Senderoff’s departure hits IU where it counts

To a casual basketball fan, the name Rob Senderoff might not mean much. \nBut those familiar with IU basketball recruiting know that Senderoff was often the face and voice of the program. While Kelvin Sampson stayed on house arrest in Bloomington for most of last year, Senderoff hit the road, convincing Devin Ebanks and other recruits to check out IU.\nThink of Senderoff as the left jab that set up Sampson’s right hook. The assistant coach would set the foundation for the recruitment of a prospect IU was interested in, and Sampson would close the deal. \nThe Hoosiers will miss Senderoff’s recruiting ability, but it’s not clear yet how big of a void his resignation will leave in \nthe program. \nSpeculation the past few days guessed that Ebanks might jump ship now that the coach most involved in his recruitment has resigned. But that is more fiction than fact. Ebanks has already said no matter what happens he will be a Hoosier, and the verbal commitment by Ebanks’s friend Terrell Holloway further reassures Ebanks’ comments. \nOne person who isn’t limited to the amount of phone calls he can make to recruits is HoosierNation.com’s John Decker. Overall, Decker said the reaction has\nbeen minimal.\n“I’ve talked to quite a few of the kids, the one notable exception being Ebanks,” Decker said. “(Matt) Roth sounds like he’s good. I talked to (Derek) Elston right after the first wave of sanctions came out and he sounded fine. If Indiana can’t go to the postseason, maybe that would change their minds ... I’m sure that’s a concern.”\nDecker also recently talked to Holloway, the 6-foot point guard from Harmony Community School in Cincinnati. After taking the SATs last week, Holloway is confident he will qualify academically for the 2008 season. Decker said Holloway would have received more offers if it weren’t for his mediocre academic standing.\nOne notable thing about Holloway’s commitment is the timing. Is this a poor attempt by the IU Athletics Department to dilute attention from its biggest scandal in years with the verbal commitment of a recruit (Holloway) that can’t even break most recruiting services’ Top 100?\nMore importantly, Senderoff’s exit leaves IU’s position with two consensus Top 10 recruits in question. Brooklyn’s Lance Stephenson and Elizabeth St. Patrick’s (NJ) Dexter Strickland both came to Bloomington for Hoosier Hysteria last month, in part thanks to Senderoff. For Stephenson and Strickland, will the assistant coach’s departure “send them off?”\nCriss Beyers, an AAU and college basketball insider, said Senderoff was a key part of IU’s recruiting machine, but not the power source.\n“Rob will be missed, and he did a lot of good things (for IU basketball),” Beyers said. “But it all boils down to Coach Sampson.”\n“We’ve had a lot of kids go through our program to big time colleges,” continued Beyers, who is on Indiana Elite’s board of directors. “I’m not sure any player that I can name has gone somewhere because of an assistant coach. It’s the head coach that sells the tradition, the program and the fans.” \nOne thing we know for sure is Senderoff’s replacement. In his teleconference yesterday, IU Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan confirmed that Director of Men’s Basketball Operations Dan Dakich would take Senderoff’s place on the bench.\nDakich played for IU under Bob Knight from 1982-1985. When Dakich arrived in Bloomington, Beyers was working under Knight as a graduate assistant. Friends since they met more than 20 years ago, Beyers praised Dakich’s work ethic as both a player and a coach. Because of IU’s self-imposed sanctions, Dakich will inherit Senderoff’s restrictions and will be unable to recruit during the upcoming season.\n“I think that’s a shame,” Beyers said, “because he can talk more about Indiana basketball than anyone.”