Rick Barnes??
I said that to myself twice yesterday when reading articles on Bobby Knight.
Both happened to include a bite on Barnes, the Texas Longhorns head coach, that each time made me think... "Huh? Rick Barnes??"

First: Bobby Knight lobbies for Dick Vitale's induction into the Basketball
Hall of Fame.

LUBBOCK, Texas - Coach Bob Knight is ticked off again, but it has nothing to do with his Texas Tech Red Raiders. He's upset that broadcaster and longtime pal Dick Vitale keeps falling short in his bid to join Knight in the basketball Hall of Fame.
So Knight, himself inducted in 1991, has lined up some big names to
write letters to the Hall in a campaign for Vitale's admission, including John Wooden, Pete Newell, Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, John Chaney, Don Haskins, Lute Olson, Denny Crum, Jim Boeheim and Rick Barnes.

Except for Barnes, all the other coaches mentioned are members of the hall. I'm guess the author was a Texas-based Associated Press writer, so including Barnes was an easy choice. He has a Final Four appearance in 2003 with a team lead by speedster T.J. Ford.

Still if Knight was looking for some heavyweights, then there are a handful of coaches ahead of Barnes on the college coach hierarchy. Hall member Jim Calhoun of Connecticut is one, then Rick Pitino of Louiville (and before that Kentucky, Providence and Boston U.), Tom Izzo of Michigan State, Gary Williams of Maryland and maybe even Mike Montgomery formerly of Stanford and Pete Carril formerly of Princeton and Fran Dunphey, the longtime Penn coach now at Temple.

Second: a Blog Entry by Sporting News columnist Mike DeCourcy criticizes Bob Knight's own criticisms of the NBA's new 19-year-old age minimum policy, which effectively excludes any more high school-to-NBA jumps

Players coerced to attend college because of the rule are learning from such elite teachers as Lute Olson (Chase Budinger), Paul Hewitt (Thaddeus Young), Thad Matta (Greg Oden and Daequan Cook), Roy Williams (Brandan Wright) and Rick Barnes (Kevin Durant).

Barnes is an elite teacher? I had to think about it. To me, a great teacher is one who helps players develop and reach their potential. Barnes has helped Ford, Chris Mihm and LaMarcus Aldridge all get to the Association.