Indiana Basketball: A Knight return to Assembly would be a welcomed sight

Former Indiana Basketball coach Bobby Knight is rumored to be finally making an appearance at Assembly Hall on Saturday when the Hoosiers host the Boilermakers.

One of college basketball’s biggest rivalries will be on display Saturday afternoon in Bloomington, Indiana when the Hoosiers host the Purdue Boilermakers. It will be the first of two meetings for the schools this year, as both are looking to help their tournament resume.

It is a big game for both teams, but it could be overshadowed a little by the rumored return of Bobby Knight to a place where he guided the Hoosiers for 29 years and lead them to 901 wins including three national titles.

Knight, as everyone knows, did not have a good breakup with the university and he hasn’t been to a basketball game in Bloomington since. He would lead the Texas Tech Red Raiders for seven years but they never played in Assembly Hall.

There have been other rumors of Knight returning to his old stomping grounds, most recently a January 11th game against Ohio State, but it never happened. He is scheduled to attend the Pacers game on Saturday evening with former Purdue head coach and nemesis Gene Keady.

Though it is not confirmed, it is rumored that they will both take in the Indiana vs Purdue game before they head to Indianapolis to take in the NBA game.

It once seemed we would never see the day of a return of Knight to Bloomington but the contentious relationship has started to become more cordial as of late. The return has seemed more likely and a matter of when as opposed to if.

The return, if it does indeed happen, will be a welcome sight for all IU fans. There may still be some fans that can’t forgive him for what he did or their perceived view of him and that is their own opinion. But the majority of the fans are going to welcome Knight back with open arms.

Having a living legend back in the building where he brought so much winning and joy to the fanbase will do nothing but elicit a palpable buzz in the arena. He will no doubt receive a standing ovation from so many IU fans that will remember the good things he helped the basketball team achieve. Indiana has won five national championships and Knight was the leader of three of them.

It will bring excitement to the team that could really use a shot of adrenaline right now. A game against rival Purdue will do that also, but having Knight back will mean something different.

It will bring back the memories of where the program was and hopefully where it can get back to. It will bring back the time Knight threw a chair across the court when he got thrown out of a game against Purdue. (It happens at the 1:20 mark fo the clip)

Having Knight back would be great for any game, but if he does come back now it would be fitting that it would be against his most hated rival the Boilermakers.

There are always going to be haters of Knight, but having him return would only bring back the good memories. The fans will love it, the players will love it, and overall it will be a very welcome sight.