment as we’ve ever played in.”

Former Texas Coach Tom Penders, now an analyst for ESPN, said recently: “It’s gone from a funeral parlor to Mardi Gras.”

Knight and his assistants are not taking the credit.

“We were a little surprised at how quickly our guys have picked up our type of philosophy and teachings,” Tech assistant Bob Beyer said.

“They deserve the credit because they worked extremely hard and they’re trying to get a better feel of what we want to get done on court. To get so many new guys on the same page so quickly, it’s really a compliment to our kids.”

Said Emmett: “Playing for Coach Knight has helped me reach my potential.”

Emmett had 26 points and 10 rebounds against Oklahoma after scoring a career-high 32 in the win over Oklahoma State. Not bad for a player who was barely recruited out of high school in Dallas.