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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

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Notebook: No decision made to redshirt Davis, more notes from Crean's radio show

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IU sophomore guard Devin Davis has become a regular at Assembly Hall during his recovery, but IU Coach Tom Crean said there still hasn’t been a decision made on whether or not he will play this season.

Davis was injured in the early hours of the morning of Nov. 1 when he was struck by a car being driven by freshman teammate Emmitt Holt.

Holt had dropped Davis off in the parking lot of Memorial Stadium and turned onto 17th Street where he struck Davis who unexpectedly entered the road in front of the car and was struck. He was transported to the IU Health Bloomington Hospital where he stayed for nearly a week.

Less than a week later, Davis was transferred to an Indianapolis hospital for further rehabilitation. During his rehab, Davis has remained around his teammates since surprising them Nov. 22 when he watched IU play against Lamar.

Davis has been on the court during warmups and watches the games behind the IU bench. Because he has not played a game this season, he is eligible to take a redshirt and not lose a year of eligibility, but that decision is still in the process of being made.

“We haven’t made any decisions on that,” Crean said. “We’ve put everything in place to go one way or the other in a sense of what transpires over this Christmas break.”

Crean said that ultimately, the decision of whether or not Davis will be able to play will rest mostly with Davis’ doctors.

The team will take all the necessary steps to either prepare him for a redshirt year or get him back on the court, but that will be based on how quickly he responds in rehab which he continues to go through in Indianapolis.

Last Thursday, Davis was at practice with the Hoosiers in Indianapolis. Crean said he hopes to get Davis cleared to sit on the team bench soon during games.

“His attitude has been great,” Crean said. “He works extremely hard in Indianapolis…It really does come down to how the doctors will view it as far as how much eh responds to all the work that he’s doing.”

Freshmen continue to impress Crean with work ethics

Crean was greeted by a surprise when he walked into Assembly Hall yesterday.

Out on the court were freshmen James Blackmon Jr., Rob Johnson and Max Hoetzel. The Hoosiers had an off day, but the three freshmen were hard at work putting in extra shots.

“I come in there late afternoon to start working on film and there’s James, Rob and Max there on the court,” Crean said. “They’re just in a full sweat. You can tell they’ve been out there and that’s between study halls.”

Crean admitted that IU is asking a lot out of his freshmen, Johnson and Blackmon specifically, but they’ve responded well.

Blackmon leads IU in scoring at 19.2 points per game while Johnson averages 10.1 points per game and has a team-high 11 steals.

“I think of what we’re asking for Rob and James, they’re probably gone through a couple walls already,” Crean said. “We’re asking an awful lot of them in a short amount of time on the court.”

Billy wants perfection

Billy from Terre Haute, a regular caller on Crean’s show, thought IU played “pretty well” in the Hoosiers’ 94-66 win against Grand Canyon but said he wanted IU to do a better job limiting turnovers.

Crean was a bit thrown off by the question. IU committed just four turnovers against Grand Canyon—the best effort in Crean’s time at IU. He said he thought Billy was confusing that game with IU’s loss to Louisville where IU committed 19, but Crean jokingly played along anyway.

“I love Billy. He wants perfection,” Crean said. “I don’t blame him. He wants perfection.”

IU to play Butler Saturday

The Hoosiers had a short break in the schedule due to finals week, but will be back on the court Saturday at the Crossroads Classic.

IU (8-2) will play No. 23 Butler (8-2) at 2:30 p.m. at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The last time the two teams met was Dec. 15, 2012 also at the Crossroads Classic when the Bulldogs beat the Hoosiers 88-86.

“They’re so efficient,” Crean said of Butler. “It’s a similar team, one that’s gonna be very physical with you. You have to be disciplined.”

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