updated 6:49 p.m. ET Feb. 19, 2007

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The new rule that says players must be at least one year removed from high school before entering the NBA is “the worst thing that’s happened to college basketball since I’ve been coaching,” says Texas Tech coach Bob Knight.

In the Big 12, it might be called the Kevin Durant rule after the Longhorn freshman who leads the conference in scoring and rebounding. Instituted last year by the NBA, it means that talented players must wait at least a year rather than jumping into the pros right out of high school.

Many coaches have said this new approach is a blessing for the college game, because it lets NCAA schools showcase their abilities for at least one season. But Knight, the winningest college coach of all time, said he dislikes it.

“Because now you can have a kid come to school for a year and play basketball and he doesn’t even have to go to class,” Knight said Monday. “He certainly doesn’t have to go to class the second semester. I’m not exactly positive about the first semester. But he would not have to attend a single class the second semester to play through the whole second semester of basketball.

“That, I think, has a tremendous effect on the integrity of college sports.”

No player better exemplifies the new rule than Durant. Amazingly quick, agile and athletic for an 18-year-old, the 6-foot-9 Durant would have been a surefire NBA lottery pick any other year. But he had to find a college to play for. He chose Texas and perhaps will be remembered as the greatest to ever wear a Longhorns uniform, even though he seems likely to vault into the NBA after a sensational freshman season.

He has been named Big 12 player of the week three times and conference rookie of the week five times. He leads the league with 24.9 points and 11.4 rebounds per game and has a good chance at being national player of the year.

Knight said he would never have recruited Durant, although he doesn’t blame Texas coach Rick Barnes for doing so. “I don’t fault those that have, because it’s within the rules,” Knight said. “But the rules are just ridiculous, the way the thing is set up.”

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“It’s just a tremendous disservice, the way that it’s structured, to the integrity of college sports.”

Barnes, who did not hear what Knight said earlier on the Big 12 coaches call, said he did not recruit Durant as a one-semester student.

“All we’ve ever said is if we recruit a player and that player said to us, ‘I’m coming to school for one year and as soon as basketball season is over with I’m dropping out of school,’ we would not recruit that player,” he said.

“We cannot afford to jeopardize our program in that way. We want players that if they’re going to come, we want them committed to a whole year academically. We tell them that’s what’s expected coming in.”

On the subject of officiating, Knight did not let a public reprimand by Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg stop him from criticizing game officials who work five or six games a week.

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“To have some guy 54 or 55 years old referee six times a week is a real disservice to the kids who are playing,” said Knight, who was reprimanded last week for criticizing officiating in one of his games.

“They have plenty of other places they can go. They can go to the NBA, they can go to the NAIA, they can go to junior college, they can go to high school. For years, the NCAA has hidden behind individual employment contractors.

“You say, ‘All right, if you’re going to work in this league, this is how you’re going to work. And if you don’t want to work in this league, fine, you’ve got other leagues to work in.”’

Knight said he would support an effort to have the Big 12 hire its own officials who do not travel the country working different games in different leagues several nights a week.

“But these guys are so greedy, they end up trying to work these six games a week. And they’re not capable of doing that,” he said. “Check schedules and you’ll rarely see where kids play three games a week. These kids are 19, 20 and 21 years old.”

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