When Michael Jordan had 19 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in a half of basketball, Bob Knight asked him why he wasn't setting screens.

Jordan responded by telling his coach he was setting screens, they were just happening too quick for Knight to see.

That anecdote, from the 1984 Olympic Games, was one of the many highlights of Knight's speech at Eisenhower Auditorium, the first in this year's Student Programming Association Distinguished Speakers Series.

Scott Press (senior-journalism) said he "didn't really know what to expect" from the famously volatile coach, but he liked the quick, witty responses Knight gave.

Knight, the all-time leader in NCAA Division I men's basketball coaching victories with 902 wins, kept the Eisenhower crowd laughing throughout the 70 minutes he was on stage. Despite the humor, the former Army, Indiana and Texas Tech coach mixed in plenty of serious advice about success during his speech.

"One of the great things about success is there's an awful lot of people that screw it up," he said. "And if you don't, you bypass all those people."

Given his basketball background, Knight often referred to success interchangeably with winning.

"Great plays don't necessarily win games," he said. "It's not making mistakes, it's paying attention to the job, it's doing what has to be done, it's doing things right."

Joe Paterno's similarities to Knight as a college coaching icon and all-time wins leader drew several questions regarding his health, the current season and Paterno's uncertain contract status after this year. Knight said he thought Paterno still has what it takes.

"You don't coach with your hip, you coach with your mind, and he probably has as good a mind for that game as anyone that's ever coached," he said.

The Hall of Fame coach, who has spent a significant amount of his free time fishing in the Western portion of the country recently, also talked about coaching current Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who captained the Army basketball team his senior year for Knight.

Knight described Krzyzewski as a talented player who couldn't shoot at all, so he said he told the young guard, "if you want to live to be a sophomore, don't shoot." That limitation led to a display of the future Duke coach's discipline in the 1969 National Invitational Tournament when Krzyzewski almost shot but passed just before he released the ball.

"I took the picture out of that film years later, and I sent the picture to him and I said, 'Michael, this pass saved your life,' " Knight said, pausing as a wave of laughter rippled through the crowd. "And that ability to discipline himself as a player is what I think was instrumental in enabling him to be one of the great coaches that's ever coached the game of basketball."

Before Knight took questions, he asked if somebody had "a really intelligent question to ask him."

"You have no idea how much that shortens questions and answers," he added.

Mike Petry (senior-economics) said he thought Knight was "very, very funny, but he also talked about serious issues."

Petry was one of the few bold enough to pose a question to the occasionally intimidating Knight during the question and answer session.

"It was really interesting to see a different side of Bob Knight that you're not used to seeing on television because he is an intimidating guy, but he can be serious and he can get a message across," Anthony Spaulding (senior-print journalism) added.