Around the Hall is recommended reading from the Inside the Hall crew.

+ Eamonn Brennan writes that after a long journey, Xavier guard Jordan Crawford has arrived. (ESPN.com)

+ Dave Curtis points out that Crawford found inspiration in a former teammate, Ohio’s Armon Bassett. (The Sporting News)

+ Bassett tells Stu Durando that he tries to take it all in stride and learn from everything he’s been through. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

+ Columnist Bob Ryan writes that so far, Ohio University’s long-range plan has been a hit. (Boston Globe)

+ Ben Allen says the fan support at Indiana was great, but he’s never regretted leaving for St. Mary’s. (Contra Costa Times)

+ Michael Vega writes that other programs shouldn’t try to out-recruit St. Mary’s in Australia. (Boston Globe)

+ KJ breaks down Michigan State’s opening round win over New Mexico State. (The Only Colors)

+ Eamonn writes that Ohio State’s supporting cast stepped up during an off-night for Evan Turner. (ESPN.com)

+ Trevon Hughes says that experience got the Badgers through their first round scare against Wofford. (Madison.com)

+ Jeff Washburn writes that Purdue put a dent in President Barack Obama’s bracket with a win over Siena. (Lafayette Journal and Courier)

+ Tubby Smith says he’s looking forward to returning to Minnesota. (USA Today)

I know it’s a hard day for most of you, watching now the second tournament in a row that Indiana has missed by quite some distance. And it probably doesn’t help your psyche to bring up some former Hoosiers who will take the floor hoping for their shining moment over the next two days. But I’m going to do it anyway.

Armon Bassett (yes, that Armon Bassett) went absolutely wild for Ohio in the Mid-American Conference tournament last week, scoring 25, 38, 28 and 25 points over four games to lead the Bobcats to a MAC title and an NCAA appearance.

Asked in the build-up to the NCAA tournament during yesterday’s media session about his checkered past, Bassett had this to say:

“I just got to thank God just for blessing me. I know I had some hiccups, but I managed to come out of those and weather the storm. I’m just happy to be here again.”

Not really sure I have anything to say about this per se, it was more just a little tidbit I thought I’d bring you. I know many of you probably still feel as though Bassett is one of those Hoosiers who bore a certain amount of responsibility for everything that happened in 2007/08, and you’re certainly entitled to your opinion. I just thought I’d put this up here, and let you digest it as you wish.

It’s been nearly two full years since we last said goodbye to the mess begotten of Kelvin Sampson’s late-night departure in 2008. The faces have nearly faded, so much so that it’s almost easy to forget that at least some of them are still out there, trying to put an orange ball in a round iron hoop for someone’s enjoyment.

Enter Paul Daugherty of SI.com, who brings us this brief piece about Jordan Crawford finally settling in at Xavier. Crawford, you’ll recall, was essentially the last of Sampson’s one-time recruits to leave Indiana, heading east to play for Sean Miller.

Then Sean Miller left for Arizona.

Just like Kelvin Sampson had, albeit under different circumstances.

The article talks about the post-Sampson period briefly before delving into Crawford’s transition to Xavier. Both Crawford and his mother Sylvia (who is a publicist for the city of Detroit? Yeesh.) talk with Daugherty, making both good points:

“I wish all the grown people with the power would realize the situations they leave these young people in,” (Sylvia Crawford) said. “You trust they’re on top of things. You put a lot of trust in the university. It challenges my faith in them. Why is the kid the one punished?”

And bad:

Crawford said he knew it was time to leave when he saw one of the last Hoosiers holdovers, Brandon McGee, running stadium steps in the rain, as punishment for being late to study hall.”He was two or three minutes late,” Crawford said. “It was after the first day of summer classes. No homework. I was thinking, if they’re going to do him like that, they’re going to do me like that, too.”

(more…)

We’re a bit late on this one, but Todd Leary, the ex-IU guard and radio commentator who was arrested last week at Assembly Hall on 17 felony charges related to a scheme to misappropriate title funds, appeared in court on Tuesday. A judge entered a plea of not guilty for Leary, according to the Associated Press:

A judge has made a preliminary not guilty plea for a former Indiana University basketball player charged in connection with an ex-business partner’s multimillion-dollar fraud scheme.The plea was entered for 39-year-old Todd Leary of Carmel during an Allen County court hearing Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Rebecca S. Green of the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, who has been all over this story, reports that Leary surrendered his passport:

A clean-shaven Leary, 39, of Carmel, stood next to his Indianapolis-based attorney, Ginny Maxwell, in a dark suit with his hands in his pockets as Allen Superior Court Magistrate Robert Schmoll asked him whether he understood the charges.

Allen County Deputy Prosecutor Tim McCaulay asked Schmoll to order Leary to surrender his passport while the case is pending. Schmoll granted the request.

Leary remains free on $60,000 bond.

In a press release issued this morning by USA Basketball, former Indiana guard Eric Gordon was among 27 players named to the National Men’s Basketball team for 2010-2012.

The fact that Gordon was named to the team doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll compete in either the FIBA World Championships in 2010 or the London Olympics in 2012, but it’s a good sign for his future with USA Basketball that he’s getting involved with the program in just his second NBA season.

Gordon, who will face-off against DeMar DeRozan on Friday night for the right to compete in Saturday’s Sprite Slam Dunk, is averaging 17 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists in his second NBA season for the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Clippers are 21-30 and in third place in the NBA’s Pacific Division.

Gordon will also compete on the sophomore squad in Friday’s T-Mobile Rookie Challenge, which will be televised by TNT at 9 p.m. ET.

This has been a season devoid of predictability for Indiana on the court, but nothing could compare to this.

Former Hoosier Todd Leary, a color commentator on IU’s radio broadcast team alongside play-by-play man Don Fischer, was arrested Thursday evening on 17 felony counts “in connection with a scheme to misappropriate real estate title funds,” according to the above-linked report from the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette.

I’m not great with the legalese, I just got home from a Notre Dame game and it’s my birthday, so I’m just going to quote heavily from this report, which would frankly be a better plan of action no matter the circumstance:

Leary once worked for former title insurance broker Joseph Garretson, who pleaded guilty this week in Allen Superior Court to conversion or misappropriation of title insurance escrow funds, corrupt business influence and unlawful loan origination activities in a scheme that court documents say totaled $2.7 million in losses.

IU police arrested Leary – an analyst for the Indiana University Radio Network – on Thursday evening, and he was booked into the Monroe County Jail in Bloomington about 6:45 p.m., 15 minutes before IU’s home game against Purdue.

Leary, 39, of Carmel, is accused of conspiring with Garretson between July 2008 and February 2009 to commit a variety of felonies, including conspiracy to commit conversion or misappropriation of title insurance escrow funds, conspiracy to commit theft and conspiracy to corrupt business influence. The majority of the charges are Class C felonies, with penalties of up to four years in prison each.

So yea, not good. Not good at all. I take from the report — though this isn’t a claim to fact, I’m just surmising — that Leary was actually arrested at Assembly Hall, since it apparently happened close to game time and IU police were the ones who actually took him in, according to the report.

That same report also states that former Hoosier Brian Evans, who is a co-owner of the Uncle D’s franchise on Kirkwood Avenue in Bloomington, cooperated with investigators in some fashion.

I won’t opine too much on this; it’s radioactive on its own, just read the report for yourself. I would imagine we’ll have more for you as this story develops.

Buried near the bottom of an Associated Press story about Bob Knight taking a jab at the NCAA (surprise, surprise) was confirmation that the former coach is still undecided on his plans for November 6:

Knight was fired at Indiana in 2000 after violating a zero-tolerance behavioral policy. He said Tuesday he hadn’t decided whether to attend his induction into the university’s athletics Hall of Fame on Nov. 6. He hasn’t returned to the school since his firing.

Undecided is certainly better than no, right? While it was once inconceivable that Knight would return, it seems like Indiana will do everything within reason to get him back to Bloomington. Whether it works, well, that’s anybody’s guess.

Sherron Wilkerson started 25 games in two seasons at Indiana under Bob Knight and recently accepted the head coaching position at Herron in Indianapolis.

Inside the Hall caught up with the McDonald’s All-American and Mr. Basketball and talked to him about the possibility of Knight returning to IU and his new job as a head coach at the charter school.

On what it would mean to Indiana fans and former players if Bob Knight returned for his induction to the IU Athletics Hall of Fame:

“I think that it would be absolutely huge. Throughout the years, anytime that you mentioned Indiana basketball or just Indiana University period, I think that the average fan immediately thought about Coach Knight. Being that he’s been away from the university, been away from the state, I think that people still embrace the thought and embrace the idea of him coming back and being a part, not necessarily from a coaching standpoint, but just being around the fans and being there. He’s meant so much to the university and to the state of Indiana.”

“I think that more people would support the idea of him coming back than I think that he realizes. It would be a very, very exciting kickoff to start off this year’s basketball season because Coach Crean has done an excellent job of getting good guys to come in. Not only good basketball players, but good people. I think that was one of the things that Coach Knight really stressed in his thirty years of coaching there and I think that he would definitely appreciate that.”

(more…)