Pretty fly for that Knight guy

For eons, there have been many who dreamed of the day Bob Knight would hang a “Gone fishin’ ” sign on the door and never return -- Big Ten officials, sportswriters, those in charge of NCAA tournament news conferences.

Turns out, that might have suited Knight just fine.

Asked by a viewer whether fly fishing was more challenging than coaching, Knight, now an ESPN talker, said, “When you’re casting a fly, you can miss where you’re casting. You just pick it up and cast it again. You never know if a kid is going to do what you’ve told him to do and actually, I’ve had flies that have reacted a lot better to my instructions over the years than a lot of the players I’ve had, so maybe I’m better at fly fishing than coaching.”

The image you’re looking for is one of Knight kicking a fly, screaming at the fish, then taking the rock he’d been sitting on and tossing it in the stream . . . preferably in Puerto Rico.

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Trivia time

As Florida waits on the bubble, what was the last school that failed to make the NCAA men’s tournament the year after winning the title?

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Back to the basics

The key to Georgetown’s success in its 82-63 victory over Villanova on Thursday?

“We told our guys to be ready to shoot,” Coach John Thompson III said. “You’re going to be open, put the ball in the basket. Make shots.”

That’s a couple of generations of basketball savvy at work there.

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Shocking news

Jameson Sutton, the fan who has Barry Bonds’ 762nd home run ball, announced Thursday he will sell it. Who could have guessed that? Oh yeah, everyone.

Still, the company that will hold the auction expects the ball to bring as much as $1 million. Matt Murphy, who caught Bonds’ 756th home run, which broke Hank Aaron’s record, auctioned the ball for $752,467.

That’s inflation. Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom House, who snagged Aaron’s 715th home run ball, got a television set.

No cable. No Wii. No TiVo. Just a TV.

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Just dopey

Sutton barely beat Jake Frazier to the ball, quite a feat considering Frazier has 25 home-run balls, including three hit by Bonds.

Frazier explained his close-but-no-cigar moment to Yahoo sports.

“I’m always stoned to the bone during games,” he said. “I’d been smoking big weed 10 minutes before that . . . guy hit the ball, so they had a little advantage on me.”

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Rainbow coalition

Flea, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist, Lakers fan and stream-of-consciousness blogger, went off on a rant last week expressing his love for Lakers games:

“I love the freaks at the game. I love the hippies, the yuppies, the gangbangers, the lawyers, the corporate suits, the trendy teenagers, the flaunters, the humble fans, the true fans, the band wagoneers, the thugs, the thoughtful, the fathers and mothers and kids, the intelligent observers of the game, the drunken, yelling morons, the hot silicone chicks with painted fingernails who parade around and don’t pay attention to the game, the black, the white, the brown, the red, the yellow.”

Uh, how about the Celtic green?

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Trivia answer

Kansas in 1989, when the Jayhawks -- who were on probation -- finished 19-12 in Roy Williams’ first season as coach. They’d won the 1988 championship with Larry Brown as coach.

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And finally

Comedian/actor Billy Crystal, who had to go to George Steinbrenner’s suite after striking out in his New York Yankees debut Thursday, told reporters, “I was worried he was going to trade me for Jerry Seinfeld.”

On Friday, Crystal was released and was no longer a Yankee -- something that usually followed meetings between Steinbrenner and guys named “Billy” in the past.

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chris.foster@latimes.com