Bob Knight: ‘Big East Without Any Question Best Conference’

Bob Knight should not be upset I’m picking on him. Rather, he should be proud his word means enough for me to give them attention. OK, now that we have this out of the way, I cannot believe he definitively calls the Big East the best conference in the country. He was a guest on Sporting News Radio Tuesday, and got off this comment:

Leagues go from year-to-year. Like this year, without any question, the Big East has the best conference — the toughest teams, the most really good teams, are in the Big East. And I saw that watching the Big East tournament this past week — that’s why I picked Pittsburgh as a real likely contender in this tournament. I’m anxious to see if they can play as hard and as well defensively in this tournament as they did in the last tournament they were in.

To clarify for you Bob, in case you’re already backing off your prediction Sunday, you didn’t pick Pitt as a real likely contender in the tournament — you picked them to win the whole thing. Hedging on the pick much? Anyway, I was fairly confident, in one of those about to finish your sentence type of moments, that Knight was about to give the Pac-10 some serious props. Because after all, that was recognized by most experts as the top conference in the sport this year. I can respect a differing opinion, such as that of Knight, but how can he so definitively declare the Big East the best without any question? At best, it would be slightly better than the Pac-10, with some questions. But there’s no way it’s the best without any question. Right, because South Florida and Rutgers were such powerhouses this year. What you have to say about them, Bobby boy?