How Not to Deal with Pressure

Mike Davis is feeling the pressure, and isn't dealing with it very well. After missing Saturday's game against Iowa (a loss, but close) with the flu, there's been speculation that it was more of a "blue flu", where he skipped the game in a sort of snit or quasi-protest.

When he returned, he showed that there may be at least a little truth to the speculation, expressing disgust at the lack of fan support for the Hoosiers and throwing out a line that maybe Indiana needs to have "one of their own" running the show.

Now I can certainly appreciate the stress Mike's been under. He's under a well-known ultimatum from IU's Athletic Director this year; "win or else". And although the early season had the Hoosiers looking pretty good, they have stumbled badly over the past month or so. And not just because of DJ White's injury, because let's face it, DJ only played a few games, and contributed in even fewer, before his foot injury put him out for the year.

What has happened is fairly obvious to anybody who's watching and knows a little about basketball. To beat Indiana, all you have to do is pack in your defense and double-team Marco, while keeping somebody close to the team's best 3-point shooters. You can rattle and frustrate Marco, evidenced by the fact he fouled out in something like 3 of the last 4 or 5 games. And you can disrupt their offensive rhythm and get into the heads of the shooters, who will start forcing bad shots when they are behind.

The IU basketball team is the same group of guys that looked so good early in the season. The only differences are that, A) The rest of the Big Ten has found their weaknesses and they haven't adjusted, and B) The team in general has lost their swagger and are playing desperately instead of confidently.

Mike Davis, if you want some advice, here it is: Forget about the criticism and calls for your firing and work on bringing back the Indiana basketball team we saw earlier in the season. Indiana fans don't care who you are, where you came from, if you're a black man or a green midget. They just want to win. And they really know their basketball. Watch the last few games and see what I saw, recognize how teams are playing you, and adjust your offense to overcome that. Find ways to instill mental toughness and re-establish confidence in your players. Finally, just accept the simple fact that, if you turn the season around you'll keep your job; if you don't, it's time to update your resume. So stop blaming others and just coach. If you give it your best and fail, learn from it and move on. If you succeed, enjoy it and build on it.

That is, if it's not already too late.