Bob Knight's self-proclaimed status as the GOAT carried ramifications that extended far beyond his coronation victory passing Dean Smith as the winningest coach in college basketball history. The question was: who cared?
"The greatest of all time?" The New York Times sports headline led off without pulling any punches. "Coach Knight, perhaps you ought to learn elementary-school math: ten is greater than three. That's to say nothing of the fact that your claim on even 'the greatest active coach' is shaky at best. Both you and your protégé Mike Krzyzewski have won three national championships, but Coach K built a Duke dynasty in 1991 and 1992, while you haven't so much as sniffed a title game since 1987. The only thing you can still boast about is your 1984 Olympic gold medal—and now Coach K is taking over the Dream Team. Once he returns with an Olympic gold of his own, even that slim edge will vanish. What will you have left then? The win record? Coach K is steadily chasing you down on the all-time wins list too. He's younger than you, his résumé is more consistent, he has never thrown a chair, never publicly humiliated his players, and never taken veiled potshots at Wooden through the press. Game after game, victory after victory, he has systematically knocked down the benchmarks you once held so dear. When it comes down to it, your so-called 'greatest of all time' claim is nothing more than self-mythologizing opportunism to milk a historical milestone for publicity. It isn't a crown; it's a punchline. If GOAT implies greatness, consistency, and unquestioned dominance, then that title clearly fits John Wooden, who built an empire with ten championship rings, not Bob Knight, propped up by a big mouth and a mountain of technical fouls."
A storm of media backlash erupted, thick with mockery and sarcasm directed at Knight.
Meanwhile, the pressure on Xu Ling was vastly reduced.
Even though Knight's outburst had clearly been provoked by him, uninformed bystanders were easily swayed by sensationalized media headlines. They thought: How could someone as low-key as Eli ever say something like that? Knight must have put him up to it!
Either way, things were spiraling toward extremes.
Knight, however, could no longer be bothered to argue with the outside world. As a lifelong controversial figure, he couldn't care less about adding one more controversy to his résumé.
Four days later, Texas Tech faced the Missouri Tigers at the United Spirit Arena.
The Tigers ranked sixth in the Big 12 preseason poll. It was an awkward spot: they were considered long shots to earn a March Madness bid, yet they were skilled enough to blow out lesser competition—a classic spoiler team.
If a contender didn't take them seriously, they could easily trip up.
This was the last relatively manageable contest before two major tests, and TTU went all out.
Tonight, Xu Ling was not assigned to guard the Tigers' primary offensive weapon.
Knight slotted him at the small forward spot and told him to focus entirely on scoring.
Missouri's go-to scorer, Stephan Hanna, was shadowed by Martin Zeno.
Over the course of the season, Xu Ling's stellar defense had made people forget that Zeno was Texas Tech's unsung hero who had historically taken on the opposing star.
Zeno fulfilled his defensive duties to perfection tonight, effectively neutralizing Hanna, while Xu Ling repeatedly dismantled Missouri's perimeter defense with long-range jumpers.
TTU smoothly captured their fourth straight tournament win.
Xu Ling racked up 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists, earning undisputed Player of the Game honors.
Jarrius Jackson followed closely with 20 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Martin Zeno locked down the opponent's star while chipping in 16 points and 5 rebounds of his own.
ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas, who attended the game in person, wrote in his column the following day: "The University of Florida looks like the scariest team in college basketball, and Ohio State looks like the team with the highest ceiling. If either stumbles, the University of Kansas is the most likely to go all the way. But if you ask me which team is most capable of pulling off a miracle in March Madness, my answer is none other than the Texas Tech Red Raiders! They have four scorers who can average double digits and two who can erupt for thirty points in any collegiate matchup. Once they get rolling, nothing is impossible!"
TTU's national ranking climbed from twentieth in the preseason to tenth, trailing only Kansas in the Big 12.
Next up, they faced back-to-back clashes against the second-ranked University of Kansas and Kevin Durant's Texas Longhorns.
A new week began.
Kevin Durant edged out Xu Ling to win Big 12 Player of the Week.
The reasoning? Durant simply looked more dominant on the floor. The Longhorns were likewise 4–0 to start the season, and Durant had eclipsed thirty points in three of those four games. On the season, he led the conference scoring charts averaging 27 points and 8 rebounds.
Compared to Greg Oden, who still looked like a wounded tiger with no clear timetable to reach full strength, Durant was the most heavily scrutinized and celebrated freshman in the country.
This built even more outside anticipation for the looming showdown between Durant and Xu Ling.
So much so that Texas Tech's Wednesday game against Kansas received far less spotlight. College sports media was primarily hyping the weekend clash between Xu and Durant.
Furthermore, given Kansas's staggering depth, the general consensus was that Xu Ling would put up numbers while Kansas cruised to an easy, foregone victory.
That expectation irked everyone at TTU, but Wednesday's game played out exactly that way.
The Kansas Jayhawks featured at least five players projected to play in the NBA. For the first time this season, Texas Tech found itself in a game where every single player except Xu Ling was matched against a superior physical talent.
That night, Xu Ling performed admirably against Kansas's premier wing, Brandon Rush, executing well whether shooting from the perimeter or driving with the ball. However, his defense failed to work miracles like it had before.
Rush was somewhat like Cartier Martin: not an elite ball-handler, but a deadly shooter, an excellent defender, and blessed with superior natural talent.
When Martin had called for screens to carve out a sliver of daylight, Xu Ling had contested him aggressively enough to disrupt him.
Rush, on the other hand, could shrug off that interference and sustain a solid shooting percentage.
Even though Xu Ling outperformed Rush individually, it marked the first time he had neither locked down nor blown out his matchup. At the same time, his teammates were losing their individual battles across the board. TTU trailed by ten heading into the second half, and by the final buzzer, Kansas walked away with a lopsided fifteen-point victory.
Xu Ling finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 1 assist while shooting fifty percent.
ESPN analyst Dick Vitale remarked, "Without Eli, the Red Raiders might have lost by twenty-five."
Such praise meant nothing to Xu Ling. If they wanted to win a national championship, they couldn't comfort themselves with moral victories.
Kansas wasn't even the number one team in the country.
A throng of media hovered around, eager to hear Xu Ling's thoughts on the loss and looking to preview the weekend duel.
Xu Ling remained cold and aloof. He had only one thought: get back to the dorm and watch the game tape again and again.
Knight remained surprisingly calm. If a computer simulated ten games between them and Kansas, Texas Tech would win at most one.
Tonight's outcome was entirely expected.
Yet any real game contained uncertainty; no team was guaranteed a win.
So Knight still turned up the heat in the locker room.
"You weren't playing basketball out there today! You were acting as Kansas's practice squad—props in their highlight reel! Mario Chalmers gives you a look, and you freeze up like you've been tasered! Jarrius, were you waiting to ask him for an autograph? And Eli—wipe that damn 'at least I fought' look off your face! You think shielding your teammates while they crawl into their shells makes you a hero? Kansas is the better team, but I didn't see an ounce of fight in you to take them down!" Knight roared after storming into the locker room. "If you can't approach tougher opponents with the right mentality, we don't have a prayer of winning the Big 12 tournament!"
This wasn't the end. Before March Madness, every conference held its own conference tournament. As long as TTU set their sights on a championship, they would have another shot at Kansas.
Once Knight finished his tirade, Xu Ling grabbed the game film from an assistant coach. Back in his dorm room, he began breaking down the tape.
He noticed something crucial: while Brandon Rush was their centerpiece, his limited shot-creation off the dribble kept him primarily in a complementary role.
Kansas's true engine was Mario Chalmers. Tonight, Chalmers had dominated TTU's point guards on both ends of the floor while orchestrating the entire offense.
Xu Ling had no desire to shift blame onto his teammates. But he couldn't help pondering: the next time they crossed paths with Kansas, how could they prevent another one-sided thrashing?
Should he slide over to guard Mario Chalmers? Not impossible, but impractical.
He had contained Rush tonight because he had guarded him tight in person. What if someone else took Rush? Wouldn't Rush break out just as Xu had?
Could Zeno handle it? Maybe. But what if Zeno couldn't hold down Chalmers either?
Xu Ling played through the worst-case scenarios in his mind and came to a hard realization: defense alone couldn't stop them. They didn't have enough defensive assets to plug every hole. Once they scrambled to cover one spot, another would crack, and their offense would stall. After running in circles, the problem returned right where it started.
He stared at the screen, trying to pry answers from possession after possession.
Late into the night, his roommate Roderick Craig woke up needing the bathroom. Half-asleep, he saw Xu Ling still glued to the computer monitor, staring at the film. Rubbing his eyes, Craig couldn't help saying, "Eli, you're not asleep yet?"
He yawned. "It's just one loss, man. The sun's still gonna come up tomorrow morning. Don't expect to figure out the whole world in one night, and don't think you can carry everything on your own. Besides, the best thing you can do right now is get some sleep."
He paused, then added in the fateful tone of a wizard from a fantasy movie, "Kevin Durant is waiting for you up ahead."
Xu Ling stared at the screen in silence for a few seconds. Finally, he hit the eject button with a sharp click, and the tape popped out. He had to admit Craig had a point—at least regarding the sleep part.
Seeing that the prodigy had finally let the video tape go, Craig smiled in satisfaction. "That's the spirit, future NBA lottery pick."
"I'm not a lottery pick yet," Xu Ling said quietly. "At least not right now."
"What's the difference?" Craig chuckled. "You're just one step away."
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ESPN DraftExpress 2007 NBA Mock Draft
Author: Chad Ford
Posted: December 9, 2006, 9:40 AM ET
Pick | Team | Player | Year | School / Country | Position
1 | Boston Celtics | Greg Oden | Fr. | Ohio State | C
2 | Memphis Grizzlies | Kevin Durant | Fr. | Texas | SF
3 | Milwaukee Bucks | Joakim Noah | Jr. | Florida | PF/C
4 | Seattle SuperSonics | Al Horford | Jr. | Florida | PF
5 | Philadelphia 76ers | Mike Conley | Fr. | Ohio State | PG
6 | Minnesota Timberwolves | Brandan Wright | Fr. | North Carolina | PF
7 | Atlanta Hawks | Jeff Green | Jr. | Georgetown | SF
8 | Sacramento Kings | Yi Jianlian | Int. | Guangdong Southern Tigers (China) | PF
9 | Charlotte Bobcats | Corey Brewer | Jr. | Florida | SG/SF
...
14 | Chicago Bulls | Eli Xu | Fr. | Texas Tech | SG/SF
Expert Analysis
Jay Bilas (ESPN): "Eli Xu sits at number fourteen, and what genuinely surprises me is that he hasn't even cracked the lottery yet. He might be the most 'pro-ready' prospect in this entire class—poised, steady, and playing nothing like a newcomer. His ceiling might not touch Durant's, but his floor is already higher than most lottery picks."
Chad Ford (ESPN Insider): "The defensive pressure he demonstrated against Acie Law made me bump his draft stock up two tiers without hesitation. A freshman who can completely take an elite national point guard out of the game? If he can carry this level of performance into March Madness, Eli has every chance to cement a lottery spot."
Chapter 17