I know and care a lot about WF players from before 1986. However, seeing as I wasn't alive in 1986 that knowledge is admittedly second hand. I don't lack that knowledge because I decided to quit being a fan for 20 years.
You've got that wrong. I didn't decide to quit being a WF basketball fan for 20 years in 1985. For all practical purposes, I decided to quit being a WF basketball fan forever in 1985. I tried to come back 20 year later. Even bought season tickets for the 2005-06 season....which was probably the worse thing that could have happened if I was going to become a WF basketball fan again. 20 years of watching Bob Knight-coached teams execute offenses & defenses and play the game with 100% intensity, discipline & court sense at all times can spoil you. Watching that 2005-06 WF team continue to play game after game with no discipline & seemingly no motivation....after watching the complete opposite of that for all those years from Bob Knight's Indiana teams...was unbelievably depressing. By the time they blew a 9-point 2nd half lead at home to lose by 11 to Carolina on February 19th.....dropping to 1-11 in the ACC....I had seen enough to conclude that neither the coaches nor the players had any idea what they were doing out there.
so you are an even worse fan than I thought. Got it.
Why do you post on Wake Forest basketball threads if you have only watched 2/3 of a season since 1985? Especially on threads that are specifically about teams, coaches or players that came after 1985?
And you still haven't adequately explained why you hate "2 and dones" when your beloved Coach had more 1 or 2 and done players than any other coach during the first 13 years after the NBA/ABA merger.
I haven't responded because your question...and the premise behind it...is totally stupid. You are talking about Isiah Thomas & Jay Edwards. Two players out of all the players that Bob Knight coached at Indiana in 29 years.....a 29-year period when all but 2 or 3 players who completed their basketball eligibility also graduated. Bob Knight's record in the area of player academics speaks for itself.
My point is that Bob Knight coached in a different era. His last great team was probably the 92-93 Indiana team. It's not a coincidence that as the best players sought to go to the NBA after 1 or 2 years more frequently, Bob's refusal to continue to recruit the best players resulted in a slight decline in his teams' performance.
It also means his refusal to recruit "one or two and done" type players was non existent until the 90's since 1. not very many of those players existed until beginning in the 90's, and 2. Of the players that did exist, 2 played for Indiana.