Charlie Rose

REMant  06/14/2010 01:59 PM Report

Wooden not only came from "a" small town in Hoosierland, it was one only about a half-hour north of Bloomington and home of the Klu Klux Klan in those days. He was highly sought after by both IU and Purdue. Despite taking pride in his subsequent accomplishments and their general appreciation for good basketball, IU fans neither forgave him for choosing the latter, nor the Purdue coach for the underhanded means used to snatch him away. When IU lost to UCLA in 1973 in the Final Four, early in Bob Knight's tenure, it became a matter of pride to beat them in the rematch, which took place two years later. Had Scott May not broken his arm tho it is likely that IU would have beaten Kentucky in '75 and played UCLA in Wooden's last game. But the '76 team went on to beat them in Bloomington in the first game of the next season and again in the Final Four. I don't suppose anyone will host an appreciation of Knight, but I think he impacted the game as much as any coach ever has.