Mr.Popular

Things haven't been going well for the IU men's basketball team lately. We've lost five of our past six games, including a humiliating loss to a Minnesota team that was 0-6 in the Big Ten before claiming its first conference victory over us, as well as a loss at home in a must-win situation against Iowa.\nNot surprisingly, some people are calling for Mike Davis' head.\nThen again, many of them are the same people who have been clamoring for his head since the day he replaced Bobby Knight. \nIs Davis' job actually in trouble? ESPN reports that Davis has vowed not to resign and won't even discuss his future until this season is over. This seems like a good idea to us. The team's focus should rest on salvaging this season, not on a swirling controversy of guessing whether Davis will be gone and who could replace him. IU is still in position to make the NCAA tournament.\nNevertheless, let's take a closer look at Davis and decide whether he is a coach deserving of getting sacked. \nLets see ... Davis took the Hoosiers to the national championship game in his second season as coach. That was four years ago! Detractors will say that this means nothing, because the players on that squad were recruited by Knight. This doesn't seem fair. Did the players coach themselves? Was the fired ghost of Bobby Knight shining down on the Hoosiers that fateful March four years ago?\nBut that was then, so what about now? There are certain positive aspects about this season no detractor can ignore: We had been ranked in the top 25 for the entire season until Monday, we are only 2.5 games out of first place in our conference and we have important wins over Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio State and Illinois (and played tough against then-No. 1 Duke).\nNow that Knight has been gone for years, recruiting successes and failures lie on Davis alone. Marco Killingsworth was a great pickup from Auburn, a deal Dick Vitale called the most important acquisition of a transfer player this year. D.J. White, last year's freshman of the year in the Big Ten, is a huge asset. Unfortunately, White is gone for the rest of the season with a broken foot, but that is hardly Davis' fault.\nThe whole campaign against Davis reeks of shortsightedness. Www.Firemikedavis.com -- a Web site purchased months before IU's 2002 run to the championship -- ran a headline that began, "Looks like Mike sealed his own fate against Wisconsin. That's 4 of the last 5." It is true that we had lost four of the past five games (now five of six), but it's also true that anyone who makes decisions based on a stretch of merely six games shouldn't be making decisions at all (and thankfully, they aren't). This heavy criticism of Davis comes only two weeks after fans rushed the court after defeating Illinois. Remember that?\nThe zeal of some who hate Davis is so extreme that it appears they are rooting for IU to lose, just so they have more reason to call for his dismissal. We don't care how much Hoosier fans dislike Davis; anyone rooting for IU losses is no fan at all. Wearing black shirts to a game against Iowa -- whose team color is black -- does nothing but discourage our players and give the impression of rooting for Iowa. It's difficult to imagine that the coordinators of the black shirt campaign were unaware of Iowa's colors.\nWe're certainly not blind apologists here; the Hoosiers are currently reeling. That IU has no road wins against conference teams thus far is terrible. To be a top 25 team, we have to demonstrate an ability to win on the road, and so far this has been sorely lacking. \nWe still have important games remaining against Illinois and Michigan State. Like everyone else, we had and still maintain high expectations for the Hoosiers this season. There is no reason why the Hoosiers, under Mike Davis, cannot achieve them. Today presents a prime opportunity to turn things around and pick up our first road win this season against a Big Ten team. We should be able to defeat Penn State, and by any measure this is a must-win game.\nIf the current trend continues, it might be time for Davis to leave when his contract ends, or possibly even at the end of this season if things really go south. But at this juncture, losing our head coach mid-season will do nothing to improve the team, and would likely only make things worse for the season's remainder. Let's hold out and end the shortsighted talk about firing Davis. Relax.