Playing for Knight

Alford, former Indiana University basketball player, and Garrity, South Bend (Ind.) Tribune sportswriter, here present a retrospective of Alford's IU basketball career, which serves as a corrective to John Feinstein's bestseller, A Season on the Brink. Where Feinstein documented one IU season, Alford, a Hoosier basketball dream (``Indiana Mr. Basketball,'' Olympic gold medal winner, NBA draft pick) endured four years of Bobby Knight's intimidating and imposing personality. Playing for him, the authors show, Alford and his teammates were forced, on a daily basis, to contend with Knight's mind games, which included unrelenting pressure, grueling practice sessions and a demanding code in which responsibility was the key word. Alford's story is told candidly, neither glorifying nor crucifying his basketball mentor, and the chapter on his Olympic experience leaves the reader thrilled and giddily patriotic. (Nov.)