And so it ends the way that you always knew it would. Bob Knight would not exit the court for the final time in triumph, on the shoulders of his players, wearing a basketball net around his neck and holding aloft some manner of Lucite award piffle. Instead he would head out a side door near the loading dock, kicking aside a cat. And what he’s brandishing there is his middle finger. Se ya, losers. It’s been fun, or something. [Expletive deleted].

If you were to make a movie about the life of Bobby Knight, no one would have to review it. You could just substitute the reviews from the film “There Will Be Blood.” And hey, you could even reuse the title! Example:

“’There Will Be Blood’ is a rich character study of a fascinating individual who is by turns likable, loathsome, admirable, monstrous, and driven.” -- Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle. Is there a better way to describe Bobby Knight?

Well, I’ll give it a shot, in my own little way.

My first job — right out of high school — was as sports stringer for the Peninsula Times-Tribune in Palo Alto, Calif. My editor, being somewhat of a bastard — but not without a sense of humor — decided to break me in gently. He sent me to cover a media basketball clinic in which Knight was one of the speakers. “Get an interview with Knight,” my editor said, urgently. “We’re all counting on you.”

As I came to understand later, this was the journalistic version of a hazing incident. But I knew very little of Knight, so off I went, innocence personified. There were several coaches at the clinic; among them the mercurial Jim Valvano, whose talk resembled a comedy routine more than anything. Eventually Knight came out, and unlike the other speakers, actually began talking basketball. He went over how to set a screen; the importance of spacing; attacking the basket, etc. He dispensed with the usual PR bull and talked the game.

Bob Knight resigns Pat Knight won't 'act like some tough guy' Opinion: His own fault he's underappreciated Opinion: Against conventional wisdom, again Opinion: An actual feel-good encounter   Photos: Highlights from Indiana, Texas Tech Beyond the Arc: Knight’s legacy? Clips, quotes Peers praise Knight, but admit mixed legacy Vote: Knight's legacy?  |  Will he coach again? Timeline: Highs, lows of career  |  His record   Discuss: Is Knight the best coach of all time?

Afterwards, I positioned myself in the hall so as to intercept him. I stepped out like a high school freshman attempting to take a charge on Shaquille O’Neal, and Knight stopped. “Could I have a minute of your time?” I asked.

They very well might have found me later that night, locked in a dumpster, wrapped securely in cellophane. But instead, Knight agreed to talk. And he talked for 20 minutes. With my interview in hand, I returned to the office.

“How did it go?” my editor asked, suppressing laughter.

“Great,” I said. “Although he only gave me 20 minutes.”

I believe his mouth is still agape to this day. It's a big problem on summer  evenings when the moths come out.

I met Knight again about seven years later, and he, amazingly, remembered that day and told me why he stopped. “It was,” he said, “because I saw you in the audience taking notes. You were one of the only ones who seemed interested in the basketball part of a basketball clinic.”

Mike Miller's college hoops blog Knight’s lasting legacy? The quotes, TV clips

And so basketball’s story arc has lost its antagonist. Neal Reed’s throat can come out of hiding; the folding chairs are safe. And basketball will never be the same. As a movie reviewer might say, he is more exquisite and complex than anyone one could dream up. Basketball bids you adieu, Coach Knight. Fellow hunters, he’s your problem now.