BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WDRB) -- When they fire your coach with five weeks left in the season, you're supposed to knock down walls to show the administration they were wrong.
When you're running out of time to bring your season back from the brink, you should play like the next game is The Game that will determine if you make the NCAA Tournament.
Or you can do what the Indiana University men's basketball players did Saturday afternoon in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, less than 24 hours after it became official Mike Woodson would not coach the Hoosiers after next month.
The IU players performed … just well enough to lose.
Michigan 70, Indiana 67. Indiana failed to lead for a single second. Although the Hoosiers rallied from a 17-point deficit to tie the game with 4:08 to play, Woodson's sagging squad proved they are who we thought they were:
A flawed team that still can't get enough defensive stops, still does not make enough three-point shots and still can't perform with poise in the final minutes of a close game.
Just as it unfolded against Purdue and Maryland last week. Just as it has unfolded for most of the last 3 1/2 seasons.
Woodson is still who we thought we thought he was: A stubborn soul who neither understands nor accepts why he will not return as the Hoosiers' coach for a fifth season. Does not want to talk about it.
Woodson even dragged out his tired trademark punch line — “I wish I knew” — when he was asked why his 14-10 team has lost seven of its last eight games.
Other than the final score, there were two questions most observers wanted answered Saturday afternoon:
1.) How would Woodson handle questions about Friday's announcement by IU that he would depart after this season?
2.) How would Michigan coach Dusty May handle the questions that have him positioned near the top of the list of Woodson's replacements?
Answer One: Woodson whiffed.
Assembled media members were informed that Woodson would not answer any questions about the announcement. Remember there were no quotes from Woodson in the press release about his “retirement” on Friday. Strange? You bet. But strange has been the flavor of the month around this program.
The coach also sent assistant Brian Walsh to handle his responsibilities with Don Fischer after the game on the IU radio network. No players were made available to the media.
Why?
I wish I knew.
But I can give my opinion: I believe Woodson believes that pouting will reverse the decision created by his inability to win games with this $5 million roster. If he does not know why his team continues to lose games, then he does not know why he will be paid $8 million not to coach the next two seasons.
“We haven't been the same team, you know, for a while, and for whatever reasons, we've dug a hole,” Woodson said.
“I've done a terrible job in really putting them in the best position possible to win, I think. Emotionally, you know, these kids have taken a beating a little bit, and it's my job to try to lift their spirits and keep them heading in the right direction, man, because there's still a lot of basketball left.”
Actually there is only 4 1/2 weeks -- and if Indiana keeps losing (Michigan State and UCLA are the Hoosiers' next two games) they are on an express route to missing the Big Ten Tournament.
I asked Woodson if the “beating” was created by the losing or by the boos these players have heard in this building on multiple occasions since the 94-69 loss to Illinois last month.
“Well, I mean, you can look at it in all kinds of ways,” Woodson said. “i'm not even going to go there. I thought at that time we were playing pretty good basketball. I think we were 13-4, 4-2 in the Big 10 without our leading scorer (Malik Reneau).
“And then all hell broke loose, and we just haven't been the same.”
Indeed they have not.
And for much of the game, they were not the same Saturday. Woodson's guys started with a “Let's Get This Over With,” performance. They fell behind 16-8, rallied to tie the game and then slipped behind 35-19 in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. You could hear the groans in the building.
By halftime, with Indiana trailing 43-27, the boos were audible after Woodson's team settled for a contested shot on IU's final possession and walked to the locker room with another double-digit deficit.
The second half was better. The Michigan lead grew to 49-32 before Woodson settled on a lineup that featured Reneau, Mackenzie Mgbako, Anthony Leal, Trey Galloway and Luke Goode.
He left point guard Myles Rice on the bench for the entire second half. Oumar Ballo, usually Indiana's most persistent inside force, sat with him for 14 minutes.
After IU scrambled back into position to tie the game at 59, they had exactly one chance to take the lead. Goode missed a contested three-pointer. May's team outscored Woodson's team 11-8 down the stretch.
The end.
But that's not what many people wanted to ask May about after the game. They wanted to know his thoughts on the toxic situation at his alma mater, where he once worked for Bob Knight and Mike Davis as a student manager and graduate assistant.
May was ready for the questions. He said that he loved his job at Michigan very, very much. He might have used another very. Or two. He said that he respected what Mike Woodson has done for Indiana as a player and as a coach.
“I heard the (pre-game) ovation, and I appreciated it,” May said. “Coming from where I came from (Greene County, 20 miles from campus, there's no other explanation (other than being an IU grad).
“I didn't score a basket, and to be shown gratitude like that is, you know, yes, it does feel good.”
Has May been following the Indiana soap opera?
“Control what you can control,” May said. “If I'm spending time thinking about that other stuff than we're in trouble when the (Purdue) Boilermakers come to (Michigan) Tuesday night.”
Around Indiana basketball, the show is just beginning. But now at least we know when it will end.
Indiana Basketball Coverage:
- CRAWFORD | Facing (another) coaching search, some Do's and Don'ts for Indiana
- BOZICH | Pat Kelsey, Louisville delivered knockout blow to Mike Woodson at Indiana
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