If Hoosier fans were displeased at IU not making the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year, they showed it Wednesday night.\nIU took on Vanderbilt in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament in front of a record low crowd of 5,113 in the 17,257-capacity Assembly Hall -- the smallest crowd ever to watch a game in the 33-year history of the building. The previous low was 7,249 Jan. 3, 1999, against Illinois. \nAs of the day before the game, only about 4,500 tickets were sold. But IU officials weren't expecting a large turnout because of spring break and the majority of students being out of town.
Mark Cuban supports Davis\nIn response to the increase chatter about the future of IU coach Mike Davis' future in Bloomington, IU alumnus and owner of the Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban posted his support for Davis on his Web log Friday night.\n"Let's put aside all these ridiculous rumors and put a stop to the just-as-crazy e-mails I have been getting from IU basketball fans," Cuban wrote on his blog. "I support Mike Davis -- without reserve."\nCuban went on to talk about Davis' recruiting, and how he lost Josh Smith to the NBA, but has recovered and improved as a salesman.\nLast year rumors circulated that Cuban would fund the construction of a new IU arena if Davis were to be fired, but he denied those thoughts.\n"As much as anyone I would like to see us back in the NCAA Finals where coach Davis took us a few short years ago," he wrote.
IU T'd up once\nKnown for his hot-headedness, IU coach Mike Davis kept his cool this season, receiving only one technical game in his second-to-last game. \nWith 1:35 left against Minnesota in the Big Ten Tournament, Davis, squatting on the sidelines, looked up to official Mike Sanzere and mentioned a call the official had made in Detroit at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee game -- a game UWM lost and Sonzere officiated.\n"I just said, 'I saw the Detroit game,'" Davis said. "That's all I said, 'I saw the Detroit game.' I got a tech for that."\nIn the game Davis commented on, UWM won 59-58 in the Horizon League championship, which sent the Panthers to the NCAA Tournament with an automatic bid. But Davis was just going to compliment Sonzere on a call Detroit coach Perry Watson didn't think was so good, the IU coach said.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Josh Weinfuss at jweinfus@indiana.edu.
