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Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. After DePaul lost to Kansas earlier this night, I was a little bummed and not interested in watching Indiana, a program I saw a lot of throughout the season in the Midwest. As a kid in Chicago, I was scared to death of Bobby Knight, whose recent teams were not as good but still incredibly fundamentally sound. I was surprised to see Pepperdine handle the Hoosiers during what would actually turn out to be Knight's last game at Indiana. That summer Knight was placed on a very strict protocol in response to practice video surfacing of him choking former Indiana player Neil Reed. As I was just starting my freshman year at the University of Illinois, I remember staying in my dorm and watching ESPN nonstop as Knight was fired for allegedly grabbing a student's arm to address him on his manners. Knight losing his job was a very big deal at the time as he was the most accomplished and controversial coach in college basketball. Ultimately, Knight would end up at Texas Tech, where he did a very good job, almost leading the Red Raiders to the Elite Eight during the 2005 NCAA Tournament. As an eventual ESPN analyst, Knight was a curmudgeon who looked miserable on television; however, when you listened to him break down a game, it was incredible. I learned a lot simply listening to Knight's observations and grew to appreciate him with time, though I still consider him a bully. Back to the 2000 NCAA Tournament, this video also features first-round action involving two number-one seeds, Duke and Stanford, that would not be too long for this tournament. The Blue Devils would handle Lamar before barely getting by Kansas and then losing to upstart Florida during the Sweet Sixteen. Stanford would beat South Carolina State before falling to North Carolina in the second round. In all actuality, this Friday of the opening round might have been the best day of games during the 2000 NCAA Tournament, one that ultimately left me disappointed.
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