For the past week or so, Indiana coach Mike Davis has been raging about Hoosier fans’ lack of support for him and the team.

“We were one game out of first and that’s what happens?” Davis said Saturday. “You can say what you want to me, but that affects the guys. I watched [Saturday’s] second half and you could see we were playing with no energy. It’s really a shame. They have no idea what they’ve done to the players.”

Davis made these statements after failing to show up for work on two of the past three days. He was too sick to make it to the arena to coach his team in a huge conference game against our beloved Hawkeyes, a game which could have turned Indiana’s season around had they won. We’ll call it intuition–Hawkize followers knew that the game was over before it started, and Mike Davis must have gotten the same feeling. It’s okay Mike, watching Indiana play makes me sick to my stomach too.

Let’s be realistic here though; the fans are not the problem. The problem is that Indiana has been a massive disappointment ever since Bob Knight’s recruits left. Davis was able to follow Knight’s players to the NCAA Championship game in his second season, but it’s been all downhill from there.

“I know a lot of teams around the country that have been happy to be one game out of first and ranked in the country,” said Davis, “But it’s really taken effect on our players. Not just this year, but every year I’ve been here.”

He’s right, a lot of teams would love to be in the position that Indiana is (was) in. But not Indiana. Look at them… if you had to put up with a football program as bad as theirs all fall, wouldn’t your expectations for basketball season be pretty high? Indiana basketball ranks in prestige with the nation’s elite. Mike Davis has got to recognize that, and he needs to quit trying to lower the fans’ expectations. It’s not going to happen.

Indiana hasn’t played in the NCAA tournament in two years. With the talent they’ve had, the coaches deserve a lot of the blame for their lack of success. Maybe the problem is Mike Davis and his negative attitude that’s lowering the morale of the team. How many times have you heard Kirk Ferentz burning on our fans? Even when we weren’t winning games, he kept his mouth shut and kept things positive, and now it’s paying huge dividends. Mike Davis…?

“Indiana needs to have one of their own,” Davis said. “They need to have somebody that’s played here so they can embrace him. They need that.

“I’m not upset about it, not disappointed about it,” said Davis. “I think they need that. I really do, because these players deserve better.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.