Friday, Feb. 6, 2004 | 10:35 a.m.
So far that LoRo gets special mention here instead of that space just below. Sophomore guard Nate Robinson went for a career-best 31 points against the Wildcats, and UDub might be close to returning to respectability.
The Scoop -- Arizona coach Lute Olson has been victorious in his past four games on the goofy Maples Pavilion court, returning the favor against a Stanford squad that has won four in a row in Tucson. This time around, however, the Cardinal will be without Justin Davis (knee). And the 'Cats will be mad. And Arizona will prevail, handing Stanford its first defeat of the season.
Prediction (4-3) -- Arizona 67, Stanford 64.
Good Knight.
At this point, we're had enough of Texas Tech coach Bob Knight's antics, tirades and lame excuses for his latest outburst, confrontation or tyrannical behavior.
Couldn't Red Raiders brass have cut The General's endless cycle of dictatorial tendencies and cut its ties with the maniacal boss, or forced him to bolt by slapping him with a suspension in the wake of "Saladgate?"
Turns out Tech, like Indiana did for decades, bowed down like the limp lettuce that allegedly was tossed Monday between Knight and Red Raiders chancellor David Smith in that Lubbock, Texas, grocery store.
"There's absolutely no excuse for Knight's behavior," said Jack Isenhour, author of the recent book "Same Knight, Different Channel."
"And I don't care what the chancellor said, 'Saladgate' is just another example of Knight's mega-competitiveness gone awry. Whether it's an argument or a basketball game, he just has to win."
Smith was reportedly commending Knight on his excellent behavior this season. Quickly, the muffled conversation got heated, Smith tried walking away, Knight barked and Smith said the chancellor of the university deserved more respect.
"If a faculty member did this," Nancy B. Reed, head of the Texas Tech faculty senate, told the New York Times, "(he or she) would be sent for psychiatric evaluation."
The joke is that, in the wake of Knight's latest "incident," he was adamant that he was not the instigator. As if that should minimize what he said and how he said it to not only a superior, but his boss' boss.
Isenhour is a bit more of an authority on Knight than most observers, since he played on Knight's first team as a head coach -- Army, in 1965-66.
Isenhour became a decorated soldier in the Vietnam War. In his revealing book, Isenhour presented both sides of the Knight case with clarity and insight, showing how the gung-ho mentality and culture at West Point helped foster Knight's abrasiveness.
The publication of the book effectively removed Knight from the coach's circle of confidants, friends or even acquaintances, if Isenhour had ever even been mentioned in that fraternity.
No matter to Isenhour, whose book goes well beyond the pigeon-holed nature of most sports tomes.
"It reminds me of Michael Jordan's comment during his golf gambling flap years ago," Isenhour wrote us in a Wednesday e-mail. "'I don't have a gambling problem,' Jordan told an interviewer, 'I have a competition problem.' So he kept on competing and losing.
"I think Knight also has a competition problem. He just won't back down. Can't say, I'm sorry you feel that way,' and move on. He has to have the last word."
Isenhour said this week's incident never would have occurred if Knight had just heeded some of Isenhour's last words in his excellent book.
"No matter how much somebody deserves it," Isenhour wrote, "don't be an (bleep)hole."
We'd toss Air Force (15-3) into that mix, but UNLV gave the Falcons a tutorial on above-the-rim hoops and backdoor denial Monday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Even mid-major darling Gonzaga (18-2) most be viewed with an arched eyebrow, because of its schedule strength of 81. That's the worst schedule rating of any of the top-30 teams (the Zags are ranked 19th) in the most recent Ratings Percentage Index.
Obviously, it's difficult for many of those teams to improve upon their schedule. As Gonzaga's stock has improved in recent years, what top-flight coach would want to take their team into that hornet's nest?
Or even bring that next to his own court?
Very few.
That's a tribute to Zags boss Mark Few, who provided a very smooth transition after Dan Monson's departure to Minnesota.
We get perturbed at how perturbed Few gets when others mispronounce his school's name, but that's a minor knock. For the record, it's Gon-zay-guh. But that's for another column.
Utah State (18-1), Dayton (17-3), South Carolina (18-3), Western Michigan (15-2), Kent State (14-3), Murray State (18-4), Creighton (16-2) and Southern Illinois (17-2) all have triple-figure schedule strengths.
That won't bode well for mid- to late March against the big boys.
The Wolf Pack (13-7) checked into the latest RPIs at No. 49, with a stellar schedule strength of 42. No doubt, playing then-No. 1 UConn tight for 39 minutes and beating then-No. 7 Kansas boosted UNR's stock.
UNLV fans remember how well their Northern neighbors played in Las Vegas in November, when the Pack defeated the Rebels 74-62.
The Western Athletic Conference's game of the year just might take place Feb. 18 in Houston, where Rice will play host to UNR. Those are the only two schools currently ranked among the league's top-five offensive and defensive teams.
Rice also played UConn tightly (in a 92-83 defeat) this season and scared Stanford (60-56 loss) in November.
The Pack slapped Rice around UNR, 101-76, two weeks ago.
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