Lubbock, Texas ? Bob Knight, who for history’s sake has agreed to talk about himself more this season than perhaps any in his 41-year coaching career, recently walked down memory lane with a group of reporters in Big 12 country.

Addressing a variety of topics, the sometimes-entertaining, oft-times combative Hall of Famer didn’t scowl, stare into space angrily or plead the Fifth Amendment when asked to reveal his No. 1 team of all time.

Instead, Knight, whose 29 years at Indiana were sandwiched by six at Army and now six at Texas Tech, emphatically chose one of his squads above the rest.

“I think if I were to pick a season, it would be the year we went undefeated,” Knight said, referring to 1975-76, when Quinn Buckner, Scott May and Kent Benson led Indiana to a 32-0 season, including an 86-68 rout of Michigan in the NCAA title game.

“If nobody has been able to do it in 30 years, it must have been difficult to do.”

The 66-year-old Knight has 882 coaching victories against 355 losses. Just this season he passed KU graduate and North Carolina legend Dean Smith as the winningest Div. I men’s coach of all time.

He has three NCAA titles to his credit: 1976, ’81 and ’87. In one of his best coaching jobs, he took Texas Tech to the Sweet 16 in 2005.

“There are times when we just (barely) made the NCAAs I was as pleased with our team as some that accomplished far greater things in terms of record,” Knight said.

This year’s Tech team (13-5, 2-1 Big 12) – which plays host to Kansas University (16-2, 3-0) at 3 p.m. today at United Spirit Arena – is expected to be one of those NCAA bubble squads on Selection Sunday.

Led by juniors Jarrius Jackson and Martin Zeno, Tech is certain to improve on a disappointing 15-17 season of a year ago. That 2005-06 squad fell to KU, 86-52, in Allen Fieldhouse.

“Last year I probably should have used different people to begin with,” Knight said. “I should have played a couple people less and couple more. I did a poor job of assessing the talent we had available and what we lost. Whether that made a difference, who knows?”

Obviously he has made a difference in the game of basketball, evidenced by his win total, which may never be surpassed considering Knight recently signed a three-year contract extension and has shown no signs of slowing down.

Texas Tech coach Bob Knight rants from the sidelines in this file photo from Dec. 14, 2001. Knight has a career record of 882-355 entering today's game with Kansas Unviersity.

“This contract was set up by the university,” Knight said. “They wanted me to sign a three-year extension. I said I had no problem doing it. Why wouldn’t I coach five more years? I said that when I was 37 years old, and I’m still coaching.”

He’s never had an interest in becoming an athletic director or college president, but was quick to offer an opinion when asked what he’d look for in a coach if he was a university leader.

“I would look for a guy who is enthusiastic about the game who really liked the game,” Knight said. “My first job (at Army), I was paid $4,600 to teach four classes, two study halls and coach the JV team. I enjoyed that as much as I do now.

“Next, I’d look at what he knows about the game, and most of all, find a guy who is honest with himself.”

He quickly interjected another thing he’d do if he suddenly were elevated to school president.

“I would get rid of the NCAA rule book, get rid of the son of a bleep,” he said. “At the Press Club in Washington, I took the rule book and dropped it. It fell like a rock. I took out the Constitution of the United States, which is four pages and has been amended 28 times since 1783 and has provided people with the best lifestyle in the world.

“The thing (rule book) has been amended 28 times since yesterday, and nobody knows what is in it. I think they could do it in five pages: List what you can do, not what you can’t. That’s what I’d do as a college president, then have an A.D. hire a basketball coach I like.”

Knight, who has not been able to attract the same caliber of players at Tech as he did at Indiana, admitted the game has changed.

“Everybody has better players now,” Knight said. “I went to a junior-college game last year, and I said to myself, ‘I’m not sure I could have started for either one of those teams,’ and I was not a bad player (at Ohio State).

“Players are much better today in all sports. I heard Ted Williams say the best (baseball) player he’d ever seen was Joe DiMaggio. I’m sure every major-league team today has a center fielder better than DiMaggio. (Jim) Edmonds, (Carlos) Beltran : and everybody has a shortstop as good as (Luis) Aparacio. There’s no comparison.”

Yet Knight seemingly is happy at Tech, which already has named his son, Pat, as head coach designate – a title that guarantees him the job when Bob steps down.

It’s the same setup Sean Sutton had at Oklahoma State when he assisted his dad, Eddie.

KU coach Bill Self hopes Knight sticks around awhile.

“There are very few icons or true legends that have helped mold our game to what it is today. He is certainly one of the very few,” Self said. “His record and position he’s taken on principles he believes strongly in have been great for our game and great for society as a positive role model sticking to principles.

“He will go down as one of the very best. I am happy he is in the league. I hope he continues to coach for a long time.”