Ask Coach McKnight

Mater Dei High School basketball coach Gary McKnight and his players skipped the post-game news conference after the Monarchs lost 64-58 to LeBron James—who will be the NBA's No. 1 draft pick in June—and St. Vincent-St. Mary of Akron, Ohio, at a tournament in UCLA's Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 4. Some accused McKnight of poor sportsmanship, being a sore loser, and, as Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke wrote, denying his kids a chance to learn "a bit about accountability and even public speaking."

So McKnight can know exactly what he deprived himself and his team of, here are the questions Plaschke and his media brethren would have asked . . . if only they could have:

•What was it like coaching against LeBron James?

•What was it like playing against LeBron James?

•What was it like serving water to the players who played against LeBron James?

•What did you think of the highlight-reel pass LeBron James made between his legs?

•How come you can't hold LeBron James' jock strap?

•When you scored on that one play, the one that went in the basket, what do you think LeBron James was thinking?

•With LeBron James guaranteed a shoe contract that will dwarf his first multimillion contract to play pro ball, how do you Monarchs bound for places like the University of Maryland and the University of Minnesota not feel like total losers?

•Why is LeBron James, like, the dreamiest ever?

•If LeBron James were a tree, what kind of tree would he be?

•LeBron James, LeBron James, LeBron James!!!

—Matt Coker