These Hoosiers don't look as if they're counting the minutes until the season is over. They have a cause, and it isn't the prevention of a 1 a.m. practice or high-decibel threats from the coach.

Hoosiers interim coach Mike Davis may lose his 'interim' label soon.(AP)

And, for the first time since 1998 in the Big Ten Tourney, they won.

"I was getting tired of one-day trips to Chicago," junior forward Kirk Haston said after a 64-52 victory over Wisconsin. "I like this town. I left my stuff all over the hotel room, thinking I was going to stay."

Before Friday, the Hoosiers were 3-9 in postseason tournaments since 1995. Every year around St. Patrick's Day, Indiana would find its own special way to get bombed.

The Hoosiers figure to lose Saturday in the semifinals against Illinois, a potential No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but don't bet on another first-round embarrassment in the NCAAs.

"Mentally, I wanted our guys to be really fresh," Davis said. "At the end of most seasons, you're ready for the season to be over. You want to play, but if you win, fine, and if you don't win, fine. I want these guys to be so hungry to play, like it's the first game of the season. That's the mindset we're in now. Our last three practices were unbelievable. Our guys were competing so hard that I cut it short after 45 minutes."

Haston said news about Knight and Texas Tech made its way through the team Thursday as players knocked on each other's doors at the team hotel to share tidbits they had heard.

"I know he liked it there back when we played them my sophomore year," guard Dane Fife said. "That's all he talked about, what a nice facility they had. I think he has some pretty good friends down there. I would assume he would want to go someplace warm. ... I'd love to have him back (in college basketball) because I'm a big coach Knight fan."

Otherwise, the Hoosiers said the news did not distract them from the task at hand -- making people remember that Indiana basketball is bigger than one person.

The Hoosiers have won eight of their past 10 games. But the players denied that they're fresher this late in the season because it's Davis calling the shots, not Knight.

"Coach Davis' practices are designed pretty much the same way as Coach Knight," Fife said. "We've always said there's not as much yelling, but I don't think that had anything to do with us looking down or under-confident (in previous years). We came out of the regular season with a lack of confidence because we were losing. The last two years, we had teams beat and we'd lose in the final minutes for one reason or another.

"It might have been that we were tight. Both years, we came out of the regular season down and nervous. We felt pressure. I think this year, we came out winning and with our confidence up."

Former Indiana guard A.J. Guyton and former assistant coach Norm Ellenberger, both with the Chicago Bulls, did their part to keep the confidence up by leaving a sign for the Hoosiers in their locker room at the United Center.

"Hoosiers," it said. "You've Had a Good Season. Now Make it a Great Year!! Go Win This Thing."

A sign in the stands supported the coach.

"Hire Davis!" it said.

It appears the school will leave Davis hanging while Knight runs off to his new job -- predictably, in a remote outpost that isn't easily accessible to big-city media.

Meanwhile, Davis has brought Indiana together. The media like him. The fans like him. The players want him to stay. He's 20-11 with a team that doesn't have a senior. There is no reason to wait to make it official.

"I'd like to hear in the next hour that they're removing his interim label," Haston said.

But even if it won't happen that soon, school president Myles Brand has to do it eventually, right?

"I don't think he'd want to go through more trouble," Fife said. "After what Coach Davis has done, how can you get rid of him?"

But Fife isn't counting on anything.

"I thought Coach Knight wouldn't be fired," Fife said. "That proves anything can happen at IU."