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And with that, Kansas can remain at #1 in Dickey V's poll....lmao

 

Illinois pummels Cincy, so much for revenge from last year's beatdown. Anyone else laugh right before the game started when they showed Huggins drinking out of a Pepsi cup? I wondered what he was drinking there....

 

IU hangs on against Oral Roberts? Dear Lord.

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QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Jan 2, 2005 -> 06:54 PM)
IU hangs on against Oral Roberts? Dear Lord.

 

Well actually Oral Roberts has been relatively solid this year (I believe only two losses at Hawaii and at Indiana) ...so I wont dog them for beating a good team like that. Not that I think Indiana is going to have a good season but lets be honest the bottom tier of the Big 10 is bad

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QUOTE(Chisoxrd5 @ Jan 2, 2005 -> 06:57 PM)
Well actually Oral Roberts has been relatively solid this year (I believe only two losses at Hawaii and at Indiana) ...so I wont dog them for beating a good team like that. Not that I think Indiana is going to have a good season but lets be honest the bottom tier of the Big 10 is bad

 

ok but still...

 

Indiana... Oral Roberts...

 

small time schools like that shouldnt hang around with main conference schools, unless of course they are having a bad season ala Indiana

 

Oral Roberst is 9 - 3 tho

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Anyways...Indiana's finally starting to get it straightened out. DJ White's really become comfortable in the post now. We finally have a presence down low that can board and get the points in the paint. If teams don't double White, it'll be guaranteed he'll drop at least 20 in the game ala Jared Jeffries. It's really start to open up the shots from the other places on the court again.

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Things are heating up for Mike Davis. This is from the Trib...

 

Mike Davis admits it.

 

"I really didn't have a clue, to be honest with you," he said.

 

 

 

 

He didn't know what he would face as the successor to Bob Knight as Indiana's basketball coach.

 

He thought he was rescuing a program in disarray, which the Hoosiers surely were in September 2000 when Knight was fired for violating a zero-tolerance behavior policy that had been slapped on him. His supporters were in high dudgeon, his players were near rebellion and controversy was the rule in Bloomington.

 

Davis, a Knight assistant, was brave enough to step into the breach as interim coach.

 

"If they brought someone else in, there probably wouldn't have been a season because of the relationships the players had with coach Knight and with me and the other coaches," Davis said. "In my own thinking, it was a wonderful thing just to have a season and not have it canceled.

 

"I really didn't expect to keep the job. But we won 21 games, started playing unbelievable at the end and got to the championship game of the Big Ten tournament. So they offered me the job and no one else offered me one, so I took it. Then the next year (in April 2002) we played for the national championship. . . . I thought it was going to be [smooth] after that."

 

It has been just the opposite for Davis, a man who followed a legend. That was inevitable, the way it always goes for a coach with the courage to take on that role.

 

Davis never has fully satisfied those who worshipped Knight, who left behind enough admirers to fill a cathedral. Instead he has been viewed with suspicion, as the usurper of a throne he did not rightfully earn.

 

"I'm used to it now," Davis said. "After five years, I kind of understand the territory."

 

But the attacks continue. Just recently, an Indianapolis TV station quoted an unnamed source as saying Indiana boosters were ready to buy out Davis' contract if the Hoosiers lost to Ball State on Dec. 28. School officials denied the report and Indiana made it moot when it won the game.

 

But once more Davis was thrust into a soap opera for which he has no stomach.

 

"A couple of years ago I would have thought more about me than the players," he said. "That's human nature. This year I try to calm the players, let them know it'll be OK, that they don't have to concern themselves with what happens to me.

 

"I think I've developed maturity . . . but even if you're in this business a long time, it's still hard to handle. I hadn't been in it a long time and you want to lash out. Well, not lash out. You want to do it the right way. . . . But stuff builds up in you and you try to explain, defend yourself all the time. Now I just say, `I'm coaching my team. What happens, happens.'"

 

Indiana players echo their coach's serenity.

 

"There's nothing we can do about it," said star guard Bracey Wright, a three-year starter. "The only thing we can do is try to win games. That's as far as we can take it.

 

"[The players] know people talk about it. We hear it like everyone else hears it. . . . Basically, we just take it in stride."

 

The Hoosiers open their Big Ten season at Northwestern on Wednesday. They are young, without a proven point guard and largely dependent on Wright after enduring a daunting December.

 

In successive games they lost to North Carolina, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Kentucky, Missouri and Charlotte. That saddled them with a six-game losing streak before the 12-point victory over Ball State.

 

They followed with victories over Oral Roberts and Furman, so they face the Wildcats with a 5-6 record and a three-game winning streak.

 

In the past, when asked about job security, Davis often responded emotionally and defensively. This time there was none of that. In the past, when his team hit the skids, Davis would be critical of his players. That, too, was an approach he eschewed in December.

 

"He's trying to be more positive," Wright said. "Of course he still wants to win . . . and we're in position now to make noise in the conference."

 

He was, and still is, criticized for the perceived audacity of succeeding Knight, and for not being Knight, and he has made mistakes as he learned on this demanding job.

 

"I make no excuses. I'll take the blame," Davis said.

 

He has not been perfect, but he has endured and he has grown. In his fifth season, he is wiser for both his errors and his experiences.

 

"The players are the biggest concern for me now," Davis said. "Guys like Bracey, [freshman forward] D.J. White--you have no idea what a big step it was for them to come here and play for me.

 

"That speaks to how they feel for me. Now I want to protect them. I may not be here next week, next year, but I'll be OK. So I'm really being positive with them.

 

"I have 16 kids and they're my responsibility. It's like you're flying a plane. No matter what's going on, you're responsible. If the plane starts shaking and people look up in the cockpit and see you on your knees praying, they'll think something's going to happen. But if they look up and see you calm, they'll be calm too.

 

"That's the way I want it to be now."

 

 

 

Email: [email protected]

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Andy Katz on ESPN.com

 

Here is another similar story. It seems as if Davis has accepted that the end is near.

 

What bugs me though is that in both of these pieces, it points as the main reason people want him out is that because he is not Bob Knight. I'm sure there is still some of that around, but I really believe that if his team played differently and didn't look lost on offense half the time, that the people of Indiana would embrace him and his teams.

 

I have stated my views at length on here before so I won't go into all of that in detail, but if his teams played better offensively, if some of his bench players showed improvement and were able to fill roles then things would be different. Yes, Davis has had an uphill climb and playing for the National Championship in 2002 probably created unreasonable expectations, but things have truly gone downhill since. I think his problems are more about that, than about him following Coach Knight.

 

I have seen improvement recently in areas I was concerned with so I am still keeping an open mind. The Big Ten is not strong this year and IU has about an easy of a conference schedule as one can have, so maybe they can put things together. Right now my expectations are not an NCAA bid or a certain number of wins, but improvement in the way they play offensively, improvement of all players, not just the name recruits and better overall competitiveness. If those things occur, then I see no problem with giving him another opportunity. We'll soon see how it all plays out.

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QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2005 -> 03:10 PM)
So to start the speculation, who do you bring in to succeed Davis.  And a really silly question, could it be possible to bring back Knight from TT as he has been pretty quiet down there...

 

To answer your first question, not sure. To answer your second, hell no.

 

Obviously speculation will start with Steve Alford just because of his ties and how he was beloved as a player. If Iowa continues to have a great season, then I am sure that speculation will only grow.

 

I'd personally love to see Rick Majerus lose some weight and get himself healthy and come back to Indiana. Not sure if that is realistic at all, however.

 

There are many other names tied to IU's past that could be considered. I am not sure of the current status of some and I know there are more than I could even begin to remember. But I do hope that if a chaange is made, they keep it in the family somehow. Majerus would be an exception, but he does have experience coaching successfully in the state of Indiana and beyond.

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QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Jan 5, 2005 -> 09:21 AM)
ss2k, are you an IU fan?

 

Depends on what day you ask me. After broadcasting HS ball for a few years in college, I became fans of whereever the players I knew went. I guess Kentucky would be my favorite, but that happened because I loved watching Travis Ford play. I do follow IU decently closely as a lot of the players I followed have ended up there. Plus I love to see the homestate turn out the hoops teams.

 

I am defineately a BIG Steve Alford fan as he got his coaching start where I went to college (Manchester) and his office was right next to the womens teams office where I helped out a lot (student assistant coach my Sr year, broadcast for them two other years) and he was a really good guy. Very down to earth and religious family man, who I have a lot of respect for. I know he gets grief for the Pierre Pierce stuff, but that's the kind of guy he is. He is really big into second chances. If he ended up at IU I would definately become a big fan.

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QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2005 -> 03:30 PM)
Depends on what day you ask me.  After broadcasting HS ball for a few years in college, I became fans of whereever the players I knew went.  I guess Kentucky would be my favorite, but that happened because I loved watching Travis Ford play.  I do follow IU decently closely as a lot of the players I followed have ended up there.  Plus I love to see the homestate turn out the hoops teams. 

 

I am defineately a BIG Steve Alford fan as he got his coaching start where I went to college (Manchester) and his office was right next to the womens teams office where I helped out a lot (student assistant coach my Sr year, broadcast for them two other years) and he was a really good guy.  Very down to earth and religious family man, who I have a lot of respect for.  I know he gets grief for the Pierre Pierce stuff, but that's the kind of guy he is.  He is really big into second chances.  If he ended up at IU I would definately become a big fan.

 

What is everyone's beef with Alford at Iowa? I know he has had some problems with players, but I really don't know any details. He seems to be finally turning things in the right direction, but I still hear negative things. What gives?

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QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Jan 5, 2005 -> 09:35 AM)
What is everyone's beef with Alford at Iowa?  I know he has had some problems with players, but I really don't know any details.  He seems to be finally turning things in the right direction, but I still hear negative things.  What gives?

 

The big one I always hear is that when Pierre Pierce got accused of rape, Alford pretty much protected him and didn't come down hard on him. The other complaint I have heard is he complained about the Illini's student section.

 

Other than that, he has had some disappointing years while there. It always seems like they have one big player out with injury at least. This year they really seem to have a good start going though. I hope it goes well for them.

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QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2005 -> 03:39 PM)
The big one I always hear is that when Pierre Pierce got accused of rape, Alford pretty much protected him and didn't come down hard on him.  The other complaint I have heard is he complained about the Illini's student section.

 

Other than that, he has had some disappointing years while there.  It always seems like they have one big player out with injury at least.  This year they really seem to have a good start going though.  I hope it goes well for them.

 

Thanks. Anyone else have any input other than complaining about the Illini student section?

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I've read the ESPN.com article, and everything about if IU lost to Ball State, Davis would lose his job was complete BS. Greenspan thought that was ridiculous. Maybe this is Davis' last year, but Greenspan's smart enough to know to not do anything before the season even ends.

 

The freshmen are really playing solid the past few games. We could get something started in the Big Ten. We play at Northwestern tonight to start the Big Ten.

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