After losing three out of four, Lamar coach Pat Knight was not a happy camper. He expressed his frustration with the grace oft-shown by his infamous father, pulling a kid away from the microphone and going on a rant. He called out his seniors en masse for academic, disciplinary and drug issues. He called out his seniors individually, breaking out the stat sheet and ripping their individual performances.

“We’ve got the worst group of seniors right now that I’ve ever been associated with. Their mentality is awful. Their attitude is awful. It’s been their MO for the last three years.”

“These guys gotta learn. They gotta grow up. They don’t need to be coddled. They don’t need to be babysat. That’s the problem with society. That’s why we have problems out there, because people don’t make kids accountable.”

“These kids are stealing money by being on scholarship with their approach to things.”

One would believe him, if this sentiment was not in sharp contrast to complimentary comments he made about the same players just three weeks ago.

“My style of ball, of course is the motion offense, but you’re going to defend, go for loose balls. You’re going to grind it. Sometimes it doesn’t look pretty, but I think that style is a lot harder to play against instead of just running up and down and jacking a bunch of shots. That’s what I’m most pleased about out of this team. This team in my four years as a head coach reflects the way I want my team to play.”

“We’ve just got guys that buy in. (My dad) loves the defense. That’s his M.O. … But when we’re hitting shots and clicking, our offense looks pretty good. But he just likes how hard the kids play. He gets intrigued by Lamb and guys that size that can rebound like that. He just really enjoys being around these guys.”

Must have been a rough three weeks. There’s nothing nobler than blaming college kids and no one better qualified to lecture on hard work and success than a man who was handed his livelihood through nepotism. The Cardinals, incidentally, are 17-11 and on pace to have the best record for a Pat Knight coached team.