Look out, Davis’ boys look good...

Thanks Travis for making me aware of this article.

Look out, Davis’ boys look good - fortwayne.com

BLOOMINGTON – I’ve got good news and bad news regarding Indiana’s basketball team. Which do you want first?

I’ll give you the good news.

Indiana is going to be a load this coming season.

Indiana is going to be a handful.

Indiana is going to finish first or second in the Big Ten. Third, at worst.

Based on talent... a fitting prediction... but you have to look at the coach. Third might be "best".

The 2005-06 team was revealed for the first time at a Thursday afternoon workout inside the old IU fieldhouse while the new scoreboard is being installed in Assembly Hall. And without hesitation, this team, still two months away from its season opener, is better than last year’s.

What happened to Oct 14th being the first day of practice? I noticed in the Wish-TV piece that all the coaches were there participating just like a full practice. I also forgot to comment that on the Wish-TV piece, the graphic on the TV showed IU Basketball - Assembly Hall. Any IU fan could easily see that was not assembly hall. I give Steve Wardin credit for getting this part right.

Two major reasons, of course, are Marco Killingsworth and Lewis Monroe, the pair of Auburn transfers who had to sit out all of last season while the Hoosiers stumbled through a six-game losing streak early last year and finished by losing three of their last four.

Killingsworth is a 6-foot-8, 265-pound, shaved-head, bulging-arms rebounding machine with a nasty attitude. Monroe is a long, 6-5 defensive point guard who can get the ball to Killingsworth and just about anyone else he wanted to in practice throughout last season.

I don't understand the excitement over 2 transfers from a team that finished under .500 in their 3 seasons at Auburn. If they couldn't lead Auburn to a decent record, how can we expect them to lead IU???

Then add a year’s worth of maturity onto last year’s sophomore bunch of D.J. White and A.J. Ratliff and Robert Vaden, all of whom started last season.

Now this I agree to... these 3 should be really good. If Davis doesn't bury them on the bench in favor of the new guys.

Throw in size and talent in a pair of 6-10 freshmen, Ben Allen of Australia and Cem Dinc of Germany.

I'm glad Davis finally recruited some size, but you can't count on 2 Freshman to lead you.

And finally add veterans Marshall Strickland, who will relinquish his point guard role, Sean Kline, Errek Suhr and Roderick Wilmont.

Too bad these guys are going to be riding the pine in favor of the new guys. But then again that is Davis' M.O.

Again, for emphasis, Indiana is going to be really good this season. That is the good news.

Should be really good. I have a hard time with the "is going to be really good" with Davis at the helm.

Now the bad news for the increasing legions who want to see coach Mike Davis fired after back-to-back seasons of 14-15 and 15-14: Davis isn’t going anywhere.

After this coming season, Davis could wind up as the Big Ten coach of the Year and IU could give him a seven-year extension, which would prompt those who still yearn for the good old days of Bob Knight and 79 cents-a-gallon gasoline to jump out of a two-story window.

Exactly what I have been saying all along. Davis will parlay this into a contract extension and then the program will truly fall to depths I haven't seen in my lifetime. And there are so many in the media that want to see Davis succeed because he ISN'T Coach Knight, that they will probably give him Big Ten COY for being the 3 seed.

So the dilemma is this: Do you root for, or root against? It all depends if your heart pumps IU red, or if you just want Davis’s blood.

I won't be rooting either way. But I will be having fun with Davis' quotes.

My suggestion is to face the fact that this could be the best Indiana team Davis has had in what will be his sixth season as the head coach – even better than the 25-12 team that was the NCAA tourney runner-up to Maryland.

Talent wise, they should be. Will this team have the fundamentals that the 2002 team had though? Not with Davis coaching.

“I think we’ve got a chance to be pretty good,” said Davis, which, in the coaching industry, is like putting your neck on the chopping block. “We’ve got nine or 10 or maybe 11 guys who can play.”

I agree with Davis... they do have a chance of being pretty good. But with Davis coaching them... maybe not so good a chance.

Killingsworth and White, whose 13.3 points per game were second behind Bracey Wright’s 18.3 (Wright jumped to the NBA), give IU a potentially lethal inside presence.

But will Davis utilize it? Or will he have Allen and Dinc outside the 3-point arch launching Bracey Balls?

Even without Wright, the Hoosiers expect little drop-off.

“We lost Bracey, but we played without Bracey before,” said Ratliff. “We kinda jelled without him. Not taking anything away from him, but we kinda jelled without him. Then you put Marco Killingsworth and Lewis Monroe in the mix, and then Ben and then Cem. We’ve got to choice but to be confident.”

Hmmm... this is a telling quote coming from another player. Doesn't seem to me that Ratliff liked Bracey shooting those 30 ft jumpers.

When somebody asked Davis what he can specifically do with the 1-2 punch of Killingsworth and White, Davis joked, “I can let you coach and you can win a lot of games.”

Yes... Yes we could. And if Davis is smart, he will sit back and let them play just like he did during that run in 2002. Then he'll request his contract extension and all will fall apart within the IU BBall program.

If Indiana doesn’t win a lot of games with this team this season, if it doesn’t finish in the top three in the Big Ten and make a deep run into the NCAA tourney, then maybe Davis is gone and somebody else will coach the team.

One could only dream!!!

But don’t expect it. Not after this coming season, with this coming team.

Back to reality... IU fans' worst nightmare.