But he’ll be in an unfamiliar place. The former IU coach will lead his Texas Southern team from the visiting bench as two eras of IU men’s basketball collide.
It’s a homecoming of sorts for Davis, the man who was tasked with replacing Bob Knight after his firing in 2000.
It’s been 14 years since Davis was thrust into the national spotlight and eight since he left Bloomington after the 2006 season.
Surrounded by the controversy of following IU’s most successful coach, Davis experienced the highs of an NCAA National Championship runner-up season and the lows of back-to-back missed NCAA tournaments.
Facing the heat from an upset fan base after missing the NCAA Tournament twice for the first time since 1985, Davis announced in February of 2006 that he would resign at the end of the season.
Kelvin Sampson would replace Davis. Sampson would be replaced briefly by Dan Dakich before IU Coach Tom Crean took over the program in 2008.
Crean and Davis aren’t too unalike. Both took the reins of a program in turmoil and were faced with rebuilding it.
At 6 p.m., they’ll coach against one another at a place Davis used to call home.
“Mike Davis is an absolute proven winner,” Crean said. “He’s an excellent coach. He’s got tremendous principles defensively, and he’s always playing to the strengths of his teams offensively.”
Those coaching traits were on display during IU’s 2002 Final Four run.
Led by All-Americans Jared Jeffries and Kirk Haston, the Hoosiers won a share of the Big Ten title and earned a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
IU breezed past Utah and North Carolina-Wilmington in Sacramento, Calif., in the first two rounds to set the table for a Sweet 16 showdown against No. 1 seed Duke in Lexington, Ky.
Davis’ Hoosiers rallied from being down by as many as 17 points thanks to hot 3-point shooting and an aggressive defense to knock off Duke and then blow by Kent State to reach the Final Four in Atlanta.
The Hoosiers then outscored a Sampson-coached Oklahoma team by 13 in the second half of a Final Four game to advance to the National Championship, where IU lost to Maryland 65-52.
Even though he was 6 years old during IU’s Final Four run, IU freshman guard James Blackmon Jr. said he remembers hearing people talk about Davis’ team as he was growing up in Fort Wayne.
“I remember hearing about him a couple of times growing up in Indiana,” Blackmon said. “That’s a big thing to get a chance to play against him.”
A few of the players from Davis’ 2002 team are expected to be on hand tonight to reunite with their coach.
Crean repeatedly expressed appreciation and respect for Davis and the former Hoosiers, whom he said were able to win without a superstar, similar to the teams Crean himself wants to build.
“You get a bunch of guys harnessed around a plan and you’ve got a player you can play through like Jared, amazing things can happen,” Crean said.
In six years, Davis won 115 games, 64 at Assembly Hall, and lost 79 before electing to step down.
It’s impossible to predict what response Davis will receive as his name is announced, but Crean made it clear what response he thinks Davis deserves.
“I hope he gets a tremendous reception when he comes in here, because obviously the way he got his job was different, but that man took that team to a Final Four and to a (Big Ten) championship,” Crean said. “I hope that he gets a great reception.
“He deserves it.”
