Editor’s note: As the World Cup continues in the United States for the first time since 1994, The Athletic is looking back at college sports in the 1990s and how much has changed since then. Join us for a couple of weeks of offseason football and basketball nostalgia.Throughout the history of college basketball, the biggest stars in the game are often the coaches, and in the early 1990s, no one was more recognizable than Indiana’s Bob Knight.So when William Friedkin, the acclaimed director of “The Exorcist,” and writer Ron Shelton, famous for “Bull Durham” and “White Men Can’t Jump,” decided to make a college basketball-themed film about a legendary, squeaky clean coach who had been convinced to bend the rules to rebuild his storied program at fictional Western University, the real-life character they decided to serve as the star actor’s teacher was Knight.“Blue Chips” wasn’t a box office hit, but it arguably has the best basketball scenes of any movie. And that’s because the participants weren’t acting; they were actually playing, and star Nick Nolte was impersonating one of the game’s all-time greatest coaches.Nolte, a method actor who once lived on the streets with the homeless to prepare for his role in “Down and Out in Beverly Hills,” shadowed Knight during the 1992-93 season to prepare to play coach Pete Bell.Nolte and Friedkin showed up for the first day of practice that fall, but there was one issue: They were late.As soon as the Hollywood pair arrived, they found the Hoosiers in the locker room, and captain Chris Reynolds greeted them with a stern message.If you’re going to be a part of this team, you’ve got to be like us. You’ve got to be on time.“Just hammering him,” Pat Knight, the coach’s son and a sophomore guard on that team, remembered.Nolte apologized, saying it would never happen again.Then the room burst out laughing. Knight had decided to have some fun with his new friends.But from then on, Nolte was never late and showed up every day in the same outfit — a trench coat, T-shirt, sweats and Nike turf shoes — with a notebook in hand. Knight gave him full access to the program.Indiana coach Bob Knight (right) helped actor Nick Nolte (not pictured) prepare for his role in “Blue Chips.” (Malcolm Emmons / USA Today Sports)Pat Knight and teammate Greg Graham say Nolte was there for the entire regular season — Shelton told The Athletic’s Doug Haller in 2019 that it was just eight days — but however long it was, Nolte had the part down so convincingly that one day a manager was in a back hallway and heard what he thought was Knight ripping someone in the coaches’ locker room. The manager hesitated but had to go through to get the team’s laundry, and when he opened the door, he found Nolte.For the Hoosiers’ assistance, the players were told they would get to play themselves in the film alongside Knight.Unfortunately, the NCAA stepped in, informing IU that it would be a recruiting advantage and only Knight and his graduated players could appear in the movie. (Someone figured out a clever workaround; the IU game film that plays on a television during several scenes in Western’s locker room is real practice film from Indiana.)To cast other players for the movie, the producers connected with agents to recruit their clients, particularly those who had just finished playing college basketball. So for college hoops fans, watching “Blue Chips” came with a bonus; it was like a game of “Where’s Waldo,” seeing if you could spot the recently graduated former college stars.