Davis might add more light to Knight's dimming legacy.(Mike Davis)

It's the same as it ever was at Indiana, isn't it? Practice is over, and so is the 40-minute post-practice period in which stars Kirk Haston and Jared Jeffries work voluntarily on their games. Now, the team's big-deal freshman is reclined on the scorer's table and making jokes about the coach.

"He had us in here for four hours before we played Wisconsin the first time," Jeffries says. "And then he looks at us and says, `Y'all are dying!'"

It's uncomfortable to think how Bob Knight would have handled such feigned insolence, but Mike Davis laughs out loud, laughs with the security of someone who recognizes how far he has advanced in such a short time.

He is Indiana's coach now. The interim tag has not been removed but has worn away, unable to stand up to the effects of reality and time. IU still could take this job from him and hand it to someone else, but for now, it belongs to Davis. He knew that the moment the final buzzer sounded in a 70-67 victory at Ohio State on January 31, the Hoosiers' first Big Ten road win.

"I'm not sure if the players noticed," Davis says, "but that's when I felt the change. That game took a lot of pressure off me. My whole approach since that day has been different as far as how I feel, how I coach, do press conferences.

"Because I know now that I can ... I've always known I can coach, but you know how people criticize you."

You'd think Davis would know better than to know. He tries to avoid it but hears this stuff anyway. Fans even have hassled his 15-year-old son when he plays basketball for his school.