ATLANTA – They have watched the Villanova-Georgetown tape, and they have watched Buster Douglas knock out Mike Tyson, and now, 40 minutes from a most improbable hoop heaven, the Indiana Hoosiers believe it is their turn, their time, to shock the world.
These are the kids who decided to stay after Bobby Knight was asked to leave, these are the kids who were abandoned by Knight worshippers, these are the kids who have been hearing about all the things they cannot do and about all the teams they cannot beat, these are the kids who refused to believe in the naysayers and never stopped believing in themselves, and these are the kids who tonight are 40 minutes from their own national championship banner waving from the top of Assembly Hall.
“We believe we can win,” Dane Fife said.
But how do you beat Maryland?
“How do you beat Duke?” Moye said. “How do you beat Kansas?. . . How do you beat any school? You just play, man. There’s no big mystery to it. It’s still basketball. You can only put five players on the court. The court’s still 94 feet. The rim’s still 10 feet high.”
Ready to shock the world?
“Definitely man,” Jared Jeffries said. “It’s a chance to do something no one thought we could do from the very beginning.”
Kyle Hornsby reminds you that there was no shot clock when deliberate Villanova slew the Hoyas. “But if you’re asking if we can win, I say yes we can win,” Hornsby said.
See, heart can overcome athleticism. “A lot of it is due to Coach Davis,” Moye said. “If you can get some game film and watch him, we are the spitting image of him. Eleven Mike Davises. It’s almost an unconscious reaction to play as hard as we do. We have fun playing like that now.” Adds Tom Coverdale: “When he took over last year, this team was soft.”
Jeffries tells why his team has a chance to be remembered forever in and around Bloomington. “Just the will to win,” Jeffries said.
The Hoosiers pride themselves on their defense. Fife, the 6-4 senior from Michigan, must contain Juan Dixon. “We’re not gonna let nobody hang 30 on us,” Moye said. Fife has been known to pile trash in Hornsby’s locker to get him riled up. Hornsby gleefully tells the story of the time Fife bit Duez Henderson of Iowa on the arm a few years back. “Then he bit himself in the huddle on his arm so he could say Duez bit him just so he won’t get in trouble,” Hornsby said.
Coach Mike Davis started at Miles College in Birmingham, $200 a week.
“It’s kinda like if you do something wrong, your dad gives you the eye; that’s what Coach Knight did,” Jeffries said. “If we do something wrong, Coach Davis talks to us.”
Jarrad Odle was asked about the movie Hoosiers. “I actually have that DVD in my bag right now,” Odle said. “It’s always on TV around our state, so in the locker room it’s always on and off.”
Odle comes from a small Indiana town of 1100 called Swayzee. “You drive into town and there’s a sign that says World Record Nine-Overtime Basketball Game,” he said.
Odle was asked what it would be like to return to Indiana as national champion. “It’s basically like being a president when you go back,” Odle said. “As a kid growing up in Indiana, you always have a basketball in your hands. I can remember, after high school games, going home and playing on my nerf hoop in the hallway.”
How about a Hoosiers II?They imagined this. “Hopefully if we win this thing and they do Hoosiers II,” Jeffries said, “Will Smith can play my part.” Hoosiers Day.