After months of waiting, Sampson finally gets to coach

During Hoosier Hysteria's dunk contest Friday night, IU coach Kelvin Sampson hopped up off the bench, ran to center court and said into the mic: "This is the worst dunk contest I've ever seen in my life."\nMaybe he made this bold statement because it was, in fact, the worst he'd ever seen, with contestants Mike White, Rod Wilmont, Xavier Keeling and Joey Shaw missing an unhealthy amount of dunks during the competition. (And isn't that the case with most dunk contests nowadays -- 10 misses for every make?)\nOr perhaps it was a statement that underlined what Sampson was getting at all last week when asked about Hoosier Hysteria -- that he's ready to be done with all the peripheral mumbo-jumbo and just get down to the business of coaching his basketball team.\n"I'm anxious to start practice tomorrow," Sampson said Friday night before he and his team took the floor. "When your season ends the previous year, you are at such a loss because you don't have a game to get ready for...I'm anxious to get started. (I'm) really excited about this team. I'm pleased with the way they've attacked preseason conditioning. These kids have worked hard, and they are going to work a whole lot harder starting tomorrow."\nSince his hiring in March, Sampson's been around the entire Hoosier state, giving speeches to organizations and allowing fans and supporters to get face time with him. He's met alumni, important group leaders and common folk. He's talked, he's courted, he's tried to make his best impression on individuals who will be watching his team intently all season. He's run his team through intense conditioning drills and weightlifting sessions. And, finally, amidst a storm of message board banter and blog posts, he's landed top recruit Eric Gordon Jr. after a see-saw battle with Illinois coach Bruce Weber.\nFrankly, he's done a lot.\nBut he hasn't done what he's wanted to do the most -- coach his Hoosier team.\n"I don't mind public speaking, I love basketball camps, I enjoy recruiting, but I love to coach," Sampson said. "There's nothing I enjoy more than coaching."\nAfter all his players stormed out on the court one-by-one and his coaching staff was introduced, the 14,000 plus in attendance Friday night started their 'Kel-vin Samp-son' chant even before the man graced the floor. Once he ran out of tunnel and onto the court, the Hoosier faithful inside Assembly Hall were loud -- the loudest they were all Friday night, in fact. He tried to speak a few times, but the cheers still hadn't quite died down yet. When the fans finally let him talk, he touched on wanting all his players to graduate, running a clean program and he and his team "competing their butts off every single night." \nWith each point he made, Assembly Hall erupted in cheers. But Sampson's not interested in the sounds of thousands of screaming fans inside his stadium.\nNot yet, anyway. \nHe's too excited about other sounds. Those of whistle blows, basketball dribbles and his players huffing and puffing in the quiet comfort of an Assembly Hall practice.