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(05/02/08 3:06am)
I grew up in a Big Ten family in the heart of Big Ten country. College athletics weren’t about diversion so much as they were about conversion in my household. As a kid, my first glimpse of college life came on autumn afternoons with the football stadium packed shoulder-to-shoulder and the music of the marching band rising into a cloudless sky. Nothing was more beautiful than that to me. So naturally when the time came to choose a college, I used my brain, listened to my heart and chose a school that understood the importance of balls: IU. Where else in the Midwest would I be able to satisfy my sporting fix?\nDuring my four years in Bloomington, I not only got a chance to witness the ups and downs of IU athletics as a fan, I also seized the opportunity to share the stories of coaches and athletes and even write my two cents as an IDS reporter and columnist. For a Big Ten boy, it has been a dream come true and an education unto itself.\nIf there’s anything I’ve learned in my time rooting and writing about IU sports, it’s that turnover is something that applies to more than just the playing field. Since I arrived on campus in the fall of 2004 as a naïve freshman, not one football and men’s basketball coach pairing has started and finished the same academic year. Sometimes coaches received the boot due to incompetence (Gerry DiNardo). Sometimes coaches left town due to unpopularity (Mike Davis); other times, just plain stupidity (Kelvin Sampson). And sometimes, coaches said good-bye before we were ready (Terry Hoeppner).\nYears from now, when reminiscing about my happy days in Hoosierville, I’ll forgo the traditional inclusion of student standing in my stories and instead use the football and men’s basketball coach pairing as the timekeepers of my glory days. I’ll say things like, “During my Lynch/Sampson semester of college, my intramural flag football team made it to the championship game” and “I’ll never forget that first party I went to during my DiNardo/Davis days.” Only true Hoosier fans will be able to follow.\nFew distinct memories of my college career don’t involve a sporting experience — or at least a TV depicting a sporting experience. I’ve witnessed big kicks (IU takes the 2004 College Cup!) and listened to big pricks (Best of luck in Milwaukee, Kelvin). I’ve watched fizzling shooting stars (Eric Gordon) and sizzling Starr’s shooting (Austin Starr kicks IU into a bowl game!). I’ve taken part in the cheers (Go Big Red!). I’ve shed a few tears (R.I.P. Coach Hep). And, yes, I’ve downed my fair share of beers (light beer, of course).\nThough I walk away from this campus with two degrees, I would gladly trade my hard-earned pieces of paper for the thrill of two national championship runs. Academic accomplishments seem fleeting. Banners last forever.\nEntering the next phase of my life, I’ll draw from the knowledge I’ve accumulated from IU athletics figures past and present. I’m taking with me the tireless optimism of Coach Hep, the belief that anything is possible if you want it bad enough. I’m taking with me the lessons learned from the downfall of a figure like Kelvin Sampson. I’m taking with me the wisdom of people like longtime men’s basketball trainer Tim Garl, who once told me the value of humility in athletics by saying, “You should be disappointed when you lose and not overly joyous when you win because the game will embarrass you.” Garl might as well have been talking about life.\nThat’s the kind of Big Ten education I couldn’t have gotten in a classroom.
(04/03/08 5:20am)
Redemption was wearing a dark suit and a red and white tie in Bloomington yesterday. It entered the room a quarter past 11 with a desert-sun tan, spectacles and a 1,000-watt smile. It worked the crowd with purpose and kissed its wife and children as the cameras clicked in the background. And then redemption spoke and delivered a reassuring message that eased the frayed nerves of the cream-and-crimson faithful. Scratch that. Make it the Crean-and-crimson faithful.\n“I don’t have a lot of eloquent things to tell you in the sense of why I am so excited,” said Tom Crean after being introduced as the 28th coach of the IU men’s basketball program. “I just know how I feel. It’s an honor. It’s a humbling honor.”\nHonor and humility are two things that have been in short supply around Assembly Hall lately. If it wasn’t Kelvin Sampson refusing to take responsibility for his mistakes this past season, it was his players acting selfishly and with little foresight. The comments made this week by former player Jamarcus Ellis reflect this shortsightedness best. Ellis said he never intended on leaving the program, but that he quit the team because he didn’t get along with former interim coach Dan Dakich.\n“I never left the team, I quit,” Ellis said. How is quitting any different, Jamarcus?\nIt has yet to be determined whether Ellis or Armon Bassett will be allowed to rejoin the team, but Crean should be leery of players that share Ellis’ attitude.\nThe state of the current team is just one of the many things Crean will have to catch up on as he transitions from Marquette to IU. He already knows much of the history, the tradition and the expectations that come with the job. He already understands the importance of basketball in this state.\n“It’s Indiana,” Crean said. “And that is the bottom line. And that is the premise that we are going to work under here. That is the premise that we are going to undertake the challenge.”\nAnd what a challenge it will be. The first order of business should be sorting through the current players and incoming recruits. Crean met the current team – or what is left of it – for the first time Wednesday morning and said he planned on contacting incoming recruits ASAP. Eli Holman, who was recruited by Marquette in high school, left with a positive impression of the coach.\n“I respect him 110 percent,” Holman said. “He opened a lot of guys’ eyes. He showed off a lot of passion and truth.” \nHoosier fans would be wise to taper their expectations for next season as the program finds itself under a new coach without a lot of returning talent. When Sampson took over, he inherited veteran players D.J. White, Rod Wilmont and Earl Calloway. Crean will find no such experience on the current squad. An NIT appearance next year should be considered a successful season.\nThe naming of Crean as head coach doesn’t just mark the end of the messy Sampson era, however, it marks a return to the values on which this program was established; things like respect, community and academics – things a lot of coaches pay lip service to, but few embody.\nThat’s why Hoosier fans should feel good about this hire. That’s why they can buy their “Crean and crimson” shirts knowing they will be able to wear them with pride for years to come. That’s why IU basketball will be redeemed.
(04/02/08 4:57am)
After coaching IU to a first-round exit in the NCAA Tournament – a game that turned out to be his last as head coach – Dan Dakich made his case for why he should be the permanent head coach at IU. He said all the right things. \nDakich talked about his understanding of the IU basketball culture. He talked about his desire to do things the right way in restoring the program’s former glory. He talked about how IU basketball “needs to be built back with a foundation of discipline and accountability.” \nAll respectable points. All points the next head coach, Tom Crean, should heed. \nBefore Crean was even formally announced as coach, Dakich had already begun the rebuilding process, dismissing sophomore Armon Bassett and junior Jamarcus Ellis from the team after the players failed to show up on time for a pre-arranged meeting, and then blew off a 6 a.m. punishment run. Discipline. Accountability. That’s the foundation on which this program needs to be built. There’s just one problem: Dakich still had the interim tag pinned on his chest when he dismissed the only two returning starters from this year’s squad. It will be remembered as his final act as IU’s head coach.\nNo one was ever casting Dakich as Moses with a whistle, so it begs the question: Why would a lame duck coach assert his authority in such a demonstrative manner days before he is relieved of duty? \nThe players shouldn’t be totally absolved of fault. They basically acted like big-time college babies under Dakich, consistently tuning the coach out and undermining his authority. Dakich’s last stand basically confirmed the worst of speculation: The players didn’t respect him and refused to even appease him in the end. But Dakich doesn’t have to win the players over anymore. Crean does – at least for the players that remain.\nMaybe this was the plan all along. Blow up the current team. Weed out all the miscreants and malcontents. Let the new guy start with a bare cupboard. If so, it has been executed to perfection.\nCrean will be announced as IU’s next head coach in Bloominton today, greeted with more fanfare than a former U.S. president (sorry, Bill). He will bring with him an impressive resume which includes an average of 20 wins over nine seasons at Marquette and a 2003 Final Four appearance. Crean is no stranger to the Big Ten, either. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Michigan State and later became an assistant coach under Tom Izzo.\nHe inherits an IU team that appears to be returning zero starters from a month ago. Crean doesn’t have a rebuilding job ahead of him as much as a resurrection. Upon entering the scene, he will find this program to be essentially dead.\nCrean’s hiring, however, is the first positive news involving IU basketball in months. He may not be the big name some people wanted, but he has the necessary experience to be a successful Big Ten coach. Most importantly, he has never run afoul in the NCAA. It may take a season or two depending on the outcome of the hearing this June, but eventually he will get this program back on firm ground. A light can finally be seen at the end of this tunnel.
(03/24/08 5:00am)
So this is how it ends.\nWith a whimper. With a limp. With eyes glazed over. Who could have imagined such a collapse five months ago? Heck, five weeks ago? It was as if the Hoosiers spent the last month of the season unlearning everything about the game they were supposed to be dominating; a sad and incredible fall to behold.\nIn its 86-72 first-round loss to Arkansas, IU did just enough to keep it interesting, but not enough to put the outcome in doubt. They were thoroughly beaten on both ends of the court.\nOnce again, the Hoosiers couldn’t find a third scorer, but it wasn’t D.J. and EJ carrying the offense. It was D.J. and sophomore guard Armon Bassett. Both players scored more than 20 points. Gordon, the player White once called “the other half of the best duo in college basketball,” turned in his worst performance of the season, tying a season-low eight points on 3-of-15 shooting. You could almost see his draft stock plummet with every off-balance jumper and misguided pass.\nAs amazing as Gordon’s IU career began – a 33-point record-breaking performance – that’s how badly it ended for the former North Central standout. Even his free throw stroke betrayed him against the Razorbacks. He made 2-of-6. \nAnother season of college basketball couldn’t hurt Gordon (although with the program in shambles, you can’t blame him when he leaves). For all of his upside, he still has plenty of bad habits – turning over the ball being first and foremost. There’s that toughness factor missing, too.\nAgainst the Razorbacks, Gordon settled mainly on long jumpers for much of the game. When he drove to the basket, he was looking for the foul call. On one second-half play, however, the freshman took the ball from the 3-point line and exploded to the rim, slicing through a couple Arkansas players for the dunk. He has that other level. He just can’t summon it often enough.\nIf there is one person to be absolved of this pitiful end, it is White. White poured his heart into what turned out to be his last game for the cream and crimson. He leaves as one of the most beloved figures to ever don the candy-striped pants. It’s a shame that his career ended the way that it did. He deserved better.\nFriday concluded the most bizarre season in the history of IU basketball – and that is saying something considering the colorful tenure of Robert Montgomery Knight. There was excitement. There was scandal. There was drama. And in the end, there was tragedy. How does a team with the conference’s best player and best freshman finish the season with zero titles, zero postseason victories and zero confidence? That’s what people will ask 10 years from now as they flip through the history pages of Indiana basketball. How could a team be that talented and have nothing to show for it?\nThen a wizened, old IU fan will pipe up and say, “Oh, that was Kelvin Sampson’s last year.”\nKelvin who? Or at least, let’s hope that’s the reply. The sooner the Sampson years are brushed under the rug, the better for this program. The illicit dialer has set the program back at least one season, possibly more depending on the outcome of the NCAA Infractions Committee hearing in June. There’s no quick fix this time.\nIU interim head coach Dan Dakich made his case to become the permanent head coach after the loss, but the team’s 3-4 post-Sampson performance didn’t do him any favors to be retained for the position. If smiles could win the job, then Dakich would be the man. There isn’t a more entertaining guy around. But it’s winning that has always held the most sway around these parts, and that won’t change anytime soon.\nAnd let’s add another requirement to the next coaching heir: character. The next IU coach should make a priest look unscrupulous. Character goes beyond winning and losing. Character is what is left after all is said and done. Character can heal a program. God knows there’s a lot of healing to be done.
(03/21/08 4:52am)
OK, so the Hoosiers wrapped up their Big Ten campaign by laying an egg in the first round of the tourney. OK, so they haven’t shot well and played defense in the same half since he-who-shall-not-be-named was roaming the sidelines in a blue shirt and red tie. OK, so there is a Gonso-led committee in the wings waiting to sequester the first can’t-miss coaching prospect that bows out of the NCAA Tournament. \nSo what? I still believe this team – in this season, on this weekend – has something to play for. I just hope they realize this before they step on the Carolina court in Raleigh.\nA first-round win would be nice. It would be like a Band-aid over a gaping wound, but, hey, it’s better than nothing. Here’s what needs to happen for the Hoosiers to set up a showdown with the Tar Heels on Sunday:
(03/20/08 2:46am)
Like the first sign of spring, few things hold more promise in March than a freshly printed NCAA tournament bracket. It’s a simple thing, a bracket, a cluster of right angles leaking out toward the middle of the page. But within the web of lines lie fairy tales to be written, heroes to be forged and champions to be crowned. Within the web of lines lies possibility that only imagination and maybe logic can curtail.\nThe bracket itself stands as a symbol of two of America’s most cherished values: equality and free enterprise. Excluding the little numbers in parentheses – the bracket does not distinguish between a juggernaut and an underdog, a North Carolina and a Mount Saint Mary’s. According to the bracket, a Bulldog holds the same standing as a Hoya and will get a chance to prove its worth. Free enterprise is evident because the NCAA tournament is a frenzied competition at its core. Nothing is given. There are no guarantees or second chances in March Madness. The teams that are rewarded are the ones that seize opportunity and roll with the hand they’ve been dealt. The bracket is a capitalist’s dream.\nBeyond ideology, the bracket stretches the limits of the English language, creating its own unique lexicon, a “Bracketuese,” if you will, that may not be found in the American Heritage Dictionary but surely isn’t lost on the Eagles of American University. Catchphrases abound. Bracketology, sleeper team and “Pittsnoggled” are just a few of the buzzwords thrown around each March. If one is an astute bracketologist, such words can even be combined in the same sentence: Bracketology has really paid off this year as my sleeper team just “Pittsnoggled” its way into the Sweet Sixteen. Not only does the NCAA tournament inspire alliteration (bracket buster, Final Four), it also uses allusion (Cinderella, David and Goliath) and even hyperbole (Gus Johnson). English professors, take note.\nA story exists behind each word, of course. There is no “Pittsnoggled” without the sharp-shooting of former West Virginia standout Kevin Pittsnogle. There are no sleeper teams if giants aren’t slumbering in the first place, dreaming of their One Shining Moment. Take March Madness, for example. Today, the reference is ubiquitous, but it wasn’t always so. It’s thought the term first originated from the phrase, “As mad as a March hare,” a reference to the excitable nature of rabbits during mating season. It wasn’t until the 1960s that the term was applied to humans and a 1991 article in the San Francisco Chronicle is credited with making the link to the Big Dance. Like Coppin State this season, we’ve all come a long way from where we began.\nCorporations understand the appeal of the bracket. They try to fall into its good graces – maybe catch some of the millions of dollars that fall on its table each year. The latest example of this hoops hijacking came in the partnership between CBSSports and Facebook. The fusion of news network and news feed has produced an official NCAA March Madness Bracket application, so one can compare cyber brackets with the other 65 million Facebook users. The office pool has never looked so minor league.\nIf the freshly printed bracket holds promise, that promise surely dwindles after the tournament tips off. That’s part of the mystic of the bracket. It might appear straight and narrow, but the path to the Final Four is as convoluted as any backwoods trail. So fill in the blanks carefully, with thought and precision, with hope \nand imagination. \nBut first, take a second to marvel at the method behind the madness. Take a second to pay respects to the bracket.
(03/17/08 4:42am)
"I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really: get busy living or get busy dying.” –Andy Dufresne, “The Shawshank Redemption.”\nI’m not a movie buff, but is there a more poignant line for this Hoosier squad today than the one uttered by Dufresne within the prison walls of Shawshank?\nThe line is delivered at a critical point in the film when it’s not clear whether Tim Robbins’ character is going to persevere through injustice or give in to despair. Get busy living or get busy dying. Well, IU, which is it gonna be?\nThe Hoosiers have suffered their fair share of injustice this season. They lost their coach in the middle of the season through no fault of their own. They lost two critical games on shots in the final seconds, including Blake Hoffarber’s Christian Laettner-esque heartbreaker last Friday. And they appear to have lost the aura that has sustained them for much of the season, losing three of their last four games.\nIt’s easy to point to the coaching change as the reason this team has faltered down the stretch. Pinning the collapse on one man would be nice and tidy, but such things are rarely so simple.\nThe Hoosiers simply have not competed with the consistent intensity they displayed in mid-February. The effort is there at times, such as when D.J. White shed three Golden Gophers and tipped in the game-tying bucket Friday night. But against a team such as Minnesota, Herculean efforts should be shelved for better opponents.\nIU has chosen a bad time to fall into a shooting funk. The Hoosiers have hit only 20 of their last 90 3-point attempts. Eric Gordon, a guy that arrived on campus making shots from the Assembly Hall parking lot, has connected on 16 percent of his 3-point attempts the last four games. Gordon has still managed to pick up his points, but the Hoosiers are at their best when EJ is connecting from beyond the arc.\nThe NCAA Tournament Selection Committee didn’t do IU – or its Big Ten brethren – any favors, either. The Hoosiers are slotted as a No. 8 seed and will take on No. 9 seed Arkansas this Friday in Raleigh, N.C. Wisconsin, the Big Ten regular season and tournament champion, received a No. 3 seed, while Michigan State and Purdue received No. 5 and 6 seeds, respectively. The Big Ten normally garners higher postseason positions, but the committee obviously regards this season as a down year for the conference, a perception that has been aided by IU’s late collapse.\n“I have a lot of feeling on it,” interim coach Dan Dakich said of the Hoosiers’ seeding. “I think probably there’s a lot more involved to it than winning and losing, but it doesn’t matter – feelings – you just got to play. If we are a team that’s supposed to be as good as we were projected, we’ll have a chance to prove it.”\nThat’s one of the great things about March Madness. It’s an opportunity for rebirth and redemption, an opportunity to forget about past failures and rewrite the season. The improbable stories have already begun with conference tourney champions Georgia and Coppin State sneaking into the Big Dance. Can the Hoosiers right the ship before season’s end? The odds are stacked against them.\n“We all understand what’s at stake right now,” White said. “Everyone is eager.”\nEager to get busy living or get busy dying?
(03/07/08 5:24am)
U looked like it got a bit of its fight back in its final home game of the season. Maybe its surge late in the second half of Wednesday’s game was a sign that this team still believes it is playing for something greater than itself. Or maybe it just wanted to give Adam Ahlfeld a chance to double his career scoring average on Senior Night. Whatever the motivation, the Hoosiers need to carry that incentive into Sunday’s regular season finale at Penn State if they want to enter the postseason with any kind of momentum.\nHad IU managed to beat Wisconsin last month, this game would be a lot more meaningful. The Hoosiers would be in control of their own destiny in regard to the Big Ten championship instead of praying for Kevin Coble to score 60 against the Badgers this weekend. As it stands, an IU win would secure the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament for the Hoosiers, while a loss would most likely bump them to the No. 3 seed. If the current seeding holds up, IU and Purdue have a chance at squaring off in the semifinals, a rematch Boiler fans would love to see after the way the Hoosiers handled them in Bloomington.\nThere might not be a lot to gain from Sunday’s game, but there is plenty to lose. And if you consider the Hoosiers’ road performances since a certain coach left the sideline, don’t chalk this one up just yet. The Hoosiers, suffering from a Sampson hangover, nearly stumbled in Evanston, Ill., and let’s not rehash the carnage of East Lansing.\nThe coaching situation seemed like a legitimate excuse against the Wildcats, but at this point in the season, the only thing that should matter is the next game – because there aren’t too many guaranteed games left.
(03/06/08 6:03am)
It was all hugs and air kisses at the end of the night, waves to the crowd and standing ovations. There were chants of “M-V-P” from the crowd as senior forward D.J. White said his goodbyes while “One more year” was directed at freshman guard Eric Gordon – “the other half of the best duo in college basketball,” in White’s words.\nJokes were told and emotions flowed after IU’s 69-55 victory over Minnesota. For one night, at least, the world of IU basketball seemed as it should be: joyous.\nInterim head coach Dan Dakich – who could win over the most hostile of crowds, but might not be able to charm his way to a permanent head coaching position next season – smoothed over the hard feelings that emerged this season.\n“It’s been a tough year, an interesting year, but you have been there every single night,” Dakich said to the crowd.\nWhen the boos reigned down upon the mention of Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan, Dakich responded in step, “As much as I love you all, let’s just keep this on an upbeat note.”\nAn upbeat note. What a lovely thought after weeks of unrest and upheaval and a disappointing effort in \nEast Lansing.\nPerhaps the most upbeat person in the room Wednesday night was senior guard Adam Ahlfeld, who carried several typed pages of notes in his hand as he addressed the crowd. What Ahlfeld lacks in athleticism, he makes up for in humor and long-windedness. The crowd favorite thanked everyone he ever knew and even some he didn’t.\n“We got a new film guy – I don’t know your name, but thank you for your future work, too,” he said.\nIU’s unofficial all-time leader in high-fives, butt slaps and runs out to center court even displayed a knack for statistical analysis.\n“I want to throw one final stat out,” Ahlfeld said. “It’s not really that big of a deal, but basically, when I play we win. I have a theory: If we want to throw up banner No. 6, I am going to have to keep playing.”\nIf only it were that simple.\nIU bounced back from \nthe Michigan State debacle with its double-digit win against the Gophers, but \nthe team still couldn’t capture the fire it displayed \nin the final days of Sampson’s tenure. Dakich is a great \nguy, but the team hasn’t responded to his coaching style the way it did under Sampson. On some level that is understandable, but as the Senior Night crowd reminded, college basketball should be about playing for the name on the front of the jersey – not the one on \nthe back.\n“Fans, great fans, the best fans in America,” White \nsaid to the crowd. “I appreciate your support, your \nname chanting. It keeps \nme going, it keeps us going. I’d like to thank you \nfor that.”\nThe Hoosiers can secure a No. 2 seed in next week’s Big Ten tournament with a win in their final game of the regular season at Penn State. A couple conference tournament wins at the very \nleast would be a positive sign that this season can \nrun deep into March, maybe even April.\nNow that would be an upbeat note.
(03/05/08 4:42am)
It’s still hard to make sense of this season. After 29 games, it’s impossible to gauge whether this team has thrown in the towel or is gathering itself for a memorable postseason run. That’s the kind of season it has been. Drama and uncertainty have been the only constants. In a season in which the Hoosiers have always been ranked, games have often felt joyless – as if maybe winning wasn’t everything.\nOne thing is certain, though: tonight will mark the last time one of the most dominant duos in IU history will take the Assembly Hall floor.\nD.J. White and Eric Gordon may have only shared one season together in Bloomington, but that one season was all they needed to etch their names into the school’s record books. When all is said and done, the inside-outside pair will finish in the top five for the all-time single season scoring mark among hallowed combos such as Scott May-Kent Benson, Brian Evans-Alan Henderson and Calbert Cheaney-Greg Graham. That’s good company. The senior, White, and the freshman, Gordon, will presumably enter the NBA Draft after this season.\nTonight’s game against Minnesota should be an especially emotionally-charged game for White, whose IU career has contained more twists than a paperback thriller. White will rank among the best to have ever donned candy-striped pants when his journey ends. He will leave among the top 20 in career scoring and top 15 in career rebounding. His legacy, however, should be as the anchor of the Hoosiers during tumultuous times. Despite losing most of his sophomore season to a foot injury and experiencing two coaching changes, White has continued to improve and should be rewarded for that persistence as the Big Ten Player of the Year.\nGordon’s cream and crimson season has been fleeting, but the mark he has made has been a sight to behold. He will leave Bloomington as the most offensively-explosive freshman in program history. He lived up to the hype. Although Gordon has been in somewhat of a shooting funk lately, he has kept his scoring average robust by getting to the foul line more than anyone in the conference. It’s not a sexy way to lead the league in points, but it has been effective. \nThose who think the Big Ten’s leading scorer should stick around another season are kidding themselves. What exactly does Gordon have to gain by waiting to see who the next Hoosier coach will be and how tightly the NCAA will handcuff the program this June? He was always a one-and-done guy. He came in good enough to make the pros and he’ll leave having backed that up at the collegiate level.\nThe other three seniors on the squad, Lance Stemler, Mike White and Adam Ahlfeld, haven’t made any all-time lists, but they’ve each had their moments. Stemler and Mike White came in from junior colleges and helped return IU to prominence as part of Kelvin Sampson’s first IU team. And though he rarely saw any game action, Ahlfeld has developed a reputation as the most spirited Hoosier in the arena. The absence of his benchside antics will leave a cheerleader-size hole next season.\nAnything short of a convincing win tonight would be an anticlimactic exit for those departing the team – and an ominous foreshadowing of season’s end. Against Michigan State last Sunday, the Hoosiers displayed no life. It was as if they forgot the joy of competitive basketball. Things should be different tonight as D.J. White and company rock the Hall one last time. Things should make sense again.
(03/03/08 5:53am)
A fleecing. A trouncing. A complete Sparty whitewash.\nThere are many ways to characterize IU’s 103-74 loss in East Lansing Sunday afternoon, but none of them does justice to the way the Spartans wholly dismantled IU’s hopes of stealing its first road victory against Michigan State since 1991.\nTom Izzo’s squad finally put it all together on Senior Day against the Hoosiers, looking like the team many envisioned winning the Big Ten this year and making IU players appear as if they were playing defense on roller skates in the first half. \nThe lead grew quickly from 10 to 20 to 30, all before halftime. Michigan State finished the half with 59 points. That’s 17 more points than they scored the entire game at Wisconsin!\nThe Spartans consistently beat the Hoosiers down the court and shot a mind-boggling 77.8 percent in the opening frame. Sure, most of those shots were layups, dunks and alley-oops, but they also hit nine shots from beyond the arc. This is a team that shoots the least amount of 3-pointers in the Big Ten!\nTo say IU looked sluggish sitting back in their first half zone would be an understatement. The Hoosiers defended as if their feet were encased in cement.\nThere is no sugar-coating this one. This loss stings. Although not mathematically eliminated from winning a share of the Big Ten title, the Hoosiers will most likely find themselves on the outside looking in when the regular conference season concludes. And a loss like this makes you wonder if there are residual effects from Kelvin Sampson’s resignation. The Hoosiers played a good basketball team, an inspired basketball team, and they couldn’t even pretend like they belonged on the same court in the first half. Izzo’s complaint with his team this year is that the Spartans have lacked toughness. Sunday, it was Dan Dakich’s squad that lacked a backbone.\nThe blame can’t just lie with the players either. IU’s coaches didn’t make the adjustments on defense when it became apparent that the Spartans were looking to push the ball up the court. By the time they switched up the defense in the second half, the game was already out of reach.\nThe best thing for Hoosier Nation to do is to put this one behind it as quickly as possible – rip the Band-Aid off instead of tugging at the edges. It hurts either way, but the less time spent worrying about the pain of this loss, the better. There’s little (if any) redeemable value in a blowout like IU suffered on Sunday.\nAs Izzo subbed out starters Drew Naymick and Drew Neitzel late in the game, both seniors received ovations from the crowd in their final home game and bent over to smooch the Spartan logo at midcourt. It was a fitting gesture after commendable careers. IU could only watch as their title chances were kissed away.
(02/29/08 5:25am)
You’re D.J. White. You’re a household name. You’re recognized everywhere you go. You’re constantly reminded that you’re special.\nYou’re D.J. White. You can’t hide your swagger anymore if you wanted to. The announcement of your name incites 17,000 strong to stand and cheer. You’re on a mission with a heavy heart.\nYou’re D.J. White. You’ve never been stronger. You’ve never wanted it more. You’ve never felt so torn.\nYou came here to this basketball haven, a soft-spoken, mild-mannered ‘Bama boy hoping to make your dreams come true. You embraced this college town with every move on the court and every smile around town, and it embraced you back. In those days, there was a lot of innocence, a lot of love, a lot of promise. It was good while it lasted. \nThings didn’t work out the way you had hoped. Your body betrayed you. Your coach gave up on you. Your teammates left you. That breakout sophomore season? Gone in an instant. In its place came a winter of rehab, hard feelings and doubt. The questions persisted. Could you have stopped it all if not for a brittle left foot? You said you would leave with Mike Davis, the man that brought you to Indiana. You couldn’t believe the people that slapped you on the back after a good game were the same ones that cursed your coach without remorse. How could you play for people like that?\nBut you didn’t leave. Maybe you wanted to, but there was too much at stake to set up roots elsewhere. You still had that dream of playing at the next level. You still couldn’t quit Bloomington and its basketball scene. You stayed a Hoosier.\nYou’ve never been stronger. They brought a coach from Oklahoma to make you mean, to bully and berate you so you would do the same to the opposing team. It wasn’t what you had signed up for, but it began to produce results. You became nasty. You represented your country in the Pan American Games. In the land of the Samba, you played the game to a different beat, an encouraging beat, a nasty beat. You had Hoosier Nation salivating on their laptops with the numbers you put up in Rio de Janeiro. You had them dreaming of a sixth big red banner.\nYou started the season slow, a couple ho-hum games against a couple ho-hum teams. The attention shifted to the latest IU freshman star, but you reminded people who the heart of this team was soon enough. You got your first double-double of the season in a losing effort. Then you got your second double-double and your third and your fourth, until it became easier to count the games in which you fell a couple one-armed boards short of the benchmark. You became the unanimous front-runner for Big Ten Player of the Year. You say you’re “just being more aggressive.” You say it’s just a matter of “going up and getting the ball,” but it’s much more than that. It’s a matter of dominance.\nYou’ve never felt so torn. It happened again. You were powerless to stop it once again, and it tore at your insides. When they told you your second coach at IU was resigning, you nearly lost sight of your goal. You thought about refusing to play. You thought about sticking it to all the big-wigs that took away the best thing that ever happened to you. But for whatever reason, you changed your mind. You scrawled your coach’s initials on your high-tops and played the next day. You were sick, but you made the game-saving play in the final seconds. You compromised in order to keep your dream alive.\nYou’re D. J. White. Now, you are so close – so close to that Big Ten Championship you can smell it. Your biggest remaining hurdle approaches Sunday, and a stout Spartan team stands between you and your goal. You think back on your career. You think about the good and the bad. You think about the things that could have been and the things that are. But you’re D.J. White, and you can only hope that it will all be worth it in the end.
(02/27/08 5:25am)
There’s a simple formula to winning in college basketball: competent coach plus talented players equals winning season. And as much as pundits gush about Bruce Pearl’s oversized personality, Mike Krzyzewski’s motivational techniques and John Calipari’s dribble-drive offense, the main ingredient to a successful season remains the same: recruiting talented players.\nThat’s why coaches such as Bob Knight and Gene Keady faded into the background in their final years – not because they forgot how to coach, but because they couldn’t convince the same caliber of player to play for them. That’s also why Kelvin Sampson’s recruiting violations are such a big deal. A coach that makes a couple hundred extra phone calls has a couple hundred extra shots at convincing top recruits to come play at his school. \nThe best coaches in college basketball today don’t mold young men into complete players as much as they get out of the way of their uber-talents. (Exhibit A: Eric Gordon.) This is the reason why IU still controls their destiny in regard to a Big Ten championship. This is the reason the Hoosiers took care of business against Ohio State in another game where the Buckeyes could never seize the lead, nipping at the Hoosiers’ heels for 40 minutes like a paltry Pomeranian chasing the mailman. This is the reason the transition from Sampson to IU interim coach Dan Dakich should have a minimal effect on the rest of the season.\nAs Dakich reminded reporters during his post-game press conference, he leads a team of basketball players that want to play basketball – regardless of the setting or who is yelling at them from the sideline.\n“These kids, they’re basketball players. They want to play,” Dakich said. “They’ll go to the HPER if we have an off day, and some of them if there’s a two-on-two game at Jackson Heights Apartments over there, they’ll probably stop in and play. They want to play.”\nAnd play they did. The Hoosiers seized control of the game from the tip-off Tuesday night. Armon Bassett’s shooting and a team rebounding effort was enough to hold the Buckeyes at bay. Bassett has become IU’s most reliable third option over the last couple weeks and its deadliest outside shooter.\n“I’ve been trying to stay aggressive, but stay in the team mode,” said Bassett, who recorded his second consecutive 20-plus point game Tuesday night. An aggressive Bassett makes it that much harder for teams to key on D.J. White and lifts some of the scoring pressure off of Eric Gordon.\nAfter a tumultuous weekend, IU seems to have moved on from Sampson, focusing on the season at hand and the prize they’ve been talking about all year. \n“Obviously, we love coach Sampson and wish he was out there,” Bassett said. “On the other hand, we are right up there at the top of the Big Ten, and we don’t have another choice but to get used to it.”\nIt’s that circumstances-be-damned attitude that has carried the Hoosiers to this point in the season. Injuries, suspensions, resignations, you name it, it’s been an issue this year. And yet with three games to go in the regular season, the Hoosiers are doing what they want to do, striving for what they want to be.\nPlaying basketball, Big Ten champions.
(02/26/08 5:35am)
With only two weeks remaining in the Big Ten season, the Hoosiers find themselves in the thick of a three-team race for the conference championship with little room for error. If not for a Brian Butch banker, IU would be leading the pack, but considering the Sampson-sized distractions that have plagued the team the last couple weeks, it’s an accomplishment for the Hoosiers just to be in this position. Here’s a forecast of the remainder of the season for the Big Ten’s contenders:
(02/25/08 5:30am)
How’s this for a plot line: Team Hollywood, in the midst of a conference championship race, loses its coach for reasons beyond its control. The team members are rather peeved after hearing the news that their leader has been dismissed and several players skip practice the day before an important game to protest the decision. They blow off some steam. They rage against the injustice of it all. Then, they have a change of heart. Everyone boards the team plane the next day, and Team Hollywood pulls out a three-point victory with a new head coach to continue its pursuit of a championship.\nOK, so it’s not exactly “The Mighty Ducks,” but the Hoosiers’ season lately has all the elements of a Disney sports flick – right down to the inept owner figure.\nDuring his seven-day reinvestigation into the basketball program, Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan said he spent hours poring over testimony and reports, consulting with various lawyers and administrators. And while Greenspan may have had all of his legal ducks in a row in negotiating Kelvin Sampson’s $750,000 buyout, he was still scrambling to meet the deadline set by President Michael McRobbie a week prior, like a college freshman who put off a term paper until the last minute.\nReporters and TV crews gathered in the Hoosier Room beneath Memorial Stadium midday on Friday, fixating their lenses on an empty table with empty chairs, while rumors about player boycotts and press conference times continued to swirl. No official communication came from IU Athletics until 8:30 p.m. Greenspan did not address the throng of questioners, many of whom had been waiting since the first rumored press conference time of 2 p.m., until three hours before midnight. The whole ordeal was messier than taxidermy.\nThe good news for Hoosier fans is that it is finally over. The school has cut ties with the biggest mistake in program history – yeah, an even bigger mistake than the successor of Bob Knight – and can start the coaching search all over again.\nGreenspan’s job appears safe for the time being, despite the Sampson fiasco and the fact that the future of IU’s most beloved tradition currently lies in shambles. The present team, however, with newly installed interim head coach Dan Dakich at the helm, continues to persevere.\nThe off-court drama obviously spilled into Welsh-Ryan Arena Saturday night, culminating in an uncharacteristic technical foul on Jamarcus Ellis in the second half, but IU pulled it out in the end. The glaring consequence of Friday’s chaos was the Hoosiers’ shortened preparation time for Northwestern. In order to quickly acclimate his team to the Wildcat offense, Dakich had the team managers simulate Northwestern’s style of play.\n“I am so proud of our players,” Dakich said after the game, a feeling he extended to include just about everyone associated with IU basketball and their mother. “They have been so resilient throughout the course of the year – a testament to all things I think are good about Indiana University and Indiana University basketball.”\nDakich said he understood the players’ knee-jerk reaction to the coaching change, and said he’s having issues coming to terms with it himself.\n“We’ll move on, and hopefully as things continue, we will get better,” he said.\nThings might not be so bleak in Hoosierville, after all. Now that the dust has settled, there’s still hope for a Hollywood ending.
(02/22/08 5:36am)
At a glance, this game seems \na given.\nIU enters Saturday’s contest after two convincing home victories over conference contenders Michigan State and Purdue, riding two consecutive home victories over conference contenders No. 19 Michigan State and No. 14 Purdue, while Northwestern is still looking for its first Big Ten win (although they had several chances at stealing a win against Iowa last Tuesday).\nThe Wildcats gave IU’s defense fits for the first 30 minutes the last time around before the Hoosiers switched to a zone defense and pulled away late in the second half. Northwestern is one of the worst rebounding teams in the country, but every Wildcat on the floor can shoot, and teams are sometimes slow to adapt to their Princeton offense. To borrow a phrase from Kelvin Sampson, the Hoosiers “out-athleted” the Wildcats last time around. It may take a more comprehensive game plan this Saturday.\nThe million-dollar \n question, though, is who will be coaching on the Hoosier sideline this weekend? IU President Michael McRobbie is expected to address the findings of the University’s second internal investigation of the men’s basketball program today, and Sampson is expected to be suspended or worse. Assistant coach Dan Dakich is the most likely successor should Sampson be shown the door, but the player’s response to losing their coach midseason will play a pivotal role in how this team performs over the final month.\nDakich is a capable coach, and he’s an IU guy. Plus, D.J. White has worked too hard and has too much pride to allow this team to give up during the final days of his collegiate career. It doesn’t matter who carries the clipboard this weekend. The Hoosiers win.
(02/20/08 6:19am)
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.
(02/19/08 5:25am)
Today’s game between IU and Purdue was supposed to feel just like old times.\nToday’s game was supposed to evoke memories of the epic hard-court confrontations between Gene Keady’s thick-legged Boilermakers and Bob Knight’s clean-cut Hoosiers – games that transcended sport to become part of Indiana lore. \nToday’s game was supposed to be the kind of game you go into knowing you will want to remember every minute detail, every random occurrence, every unforeseeable twist. And maybe it still is, but for all the wrong reasons. \nAs Kelvin Sampson’s judgment day looms like a cloaked specter outside a locker room door, today is most likely Sampson’s swan song as head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers. If Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan hasn’t already found the loose thread to unravel Sampson’s contract, he will have by Friday, when President Michael McRobbie will await Greenspan’s recommendation with pink slip at the ready. IU’s second internal investigation of the basketball program in less than a year isn’t so much a search for the truth as it is time to make sure all the legal loop holes have been plugged before the axe finally falls.\nSampson sees the writing on the wall. In IU’s most complete game of the season last weekend, a 19-point throttling of Michigan State, he wore his emotions on his thick, blue sleeve, squeezing players like tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed (and it isn’t), savoring each Branch-McCracken-court second.\n“I try to be a father to them,” Sampson said afterward of his relationship to his players. “I’m stern with them, I comfort them, I care about them and I coach them.”\nSampson’s players might be the only true supporters left in his corner. Since the NCAA’s findings went public, administrators and fans alike have gone out of their way to distance themselves from the embattled coach and voice their displeasure. Sure, the “Kel-vin Samp-son” chant unveiled itself late during the Michigan State game, but if you count that as support, you should hear the other cheers that have picked up steam at Assembly Hall recently.\nMaybe it would be easier to sympathize with Sampson if he would take some responsibility in this debacle, if he wouldn’t hide behind press statements and “no comments,” if he would resign like former assistant coach Rob Senderoff did last October. Maybe he would actually deserve to hear his name bounce off the Assembly Hall ceiling if he would apologize to those who believed that he was the man to restore Indiana basketball to its former glory. Maybe then his time at IU would deserve to be remembered for something more than scandal and self-sabotage.\nHe has conceded nothing, however. Soon, he will lose the job that supposedly meant everything to him.\nDespite Sampson’s troubles, this is still IU-Purdue, and because this is the only meeting between the two schools this season, the stakes have rarely been higher. \nThe baby Boilers have grown up in a hurry this season. Though the team lacks a dominant post presence, Purdue’s versatility on the perimeter and its physicality on defense has put it in a position it hasn’t been in since Keady stomped on the sidelines. With D.J. White’s availability in question, the Hoosiers might be the team scrambling \nto adapt.\nThese in-state clashes usually exist in a bubble, however. No matter what the circumstances or obstacles, the players seem to realize more than just another conference win is on the line. There is a pride factor, or as Keady told me last October, “It was all on the table and no silly game.”\nIf not for the spectacle of a coach awaiting his sentence, it would feel just like old times.
(02/15/08 5:05am)
For all the chaos and uncertainty surrounding the IU basketball program these days, the Hoosiers looked largely unfazed against Wisconsin. If not for a lucky banked 3-pointer by the Badger’s Brian Butch, IU would most likely have won the game and kept pace for the conference lead. Putting NCAA violations aside, this team still has a lot to play for.\nOn Wednesday night, the Hoosiers proved to be more like the eye of the hurricane than the hurricane itself. All that could change, however, \nif Kelvin Sampson is fired \nor resigns midseason, which \nis likely to happen sooner \nthan later.\nWhen asked if the outside chatter affected the team after the loss, D.J. White vehemently shook his head and said, “Nothing outside of us hurt our team. We were a family tonight.”\nThat family will be severely strained, however, should it lose its father figure. It’s difficult to speculate what kind of an impact a midseason coaching change would have on the team, but one has to think the psychological burden from the public’s response to the NCAA’s investigation is already having an effect on \nthe players in some way, shape or form.\nWhen IU meets Michigan State Saturday night, it will be a matchup of the preseason darlings of the Big Ten. The Spartans were selected as the top preseason team in the conference with the Hoosiers following in second. However, Michigan State has hit some nasty bumps throughout \nthe first eleven games of its conference schedule. They have three conference losses, including losses to Penn State and Iowa, a game where they only scored 36 points. Another loss would make their chances of gaining at least a share of the conference championship perilously thin.\nThe Hoosiers are in a similar position. IU needs to win this game to keep pace with Wisconsin and set up a showdown with Purdue next Tuesday. A home loss to Michigan State would severely increase IU’s degree of difficulty in earning its first share of the Big Ten championship since 2002.\nLike all of Tom Izzo’s teams, Michigan State is built on fundamental basketball and rebounding. The rebounding battle will be critical for both teams. White still leads the league in rebounds at 10.6 per game, but the Spartans’ Goran Suton is second in the category.\nEric Gordon and Drew Neitzel will square off in one of the most anticipated head-to-head offensive duels of the conference season. But forward Raymar Morgan is the real offensive threat for Michigan State, averaging 15.6 points \nper game.\nIU has improved its efficiency over the last two weeks. The Hoosiers turned the ball over a season-low five times against Wisconsin and only six times against Ohio State, an encouraging trend heading into the homestretch of the season.\nThe key to this game and every game the rest of the season will be the players’ response to the backlash from the coaching staff’s violations. Can they continue to improve and develop as a team with an increasing number of distractions? Will they grow closer \nor fall apart should their coach be dismissed? \nIt’s a tall order for a group of young men that have become the victims of their coaches’ mistakes, but they don’t have much of a choice.
(02/14/08 6:11am)
Knowingly violated. Failed to deport himself with honesty. Failed to promote an atmosphere for compliance.\nThe NCAA finally dropped the other shoe yesterday, releasing the findings of its own investigation of Kelvin Sampson’s recruiting violations, and it’s every Hoosier’s worst nightmare.\nAccording to the NCAA, Sampson knew all along that he was breaking the rules, knew all along there were three people involved in those calls, knew all along he was giving the NCAA the proverbial middle finger every time he picked up the phone. Those aren’t secondary violations in the NCAA’s book – those are major violations. And major violations bring major consequences.\nDuring yesterday’s pre-game press conference, IU Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan said he expected Sampson “to coach in the foreseeable future,” while the NCAA report is sorted and deliberated. Don’t count on Greenspan’s foresight to stretch past this April.\nSampson, for all intents and purposes, is a lame duck coach. He might make it through this season, but any long-term future Sampson had at this University effectively evaporated the moment the NCAA released its findings.\nGreenspan and IU crossed their fingers when compiling and submitting their report of violations and instituting self-imposed sanctions last October. They thought they were hard on themselves. They thought they had left no stone unturned. They thought wrong.\n“Obviously, there were details that were included in the NCAA’s report that were beyond the scope of what our findings were,” Greenspan said.\nAnd while Sampson is certainly on the chopping block, Greenspan might want to start peeking at the Classifieds himself. \nIt was Greenspan that tapped Sampson on the shoulder in Spring 2006 after a nationwide search for the coach that would bring IU back to prominence. It was Greenspan that defended his hire despite the baggage Sampson carried with him from Oklahoma. It was Greenspan that vowed to make sure Sampson ran a clean ship. Now, it’s Greenspan at the podium expressing how “personally, professionally, profoundly disappointed” he is in the situation that developed under his watch.\nBut what’s the immediate effect of the NCAA’s findings? Isn’t there a basketball season going on? Aren’t the Hoosiers in the thick of a Big Ten championship race?\nDuring last night’s game, fans reacted to Sampson’s pre-game introduction with a mix of cheers and boos as if they weren’t sure whether they wanted to sing his praises or punch him in the mouth. Their confusion is understandable. In two years, Sampson has made this program matter again. IU has only lost twice at home since his arrival. Unfortunately, the second time came last night in a nail-biter against Wisconsin. Sampson’s off-court issues, however, have become an irreversible black eye on this program that no victory can mask. Any success IU has this year will be diminished by the sad scandal that has become the dominant storyline of this season.\n“The allegations that I knowingly acted contrary to the sanctions imposed on me for violations that occurred when I was at Oklahoma are not true,” Sampson read from a statement during the post-game press conference, the only statement he agreed to make on the issue. “I have never intentionally provided information false or misleading information to the NCAA.”\nThe words rang with the piercing jolt of a buzzer beater. The nightmare has just begun.