It was the spring of 1984, and construction workers in Bloomington, Ind., were tasked with an unusual project. They were ordered to install a hydraulic platform into the school’s fieldhouse. There, Bob Knight would stand and watch over the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball trials, assessing 75 or so players who had converged to audition for a spot on the team Knight would coach.
When the practice sessions were through, Knight would descend and compare notes with the other coaches assisting him. Figures who included Dean Smith, Pete Newell, Gene Keady and a member of Knight’s blossoming coaching tree, “Michael Krzyzewski,” as he was listed in the program.
Knight stood on that tower for purely functional reasons. From on high, he could glimpse Michael Jordan—a junior at North Carolina and a Knight favorite—acting in defiance of gravity. He could turn and watch Auburn forward Charles Barkley—not a Knight favorite—grab a rebound and haul his 280-pound ass coast to coast. Patrick Ewing might be blocking shots on a third court. Karl Malone could be clogging the low post on a fourth.
