A KNIGHT'S TALE THAT BADLY MISSES THE MARK.

Byline: DAVID KRONKE TV Critic

FOR ALL the wrong reasons, ``A Season on the Brink'' is garnering a lot of attention - it's the first original film from sports network ESPN, a network far more at home depicting the drama behind real sporting events, and it will be the first production on basic cable that will intentionally - and copiously - employ use of the expletive that generally garners theatrical films an automatic R rating (and on a Disney-owned property, at that).

And simply put, unless you really enjoy hearing that word, there's no other earthly reason to sit through ``A Season on the Brink.'' And you can probably hear that word used more persuasively - and see more credible basketball - just hanging out at your local schoolyard.

``A Season on the Brink'' is based on John Feinstein's book documenting the 1985-86 college basketball season at Indiana University. It lays claim to being the best-selling sports book of all time for several reasons: It was the first in a long string to offer a captivating fly-on-the-wall perspective of an entire sporting campaign, and it focused on one of the most controversial figures in sports, then-Indiana University coach Bobby Knight (now successfully coaching at Texas Tech after getting bounced from the Hoosier state for one too many - which, indeed, were very many - irrational outbursts).

When the book was released, Feinstein had put Knight, his program and the team's season in a timely perspective. Knight had recently coached the 1984 U.S. Olympic basketball team to a gold medal, but more recently had come under fire for his infamous chair-throwing incident (depicted early in the film). Though he perhaps initially believed that allowing Feinstein to follow him would rehabilitate his image, he immediately disavowed the book, though the author had compellingly presented the coach as a complex but probably unhinged and power-drunk lunatic whose champions and detractors both had plenty of coercive arguments in their respective corners.

At any rate, it was a fairly unremarkable season for IU, and ESPN's film - which the passage of time only seems to have made fairly irrelevant even before it airs - fails to capture any of the drama or insight of Feinstein's book. Even given the amorphous structure of following a whole season of college hoops, there's little flow - just a jumble of scenes piled one atop the other, with Knight alternately raving at his players and showing moments of compassion.

Director Robert Mandel shows zero feel for how to shoot the game, shooting a random series of shots and plays, never building to a dramatic conclusion. Cavernous Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind., looks like a cramped high-school gym, the team seems to operate on exactly two levels - clicking on all cylinders or utterly inept - and great spans of the season (usually winning streaks) are dismissed with a mere title card.

The talented actor Brian Dennehy is hardly a dead ringer for Knight, but he likewise doesn't seem to capture anything of the guy. Knight may be loopy, but he's a smart guy with a wicked sense of humor; Dennehy just makes him look like a petulant grump with an occasional soft moment. The film's best bit comes during the end credits, which show a string of clips of Knight's greatest hits and outbursts, which only serves to underscore how wrong Dennehy - and the film in general - got it.

A SEASON ON THE BRINK - One star

What: College basketball coaching legend/unbridled sociopath Bobby Knight instills discipline and wreaks havoc, starring Brian Dennehy, James Lafferty, Yorick Parke.

Where: ESPN (unexpurgated version). ESPN 2 (bleeped version).

When: 8 and midnight tonight.