“Let’s eliminate the will to win, think about the will to prepare to win”: When Bob Knight dropped words of wisdom regarding the title of his book

Bob Knight was a legend in college basketball, guiding the Indiana Hoosiers to three national championships, five Final Four appearances, and 11 Big Ten regular-season titles. Knight is known for being the innovator of the motion offense, which requires players to pass the ball until a teammate becomes open for an uncontested, high-percentage shot.

He was featured and co-authored several books about the Hoosiers and himself in his life, and in 2013, he co-wrote a book with Bob Hammel titled "The Power of Negative Thinking: An Unconventional Approach to Achieving Positive Results." The book discussed his approach to preparing for a game and anticipating what could go wrong to prevent disastrous results and win the game in the end.

In the March 12, 2013, episode of Bloomberg's "In the Loop" with Betty Liu, Knight shared his wisdom behind the pages of his book and imparted valuable lessons that everybody should take note of.

"It was something that we talk about the will to win. Well let's eliminate the will to win and think about the will to prepare to win," Knight said (Timestamp 0:50). "The preparation is much more important than the will that everybody wants to win but not everybody wants to prepared to win."

Knight, who went 902-371 in his 42-year coaching career, also pointed out that the most important question you can ask a person is why. He noted that this is key to a conversation to know the details of an idea one person wants to convey to another individual.

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Bob Knight's motion offense requires a lot of preparation and unselfishness to be successful

The Hall of Famer and three-time AP Coach of the Year awardee valued preparation during his coaching career with Army, Indiana and Texas Tech. That was very much seen in his offensive scheme — the motion offense.

Under this strategy, players are required to pass the ball until a teammate becomes open for an uncontested, high-percentage shot. The motion offense he perfected requires a lot of preparation and anticipation.

Players need to familiarize themselves with their roles and where they should be at a certain point in time. It also allows them to anticipate some situations that could go wrong so they can adjust on the fly.

Bob Knight passed away on Nov. 1, 2023, but his legacy remains with his concepts and ideas used by coaches and players in the present time.

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Edited by Geoff