From Cinderella to contenders

While the nation waits for him to make his jump to the NBA after he mentioned his dream to coach professionally, coach Mike Davis just can't wait to get to work on the 2002-2003 Hoosiers.\nAll season long Davis talked about the recruiting class he has coming in that is highly regarded nationally. It got to the point where Kyle Hornsby and Tom Coverdale confronted Davis as to whether he had forgotten about his current players who will be around next season.\nBut Davis is excited about the players who are coming back and the ones who are coming in. His challenge will be to get the new players to play as hard as the Hoosiers did this season.\n"Next year we have Bracey Wright coming in, Marshall Strickland, Daryl Pegram," Davis said. "To be able to play the way we did this year, and bringing those guys in, it's really going to take us to another level. They can go make plays.\n"But what they have to do when they come in is play with the same intensity as a Dane Fife did this year."\nDavis said he loves to coach, and next year will give him plenty of work to do. Jarrad Odle and Fife will be gone for sure and Jared Jeffries' future is uncertain right now. Either way, the Hoosiers will be one of the favorites in the Big Ten next season.\nHornsby and Coverdale will be back for senior seasons that will probably have them breaking the school record for three-pointers they helped establish this season.\nThose two will lead a very experienced backcourt that will also include Donald Perry, who had a huge game against Oklahoma. Strickland is also a point guard with huge scoring ability and Wright is considered by many to be the best overall guard in high school right now.\n"We have great guards coming in, really good guards with speed and quickness," Davis said. "They can shoot the basketball."\nIf the Hoosiers are going to be contenders next March, George Leach will have to become the player IU has been waiting for him to become. Leach had a great game at Charlotte in the season opener, but hurt his ankle on the opening tip of the Big Ten season at Northwestern. Odle replaced him that night and the rest of the season.\n"We all know what George is capable of," Jeff Newton said.\nLikewise, Newton will have to become a more consistent presence down low. Davis said Newton will stay in Bloomington during the summer to get bigger and stronger and Davis said Newton should be one of the best players in the Big Ten next year.\nA.J. Moye will be back for his junior year, and as much as he might want to be in the starting lineup, Davis could keep him as one of the first guys off the bench that can give the Hoosiers energy.\nIllinois and Iowa, the two preseason favorites to dominate the Big Ten this season both lose key seniors. The Fighting Illini will lose five key players and the Hawkeyes will be without Luke Recker and Reggie Evans.\nSo instead of being able to come out of nowhere all season, the Hoosiers should look for a season of high expectations.\nDavis welcomes the challenge.\n"I love coaching," he said. "I couldn't do anything else."\nHalf of the battle might be over for Davis after the Hoosiers' improbable run to the national title game this year. IU is back on the map.\n"It's established and we showed the country how Indiana is going to play in years to come," Coverdale said. "This style of play can win championships"