Indiana's Davis Closer To Learning Status

March 14, 2001

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Indiana coach Mike Davis recited a brief version ofhisresume: 21 victories, the Big Ten record for best defensive field-goalpercentage, and a runner-up finish in the conference tournament.

Those are things Bob Knight never achieved in his first season inBloomington. Yet Davis still is waiting to learn whether he gets the jobpermanently.

"I feel like no matter what happens, I deserve the job," said Davis, anassistant who was hired as interim coach when Knight was fired six monthsago."You never know in this world, but I feel like I'll be back."

The Hoosiers (21-12), whose No. 4 seed is their highest since 1993,agree.They hope to further make a case for Davis with a victory over 13th-seededKentState (23-9) in Thursday's first round of the NCAA tournament.

"What else does a man have to do? He's basically proved everyonewrong,"said center Kirk Haston, who leads the team with 18.7 points a game.

"He should be signed to a long-term contract," Haston said. "If he'snot,somebody is going to pick him up and it's going to be a mistake that theuniversity is going to make."

Indiana officials have said Davis' status would be decided after theseasonends. In four of the last six years, the end came with first-round losses inthe tournament, including a 20-point blowout to Pepperdine in Knight's finalgame last year.

"It's a pretty humbling feeling to be just sitting there with nothingto dobut wait 'til next year," Haston said. "We have something to prove."

Davis, an assistant under Knight for three seasons, made wholesalechangeswhen he took over. He dumped Knight's motion offense, saying he neverunderstood it, in favor of getting the ball inside to Haston and JaredJeffries, the Big Ten's freshman of the year.

"I didn't want to have an equal opportunity offense," he said. "Iwantedthe ball in the hands of the guys who could do something with it and playoffthem."

Davis also changed defensive strategies, which paid off when Indianaset theBig Ten record by holding opponents to 38.2 percent shooting. Teams areaveraging 63.9 points against the Hoosiers, the lowest point total since1983-84.

"It's a testament to how good a job coach Davis has done. There wasabout15 people who believed we could do this," Haston said.

Those believers existed mainly inside Indiana's locker room. Studentsanddiehard fans protested Knight's firing after 29 years that included threenational championships and repeated controversy.

"A lot of people felt I wasn't tough enough to handle this job," saidDavis, whose low-key demeanor is the opposite of Knight's temperament.

"You don't have to go around hitting people or doing things to showthatyou're tough. You don't have to speak loud or whatever people thinktoughnessis," he said. "Toughness to me is just refusing to lose and playingrelentless. That's what I want our guys to do."

In September, players shocked and angered over Knight's ousterthreatened toquit if Davis wasn't selected as interim coach. Even then, some of them saidthe season would be dedicated to Knight.

Davis' success has changed all that.

"We wanted to keep the team together because it's a team that (Knight)brought together, but the season is definitely coach Davis'," Haston said."He's the one that's done the work and kept us going in the right directionthis year. Right now this is coach Davis' team by far."

Kent State coach Gary Waters is backing his friend Davis.

"I think it's a travesty that he hasn't been named the coach yet,"Waterssaid Wednesday. "If you wait 'til the last minute, that's how you end uplosing some key recruits."

Davis is passionate about his players, a smiling bunch who appear to behaving more fun than they ever did under Knight.

"Last year we didn't have the same fire in our eyes as we do thisyear,"guard Tom Coverdale said. "Everybody is playing as hard as they can andthat'smade a real difference."

In Thursday's other games, top-seeded Stanford (28-2) takes on16th-seededNorth Carolina-Greensboro (19-11), Georgia Tech (17-12) plays St. Joseph's(25-6), Indiana (21-12) meets Kent State (23-9) and Cincinnati (23-9) playsBrigham Young (24-8).