COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : For Either Coach K, an Important Game : Men’s Final Four: Duke and Indiana square off after coaches exchange compliments.

MINNEAPOLIS —  The Bob Knight Traveling Sideshow and Lecture Series made its long-awaited appearance at the Final Four here Friday, but unlike previous performances, this one addressed the subject of basketball.

Without the assistance of a bullwhip and with only an occasional reference to cerebral reversal, Knight presented his true feelings about this afternoon’s semifinal game between his Indiana Hoosiers and the No. 1-ranked Duke Blue Devils, coached by his former Army player and student, Mike Krzyzewski.

According to folklore, Knight taught Krzyzewski everything he knows about the game. To hear the stories, Krzyzewski didn’t realize a basketball was round until Knight so informed him.

As the legend expands, so too does Knight’s concern that perhaps some are beginning to believe the unbelievable: that Krzyzewski was a basketball illiterate until he played for Knight at Army and later worked for Knight as a graduate assistant at Indiana.

Friday, between tales of forced team hikes into the wilds of southern Indiana and private funding for “anticipatory visual muscular conditioning,” Knight reminded everyone that Duke was 32-2, ranked first and had won last season’s national championship because of Krzyzewski and nobody else--not Knight . . . not Knight’s coaching philosophy . . . not Knight’s tactics way back when.

“I honestly don’t think that over the time that Mike has been a coach, that I’ve really had much influence on Mike,” Knight said. “I think that Mike has put his own program together. I think he’s been very independent of the way I coach or the things that I think are important.

“Don’t put Mike in a position where I helped him with this,” Knight said. “I don’t talk to Mike a lot. I don’t advise Mike. Mike is smart enough to have his own counsel. I think what he’s done has been done through his own efforts and I think would have been done regardless if he would have played for me or not.”

If anything, Knight said, he probably served Krzyzewski better as a negative role model of sorts. If so, Krzyzewski learned well. The Duke coach has yet to heave a chair, deposit anyone in a trash can or brandish braided leather.

In fact, Knight came to this conclusion after weaving a story about the time he was 11 and watching a baseball game on a small black and white television as his 75-year-old grandmother dozed nearby. Just before she nodded off, the young Knight heard her say: “Everybody has a purpose in life, if only to serve as an example to others of what not to do.”

Recalled Knight: “I looked around and I was the only . . . in the room.”

Informed later of Knight’s comments, Krzyzewski immediately paid homage to the man, who along with several other coaches, directly influenced his career. To think that Knight hadn’t played an important part in his development, Krzyzewski said, wasn’t right.

“The thing that Coach Knight gave me more than anything was 100% effort,” he said. “He gave me his best.”

The Knight-Krzyzewski relationship has become the focal point of today’s second game and understandably so. Last year it was Roy Williams of Kansas vs. Dean Smith of North Carolina in the NCAA semifinal. Pupil vs. teacher. This year it is Krzyzewski, fast becoming a legend of his own, vs. Knight, the mentor.

Somewhat ignored in the rush to trace a professional friendship is the emergence of Indiana (27-6) as the team that is playing perhaps the best basketball in the tournament.

Indiana’s success is easily explained. At least, it was to Krzyzewski, who cited the Hoosiers’ tournament free-throw percentage, 82.1; field goal percentage, 56.2; three-point percentage, 44.5; point guard Jamal Meeks’ assists-to-turnover ratio, 34-5, and Indiana’s bench strength.

“They do everything pretty well,” Krzyzewski said. “There’s not a downside on their team.”

There are, however, several key things to watch, beginning with Indiana’s ability to stop Duke center Christian Laettner.

Hoosier followers love to remind everyone of the tournament victory over Louisiana State and Shaquille O’Neal, but the comparison is slightly deceiving. First, O’Neal scored 36 points, had 12 rebounds and blocked five shots. Second, LSU isn’t Duke. Third, Laettner is more versatile than O’Neal.

“I think Jimmy Jackson is a hell of a player,” said Knight, referring to the Ohio State All-American guard-forward. “Laettner is like a big Jimmy Jackson. There have been big kids who can shoot the ball and play inside. But I’m not sure that I can remember many big kids who could play from outside to inside, and vice versa, as well as he can.”

As for Duke, watch the Blue Devils’ effort on defense. Were those 103 points scored by Kentucky in the East Regional final a scoring blip or a danger sign?

“We realize as a team that we aren’t playing good defense,” said Brian Davis, considered the Blue Devils’ best defender. “We know we have to play better defense. If not, we’re going to get killed.”