On Monday, ESPN revealed its broadcasting partnerships for the season, an announcement that rarely produces a lot of fanfare. This year is an exception, though, as the network revealed that Bob Knight will be assigned to Thursday night SEC action alongside Rece Davis. The legendary former Indiana coach caused quite a stir last March when he refused to mention Kentucky by name on the air, opting instead for “that team from the SEC” as a crutch. Knight is a staunch opponent of the “one-and-done” culture in college basketball, making Kentucky and coach John Calipari a natural target for his ire. While Knight won’t be making any trips to Rupp Arena, he is scheduled to call the Wildcats’ SEC opener at Vanderbilt on January 10, as well as their trip to Georgia on March 7.

From ESPN’s perspective, the move makes sense. Kentucky should be heavily favored over the Commodores and Bulldogs, and the broadcasts probably wouldn’t have drawn many neutral viewers. Add in a little controversy, though, and the ratings will skyrocket. Fans will be entertained in noting all the backhanded compliments paid to the Wildcats and the thinly veiled jabs from The General directed at Calipari. Kentucky fans have a ton of experience brushing off criticism, and any vitriol from an impartial announcer will probably just be met with bemusement. Knight will undoubtedly be instructed to play nice, but if we know anything about the man, it’s that he won’t hesitate to speak his mind given the opportunity.

We know what we’re watching on those two nights — how about you?

DPerry (53 Posts)

This entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2012 at 3:37 pm by DPerry and is filed under microsites, sec. Tagged: bob knight, john calipari, kentucky. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.