From Contender to Pretender

"The journey from contender to pretender took all of a week for the Indiana University basketball team."

So begins an article by Terry Hutchens of the Indianapolis Star describing Indiana University's latest Big Ten road debacle against Minnesota. IU is now 4 and 3 in the conference with all three losses coming on the road.

After this game, I think the collective hearts of Hoosier Nation sank. My favorite blog to gripe about IU and "Coach" Davis is Steve Straiger's Sports Blog from the Hoosier Heartland. Steve lives in Indianapolis and can follow the Hoosiers much better than I. You want a great break down of the Minnesota game? Check this out.

For me, I can't bring too much to the table. Instead of discecting a game that I didn't see, I want to go back to a post I made on October 19, 2005, on my nearly failed sports-themed blog. The question I ask is, "Can Mike Davis Coach?"

I sort of agree with Mr. Davis. Will a leader emerge who is worth following? Looking over the roster, finding a leader will be difficult. The two Auburn transfers, Marco Killingsworth and Lewis Monroe, should provide senior leadership along with Marshal Strickland. Now that Bracey Wright left early for the NBA, gone is the need to stand around and wait for him to shoot. Leadership should bubble up from these three players on the court and in the locker room.

My worry comes from the “leader” on the bench. Coach Mike Davis has been embattled his entire tenure as IU’s coach. And for good reason. After Knight’s Kids finally graduated or left early, the team was left with only Mike’s Kids and Hoosier basketball has been worse for the wear.

Mike’s Kids have a propensity for bad fundamentals: sloppy passing, lazy cuts, slow responses, missed blockouts, bad picks, and hardly any basketball smarts.

All of that comes from coaching and Davis has yet to show me that he can truly coach basketball at this level. It’s one thing to draw up plays and lecture the team, it’s another to hone the skills of the players into a single unit that can execute the plays. The Hoosiers have failed to execute.

Davis blamed the youth of the team, among other things. He has yet to fully take responsibility for the on-court actions of this team. This year, he has no excuse.

This year, Davis must show me he can coach. The deck is stacked against him as the past two years have slowly tilted me towards the He’s-a-fucking-idiot-who-has-no-idea-what-he’s-doing side.

A post-game quote from Davis perfectly answers the coaching question:

But but his guy was so clean, it was um embarrassing. He he was just so clean in his fundamentals. Um yous have to take your um hat off to coach Monson for playing some guys that normally wouldn't start.

How about giving credit to Minnesota coach Monson for teaching number 32 the fundamentals of basketball? I'll tell what is embarassing. The fact that our guys seem to lose their grasp of fundamentals under Davis.

Do you hear that Davis? You're an embarassment to the profession of basketball coaches. Your kids aren't stupid. You've been blaming them for years. Time to face up the truth: YOU. CAN'T. COACH.