Fans support team despite Knight's firing

Freshman guard A.J. Moye rolled on the court laughing as junior forward Kirk Haston struggled from the three-point line. Even interim coach Mike Davis had trouble keeping a straight face as his big man competed against junior guard Heather Cassady in the final round of the three-point contest Saturday morning at Midnight Madness, the first official basketball practice of the season. Cassady outshot Haston 17-12.\nEarlier that evening during the dunk contest, freshman guard Andre Owens ripped his red jersey off and flung it toward the scorer's table. Davis buried his forehead in his hand.\nOwens, shirtless and with a wide grin, raised his hands above his head to get the fans clapping. The crowd was on its feet. Owens drove hard to the basket, slammed the ball with his right hand and came down with a half twist. The women's team was judging the dunk contest and gave him 10s across the board. Owens slammed the ball off the court triumphantly.\nBasketball was alive and well in Assembly Hall. Players grinned as they taunted each other and the atmosphere was lively. For the first time in 30 years, former coach Bob Knight was not conducting practice. And for the first time, it was not an orderly, no-frills training session. But fans were on their feet and cheering when announcer Chuck Crabb's familiar voice boomed, "Ladies and gentleman, the head coach of Indiana basketball: Mike Davis."\n"Whether or not the fans support me or not is not my problem," Davis said. "But I wanted them to support the 11 guys that stayed. To stay and play for IU basketball speaks volumes."\nSenior Tom Geyer is the only player to quit since Knight was fired Sept. 10. He said he couldn't play for anyone but Knight. And junior guard Dane Fife, a vocal loyalist to the ex-coach, said he still is playing for Knight.\n"Coach Knight hasn't left my mind since he's been gone," Fife said. "We're his guys. A lot of things fans are going to see this season are directly related to him. This season is for him. We owe it to him. He's done a lot for us."\nYet ironically, a chant of "We miss Bobby" was drowned out by the Indiana fight song. And while there were a select few in the crowd who held up a sheet that read, "Yes, we still drink the Kool-Aid," the majority of the followers at Assembly Hall Friday were focused on the future of IU basketball, not the upheaval of the past.\nThe hour-long practice was divided into a spot shot contest, a three-point contest, the slam dunk contest and a 10-minute men's scrimmage. For the first time, the women's team was invited to practice, but the spotlight was on the true freshmen on the men's side: Owens, Moye, Jared Jeffries and redshirt freshman George Leach. There are high expectations for the youth on the team this season, especially since the loss of A.J. Guyton and Michael Lewis to graduation last year.\nThere was no official attendance taken because admission was $1 or free with the donation of a canned good, but the turnout was estimated at 9,000 fans. Leach, who wound up defeating Owens to win the dunk contest, said he didn't expect to see such a large crowd.\n"I thought we might have less fan support because when Coach Knight left, I figured a lot of fans would go with him," Leach said. "I felt relieved to see so many people out there tonight. It's one less monkey off my back"