Happy (Teddy) Valentine’s Day, Indiana Hoosiers Fans

So not only was goaltending never called, a technical foul was called on McClain of Illinois despite clearly protecting himself, and Recker, from being landed on.

That alone would have been bad enough.

Then what happens when Bob Knight goes to check on Recker is beyond absurd, but the egos of Valentine and Ed Hightower don't necessarily make that a surprise, now do they?

There are sports moments you remember from your youth of being "the best buzzer beater" or "the greatest catch" you'll ever see. This was one of those moments for 12-year-old me as at that time in my life, I'd never seen as bad of officiating as was on display there.

Heck, almost 30 years later, still very few plays or sequences even begin to enter the conversation.

Knight tried to use the sequence to fire up the Assembly Hall crowd, but it was to no avail as the Hoosiers fell that night, 82-72. Indiana would make the NCAA Tournament, where it beat Oklahoma in overtime in the First Round before falling to Connecticut in the Second Round.

Teddy Valentine Shares Regret Over Incident

By chance, I stumbled into this, as earlier this week long-time college basketball analyst and writer Seth Davis caught up with Valentine. The now-retired official made it clear to Davis that he has no intentions of returning to whistleblowing but did share an interesting thought about what went down on that February evening in 1998.

Valentine maintains that Knight wasn't given a technical for tending to Recker, but because of something he said upon entering the court. However, Valentine wishes he would've tried to make amends with the legendary Indiana coach before Knight's passing.

“I wanted to go up and talk to him and shake his hand, but you never knew how he was going to act,” Valentine said. After Knight left broadcasting, Valentine got his address in Bloomington and thought about writing a letter or even knocking on his door. He never mustered up the nerve. “I wish I would have wrote that letter,” Valentine said. “That’s deep in my craw.”

I guess the lesson this Valentine's Day is that if you've got something to tell someone, then make sure you go and do it.

As for Indiana basketball, the Hoosiers travel to take on none other than Illinois on Sunday, while Valentine will be enjoying retirement at his Charleston home.