Tuesday, January 29, 2002
Knight's first Texas Tech squad makes Top 25
The Associated Press
LUBBOCK, Texas — Halfway through his first season at Texas Tech, Bob Knight is still looking for the right mix of players.
“If we had a guard that could shoot like Jerry West, one that could defend like John Havlicek, and if I had Willis Reed setting screens for Magic Johnson and had Larry Bird just kind of doing whatever he wanted to do, we'd be better,” Knight said recently.
Despite the absence of those superstars, Knight's Red Raiders are off to a 15-3 start — good enough to earn them the No. 20 spot in this week's AP college basketball poll.
Tech earned its first ranking in five years by beating two Top 10 teams — Oklahoma State and Oklahoma — within seven days. That's quite a feat for a team that finished tied for last in the Big 12 last season with a 3-13 record.
Has the quick turnaround exceeded the coach's expectations?
“No,” Knight said Saturday following a 92-79 victory over No. 6 Oklahoma. “Exceeding yours, but not mine.”
Knight last had a team ranked in 1999-00, his 29th and final season at Indiana. Texas Tech was last ranked in the 1996-97 season when it was in the poll for 10 weeks, reaching as high as 18th.
Texas Tech came close to being ranked several times this season. Beating Oklahoma State and Oklahoma provided the boost the Red Raiders needed.
Tech returns only four players who saw regular action last season. Two of them are now the leading scorers: four-year starter Andy Ellis (18.1 ppg) and sophomore Andre Emmett (17.9).
Knight added four junior college transfers, two freshmen and a walk-on when he arrived following a one-year layoff after being fired by Indiana. They bought into Knight's system of a motion offense and a tenacious, hard-nosed defense.
“What he's done is continue to do what he's done during a great, great career,” Kansas coach Roy Williams said. “He has coached his team to play together, play unselfish and play extremely hard, particularly on the defensive end. It's not surprising knowing his ability.”
Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson took note of the changed atmosphere in Lubbock, where an arena that last season averaged fewer than 4,000 fans is close to a sellout every game.
“It's not just the team and the coach. The environment and atmosphere raises level of play. I'd like to think those 15,000-plus fans had a little bit to do with it. That fueled them,” said Sampson, whose team beat the Red Raiders 98-72 two weeks earlier in Norman, Okla.
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Knight's first Texas Tech squad makes Top 25 
