Sleeper team
EVANSTON, Ill. – Thousands of feet above the ground – somewhere between Indiana and Illinois – Dan Dakich sensed something wasn't right.
Time and time again he would spin around in his seat on the team plane and see freshman guard Eric Gordon with his eyes closed. D.J. White and Armon Bassett, too. As much as any team he has coached, Dakich said this Indiana squad has personality. He even called it "loud."
But that wasn't the case during Saturday's flight to Northwestern, when almost every player fell asleep.
"You know how you just get drained?" Dakich said after his team's 85-82 victory over the Wildcats. "That's what happened to us today. We were just drained."
Dakich paused and looked toward the ground.
"It's been a tough week," he said.
The forced resignation of coach Kelvin Sampson … the division among the Hoosiers as to who should be his successor … the threat – albeit brief – by some players to sit out the rest of the season.
Not since the firing of Bob Knight has the spotlight shined so brightly on Bloomington.
Still, as angst-ridden as the last week has been, the Hoosiers managed to end it on a positive note by shaking off their lackadaisical start and rallying to avoid what would've been one of the biggest upsets of the college basketball season.
At 12-2, Indiana is tied for first in the Big Ten. Northwestern has yet to win a conference game.
"I can't put it into words," Bassett said of the previous two days. "It's been a long 48 hours."
Sampson resigned Friday amid allegations that he made improper phone calls to recruits – the second time in his career that he has been accused of such an offense. Sampson agreed to a $750,000 buyout and waived his right to sue Indiana. Dakich was appointed interim head coach.
The situation couldn't have been more of a sock to the stomach for the Hoosiers. Along with being potentially damaging on the court, most of Indiana's players had come to consider Sampson a mentor.
That explains why they played Saturday's game with the initials K.S. written on their sneakers.
"He's the one who got us all here in the first place," Gordon said. "He wasn't just like a coach. He was more like a father figure to us. We miss him, but we have to keep on playing."
Some wondered whether that would happen after reports surfaced that a handful of Hoosiers threatened to boycott the remainder of the season. Bassett, White, Jamarcus Ellis, Jordan Crawford, Brandon McGee and DeAndre Thomas did not attend Friday's practice.
The situation hardly angered Dakich, who said the reaction was "natural."
"They got told (about Sampson) at 11:45 a.m.," Dakich said. "I finished up the meeting with them at 12:30. To ask them to go practice … there was no chance I was going to sit there and demand (that they practice).
"They're 18- to 22-year-old kids. I'm having a hard time with this, and I've been through some things. I'm sure everyone out there has an opinion about how this should've gone. But your opinion isn't based on being 18 to 22 and having the guy you came to play for (leave).
"Anyone that knows anything about my background knows that soft is not the thing I'm known for as a coach. But kids need time."
By 6 that evening, Dakich said he'd received text messages from the players who missed practice saying: "Don't worry, Coach. I'll be there."
All the Hoosiers returned to Assembly Hall later that evening and participated in the team walkthrough.
Gordon's father, Eric Gordon Sr., was relieved when he received a text from his son Saturday morning saying that every player on the roster had boarded the team bus.
"It was a roller-coaster ride," Eric Sr. said. "From hour to hour, no one knew what was happening.
"I just told (Eric) that his main focus should still be on being a student-athlete. He still has goals that are within reach. Ultimately it doesn't matter who the coach is. This university was his school of choice. He needs to represent it. It's time for everyone to move on."
People seemed ready to do just that Saturday, when thousands of Indiana fans flocked to Welsh-Ryan Arena to support the Hoosiers on the road. Dakich received a resounding ovation both before and after the game, and after a sluggish start, the Hoosiers seemed upbeat and energized, waving to the crowd and urging them to yell louder and louder.
Northwestern did its best to make things difficult on Indiana. There were signs that read "Hoosier Coach?" and "Hey, Kelvin: Call Me!" Wildcats forward Kevin Coble did his part, too, by scoring 37 points in an outstanding effort that, unfortunately, was overshadowed by the enormity of the night for Dakich and Indiana.
Dakich spent 10 seasons as Bowling Green's head coach before returning to his alma mater as an assistant this season. He was awarded the interim job over Ray McCallum, the popular choice among most of the players.
"This is not the way you want to get a job," Dakich said. "I have a lot of emotions about this. I have feelings for Coach Sampson and his family and what they're going through, and I have feelings for our players and what they're going through.
"This is a difficult situation."
Still, even without Sampson, the Hoosiers have plenty for which to play. Saturday's win catapulted them into a first-place tie in the conference with Wisconsin and Purdue. A top-four seed in the NCAA tournament seems possible – if, of course, 14th-ranked Indiana moves on and embraces its new coach as passionately as it did its old one.
"Everyone was used to him, and he was used to our tendencies," Bassett said of Sampson. "It wasn't the same not having him around."
Gordon agreed.
"It's tough," he said, "but the decision has been made, and we can't do anything about it. We've just got to keep on playing."
