Mike Davis will forever be known as the man that succeeded Bob Knight and preceded Kelvin Sampson at Indiana. But he'll also be remembered as a man who found some respite at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. The school is a great fit for Davis; it's low-pressure, low-risk and is situated in the heart of a state Davis has always recruited very well. It's a good gig for him. Or, it was, at least until last week.

In the matter of just a few days, Davis has lost Armon Bassett -- a transfer from Indiana -- and verbally committed recruit DeMarcus Cousins to various weirdnesses. Bassett apparently no longer wants to play at UAB; he's sat out half of this season, but is now set to return home to Indiana and search for somewhere to play there. Sort of strange, but whatever. College kids change their minds.

Cousins' situation, however, is even weirder. He wanted a specific clause in his letter of intent stating that if Davis was no longer the coach at UAB, Cousins would be free to leave. UAB refused to grant it. So now he's re-opened his recruitment to other schools -- UAB is still in the picture, but the verbal commitment Cousins gave to Davis now means next to nothing.

And if that wasn't bad enough, it appears Davis is going to lose three players from this year's squad to academic casualties. As Goodman notes, that gives Davis, and UAB, six scholarship players for the rest of the 2008-09 season. Ouch.

Part of being a good college coach is keeping your students in the classroom, and another part is securing commitments from transfers and recruits, so part of this mess rests on Davis' shoulders ... but still, it's hard not to feel bad for the guy. He escapes the Indiana imbroglio, finds his dream situation, starts building UAB into something respectable, and bam: One week will set Davis back years. Or cost him his job.

Related: Ill-behaved People, C-USA Basketball