Needed: Talented Walkons for Once Proud Basketball Program

I really like Tom Crean and I think he is just what Indiana needs a coach with a lot of integrity and gritty record of success. In his first major move with the university, he has maintained that integrity by standing by Dan Dakitch's decision to kick Armon Bassett and JaMarcus Ellis off of the Indiana team.

While this decision will make year one ugly to watch, it shows the university's resolve to put the Sampson era, and his thug players, behind them. These brats, with their "walkout" antics after Sampson was fired, don't deserve scholarships. It will be interesting to see what program wants to take a risk on them in the future --- I am guessing it won't be a strong basketball program and may not even be DI.

In other IU news, freshman Center Eli Holman lost his mind and decided to transfer rather than play for a coach that is head and shoulders better than his cheating predecessor. But not only that, he also decided to throw a "grade school" style temper tantrum that prompted a police escort from the building. Way to go out with a bang and really market yourself for another future program!!

As a Big Ten fan, I am very happy to see IU bring closure to the Sampson era and re-establish a basketball program we can respect again.

And the Plot Thickens...

I remember also being an impetuous, headstrong college student and some of the grave errors in judgement that it led to.

CBSSports.com is reporting news out of Indiana this morning that the players, when informed of Sampson's firing, said that "if coach goes they won't play". Talk about stupid immature behavior. I understand loyalty, but he broke the rules. The University feels it needs to make this move to lessen penalties with the NCAA and they players are only penalizing themselves by not playing.

Well now the IU administration should really think about taking their post-season ban this year if the players won't play anyway. Since it is highly likely that there will be at least one year of post-season ban associated with these violations, the administration will have to consider this option closely.

Thank god I have grown up and matured and no longer make stupid, impulsive decisions.

[edit 12:30PM] But theres more...

This morning the IU board at Scout.com (paid link so only subscribers can view) is reporting that what the players actually said was that they would only play if second-year assistant McCallum is made the interim coach over Dan Dakich. Hmmm what does that say about Mr. Dakich and his coaching style. Interesting indeed.

At any rate, we will find out much more later today as the Hoosiers have called a press conference for 2PM central.

[edit 3:45PM] Talk on the HoosierNation.com board is that there are only 7 kids in the practice that Dakich is running today. Some of those absent include DJ White, Armon Bassett, JaMarcus Ellis and Jordan Crawford. Wow this is turning into a train wreck.

I can only imagine how angry the IU alums must be. They have a great tradition that has not needed to rely on cheating, now in addition to the Sampson episode they have a group of belligerent players trying to hold the university hostage. Lets see some people protest the war in Iraq, others protest the brutalities in Dufar, but these children decide to protest the firing of a coach who cheated (for the second time) and lied about it to the NCAA and IU! Just unreal - childish doesn't even do this behavior justice.

I feel bad for the IU alumni -- it is clear from the Boards that the general tone is one of utter embarrassment.

More live coverage of the unfolding drama can be found at the Cobra Brigade.

[edit 5:10] Here are the players that are in practice according to chatters on the Scout.com IU board (keep in mind that posts on chat boards are about as reliable as a Britney Spears clean drug test).

Adam Ahlfeld
Brett Finkelmeier
Eric Gordon
Lance Stemler
Kyle Taber
Mike White
oh and the team managers (supposedly)

If this becomes the lineup for the Northwestern game, I am placing the over/under for Gordon's total point at 50!!

[edit 11:30AM sat. 2-23]
Looks like someone talked sense into the "protesting" players and the entire team got onto the plane to Evanston this morning, see story from Herald Times.

Hoosier and Sampson Divorce Likely

The wheels are coming off the bus in Bloomington. The NCAA released its notice of allegations to Indiana University last week and that report was released to the public today.

In the report, it is alleged that IU coaches including Sampson made over 100 telephone violations involving multiple recruits and misled IU about the nature of the calls and violations.

Now IU finds itself in the unenviable task of responding to 14 pages of infractions and information requests. This from a program that prided itself on "being clean" and had not been penalized for a recruiting infraction since 1960.

Sanctions are sure to follow - not this year since the process will play out through June or July, but next year and beyond. It is likely that Sampson's will be fired at the end of the year (if not sooner) and he may never resurface in Division I basketball.

The alums must surely be asking themselves, "what have we done". A fine tradition has been shredded and it will take years to regain it's reputation. In the meantime they have a decent team, but one that has enough holes that it is not likely to make a deep run in the tournament this year. The current team relies far too heavily on two players, senior DJ White and freshman Eric Gordon, and IU has struggled when each or both of these players play poorly.

In addition to Sampson's recruiting issues, his discipline also appears to be lacking. One player, senior AJ Ratliffe, has left the team as a result of personal issues, that may or may not be related to academic or disciplinary matters (he sat out the first semester due to academics). Additionally, several players were disciplined after a trip to Chicago because of undisclosed rules violations.

It all smells of a program that is out of control. Alumni are enraged and one would expect the administration to make a move to oust Sampson, and possible Athletic Director, Rick Greenspan.

I can't help but think back to the irony of a quote by Bob Knight several years ago. Bob Knight was Indiana's legendary coach that won 3 National Championships before he was driven out by the schools Administration and alumni. While Knight had a volatile personality and used poor judgement during several outbursts, Coach Knight was known throughout basketball to run a squeeky clean program with very high graduation rates.

Several years ago after meeting of the Ethics Committee of the National Associaton of Basketball Coaches, chaired by then-Oklahoma University coach Kelvin Sampson, Coach Knight said "I would rather listen to Saddam Hussein speak about human rights, than some of these guys talk about ethics". A couple years later Sampson left the OU program in a shambles, after Sampson's staff was found to "consciously ignore certain recruiting rules" by the NCAA, to take the job at Indiana.

Unfortunately, what goes around comes around Hoosier fans. If you knowingly hire a cheater, please don't insult our intelligence with "fake shock" after it is revealed that he has cheated again.