Mike Davis Q&A - I need some help!

Okay, I've been criticized for criticizing everything Mike says to the Media. In Mike's latest Q&A with the Indy Star, I need some help. I'm at a loss. I have NO IDEA what the man is trying to say.

Q&A with Indiana's Mike Davis - IndyStar.com

Q: Do you still want to recruit the state heavily?

A: "I've never stopped. That's a perception that is so untrue. Why wouldn't I want the best players in the state? When you go back and watch kids play, we want them, but they have to want you; that's the most important part, if they want you. It's like, if I'm going to the grocery store, and I'm going to get some fruit. I can pick my fruit, put it in my basket, pay for it, and it's done. These kids have to want to play for you. And that's what recruiting is all about."

Fruit??? Huh???

Q: Have the rumors changed your recruiting pitch?

A: "It hasn't changed at all. It's all about Indiana. It's not about me. A lot of kids would not go to school certain places if they didn't play basketball. A lot of kids would go to school at Indiana if they didn't play basketball and that's my question."

Huh??? I fell like the AFLAC duck listening to Yogi. What's Mike's question?

Q: The administration has basically said you're done at IU if you don't have a good year. Do you feel pressure?

A: "Pressure is only when you don't have the personnel you need to have. You look at our personnel the last two years. Our personnel this last year was good, but it was young. You can look at what we have this year versus what we had the year before. We did a good job recruiting guys. The last two years, it caught up with us as far as our inexperience in having a young team.

"Pressure is when you can't do something. The last two years, I was hoping to go .500 in pre-conference. On top of that, if you don't go .500 in pre-conference, the atmosphere surrounding my situation really affects the kids. This (past) year, I feel our kids did a very good job to the very, very end. We won 10 conference games, and our best player missed some conference games.

What???? Help... I need a translator.

Q: With guys having a year of experience combined with the transfers now eligible, particularly Killingsworth, how confident are you going into this season?

A: "Like I said, our personnel is good. In five years I've only had three guys who have gone to an NBA camp and Bracey (Wright) is a part of that. A lot of teams have one group that has three guys go to an NBA camp. The Maryland team we played for the championship, they had eight guys off that team go to an NBA camp.

"It's a deal where I feel like we have three or four guys on our team right now that are NBA prospects. We have three or four guys that could be all-conference players, and we haven't had that. We haven't finished lower than what they picked us in the conference the last two years.

"The conference is the only thing you don't control. You control your pre-conference schedule, but you don't control your conference schedule. You have to play who they want you to play and where they want you to play. If they want us to play Michigan State twice, we play them twice. If they want you to play Illinois twice, you play them twice, and so forth. They pick us eighth, we finish eighth. They pick us sixth, we finish fourth. They're not picking us there because Mike Davis is the coach."

Wow!!! That was a mouthful. And what did Mike say? 8th? 6th? 4th? ????

Q: Some national writers for Web sites have said you've told some Indiana prep players you weren't going to recruit them. What's the story there?

A: "What you have to understand about some people is, it's easy to take shots at me. If a guy wants to look good to other people, he can say something about me and feel good about himself. That's a no-brainer. Why would I tell a kid I don't want him if he's a top-25 player? How many programs do you know would turn down a top-25 player? The only sense some comments make is to people who want to believe that. If you want to believe I told a kid that, you'll believe it."

Wait... I think I understand this one. He's calling 3 current Indiana All-Stars liars.

Q: How much support do you feel from the administration?

A: "The support is great. It's always there. It's funny, the rumors your hear. I meet with my AD every week. My president (Adam W. Herbert) and I are very close. They support me. I've never been supported any stronger. But people talk, and when they talk you have to assume they're making up stuff."

Hey I understand this one too. President Herbert kept Davis because they are close.

Q: In recruiting, perception is very important. Do you worry about the perception that your tenure is very unstable?

A: "I don't worry about perception. Perception is for anybody in every walk of life. Some athletes look (at the media) as the enemy. That's just perception. I don't worry about it. My job is to win basketball games. My job is to represent Indiana on and off the court. That's my job.

"They were talking about Tiger Woods two months ago like he's the worst golfer. If they're going to talk about that guy, I'm not above it. I'm exited about the upcoming season. I can't even sleep at night. It's taking too long to get here. I feel great about D.J. and Marco and Ben Allen, three big guys. I've had to play two guards the last two years at the power forward position."

Hmmmm... 2 months ago Tiger had just won his 9th career grand slam at the Masters. I don't think too many people were talking about him being like the worst golfer. But an interesting choice of Mike comparing himself to Tiger Woods.

Q: Are there times when you think back to five years ago and wonder if you shouldn't have taken this job, if you shouldn't have put your family through the turmoil that came with following a controversial ouster of a legendary coach?

A: "I knew what I was getting into once I got into it. It comes along with the territory. I'm happy. And that's a part of it, I don't think people understand. They walk up to and say, 'Coach, we're still pulling for you.' They're still pulling for you? I'm happy. Or it's, 'Coach we support you.' That's Fine. Support Indiana. I'm a part of Indiana, and we're going to be good. If we were picked to finish first in the conference, and we finished eighth, I would have felt bad. I felt bad for not over-, over-, overachieving, but we won 17 conference games the last two years. How many teams have done that?

I didn't realize 17 conference wins over 2 years was a good thing... guess the bar really has been lowered! And how does that answer the question anyway?

Q: Should IU have done better?

A: "I'm a part of recruiting and it's my basketball team, but when you look at Kirk Haston, Jared Jeffries san Bracey Wright, guys that have gone to the NBA -- and hopefully Bracey makes it -- and you look at the wins we've gotten with the schedule we've played, it's not bad. Now we have a chance to play with Marco Killingsworth, D.J. White, Robert Vaden, A.J. Ratliff, Earl Calloway, Marshall Strickland, Ben Allen -- we have good personal. Now I can look down at my bench and I'm putting in a guy who could probably start."

"I think recruiting is going great. I don't talk about recruiting much because I don't want people to know who we're recruiting because they go on the internet and that hurts you. But at the same time, we have a great class this year. When it's all said and done, we have a really good class."

"The true Indiana fans, they want to have a good basketball team, and they're going to have a good basketball team. We play Duke. We play Kentucky. We play at Charlotte. Those are tough games, but that's not eight in a row. No one knew how good Vanderbilt was but us. No one knew how good Xavier was but us. They had two guys off that team that made the NBA. No one knew how good Wake Forest was but us. And you're talking about playing all those game in a row."

"We had D.J. White, who was freshman of the year in our conference, like Jared Jeffries was. Marco Killingsworth has never shot under 56 percent from the field in his college basketball career. You put those two guys and Ben Allen -- he's a pretty good player -- up front, you're looking at a situation where we won't be picked eighth in our conference, I can tell you that. If we are, it's a big mistake."

I really need help on this one... there is so much there. But I will refrain from touching any of it. I will just shake my head and leave it alone.

Q: Some of the comments made in chat rooms by so-called Indiana fans have clearly racist overtones. Does that bother you and how do you deal with it?

A: "I don't read it. I don't {grave}know what they say. That's their problem. The people at our school I come in contact with speak to me and are nice to me. What they do when they go home and get on the computer, that's their personal business. I'm not going to look at everybody and say, 'Oh, that's the guy that said that.' I don't judge people like that. People have been very nice to me. I only hear negative things when people come up and say, 'Did you hear what so and so said?' or go through my mail, because I'm not going to read it."

Hmmm... Mr. Rabjohns... where do you get the Racist overtones? This is all about performance and public presentation. Davis could be Kermit the Frog Green for all I care, his continuous spewing of stupidity and repeatedly proving his incompetence as a Basketball Coach is what draws the IRE of IU fans everywhere. His skin color means NOTHING! That just plain pisses me off! That question kills all credibility from this shill!