Anchor Drop, November 2, 2023: RIP Bob Knight

Good morning.

Optional Musical Accompaniment

RIP to Bob Knight, former Indiana and Texas Tech head coach, who died yesterday at 83. If you came up watching college basketball in the 1980s and 1990s, Knight was one of the main characters of the sport, but really, I think this kind of sums it up:

Because, yeah: one thing those guys had in common is that aside from Pitino (who went to the NBA a couple of times), those guys all came up in the college game and were all committed to the college game. I felt like that was a big reason why college basketball developed a culture unique from the NBA.

Now, with a lot of help from ESPN, it’s turning into NBA Lite. And part of that is simply that there’s a lot more movement between the two leagues on the coaching side — you want to know why so many more coaching hires are “NBA Guys”? It’s probably because the NBA is the only place that’s developing coaches; the entry point to getting a job as a college assistant coach has for about two decades or so been “coach an AAU team with a bunch of high-level prospects” where “coach” is used very loosely. Since college basketball decided that recruiting was the only thing that really mattered, well, the quality of coaching has gone down, propped up for a long time only by the continued presence of the old guard of coaches.

In actual Vanderbilt news: Jackson Van Paris is the SEC Golfer of the Week. Celia-Belle Mohr and the men’s doubles team advanced at the ITA National Fall Championship. The Hustler recapped soccer season.

Sports on TV

All times Central.

• 3:30 PM: PGA Tour: World Wide Technology Championship, First Round (Golf Channel)
• 6:00 PM: College football: TCU at Texas Tech (FS1)
• 6:00 PM: NBA: Raptors at 76ers (NBA TV)
• 6:30 PM: College football: Wake Forest at Duke (ESPN)
• 6:30 PM: College football: South Alabama at Troy (ESPN2)
• 7:15 PM: NFL: Titans at Steelers (Prime Video)
• 9:00 PM: NBA: Spurs at Suns (NBA TV)

Scoreboard

MLB: Rangers 5, Diamondbacks 0 (Rangers win series, 4-1.)

NBA: Trail Blazers 110, Pistons 101 ... Raptors 130, Bucks 111 ... Hawks 130, Wizards 121 ... Celtics 155, Pacers 104 ... Nets 109, Heat 105 ... Cavaliers 95, Knicks 89 ... Pelicans 110, Thunder 106 ... Rockets 128, Hornets 119 ... Timberwolves 110, Nuggets 89 ... Mavericks 114, Bulls 105 ... Jazz 133, Grizzlies 109 ... Warriors 102, Kings 101 ... Lakers 130, Clippers 125.

NHL: Sabres 5, Flyers 2 ... Stars 4, Flames 3 ... Avalanche 4, Blues 1 ... Ducks 4, Coyotes 3.