Knight, Raiders knocked off by SIU

Posted 12:27AM on Saturday 16th March 2002 ( 23 years ago )

CHICAGO - New school, same old result in the NCAA tournament for Bob Knight. Jermaine Dearman had 17 points and 11 rebounds Friday night as 11th-seeded Southern Illinois beat Knight's Texas Tech 76-68 in an Eastern Regional opener. Kent Williams scored 17 for the Salukis, who won their school-record 27th game. It was only the second NCAA win ever for the Salukis. And it was yet another disappointingly short run in the tournament for Knight, whose teams have lost in the first round in five of his last seven NCAA appearances. ``I'd have been disappointed eventually if we'd gotten beat in the championship game,'' said Knight, who won three national titles at Indiana before being fired in September 2000 for a ``pattern of unacceptable behavior.'' ``Yeah, I'm disappointed, but also I can look at how we played and how they played, and they're just better at some things than we were.'' Though he's in the Hall of Fame and is 42-22 in 25 tournament appearances, Knight hasn't been to the round of 16 since 1994. But it's the first-round losses that really sting. And they haven't been close ones, either. Indiana lost to Colorado by 18 in 1997, matching the Hoosiers' worst postseason defeat. That was followed by a 25-point blowout to St. John's in 1999, and a 20-point loss to Pepperdine in 2000. But while Texas Tech was the sixth seed, this wasn't that much of an upset. ``They had a mental toughness that was really extraordinary,'' Knight said of the Salukis. ``The mental to physical in basketball is four-to-one, and we're not there yet. To be a team that can make a dent in this tournament, we've got to get there.'' The Red Raiders were just 9-19 last season, and Knight did a remarkable rebuilding job with six holdovers, four junior college transfers, two freshmen and a walk-on. Tech (23-9) earned its first NCAA bid since 1996. But the Red Raiders were simply overmatched against the Salukis. Andy Ellis and Kasib Powell had 19 each, but leading scorer Andre Emmett had just nine points. The Red Raiders were held to just 39 percent shooting - and that was even with Dearman and Rolan Roberts, SIU's top defenders, starting the game on the bench. The two, who'd started Southern Illinois' first 33 games, were benched for being late to practice Tuesday. ``Even though it was Bob Knight we were going against, he wasn't on the floor,'' said Dearman, an Indianapolis native who grew up watching Knight at Indiana. ``We weren't playing a name today, we were playing the players.'' But the players weren't really what the fans came to see. All eyes were on Knight, who looked out of place in his black sweater and was just four hours north of Bloomington, Ind., where he spent 29 years. There were some boos when he took the floor for the game, and one Southern Illinois fan held up a sign reading, '``Hey Knight, What's Up?' Salukis.'' Knight was fired after he grabbed the arm of a student who said, ``What's up, Knight?'' But raucous cheers drowned out any boos when Knight was introduced. Knight didn't show any reaction, of course. And he was fairly well-behaved once the game started. He did let loose at Nick Valdez at one point, calling him over to the bench to yell at him, and continuing the ``discussion'' at the next timeout. And Knight was livid when Ellis was called for basket interference with 18:16 to play, jumping up and screaming at the referees. ``That's not right,'' he said to one. ``You can't possibly see.'' It appeared that the ball might have been off the rim when Ellis touched it, but replays were inconclusive. In Knight's mind, though, there was no question, and he was still complaining about it at a timeout a minute later. Other than that, though, he was a model citizen. Southern Illinois coach Bruce Weber spent more time on his feet. When Mikey Marshall was called for what could have been a charge, Knight simply leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms across his chest and glared at the referee. When Pawel Storozynski was called for traveling, Knight jumped up and took a few steps down the bench, then sat back down. And when Dearman scored on an alley-oop to put Southern Illinois up 53-38 with 8:09 left, Knight just looked over at son Pat, a Red Raiders assistant, as if to ask him where they were going for dinner. With yet another early departure from the tournament, he's got plenty of time to decide. ``Our kids, if I were to say a weakness, I'd have quickly said mental toughness,'' Knight said. ``Southern Illinois both played smarter and harder than we did. Hopefully we can learn something and grow from it.''

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/3/197352