Frustration appears to be setting in at Texas Tech. Anybody associating with Red Raiders coach Bob Knight these days had better be thick-skinned. Or be ready to grab some earplugs.
After Texas Tech lost to Oklahoma on Saturday, 60-48, and dropped to 10-9, 2-3 in the Big 12 Conference, Knight ridiculed a Lubbock sportswriter for asking why the Red Raiders managed to score just 12 points in the first half.
“I did something once, I did a real smart thing,” Knight told the Lubbock reporter in the presence of other reporters. “I learned the alphabet. And I didn’t have to learn it again.”
That’s a derivation from Knight’s old line about sportswriters, that everybody learns to write by age 5 or 6 but most go on to do more commendable things with their lives.
In Norman, Knight also went out of his way to congratulate the officials afterward. He told the three-man crew that it called the game the way it’s supposed to be officiated. “That’s happened rarely, it amazed me,” he said.
Knight was being sincere about the work of that particular officiating crew, but his compliment could be construed as a backhanded slap at officials in general. Knight added that most officials follow the advice of Hank Nichols, the NCAA’s national coordinator of men’s basketball officials. “And that’s nearly ruined basketball,” Knight said.
When asked Monday on the Big 12 media teleconference to elaborate, Knight pointed to a failure of officials to call traveling and palming. “Walking has become ridiculous in the last 15 years,” he said. “I’ve sent in tapes to the league office and the response I get is, ‘Well, those are some we missed.’ I’m talking 20 or 30 in a game. This isn’t the NBA.
“I had an official tell me one time that palming went out when I played. I told him, ‘Then why don’t you get it out of the rulebook?”‘
Nobody could blame Knight for becoming upset with his team. In conference play, the Red Raiders rank 10th in scoring (60.8), 11th in offensive rebounding and are last in steals and turnover margin.
Inexact science
Colorado sophomore guard Richard Roby was ranked about No. 100 nationally by recruiting services during his senior year at Lawrence Academy in Massachusetts.
“But the way Richard is playing now, he should have been in the top 25,” Iowa State coach Wayne Morgan said. “That just shows recruiting is not an exact science. Look back at first- and second- team high school All-Americans in the last 25 years, and 75 to 80 percent of them you’re going to say, ‘Whatever happened to him?”‘
After averaging 24 points and seven rebounds against Baylor and Oklahoma State, Roby was named Monday as a repeat winner of the Big 12 player of the week award. He shares this week’s honor with another sophomore guard, Daniel Gibson of Texas.
Whereas Gibson was considered a consensus top-15 prospect coming out of Houston’s Jones High School, Roby’s potential was underestimated by recruiting gurus. Colorado and Iowa State were Roby’s final two.
“I thought Richard had a chance to be a great player,” Morgan said. “I wish we had him.”
Roby became the first CU player to earn weekly Big 12 honors back to back.
“I feel comfortable out there,” Roby said Monday. “When I’m in a groove it’s hard to get me out of it.”
Footnotes
Fortunately for Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie, current Kansas coach Bill Self didn’t hold a grudge several years ago. While Self was at Tulsa he asked Gillispie, whom he didn’t know, if he could borrow a few bucks to get into a high school all-star game. Both were waiting in line outside the gym. Gillispie, then at Baylor, refused.
Self later hired Gillispie for a spot on his Tulsa staff. “I did loan Bill money on several occasions and I never got it back,” Gillispie said with a chuckle. His A&M squad hosts Kansas on Wednesday. “I think I had the foresight before I even knew him that this would not be money well spent.” … Freshmen or sophomores hold 29 of the 60 starting spots in the Big 12. … The Big 12 ranks sixth in RPI, one spot behind the Missouri Valley Conference. The Pac-10 is seventh and Mountain West eighth.
Staff writer Tom Kensler can be reached at 303-820-5456 or tkensler@denverpost.com.
