Hoosier Karma

2008-11-26T12:45:40-05:00

2008-11-25T16:43:50-05:00

2008-11-25T16:44:06-05:00

2008-11-26T12:45:40-05:00

ACC/SEC

Orlando 616741

4 Pattycake, pattycake, Hoosiers get a free pass. Indiana briefly foregoes one basketball scholarship, and lives with a few minor recruiting restrictions... most of which have already expired. IU was allowed to establish its own minor penalties for major, intentional violations of recruiting rules by an acknowledged violator of recruiting rules. The school did little if anything to prevent a fully predictable situation. That's okay with the NCAA: no post-season bans, no TV blackout, no substantial recruiting limitations, no serious sanctions at all. IU slapped itself on the hand and the NCAA said that was sufficient. Substitute virtually any school other than one of the NCAA's favorites in this situation, and something close to the death penalty would have been invoked. The NCAA should be replaced by an organization that truly practices what is pedantically preached by the sanctimonious hypocrites of the NCAA, starting with former IU President Myles Brand. No conflict of interest there, huh? 3458865

2008-11-26T12:42:28-05:00

ACC/SEC

Orlando 616741

3 Pattycake, pattycake, Hoosiers get a free pass. Indiana briefly foregoes one basketball scholarship, and lives with a few minor recruiting restrictions... most of which have already expired. IU was allowed to establish its own minor penalties for major, intentional violations of recruiting rules by an acknowledged violator of recruiting rules. The school did little if anything to prevent a fully predictable situation. That's okay with the NCAA: no post-season ban, no TV blackout, no substantial recruiting limitations, no serious sanctions at all. IU slapped itself on the hand and the NCAA said that was sufficient. Substitute virtually any school other than one of the NCAA's favorites in this situation, and something close to the death penalty would have been invoked. The NCAA should be replaced by an organization that truly practices what is pedantically preached by the sanctimonious hypocrites of the NCAA, starting with former IU President Myles Brand. No conflict of interest there, huh? 3458815

2008-11-25T23:08:44-05:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/912/10/thumb/ist2_7355600-man-playing-electric-guitar-and-jumping.jpg 194 NY

realityrecall

New York 91510

2 John you said, "Indiana deserves more of the blame than this. " Who at Indiana specifically deserves more blame? The entire coaching staff has been changed and the AD responsible for Sampson's hire is gone. As far as "wink wink, nudge nudge supervision" the school actually went to the NCAA with his initial infractions, not the other way around. The school's admin sought for transparency of Sampson's phone call records and blew the whistle on their own program. Yeah, they hired the wrong man, but were the first to admit wrong and punish themselves. 3452509

2008-11-25T22:10:45-05:00

john cothern

Chula Vista 119861

1 Indiana deserves more of the blame than this. They brought Sampson in and gave him wink wink, nudge nudge supervision. He had a history of breaking the rules and they did not ensure that he had a proper framework around him. That said, he had broken the same rule before, why oh why did he break the same rules again. Was it arrogance? Stupidity? Ignorance? Man it must be something in his water. 3452036

<div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/images/11/25/kelvin-sampson.jpg" alt="Double Click to select a Photo" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">Kelvin Sampson received a five year show cause penalty.</div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">AP</div> </div> <p>Back in October, in his first week of practice at Indiana, new coach <strong>Tom Crean</strong> told me about a new pregame ritual he planned to institute for his players. Hoosier legend <strong>Isiah Thomas</strong> had spoken at an IU camp over the summer and had told the campers, "If you're good to the game, the game will be good to you." Crean liked that line enough that he had Thomas sign it on a basketball, which was placed in a display case in the Indiana locker room, where it could be tapped by Hoosier players before they took the floor for home games.</p> <p>Thomas, given his fate with the Knicks, may not have followed his own advice once his playing days were over, but this is beside the point; his quote had Karmic overtones, and Indiana was desperately in need of some good Karma. At a program that had been ravaged by former coach <strong>Kelvin Sampson</strong>'s disregard for NCAA rules, Crean was trying to tell the rag-tag bunch he had reassembled that if they played right and acted right, good things might start to happen.</p> <p>The specter of NCAA sanctions was still hanging over Bloomington when I met with Crean in the preseason, and on this issue he was seriously in need of positive Karma. Crean knew that the NCAA had met in the week leading up to Midnight Madness, and that its final decision was coming within the next two months. His opinion on the matter was that Indiana had already suffered enough and <em>done</em> enough -- by firing Sampson and his entire staff, getting rid of the athletic director that hired him (<strong>Rick Greenspan</strong>), booting off so many troubled players that only two remained from '07-08, and self-imposing recruiting and scholarship penalties -- that no further sanctions were necessary. Indiana deserved to be penalized for hiring a coach who was busted for violating NCAA phone-call rules at Oklahoma, and then letting him do the <em>exact same thing</em> on its watch, but who would the NCAA have been punishing in November 2008? The new regime had nothing to do with the old regime's cheating ways, and Crean and Co. were doing their best to dig out of the rubble.</p> <p><a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/basketball/ncaa/11/25/indiana.ap.ap/index.html">The NCAA's official word came down on Tuesday</a>, released to the media while the Hoosiers were in Hawaii, in the process of receiving <a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/ncaa/men/viewcast/2008/11/25/index.html?contestId=55152&vendorId=200811250535&vendorVisitTeam=271&vendorHomeTeam=535&pageType=recap">a 26-point beating</a> from St. Joseph's in the Maui Invitational. The news was better than the score of that game: Indiana would receive three years' probation, but no additional penalties beyond those self-imposed by the program in 2007. No additional scholarships lost, no additional recruiting restrictions, and no postseason ban (although that was a symbolic victory, given that there's little chance the '08-09 Hoosiers will even finish above .500). Sampson didn't get off as easily: He was hit with a five-year show cause that expires on November 24, 2013, which will effectively keep him out of the college game (if he desires to return) until the 2014-15 season. The golden parachute he received, in the form of a $750,000 buyout from Indiana and an assistant-coaching job with the Milwaukee Bucks, should soften the blow of the NCAA penalty. Former assistant<strong> Rob Senderoff</strong> received a three-year show cause, which could put his current job as an assistant at Kent State in jeopardy, since it severely restricts his ability to recruit.</p> <p>The biggest impact of this NCAA report is likely to be on Indiana's recruiting efforts. Now that the Sampson incident has been put completely in the past, schools competing for players with the Hoosiers can no longer "go negative" -- by insinuating that they might sign on with a school that would be banned from the NCAA tournament. Said Crean in October, "We're still going through the impact of how irresponsible recruiting can become when you want to paint a picture for a recruit that isn't necessarily real. ... There wasn't a lot of 'Hey, hang in there,' from people in the coaching world, and we get that. But we're going to be aggressive in our way too."</p> <p>On Nov. 13, the second day of the NCAA's early signing period for recruits, Crean <a href="http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/111308aaf.html">announced a six-player class</a> that was ranked fifth in the nation by Rivals.com. Now that they're in the clear with the NCAA -- and can still offer plenty of immediate playing time -- the Hoosiers could land another solid class in 2010, and, if all goes well, even compete for an NCAA tournament bid in 2011. There is hope, on the horizon, that the game will start being good to Indiana once again.</p> 26781

Luke Winn

New York 4563