The REAL Question Is...

...Can Mike Davis really coach?

Seth Davis from SI.com believes the biggest question surrounding the upcoming basketball season for the Indiana Hoosiers is leadership:

5. Indiana: Will a leader emerge who is worth following?

This is the most talented team Mike Davis has had in his six years as head coach, including the 2002 squad that lost to Maryland in the NCAA championship game. That team, however, had gritty leaders such as Jared Jeffries and Tom Coverdale. The problem for this year's edition is that its best player, 6-9 D.J. White, is a sophomore, which means it won't be easy for him to assert himself as a locker room force. There's also a potential chemistry problem since White also plays the same position as the Hoosiers' best newcomer, 6-8 Marco Killingsworth, a transfer from Auburn.

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 worst 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.

Don’t question the player’s leadership, Sports Illustrated. Question the coach.