Mike Davis Quotes that make you go Huh?

Just as I was losing faith in the IU BBall program... Mike Davis gives me a pep talk. These are great.

On Patrick Ewing shooting three-pointers:
"I think Patrick can shoot the shot. He just hasn't taken enough or made enough to know it is going in when he shoots it. When he takes his time and goes up smooth, it is nice."

Great... as if we don't have enough guys chucking 3's... now we can add Patrick to the mix of bad shot taking.

On whether not having Sean Kline makes an impact on his game plan:
"We just need a big guy to rebound the ball. Marshall Strickland, right now, is our leading rebounder. We just need guys to get four or five rebounds. All I want from our big guys is to screen and rebound."

Everyone see the contradiction? Screen and rebound. Screen and rebound. Guess Patrick isn't a big guy.

On areas to improve:
"We haven't executed offensively, at all. I have no idea why."

Hmmm... coach has no idea. I have an idea... the offense SUCKS! Stand around... use the shot clock... chuck a 3! That is not an offense to execute PERIOD

On playing a guard-heavy personnel package:
"We have no big guys stepping forward wanting the position. So we play the guards."

Okay... I can buy that. Much better answer than matching down to a D2 team.

On what type of tempo he wants against North Carolina:
"We can't afford an up-and-down game with these guys. The last five minutes, those other teams that North Carolina has played wore out. You go back to all the teams that have played for a national championship, those teams only have three or four NBA guys. You look at this team and they have so many guys. That is the ingredient that you have for a national championship team. Sean (May), (Rashad) McCants, (Raymond) Felton, (Jawad) Williams, (Marvin) Williams, that is a special crew. We have to play our perfect game. We haven't played well the last three games. That's a scary feeling to know that you are playing the best team in the country and haven't played well your last three games. I don't know if tempo is what we are looking for, but we need to find something to grow and get better from this game. We just have to come out and play like crazy and make sure that whatever we have been doing the last three games does not come out in this game."

So you need 3 or 4 NBA guys to challenge for a national championship? Its not worth my time to rattle off the teams of late that won NCAA Championships with less than 3 NBA guys... Syracuse. But I am glad to know that IU doesn't have a chance at an NCAA championship this year.

On ACC-Big Ten Challenge:
"You only like it if you match up one versus one, two versus two, three versus three, etc. Last year, we played Wake Forest and they were two and we were eight. A challenge is only a challenge when you play equal to where you finished or are predicted to finish. That's a challenge to me. We are playing a strong team Wednesday night. We played a strong team last year in Wake Forest."

So let me make sure I got this straight... We shouldn't be playing in the ACC-B10 challenge this year? Since there are only 9 teams in the ACC and IU is predicted to finish 10th or 11th, we shouldn't be playing? Just wanted to make sure I heard that right Mike.

On whether playing at home is an advantage:
"I just think if it comes when you have a really good team and pretty good talent level. We just have to figure out a way. We are just so young right now. I think we definitely heading in that direction. When you lose seven home games last year, no one comes in afraid of you."

Huh? I need a translator... That makes no sense at all!

On selection of captains:
"I'm still waiting. We are playing OK on defense, but are not executing offensively. We are so young. There is too much uncertainty out there. Fortunately, we played Indiana State and Western Illinois the first two games. DJ (White) made 15 points in 15 minutes. I wish we had a couple more of those. (Robert) Vaden shot the ball well and kept playing well for us. We need a guy to get it going. One good thing about playing teams like North Carolina is that you have no time not to play hard. You witnessed that last year with Wake Forest and Kentucky. If you have that five- or 10-minute lapse, it could be 25 or 30 points."

No captains? Well no wonder we have no chemistry... we have no leaders. Bracey or Marshall should be the captains. If they aren't, Mike must not have faith in them. Interesting... very interesting.

Thanks Mike! I feel so much better about IU's BBall chances this year.