A new beginning

It didn’t seem like an ending.\nIt seemed like a new beginning, a fresh start for IU coach Kelvin Sampson and the Hoosiers. They convincingly toppled another ranked foe, the rival Boilermakers, in front of a raucous home crowd and rejoined the race for the Big Ten championship. IU seems to be hitting its stride. \nSurely, it’s an ending though, an unfortunate and necessary ending – the type of ending that makes you question good and evil, right and wrong.\nSampson, of course, isn’t buying it. \n“We’ve been pretty good in this arena the last two years,” he said after the 77-68 win. “I expect to be back here next Tuesday.”\nCall him optimistic, call him hopeful, call him a coach that isn’t ready to face the music.\nAccording to ESPN.com, school officials are contemplating whether to suspend Sampson this week or reach a settlement. They may also decide to do nothing and extend their investigation, but that is the least likely of the options.\nThe sooner this investigation ends, the better for IU basketball. Sampson’s fate has been sealed tighter than the belly belt around Erin Andrews’ waist for more than a week now. At this point, the best option is to suspend the coach and move forward.\nThe national media made it an extended weekend, picking up where they left off last Saturday, circling Sampson like he could keel over at any minute.\n“I think the way our team is playing answers all the questions,” Sampson told them. “The questions you are all asking are good questions, but I think our play speaks for itself.”\nIf the quality of his team’s play is the only thing the \nSampson is being judged on these days, IU President Michael McRobbie would be sleeping soundly this week. IU came within a last-second bank shot of going 5-0 during the toughest stretch of the conference season.\nLast night, the Hoosiers stayed in command the entire night, despite turning the ball over 23 times. Senior forward D.J. White, who stands alone as the top pick for the Big Ten’s Player of the Year, emerged time and time again on his way to another monster double-double game. What knee injury?\n“We got a chance to do something special here, and I want to be a part of that,” said White, who has never been on an IU team with championship aspirations this late in the season.\nOnce again, a sizable portion of fans showered their embattled coach with his namesake in the closing seconds of the game with the victory in hand. Sampson approached this game as he has approached every game since he arrived in Bloomington: as a teacher. In between the usual theatrics, the grimacing, the hand clapping, the tie flipping, he continued to challenge his players to be better. At one point in the second half, Sampson bounced out of his seat and demonstrated proper technique to a player on the bench. Nobody ever questioned his ability as a teacher.\nIn the closing moments of the game, the “Kel-vin Samp-son” chant built steam to the background of unsettling boos – we will never make up our minds about this guy. Then the crowd went silent as a free throw soared through the air. It was back to basketball.