November 21, 1987: Bob Knight And The Soviet Incident

On November 21, 1987, Indiana head basketball coach Bobby Knight added an international incident to his controversial resume when he pulled his squad off the floor after being ejected with a little more than 15 minutes left in an exhibition game against the Soviet National team. The visiting Russians were simply outplaying his Hoosiers in front of a home crowd in Indiana and by the time the fourth quarter rolled around they were down 66-43 before a heated discussion with a ref turned ugly. The coach was whistled for his third technical of the game which carried an automatic ejection. Knight left the the court and he took his team with him giving the Soviet team a forfeit victory. This wasn't the first time Knight's antics reached across international boundaries, in 1979 he was convicted of hitting a police officer in Puerto Rico while he was coaching the United States in the Pan-American games. Throughout his career Knight had a variety of well documented controversies, when you put them to the side he was one of the greatest coaches of his era, winning 902 games which is good for third on the all time wins list, and coached the Hoosiers to three National Championships.