I had lunch with Dan Dakich on Thursday in Indianpolis for a column on his basketball past, and had the chance to get his thoughts on various things. Here are some things we discussed:
(On his decision to return to IU two years ago) "I was a little weary at first because I had born and raised here, but after talking it over with my family and in terms of the program and university it was no-brainer."
(On his limiting Michael Jordan to 13 pts in the 1984 East Regional en route to beating UNC) "It's Indiana. We expected to beat them, and it was North Carolina, so they expected to beat us. It was a great win but we didn't treat it like an upset. The Jordan thing didn't really mean a whole lot then because Michael Jordan wasn't Michael Jordan yet."
(On his most fond basketball memory) "In 1980 (Andrean High School) made it to the state championship. None of us had ever played varsity basketball before. We lost at the free throw line, but I'll never forget that experience."
(On playing for Bob Knight) "If you talk to most people who played under him, you'll find we were good kids with good parents, but I think there isn't anyone better at preparing you for situations you'll face later in life."
(On one thing he'll never forget about playing at IU) "My first practice at IU I literally thought I was going to die on the floor. That's when found out how hard college basketball was, and that we had 2 hours and 15 minutes to go."
(On the Dan Dakich show) "It's great. Kent (Sterling, program director at 1070) and I talked about the possibility before. They pretty much leave it up to me in terms of what to discuss, but local events, whether it's high school, pro or college, take priority"
