Not key in nature — but not necessarily easy, either. (His very physical guarding of KU's Adams last year comes first to mind. If Adams were much of a scoring threat or skill player, there's no way Knell woulda gotten that assignment. Even still, limiting Adams's presence in the paint was NO easy assignment. And Knell couldn't have pulled it off if he weren't an obvious gym rat. Now, he didn't stop Adams by any means, but overall he held his own.)