Dakich just finished his first weekly press conference as IU head coach. Here is what the new head man said about the upcoming game against Michigan State.
"I didn't think any criticism of those kids were fair," Dakich said about some of the press about the players missing practice after Sampson's resignation.
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On recruiting: They are going to the four players signed with 2008 about how the program is "on good footing". Dakcih didn't say which players they met with yesterday, but it likely wasn't Ebanks because Dakich drove with Ray McCallum where they made lot of calls to the compliance people to make sure they were doing what they could.
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Dakich announced that D.J. White has been named student athlete of the month for IU.
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Dakich said he doesn't think the wrap is affecting the play of Eric Gordon although he has missed a lot of shots the last few games.
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"We have to get Mike (White) in there," Dakich said. He talked about how hard Taber has worked to earn his playing time this season and had a great story about it.
Early in the season, Dakich saw how hard Taber was working outside of practice and then told the junior that if he didn't get an opportunity to play this season, Dakich would kiss Taber's bare backside on Kirkwood after the season. Dakich said he was glad to see Sampson put Taber in during the Northwestern game at Assembly Hall so he wouldn't have to pay up on his promise.
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"They have really good players and a really good coach - that makes a difference. I think that those two things makes that difficult. Michigan State is one of the best programs in America."
"I'm not too sure how that game affects this game, other than they know that we beat them and we know that we beat them. That cannot go into the equation from our point."
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"We have to play well. We have to continue to do better as we go through this."
Two important things: rest and prep.
"That's our focus. Our focus is to control what you do. There are not a lot of teams in the country that control their own destiny for a championship."
On DJ's health: "When you have to take two IVs after the last two games that means you are not doing well as you have been in the past." He may not participate in practice today, which is going to be a light one.
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Dan Dakich will have his first Thursday press conference with the media at 1:30. I will be live-blogging when he takes the mic.
