Deserving so much more, wanting nothing less

The faces have come, and mostly gone, for Kyle Taber.

The faces of coaches, the faces of players, the faces of countless assistants.  
But Taber has remained, this 6-foot-8 forward from Evansville that has endured slightly fewer knee surgeries (2) than coaching changes (3).

But to say Taber, who put up with so much just to live every Indiana boy’s wildest dream, has gotten to taste true IU basketball tradition wouldn’t be fair. No, for five years of training, rehabilitation, scout-team work and the punchline that comes with being an end-of-game substitute, Taber gets this – a throwaway season Hoosier fans can’t wait to end before it even begins.

Surely, the man deserves more than that. After fighting so long to earn respect and playing time, this is his end-game. These are the goodies.

Make no mistake, Taber won’t complain. His high school coach says it’s just not in him.

“He’s just a throwback (kind of player). He’ll be a great leader for those young guys,” said Brent Chitty, Taber’s coach at Evansville Central. “He’s a positive guy. He doesn’t get down. He never becomes a problem, he’s a solution.”

Taber himself admitted he thinks from time to time about his long career at IU, made even longer by all the injury and turnover. Still, he wouldn’t trade a minute, and Chitty said Taber tells him he’s thankful for the entire experience.

“I think about it sometimes,” Taber said. “I had a lot of good times the previous four years.”

Taber came to IU in 2004 as a walk-on to Mike Davis’ second-to-last Hoosier squad.

A knee injury forced him to take a redshirt, and he sat at the end of the bench for most of the next two years. It wasn’t until last year, under then-coach Kelvin Sampson, that Taber finally won a scholarship, and with it more court time as Sampson looked for post players to compliment D.J. White.

He became a reliable frontcourt presence, though his numbers (1.5 PPG, 2.5 RPG) remained modest.

Then things fell apart.

Players started melting away, some to the NBA, others to graduation. Sampson resigned, Dan Dakich took over and was then replaced by Tom Crean.

Still more players were shown the door for myriad disciplinary reasons, and suddenly Taber found himself standing alone, like the last soldier defending the Alamo. Only walk-on guard Brett Finkelmeier, who is now Quinn Buckner to Taber’s Kent Benson, remains from last season.

Ask Chitty, and he’ll tell you the Hoosiers couldn’t have a better man holding down their fort.

“He’s a great kid, hard worker,” Chitty said by phone. “Would do anything for anybody, no doubt about it.”

Chitty, who coached both Taber and his brother, called Taber “a rare breed,” the type of player who works hard at every aspect of his game. The coach said in high school, Taber was relentless in his pursuit to get better at his defense, rebounding, post play and all things that typify the quiet frontcourt player.

Perhaps it speaks to the kind of person Taber is that Chitty’s favorite memory of one of his prized pupils came when Taber showed rare but warranted emotion when he hit a game-winning shot against Evansville Reitz. Taber scored off a rebound to bring Central within one point, then he grabbed a loose ball and stepped into what Chitty estimated to be a 17-footer – “Nothing but the bottom of the net.”

“He was jumping up in the air,” Chitty said. “He was so excited.”

To this day, coach and player speak about once a week – usually on Thursdays – and they have lunch when Taber returns to Evansville.

Chitty has gotten his former standout’s take on this year’s Hoosiers – full of talent – and Taber’s humility at being the face of a program steeped in history and tradition. Whether humility will allow him to accept that mantle or not, Taber’s focus is squarely set right now on being part of a rebuilding effort that’s starting from the ground up.

“This is the thing I can effect now,” Taber said. “You can’t change the past.”

But everything, Chitty said, always comes back around to Taber’s character, which the coach said is unmatched by any player he’s ever had.

“He is the boy that all moms and dads want their daughter to bring home,” Chitty said with a laugh, but also the confidence that he’s right.

Hoosier fans everywhere are bunkered down for a long season marked more often by frustration than success. But Chitty knows Taber, and he knows the fight the forward possesses.

Maybe it’s his character, maybe it’s his tenacity, maybe it’s just that he’s put up with too much to let it end so quietly. But one way or another, Chitty expects Taber to go out fighting.

“Either you sit on the ropes or you come out swinging,” he said, “and I think Tabe’s gonna come out swinging.”