College basketball season has finally tipped off. Last night, Texas beat Alcorn State by 59 points. The greatest part of the year has begun. From now until the first Monday in April, we get to enjoy the greatest sport on the planet - college basketball.

There are many things about the new season that could be discussed, but one of the stories that will be discussed the most during the first couple of months is the record for most coaching wins. Former North Carolina coach Dean Smith currently holds the record at 879 wins, which he reached during the NCAA tournament in 1997, just prior to retiring later that year. Smith had passed the late Adolph Rupp of Kentucky, who held the record for over 20 years with 876 wins. Next up is current Texas Tech coach Bob Knight, who, at 869 wins, needs just 11 this season to pass Smith. Knight’s career has spanned over 40 years at Army, Indiana and Texas Tech, and he should soon become the all-time winningest coach in men’s college basketball

Texas Tech begins their season tomorrow against Sam Houston State and the march to 880 begins. Tech plays 11 games through the end of December, so the record could be broken before the new year if they remain undefeated. But, more likely, it will be in mid-January.

Say what you will about Knight, but I’m looking forward to him breaking the record for a couple of reasons. First, I’ve always liked Knight, and I was always an Indiana fan while he was there. (I’m not really a Texas Tech fan now, but I still always want Knight to win.) And, second, being a Duke fan, I can’t help but want to see Dean Smith lose that #1 spot. (Let me say that, even as a Duke fan, I think Dean was a great coach, one of the best ever, and, from everything I’ve read, an even better person. So, I wish this more for the UNC fans than for Dean himself.) There are several coaches who are not too far behind and could someday pass Knight as well, including Knight’s own disciple Mike Krzyzewski of Duke (and I would love to see Coach K pass Dean and eventually reach #1 as well.)

In an interview with ESPN’s Andy Katz, Knight had this to say regarding breaking the record:

“I had a friend who was approaching 90 [years old], and I said, ‘You have lived a great life and it doesn’t seem like anyone has disliked you.’ He laughed and said, ‘There have been a lot of people who disliked me. I just outlived the sons of bitches.’ It’s like that in coaching. If you’ve coached a long time and you have had good players and been a decent coach, you’re going to win a lot of games. There is nothing extraordinary about that.”

“Only until the last year or so did I know how many games coaches had won or I had won,” Knight said. “It really doesn’t mean a lot to me.”

How much (or how little) it really means to Knight will probably never really be known. But, I’ve never really seen him as the guy who would care a lot about this or any other records. He’s always appeared to care a lot about his players, and how they fare in life beyond basketball, and less about how many wins or championships he has as a coach. And I think that’s one of the things that has made him such a great coach over the years.

I look forward to mid-January. If for no other reason, just to see the press conferences around the time he’s breaking the record. Knight is always entertaining at press conferences, and considering the media will make such a big fuss about this (and he likely won’t be), it ought to provide plenty of fun.

First team

I can rarely talk about college basketball without bringing up Duke, so here goes. I’ve seen a number of preseason All-America teams on various websites thus far, and one thing that is common among many of them is that UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough is on the first team, and Duke’s Josh McRoberts is on the second team. I did find one yesterday that actually reversed the two, putting McRoberts on the first team and Hansbrough on the second.

I wrote briefly about this last year, but I think McRoberts has been sold a little short because of last season. I recall seeing UNC fans on various blogs and message boards writing comments such as “I’m sure glad we got Hansbrough instead of McRoberts.” Hansbrough had a great season last year, there’s no doubt, and put up much bigger numbers (and had a bigger impact) than McRoberts. However, as I pointed out, Hansbrough quickly became “the man” on the UNC team last year, and the reason was that there were hardly any upperclassmen on that team. McRoberts was playing behind Shelden Williams, one of the best big men in the country last year. He got far fewer touches and attention than did Hansbrough. He simply didn’t play the minutes and was not the focus when he was in the game, with Williams and J.J. Redick (two first-teamers last year, by the way) usually on the floor.

So, I think this year will allow McRoberts the opportunity to show what he’s really made of. I think it’s obvious that the two are different types of players, with Hansbrough being a more traditional back-to-the-basket big man, while McRoberts is more athletic and can make things happen all over the floor (including having exceptional ball-handling skills for his size.) I really like both players. Yes, even though Hansbrough is a Tar Heel, I like to watch him play and he will be a great player for years to come, I believe. The same goes for McRoberts. I think they’ll both have great seasons, and I think by seaons’s end McRoberts just might be considered a first-teamer by as many people as Hansbrough.