When Mike Davis took over back in September, no one expected Indiana to contend for a Big Ten title.
The fallout from Bob Knight's firing was just too messy, too public to overcome in one season. There were so many distractions, there was no way Indiana could excel.
Yet look at Davis' Hoosiers now. They're in the Big Ten tournament final after knocking off No. 4 Illinois 58-56 Saturday. Tom Coverdale had 17 points, and Kirk Haston blocked Frank Williams' last-second layup attempt.
"When the season started, the players stepped up and said we wanted coach Davis to be here or a lot of us probably wouldn't have come back," Coverdale said. "If he's not the coach after what he's done, something's wrong."
The Hoosiers (21-11) have won nine of their last 11 games, and Davis is the first Indiana coach to win 21 games in his first season. In one year, Davis has already won more games in the Big Ten tournament (two) than Knight managed in the previous three years (one).
"I feel real good about this ball team right now," Davis said. "Our confidence is sky-high."
It should be. Illinois, the tournament's top seed, probably had a chance to lock up the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAAs after No. 2 Michigan State lost to Penn State on Friday night.
Instead, the Illini (24-7) put together one of their sloppiest and most disorganized efforts of the season.
The Illini shot less than 33 percent and had 12 turnovers. Williams, with 14 points, was the only Illinois player in double figures. Cory Bradford had nine points on 3-of-11 shooting. Sergio McClain missed two free throws in the last 50 seconds and finished with two points.
Williams disappeared in the second half, scoring just three points. Part of the reason was Indiana's Dane Fife, who smothered the Big Ten's player of the year. Despite the Illini's problems, they still had a chance to win as Indiana went scoreless over the final 4:16.
"Someone told me we kind of reminded them of the '81 championship team," said Jared Odle, who had seven rebounds for Indiana. "They didn't have a real good beginning of the year and then put something together at the end and made a run."
No. 14 Mississippi 74, No. 5 Florida 69
Nashville, Tenn. Freshman Justin Reed scored 15 points and senior Jason Flanigan made three free throws down the stretch to help Mississippi upend Florida in the semifinals of the SEC tournament.
This time last year, Ole Miss was already out of the tournament and headed toward the NIT. Today the Rebels (25-6) will meet No. 15 Kentucky in the championship game.
Ole Miss, which ousted Tennessee 86-73 in the quarterfinals, has won three straight games and reached the finals for the first since 1990.
Second-seeded Florida (23-6), which reached the Final Four last season, was hoping its battle with injuries could be conquered with another win to help lock up a top seed in the NCAA tournament.
Jason Holmes scored 13 and Rahim Lockhart and Aaron Harper had 11 each for the top-seeded Rebels. Udonis Haslem scored 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for Florida.
No. 1 Stanford 99, Arizona State 75
Stanford, Calif. Casey Jacobsen scored 21 points and Ryan Mendez had 19 as Stanford (28-2, 16-2) clinched its third straight Pac-10 Conference title and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Afterward, students stormed the court as the Cardinal cut down the nets. Stanford hadn't won three straight titles 1935-36 to 1937-38. Alton Mason had 23 points for Arizona State.
No. 3 Duke 84,
No. 11 Maryland 82
Atlanta Nate James tipped in a missed runner from Jason Williams with 1.3 seconds left, and Shane Battier scored 20 points as the Blue Devils edged Maryland in the ACC semifinals. Duke (28-4) will meet arch-rival North Carolina in today's championship game. The two Carolina schools split the season series. Williams added 19 points, and James 14 as the Blue Devils snapped Maryland's six-game winning streak.
No. 6 North Carolina 70, Georgia Tech 63
Atlanta Joseph Forte ignored foul trouble to score 27 points and the Tar Heels survived a scare from feisty Georgia Tech (17-12). Forte, who also had 12 rebounds, hit two key free throws with 33.6 seconds remaining and added a finishing layup at the buzzer to put the Tar Heels (25-5) into the final against Duke. The Yellow Jackets missed 17 straight shots in one stretch, and UNC turned a 23-16 deficit into a 35-25 lead.
No. 8 Arizona 78, California 76
Berkeley, Calif. Loren Woods had 22 points and nine rebounds as Arizona capped its regular season with its sixth straight win. Michael Wright scored 20 points, and Gilbert Arenas added 18 for the Wildcats (23-7, 15-3 Pac-10). Jason Gardner's three-pointer with 59 seconds remaining gave Arizona a 77-74 lead. Sean Lampley, the league's leading scorer, had 27 points for the Bears (20-10, 11-7). But he missed a 12-foot jumper at the buzzer.
No. 10 Boston College 79, Pittsburgh 57
New York Boston College, which had already completed the first worst-to-first regular season in conference history, added a Big East tournament title. Big East co-player of the year Troy Bell was the MVP as the Eagles (26-4) set a school single-season record for wins. Pittsburgh (18-13) got 18 points from Ricardo Greer.
Washington 96,
No. 13 UCLA 94
Seattle Michael Johnson's three-pointer with 1.1 seconds left lifted last-place Washington (10-20, 4-14 Pac-10) over UCLA. The Bruins (21-8, 14-4) had won 17 of 20 before dropping their regular-season finale. The Huskies snapped an eight-game losing streak. Johnson finished with a career-high 29 points. The Bruins were led by Jason Kapono's 26 points.
No. 15 Kentucky 87, Arkansas 78
Nashville, Tenn. Keith Bogans had 23 points and 10 rebounds as Kentucky (21-9) rallied to beat Arkansas (20-10) in the SEC semifinals.
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