Davis Practice Quotes

February 6, 2003

Bloomington, Ind. -
Your overall feelings on the way practice went today?
"All we did was scrimmage today. We are just trying to get some rhythm going. I just thought that last night we didn't play with any rhythm, we weren't really having fun. We are just trying to get everybody back into a rhythm."

Is Leach and Coverdale okay?
"Well, Coverdale twisted his angle and Leach got a concussion and Bracey, well it is going to take him awhile. I project that on Saturday Bracey will be back in his game."

Has Bracey gotten progressively better in your mind?
"I think so. I think that the thing that has hurt him more than anything is that he expected to be where he was when he left, and that is not going to happen. I think that through the course of some games he lost confidence sometimes and that's not good for us because Bracey has been the confident one. He knows that he can't do the things that he had done before, but he wants to do them. That is always tough for a basketball player."

Your thoughts on coming back home and the mood of the team.
"I have been really pushing these boys really, really hard lately. Probably too hard because I want them to play with intensity. I am pushing them like I have never pushed them before, and they are not used to that. I have done that a couple of times and I have to back off of them because I want them to have fun. I want them to have fun and not just go out to play the game just to play the game. So last night the look in their eyes that they had at halftime and before the game, it wasn't fun, it was like a job for them. We had a long talk after the game last night, we spent a lot of time talking about everything. I want them to have fun again. We have a really good team, we do, but it is nothing that we haven't been through. We just have to make sure, and I have to make sure that I don't forget, to have fun. I have handled things different the first two years and this year I have handled things differently than those first two years and nobody knows my team like I do and no one knows the buttons that I need to push like I do and I have pushed the wrong buttons the wrong way and you saw a group of guys that didn't enjoy basketball and that is nobody's fault but mine. I except full responsibility for the way we played because we can't play unless you are having fun and that is why we scrimmaged today, so we could have some fun. I think that we will be okay, I know that we will be okay."

Are you concerned about the leadership?
"Well, that's my fault. If you think about it and I have made this statement before on numerous occasions, is that my guys feed off of me and when they feed off of me, then I am the leader. If I am on the sideline and I am down, if I keep pressure on them, then that is how they are going to be. When you look at me and the way I am, that is the way my team is. When I am down, they are down. I have been down here lately because I am frustrated because Bracey is out and he's no where he needs to be, we are not playing the way I want us to play, but there were some good minutes at Michigan State and there were some good minutes at Louisville and so I should be up on that instead of just grinding and grinding and grinding. What you saw last night in their faces is what you have been seeing in my face. So I take full responsibility for the lack of emotion and taking the fun from the boys."

Can the seniors change that at all?
"Well it `s me. They like me. These guys like me and they haven't liked me in the last week or so. And that means a lot. Some coaches win doing it this way and some coaches win doing it other ways and I know the way that I have to do it. They have always tried to please me and when you have a situation where you look over at your leader and you are not believing, that puts you in a shell and you can't work your way out of it, I have to do that for them."

Does getting back home help to create that environment again?
"It is not just that, it is a mindset, we have to be having fun. I have to make sure that I am loose, but still teaching, still coaching, still pushing, still having fun, but at the same time, Bracey has played three games now and not one time has he come out on the court the way he did before he was injured because every time he looks up I am into him pretty hard. He called today just to see how I was doing. That tells you a lot when one of your players calls you just to check on you. That really hit home to me because he needs to smile on the court and he needs to have fun. Nobody is going to play perfect and I have got to stop coaching like they are going to play perfect and just teach them and try and get some wins."

Yesterday the team looked lethargic, not cutting hard, etc.
"Well, I have worked them so hard lately. I have just been pushing and pushing and pushing and working them like I have never worked them before. So their legs have been really dead."

Is that why the team has struggled defensively?
"Well, when you think about defense, you think about team defense. When you think about coach pushing and driving you and on you all time you start thinking about yourself. When you think about yourself you think well okay I have got this man and you have got that man because I don't want coach to get mad at me if my guy scores and that is the way that we have been playing."

Is the roughest spot that you have been through so far as a coach here?
"No, we are a good team. There was a spot where we lost two games in New York and then we came back and lost to Indiana State. We hit a set back that is hard to overcome, and with Bracey missing all that time as our leading scorer and now we are trying to put him back into the mix, well it is going to take us a little while to do that and with me drilling and drilling and drilling them and playing all of the road games that we have played, you know, it is just really bad timing. It is up to me, I put everything on my shoulders, it is up to me to instill the confidence back into this basketball team that we had when we played in Maui. I have taken some of that away from them."

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