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(12/08/07 5:02pm)
IU and Kentucky tip off in about four hours in one of the most anticipated games of the seasons for the Hoosiers at Assembly Hall. It's a big deal in Bloomington for a few reasons -- No. 1: It's Kentucky (sure, they aren't dominant this year, but they are always a rival). No. 2: It's in Assembly Hall, which hasn't happened in 17 years.
(12/07/07 4:46pm)
This was a comment from one of our posts down below. I wanted to bring it to the front page and see what people think. Is this a fair statement? Is it misguided? Are students too important, or not important enough?
(12/07/07 6:02am)
It’s been 17 years since Big Blue met Big Red on \n17th Street. \nThe Hoosiers sent the Wildcats out of Assembly Hall with a 3-point loss, and since then the two squads have played on neutral courts in Indianapolis and Louisville.\nA scheduling conflict moved last year’s game from Louisville’s Freedom Hall to Kentucky’s own Rupp Arena. In return, Kentucky (4-2) will meet the No.-15 IU men’s basketball team (7-1) at 4 p.m. Saturday in Assembly Hall in the 51st game of their rivalry.\nIn a press conference Thursday, IU coach Kelvin Sampson said he expects injured freshman guard Eric Gordon to play in the game. \nGordon, IU’s leading scorer with 24.3 points per game heading into Saturday’s contest, bruised his back after falling to the ground during the first half of IU’s 84-72 win against Tennessee State on Tuesday. \nThe Wildcats lead the all-time series 28-22 and are 13-3 against IU since the two schools last met in Bloomington. \nHistorically, Kentucky and IU are two of college basketball’s most successful programs. The Wildcats have won seven national championships, the most recent coming in 1998, which ranks them No. 2 all-time. The Hoosiers have five, which puts them third. \nBoth schools are in the top 10 for most all-time wins. \nBut the storied rivalry is not void of new faces. \nSampson, hired in March 2006, will coach just his second game against the Wildcats as IU’s coach. Last April, Kentucky hired former Texas A&M coach Billy Gillespie to replace Tubby Smith as head honcho in Lexington. Sampson and Gillespie have previously met four times before when Sampson coached Oklahoma against Texas A&M in the Big 12. \nPlus, there’s Gordon, IU’s most hyped freshman since Isiah Thomas. The Wildcats have their own stellar freshman in forward Patrick Patterson. \n“He is a monster,” Sampson said. “He is a terrific, terrific talent. And I like his motor. Big kids with motors like Patrick Patterson are unique.”\nPatterson is averaging 16.8 points per game and 8.8 rebounds per game.\nAnd to add to the mystique, IU freshman guard Jordan Crawford will square off against older brother Joe Crawford, a senior guard for the Wildcats. \n“There is going to be a little bit of trash talking, but I am trying not to make this an individual battle, because this is way bigger than that,” Jordan Crawford said. “Kentucky versus Indiana, period, it’s a big game.”\nSampson agreed. \n“I think all rivalry games are like that,” he said. “Indiana-Kentucky is a lot like Notre Dame-Southern California in football. These are both great programs with rich traditions and I think that is what drives college basketball. These are games that fans of both schools circle early on their calendars. I know the players look forward to it. We had a really good game last year in Lexington, and I anticipate having another really good game here in Bloomington. I think kids at this level take pride in their performances. And as a coach, you want every game to be a big game for them.”\nDane Fife, a former IU player and current coach at IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne, was 1-3 against the Wildcats during his four-year career as a Hoosier. Still, those vivid rivalry games stand out in his memory.\n“There wasn’t a team or rivalry or opponent that you wanted to beat more as a player at IU,” Fife said. “That’s no disrespect to any of the other program because we played against some great programs. When I look back on my playing career, my successes and failures against Kentucky are the ones that stand out the most when discussing rivalry.”\nThe IU Athletics Department is encouraging all fans to wear white to create a “White Out” effect for the game. It is the first of three white outs for the year – the other two will be against Illinois and Michigan State. \nA student group, Take Back Assembly Hall, had previously organized a “Stripe Out,” in which different sections would alternate between white and red apparel, but those plans have been postponed. \nSaturday’s game, broadcast by CBS, will be the first time IU plays on network television this season. \nStaff writer Chris Engel contributed to this report.
(12/06/07 5:45pm)
I've been exchanging Facebook messages with "Take Back Assembly Hall" director Brian Bulgatz, organizer of the "Stripe Out." He said he had a meeting with an assistant athletics director regarding the "Stripe Out" vs. the "White Out." The two sides have reached a compromise. Here is part of Bulgatz's message:
(12/06/07 1:02am)
So I get finished taking my final exam in my "Traditions and Cultures of IU" Online course (best course ever), and I head out of the exam room in Jordan Hall and walk right past Eric Gordon. He had just hung up his cell phone, and as I was walking by I asked him how he was feeling.
(12/04/07 5:45pm)
The athletics department sent out an e-mail this morning, though including one glaring misspelling, reminding fans to wear white to IU's game against Kentucky.
(12/04/07 5:07am)
IU men’s basketball star freshman guard Eric Gordon injured his lower back during the first half of IU’s 84-72 win against Tennessee State on Monday, but after the game IU coach Kelvin Sampson said Gordon was OK and will play against Kentucky on Saturday. \nGordon sustained a bruised tailbone after falling to \nthe hardwood.\n“I think they took him for some precautionary X-rays, but he’ll be fine,” Sampson said.\nWith about six minutes left in the half, Gordon drove toward the basket and fell on his backside after passing the ball to senior forward D.J. White. Gordon stood up, grimaced and bent over while grabbing his back. He stayed in the game for about one minute, until he tried to handle the ball on IU’s next possession. With Gordon still grimacing, Sampson called time-out and pulled the freshman from the game. \nGordon sat on the bench for the rest of the half with a pack of ice, wrapped in a towel, snugly resting between his back and a chair. During TV time-outs, with the rest of the team huddled on the court, Gordon remained on the bench with a trainer. \nHe left with the rest of the team at halftime, but stayed in the locker room for the second half.\nGordon was not made available to the media following the game. \n“Even if he could have come in the second half, I wouldn’t have brought him back,” Sampson said, adding Gordon had played all 40 minutes of IU’s two previous games against Southern Illinois and Georgia Tech. \nGordon scored eight points on 1-of-4 shooting in 12 minutes of action on Monday. \nHeading into the game against Tennessee State, Gordon was second in the nation in scoring, averaging 26.6 points per game and 35.3 minutes per game. \nWithout Gordon, White carried the Hoosiers to the win, scoring a career-high 29 points. He also grabbed 13 rebounds to record his fourth consecutive double-double. \n“Me being a senior, I had to step up with our leading scorer, our playmaker, being hurt,” White said. “They kept going to me, so if it was one-on-one, I tried to make an aggressive move. If (they) doubled, I tried to kick it out. When he went down, we all knew we had to step up our play.”\nJunior guard/forward Jamarcus Ellis also had a double-double, scoring 10 points and tallying 10 assists. \nGordon’s absence depleted an already thin IU guard lineup. \nFreshman guard Jordan Crawford served the final game of a three-game suspension he received for breaking an unspecified team rule. Senior guard A.J. Ratliff will sit out against Kentucky, because he is academically ineligible. He can return on Dec. 15 against Western Carolina if he is cleared to play academically. \nFreshman guard Brandon McGee returned to action Monday after missing the previous two games due to an abscess on his tonsil.
(12/04/07 2:26am)
CARBONDALE, Ill. – For more than an hour before opening tip, the Southern Illinois students sitting on each end of the basketball court screamed hellfire directed at freshman Eric Gordon and the rest of the IU men’s basketball team. \n“Sampson cheats,” they chanted toward IU coach Kelvin Sampson. \n“Liar,” they yelled at Gordon, referring to his de-commitment from Illinois.\nFor the first 10 minutes of regulation, Gordon didn’t do much to quiet them, shooting 0-for-2, coughing up one turnover and picking up his first foul.\nWith no offensive production from their star freshman, the Hoosiers scored just 11 points in the first 10 minutes and trailed Southern Illinois by three.\nBut at the 9:43 mark, Gordon hit a 3-pointer from what seemed like the Wabash River and silenced the Saluki student section and the Southern Illinois offense to lead IU to a 64-51 victory in the Hoosiers’ first road game of the season.\nNo. 15 IU did not trail again after Gordon hit his first bucket of the night.\n“He didn’t play like a freshman trying to score,” Sampson said of Gordon. “He played like a basketball player with some experience. We were a good team tonight instead of a bunch of talented kids.”\nThe IU win snapped a 15-game home winning streak for the Salukis and was just the fourth home loss at Southern Illinois in the last 84 games. The 13-point loss was the most lopsided home loss for the Salukis since Feb. 10, 2001, when they lost to Creighton by 14.\nGordon finished the night with 22 points against a Southern Illinois team known for its staunch \ndefense. He grabbed two steals and blocked three shots in 40 minutes of action.\n“We made him take some very, very tough shots,” Saluki coach Chris Lowery said. “And he missed some, too, but he made some. He’s a good player, there’s no way around that.”\nGordon shot 7-of-14 from the field.\nIn addition to another stellar performance by Gordon, IU’s efforts were buoyed by a favorable, 38-29 rebounding margin. \nEarly in the game, though, IU was losing the battle of the boards. Senior forward D.J. White said his team was having trouble attacking the glass, especially on the weak side.\n“Coach got on us about that,” White said. “Us five guys, we just decided to go to the boards and start rebounding.”\nOn the defensive end, IU out-rebounded Southern Illinois 30-17. \nIU’s zone defense created problems for Southern Illinois’ leading scorer Randal Falker, who scored 12 points on a 5-of-11 shooting performance. Falker was 2-of-7 from the foul line. \nWithout an effective inside game, the Salukis were forced to kick the ball out to perimeter shooters Joshua Bone and Matt Shaw. Each took open shots, but neither found much success from behind the 3-point line. The Salukis shot 1-of-14 from behind the arc – Shaw made the only 3-pointer with less than two minutes remaining in regulation.\n“Right now we’re not making the easiest plays you can make,” Lowery said. “We’re wide open, and when you don’t make wide open shots, especially at home, you’re not going to win.”\nThe Hoosiers (6-1) host Tennessee State (2-3) at 7 p.m. today, which will be their seventh game in 15 days. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
(12/02/07 4:48am)
CARBONDALE, Ill. – The No. 15 IU men’s basketball team toppled the Southern Illinois Salukis 64-51 in the Hoosiers first true road contest of the season. \nIU relied on another solid game from star freshman Eric Gordon, who scored 22 in the contest. The IU defense, playing in a zone because of a thin lineup at guard, held the Saluki offense in check in the second half. \nCheck Monday’s IDS for more coverage of IU’s win.
(12/02/07 2:28am)
FINAL SCORE IU 64, SIU 51
(12/02/07 1:55am)
Game predictions, anyone? Vegas has IU as a slight favorite. What do you think?
(11/30/07 5:36am)
Heading into the IU men’s basketball team’s first true road game of the season, Lance Stemler might know more than anybody what to expect from the Southern Illinois Salukis. \nAfter all, he grew up just 45 minutes away from SIU Arena, and as a freshman at Bradley University, Stemler walked on to the floor and faced the Salukis and their passionate student section, “the Dawg Pound.”\nStemler is now co-captain of an IU team that went 3-8 on the road last year, and has tried his best to prepare seven new players (five freshmen and two junior college transfers) for the hostile environment. \n“You can tell them, but until they get in it, I think it’s hard to understand,” Stemler said during a press conference Thursday. “This home court, they’re good there. And their fans are tremendous, too. ... They’re like any other good student section – they do their research. They know what to talk about.”\nStemler has heard a lot of negative comments as a Hoosier. He was booed by some of his home fans last season and again during IU’s season-opening 99-79 win against Chattanooga Nov. 12. Stemler said the team has to be more focused to execute offensively with a loud Southern Illinois crowd \nscreaming at them.\n“You do the best you can to try and block out what they’re saying,” he said. “I really don’t pay attention to the fact that they’re saying something about my mom, or whatever it might be.”\nFor the record, Mrs. Stemler will be sitting in the stands when the No. 15 Hoosiers take on the Salukis, as will Lance’s father and a handful of Lance’s friends and family from his home, Columbia, Ill. \nCoach Kelvin Sampson knows the Salukis present a tough challenge to a young IU team. Southern Illinois has a 15-game home winning streak and are 80-3 in Carbondale, Ill., since the 2001-02 season. \n“I think it’s tough to beat Indiana at home,” Sampson said during the press conference. “It’s tough to go into an opposing team’s gym. If they’re a really good team, I think it’s tough to beat them, unless you’ve got a really veteran team. ... So it will be interesting to see how this team plays on the road.”\nFor the second game in a row, the Hoosiers will be playing without freshman guard Jordan Crawford. He has been suspended until IU’s Dec. 8 home game against Kentucky for breaking an unspecified team rule. \nCrawford averaged 12.6 points per game in 25.0 minutes per game this season. \nSampson said Thursday he is still unsure if freshman guard Brandon McGee will be able to play Saturday. McGee missed IU’s 83-79 Tuesday win against Georgia Tech because of an illness. Sampson said McGee had an abscess drained from his tonsil on Wednesday and is still recovering. \nWithout Crawford, McGee and senior guard A.J. Ratliff, who is academically ineligible until Dec. 15, the Hoosiers were forced to use just three guards against Georgia Tech. \nThe Hoosiers and Salukis tip off at 9:30 p.m. Saturday. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
(11/28/07 5:30am)
Just a few minutes before the IU men’s basketball team took the floor for its 83-79 win against Georgia Tech, J.D. Campbell, director of athletics media relations, handed out a sheet of paper to the media seated in Assembly Hall.\nThe two sentence statement read “Indiana Men’s Basketball Coach Kelvin Sampson announced that freshman guard Jordan Crawford will not play in the next three games due to violating team rules. Coach Sampson will have no further comment on the matter.” \nAfter the game, Sampson declined to discuss specifics of Crawford’s absence, but did say the freshman’s absence would change the way he coached the team. \nIn IU’s previous five games, Crawford averaged 12.5 points per game and 25 minutes per game. Crawford’s suspension will be lifted in time for the guard to face his older brother Joe Crawford on Dec. 8 when Kentucky visits Assembly Hall.\nCrawford’s absence depleted an already thin Hoosier guard lineup. Senior guard A.J. Ratliff is academically ineligible for the first semester. He is eligible to play starting Dec. 15 against Western Carolina. \nWith Crawford and Ratliff out of the lineup, the Hoosiers were left with just four scholarship guards – freshmen Eric Gordon and Brandon McGee, sophomore Armon Bassett and junior Jamarcus Ellis. \nSampson said McGee was sick, which relegated the Hoosiers to using just three guards in its lineup. Gordon played all 40 minutes of the contest, scoring 29 points. Bassett and Ellis played 37 minutes and 33 minutes, respectively. \nWhen either Bassett or Ellis was on the bench, the Hoosiers played a two-guard and three-forward lineup. This forced IU to switch out of its man-to-man defense into a zone defense.\nSampson said the Hoosiers will play more zone defense, “especially the next two games, obviously.” \nMike White to play this season\nAbout two weeks ago, Sampson said during his radio show that IU senior forward Mike White would redshirt this season and use his one year of remaining eligibility for next year. \nBut after a veteran Xavier team outplayed the Hoosiers during Saturday’s 80-65 loss, Sampson reconsidered. \n“I’m on the plane on the way back, and I’m thinking, ‘You know what? It’s a good idea to redshirt Mike, but this team needs him,’” Sampson said after Tuesday’s game. \nSampson did not announce before the game that White would play, but White checked into the game early in the first half, thus eliminating his chance to redshirt. \nSampson said he made the decision to add some more experience to the team, and also add another big body to attack the glass.\n“Besides (senior forward) D.J. (White), which one of those guys can you count on to go up and get a traffic rebound?” Sampson said of his other forwards, freshman Eli Holman, junior Deandre Thomas and senior Lance Stemler. \nWhite finished the night with two points and six rebounds in 20 minutes of action. \n“He was a huge, huge spark off the bench, which is something we needed coming off that Xavier game,” Stemler said. “Every day in practice, Mike attacks the glass, and that’s what he did tonight. Mike played great.”
(11/26/07 4:23am)
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – About midway through the second half of the IU men’s basketball team’s 80-65 loss to Xavier Saturday, Eric Gordon reached a boiling point.\nThe freshman guard had just missed a layup and knocked the ball out of bounds in a desperate attempt to grab his own rebound. The frustration of a 4-for-12 shooting night for IU’s leading scorer manifested in one instant.\nThe rest of the Hoosiers ran down to the other end of the court, but Gordon held onto the ball in his right hand as he and Xavier guard C.J. Anderson stared one another down and argued back and forth, separated by a lone referee in a striped shirt. IU coach Kelvin Sampson ran out onto the court to make sure his star player calmed down, but it was just one of many forgettable moments for Gordon and the No. 8 Hoosiers, who lost their first game of the young season in the championship game of the Chicago Invitational Challenge.\n“(Gordon) will learn from this, and so will we,” Sampson said after the Hoosiers’ most lopsided loss in his two-year IU tenure. \nThough he finished the game with 20 points to lead all scorers, Gordon scored just four points in the first half on 1-for-6 shooting and was benched with about seven minutes remaining in the half after picking up his third foul. \n“The thing about young kids is they’re going to make mistakes,” Sampson said.\nIt was Gordon’s worst scoring performance in his brief career as a Hoosier, and with Gordon cold from the floor and on the bench with foul trouble, IU had to find other ways to score. \nThe 3-point shot, the bread and butter of IU teams of yore, wasn’t working either. The Hoosiers were 1-of-15 from behind the arc. Sophomore guard Armon Bassett, who had been sidelined with an ankle injury for most of IU’s 70-57 win Friday against Illinois State, shot 1-of-7 from 3-point range.\nBassett’s lone 3-pointer of the night came in the middle of a 13-3 Xavier run to close out the first half and put the Musketeers on top 40-29.\n“I think our immaturity and our inexperience really hurt us in the first half in certain situations,” Sampson said.\nAfter the game, Sampson said it was too soon to say whether the team is too reliant on Gordon, who has led the Hoosiers in scoring in each of IU’s five regular-season games.\nOne of the only bright spots for the Hoosiers was the play of senior forward D.J. White, who was a focal point of the IU offense early in the game. White finished the game with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting.\nThe Hoosiers return to action Tuesday night when they host Georgia Tech in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. White, a senior captain, said he hopes he can use Saturday’s loss as a teaching tool. \n“This is a learning experience for the young guys and us older guys, also,” he said. \nSampson tried to put the loss in perspective. After the game, he reiterated that it is still November, and he believes his team will get much better as the season progresses.\n“Games like this can only help you,” Sampson said. “One of the things you learn over the years in coaching is you just don’t overreact to stuff.”
(11/25/07 4:11am)
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – Poor shooting, sloppy play and foul trouble plagued the IU men’s basketball team during its 80-65 loss against Xavier in the championship of the Chicago Invitational Challenge on Saturday night.\nFreshman guard Eric Gordon – the catalyst of the IU offense – picked up three fouls midway through the first half, and the Musketeers capitalized on his absence.\nXavier went on a 13-3 run at the end of the first half.\nXavier forward B.J. Raymond scored 12 points in the first half, including a Christian Laettner-esque turnaround jumper at the buzzer to send Xavier into halftime with a 40-29 lead. \nThough Gordon spent a good portion of the first half on the bench with foul trouble, the star freshman was ice cold from the field in the opening minutes, scoring just four points on a 1-for-6 shooting performance.\nGordon played the entire second half with much more offensive success, but the Hoosiers could not stop Xavier’s offense after the break. \nThe 15-point loss is the first on the year for the No. 8 Hoosiers, and is the most lopsided loss in Sampson’s two-year tenure at IU.\nLook for a full report in Monday's Indiana Daily Student.
(11/24/07 1:00am)
Game over. IU 70 Illinois State 57
(11/19/07 4:56am)
The IU men’s basketball team was supposed to have a potent offensive attack. \nBut it was the staunch defense that impressed coach Kelvin Sampson during No. 8 IU’s 100-49 win against Longwood on Sunday at home. \nThe Hoosiers allowed just 19 points in the second half en route to a first-round win in the Chicago Invitational Challenge. \n“The great thing about this win, we beat this team like we should beat them,” Sampson said. “It was good to see our kids play that way. To beat them this bad, we had to play good. We had to play good at both ends. \n“If you go out there and you’re giving a half-ass effort or you’re not doing the little things right, all the sudden you look up and this is a 15-, 17-point game maybe. But we won the game the right way because we did everything good. That’s good to see.”\nThe Hoosiers allowed fewer points against the Lancers than they did in the first half of their season opener against Tennessee-Chattanooga last week. \n“They were a lot better today than they were the last game, so the improvement’s good to see,” Sampson said.\nThe Hoosiers allowed just two points in the first 4:57 of the second half. After scoring their 41st point at the 11:13 mark, the Lancers were scoreless until 2:31 remained in the game – a nearly nine-minute scoring drought.\nIn that time, IU scored \n22 points.\n“(Sampson) really emphasizes playing defense and then the other things will come,” said freshman guard Jordan Crawford.\nIU stole the ball 11 times – eight in the second half. The Hoosiers forced 16 turnovers and outrebounded the Lancers 46-33. Freshman forward Eli Holman blocked two shots in his performance off the bench. \nThe offense wasn’t too bad, either. \nWhile the Lancers shot 26 percent from the field Sunday, IU shot 58 percent.\nFor the first time since 1988, six Hoosiers finished the game with double-digit scoring totals. \nAfter the game, Longwood coach Mike Gillian said he thinks IU has the balance to be successful this season.\n“You have to understand, there is an upper echelon that exists and I have a hard time believing there are seven teams in the country better than the team we just played against,” he said in a statement after the game. \nThe Hoosiers shot 11-of-18 from behind the 3-point line and 13-of-19 from the foul stripe. IU finished the game having made 38 shots and had 22 assists, a stat that Sampson emphasized after the game.\n“This team is playing early like it should,” Sampson said, “and now we’re starting to get better.”\nThe Hoosiers continue play in the Chicago Invitational Challenge on Nov. 20 when they host the North Carolina-Wilmington before traveling to Chicago for the final two rounds of the tournament starting Friday. Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s game, IU will play in the semifinal matchup against Illinois State on Friday.
(11/19/07 2:59am)
I know, IU's 27-24 win against Purdue is kind of a big deal. But how does it compare to IU basketball accomplishments?
(11/16/07 4:50am)
D.J. White’s head bounced off the hardwood floor of Assembly Hall during Monday’s season opener against Tennessee-Chattanooga, and the IU crowd fell to a hush.\nThe senior forward was going up to block a shot and came down hard – a frightful moment for White and IU fans. \nWhite was fine. In fact, sophomore guard Armon Bassett joked the team captain was seeing “Tweety birds.”\nJust a few days after an injury that could have left him with a concussion, White’s biggest concern was not his physical health. It was his physical appearance. \n“It’ll probably mess up my beautiful face,” he joked during a press conference Wednesday. “I’ve had stitches here on my eyebrow.”\nFour stitches to be exact. \nWhite will don a bandage above his left eye for the IU men’s basketball team’s Sunday game against the Longwood Lancers.\n“It happens,” White said. “It’s part of it.”\nWhite and the team return to action at noon Sunday against the Lancers at Assembly Hall in the first round of the Chicago Invitational Challenge – an eight-team tournament that runs through Thanksgiving break. Regardless of the outcome of the next two games, IU will play in the semifinals of the tournament on Nov. 23 at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Ill.\nThe second round of the tournament will pit IU against North Carolina-Wilmington on Tuesday at Assembly Hall. \nIt will be the second time this season the Hoosiers have only one day off between games – the Hoosiers entertained North Carolina-Pembroke just two days before opening the season against the Mocs. \n“I don’t like the Sunday-Tuesday turnaround, but scheduling is not about what you like,” IU coach Kelvin Sampson said. “You don’t schedule for convenience; you schedule for necessity. I wish all of our games were Wednesday-Saturday. To me, that would be the perfect schedule. We would play Wednesday, practice Thursday and Friday then play on Saturday and take Sunday off and come back with practice on Monday and Tuesday. That to me is a perfect world.”\nBut Sampson does like the setup of the tournament – especially the two home games the Hoosiers have before heading to Chicago for the tourney.\n“Any exempt tournament that we are playing two games at home and two games on a neutral court is a good deal, if you are playing two at home,” he said.\nThe biggest thing the team needs to work on before it takes to the court this weekend? \nAccording to Bassett, defense. \n“I didn’t think we played that badly defensively (in Monday’s game). I just think those last 12 seconds – somebody being a second late on a rotation on a block out. I just think we need to work on closing the shot clock out. I thought we were playing pretty good defense the first 24 seconds or so.” \n-Staff writer Chris Engel contributed to this report.
(11/15/07 12:09am)
One’s a senior. The other, a freshman. \nOne’s 6-foot-9. The other, 6-foot-4 (on a good day).\nOne’s nicknamed D.J. The other, E.J. \nBoth are superstars in their own right and potential NBA Draft picks. \nAnd both will give the same answer for who is the leader of the team. \nSure, D.J. White and Eric Gordon could be All-Americans when all is said and done, and Gordon might get more highlights on ESPN’s SportsCenter. But if you ask the Indianapolis-native who is the star of the team, there is no hesitation. \n“It is D.J.’s team,” Gordon said. “He has been here for four years, and from all the publicity that he has been getting. He is the captain, and he leads us in practice and in games. He is our biggest factor.”\nWhite and Gordon have no qualms about sharing the spotlight in Bloomington – and that’s because they will help each other out. Last year, White could have used a skilled ball handler who could create his own offense off the dribble. Heading into his first year in college, Gordon could use a big man who can help relieve pressure when he slashes toward the basket. \nIt’s a win-win for the pair and a win-win for Hoosier Nation.\nWhite and Gordon have given many IU fans reason to smile. Some fans are hoping for highlight reel plays. Others, another Big Ten Championship. Others still, a sixth NCAA Championship banner to hang from the rafters at Assembly Hall. \nIf you ask both players, none of that is out of the realm of possibility.\n“This year’s team, we’ve got a lot of expectations from the fans and everybody,” Gordon said. “They know we’re going to have a really talented team this year, and I think we really do have a good team this year, just from playing with them for the first game and from practices.”\nWhite has done his part to mentor Gordon, ranked as the No. 2 high school prospect in his class by recruiting Web site www.rivals.com.\nBut White is quick to admit the star freshman doesn’t need a whole lot of help. Gordon is shy by nature, and doesn’t get caught up in the hoopla of a major college program. He is down to earth.\n“Credit for that goes to his mother and father,” said IU men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson. “He is very modest, very humble. He works at the same pace everyday. He doesn’t have a lot of highs and lows. He is pretty steady in everything he does. He comes in early; he works late. When you have a person of his ability level and his attitude, that is when you start getting into the `special’ stratosphere. The sky is the limit for that young man because of his attitude, his humbleness.”\nGordon made headlines before coming to IU because of the way he was recruited. In November of his junior year in high school, Gordon verbally committed to play for Bruce Weber at Illinois. But once former IU coach Mike Davis resigned, Gordon reopened his commitment and looked at IU, though he didn’t tell Weber. Sampson never told the Illinois coach either. \nGordon committed to IU in October of his senior year, and Weber and others criticized Sampson for his handling of the situation. Internet fan message boards blasted Sampson, Gordon and his family for the entire debacle. \nBut Gordon is quick to dismiss a Feb. 7 date in Champaign, Ill. Sampson, too, said he is past the matter. And Sampson praises Gordon for his all-around maturity. \n“The thing I like most about Eric Gordon is that as good of a player he is, he is a better person,” Sampson said. “He’s a good teammate and an easy person to coach. Humble, quiet and almost unassuming. It’s refreshing the way he goes about his work. He works his tail off. If I told him to run through that wall, he’d say, ‘Coach, can I get a running start?’ Those are the kind of kids you want to coach.”\nGordon and White are the campus’ two most popular celebrities, according to the Indiana Daily Student’s Weekend magazine Best of Bloomington poll. But both say they try to be humble and kind when dealing with fellow students and other fans. \n“I just don’t worry about it, because you’ll see a lot of professionals in the NBA that might act ignorant or just anything like that,” Gordon said. “I’ve just been taught to treat people with respect, because they might down the line help you in the future. They would just say ‘He is a better person than just playing basketball.’” \nGordon said the hype around him has tapered since he first arrived on campus, but White said that public attention doesn’t completely disappear. \n“I still face it today, whenever you’re out in the public,” White said. “This whole town loves basketball. You’ve just got to be a good person. Even though it might bother you sometimes, you can’t show that it bothers you. Just speak, be nice and continue what you were doing. That is just how I was brought up, just nice to everyone. That comes along with it if you want to be successful, just being a nice person about it.”\nThough the public attention hasn’t changed since White came to IU in 2004, his personality has changed. And his coach is quick to point that out. \nEntering his senior year, Sampson said White is more confident than he’s ever been. Sampson said he knew that from the time White took the court representing the United States in the Pan American Games this summer. \n“A good player should walk into the gym like he owns it,” Sampson said. “It’s an attitude. You throw your shoulders back and stick your chest out as if you’re saying, ‘Who wants a piece of me?’ He had that.”\nAnd though a focused, talented freshman might put up more points and get more postgame interviews, Sampson said White is not concerned.\n“He has that swagger,” Sampson said. “This is his team. Make no mistake about that.”