From: hartigse@fe638.cc.purdue.edu (Scott Hartig)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.college
Subject: 1992 - A Year of Greatness
Date: 8 Apr 92 19:44:39 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center

Just my thoughts on the season:

- 1992 was a season stacked with talent.  Any one person could give
four or five variations of the All-American team.  Shaq, JJ, Miner,
Laettner, Mourning, Day, MacLean, Houston(s), The Five X'Z.  WOW!!!
Probably the most talented year since the early eighties.  Pro coaches
and GM's have been licking their chops for a while, just waiting for
that draft.  

- Duke starts out at #1 and finishes at #1.  A classy program, with a
classy coach, and some (sometimes) classy fans.  Sex Object Christian
Laettner lived up to his hype with an outstanding season and earned
Player of the Year Honors in the ACC and in the NCAA.  Losing only two,
Duke participated in what I say was the best game of the year, the overtime
victory over Kentucky (the 1st Michigam matchup wasn't bad either).  
Congratulations to the two-time defending National Champions Duke
Blue Devils.

- The Fab Five of Michigan cause more commotion in the media and
the world of college basketball than any class before them at any
school.  Five freshman, all with excellent academic records, from
all over the US, all sign with Michigan and create the best recruiting
class of all time.  They make it all the way to the final game before
losing to Duke.  They may soon form the best team college basketball
has ever seen.  Better than any of Wooden's UCLA teams, better than any
of Tark's UNLV teams, and even better than Knight's 1976 Indiana Hoosiers,
who have long been regarded as the best team ever assembled.  Lookout
world,  they're for real.

- Bob Knight creates havoc among media during the tournament.  After
blowing the BigTen championship at Purdue, Knight must have been a
little afraid.  His team had no confidence in their game and were
destined for an early exit.  He cancelled his team's banquet.  He
carried a bullwhip.  He got blamed for racism.  He shared all of his
cruel training methods with the world.  He created a process called
'cerebral reversal'.  Many people who don't really understand Knight
(and a LOT of people don't), just said that he had gone off the deep
end and deserved to be fired.  But they never realized his intentions.
He saw what too much media attention had done to his team.  They crumbled.
By diverting all of their attention to him with his whip and corny "game
faces", they never got distracted by hundreds of flash bulbs and stupid
questions.  I call it a touch of brilliance.  Not only is Knight the best
coach in America, but he is also one of the masters of manipulation.  He
has the world by the balls and refuses to let go.  Get 'em in '93 (You may
realize that I'm IU biased).

- CBS proves it's incompetency.  It has to be hard to try to get coverage
to 63 games in four weeks.  I understand that.  But CBS was just a little
greedy.  I enjoyed the commentary of some of their analysts:  Quinn Buckner,
Jim Nantz, even Bill Walton (I think he has the potential of being the best
color commentator in basketball, he just needs to devote more time to it and
maybe take a few journalism classes).  However, they need to consider splitt-
ing time with ESPN.  NBC realized that they could not possibly cover the
entire Olympics, they split it with cable.  ABC cannot possibly cover all
four rounds of a golf tournament, they split it with cable.  CBS, on the
other hand, considers themselves such a March Madness tradition, that it
would be blasphemy to let ESPN do 1st round games.  To all of you who
wrote in to the network with your disgust....thanks. 

- College hoops once again shows why it is the best sport one can
get to know.  BOB KNIGHT: you hate him or you love him.  But think
what this sport would be like without him.  Scary, huh?  DUKE:  a
dynasty some want to see end, and some want to see perpetuate. 
It's always great to have someone to chase, and even better to be the one
getting chased.  Congrats to the Devils (watch out for the Hoosiers in
'93 though).  DICKIE V: again, you love him or you hate him.  What a
new refreshing edge he provides in hoops.  Many people turn down the
volume on the set when he's doing the game, but think how much more
exciting he can make a big matchup.  His enthusiasm alone gets my blood
pumping to watch UNC/Duke, IU/Purdue, USC/UCLA, etc.  Thank God for Dick
Vitale.  We, everyone here, have one thing in common.  Whether you hate
Duke or love Duke, hate Knight or love him, like the Campbell Camels or 
admit to never hearing of them before:  We long for the intensity and
spirit of competition that no other sport on any level gives you.  It
is not a complicated game like football, not a high class game like tennis,
not an easy game like soccer (yuck).  But it offers an education to college
students, fans and players.  It is competitive and always exciting.  We
may not agree on much here on r.s.b.c, but we all have that one constant.
Good Luck to all of your teams in '92-'93, and we can only hope for a sea-
son like we had this year. 

scott
_______________________________________________________

Scott E. Hartig
Purdue University Schools of Engineering
West Lafayette, IN

"The sum of the world's intelligence is a constant.....
                ....the population is growing"       

                        -H.L Mencken
GO HOOSIERS!!!!!

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Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.college