Thursday, March 20, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
SUN WIRE REPORTS
Neil Reed's Indiana teammates are saying that they, not coach Bob Knight, asked Reed to leave the team after they were ousted from the NCAA tournament in the first round.
Haris Mujezinovic, the lone senior, said Wednesday that after last week's NCAA tournament loss, players unanimously agreed that Reed's selfishness was the leading problem on the team and that he should not return next season.
Larry Richardson, a redshirt freshman, said, "I've seen coach Knight draw up plays and Neil go out on the court and do just the opposite."
Reed, a 6-foot-2 junior guard, issued a statement Tuesday that accused Knight of verbal and physical abuse.
Two former IU players said Wednesday that Reed just couldn't adapt to Knight's sometimes abrasive personality. They also said it wasn't Knight who asked Reed to leave, but his teammates.
"Coach went to a group of guys on the team when the first rumor came out that Reed, (Richard) Mandeville and (Andrae) Patterson were leaving," said Joe Hillman, who played for the Hoosiers during the late 1980s.
"Well, they had a team meeting without those three guys ... they all said it was Neil Reed that was the problem. 'We've got to get rid of Reed. He doesn't work hard. He doesn't lift weights. He doesn't run. He's not doing the things they were supposed to do."'
Another former player, Todd Leary, said he sympathizes with Reed about Knight's fiery style of coaching, but says players shouldn't take it personally.
"The mental abuse part - some people like to call it mental abuse, some people like to call it a challenge. It kind of depends on how the player or whoever it is looks at it," said Leary, a 1994 IU grad.
"But sometimes you have to look past how he says stuff and look at what he's saying."
Hillman said Reed, who claims that he was singled out by Knight for criticism, was just looking for a way to deflect blame from himself for poor play.
"I truly believe this whole thing has gotten way out of hand because of a guy that's basically looking to make an excuse for why he's not playing well."
Knight criticized Reed, Patterson, Robbie Eggers, Mandeville and Charlie Miller for inconsistent play this season and questioned their dedication to Indiana, which was routed by Colorado 80-62 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
* OLE MISS COACH STAYS: When it came time for a final decision, coach Rob Evans couldn't leave the players who got Mississippi back into the NCAA tournament. Evans decided Wednesday that he was staying at Ole Miss, where all of his players return next season, and turning down an offer to become LSU's new coach. "The overriding theme with me was our players. I just didn't feel like I could walk away from these kids when they have shown so much trust and loyalty in me," said Evans, who just completed his fifth and most successful season at Ole Miss.
* JAMES MADISON COACH: Sherman Dillard, an All-America player at James Madison and former assistant coach under Lefty Driesell at Maryland, will succeed Driesell as the Dukes' basketball coach. The hiring of Dillard, 41, was announced Wednesday. He has coached the last three seasons at Indiana State, guiding the Sycamores to a 29-52 record. Dillard also worked as an assistant under Lou Campanelli at California and Bobby Cremins at Georgia Tech.
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