You made the move to ESPN.com a little over two years ago after writing at The Bucks County Courier Times and The Philadelphia Daily News. What was the transition like moving from a newspaper to one of the most widely read Internet sports properties in the world?

For me, the hardest thing about moving from Philly to ESPN was getting my arms around the scope of this new job. It was a little daunting at first. There’s a comfort in familiarity. I knew Philly, Villanova, the Big 5 and the Big East so well that I could automatically put stories and situations into context. I knew the history of the programs and most of the players for four years. I knew Jay Wright since he started at Villanova. Even more, I knew the people and best of all, they knew me.

When I jumped to ESPN all of college basketball was my beat. Major gulp. I’m a college basketball fan, so I always knew what was going on in the national scene and knew the major players, or at least about them, but they didn’t necessarily know me. It was a little overwhelming to fly in to a city, watch a game, introduce myself and bam, come up with a column or a 2,000-word feature.

Like anything else, the solution was simple: do your homework and work hard. I went to the AAU tourneys in Vegas, not to watch recruits but to catch up with coaches while they were relaxed and introduce myself. Every time I went to a game if the opportunity presented, I introduced myself to the players I was interviewing. I read everything before I did a feature so I knew what I was writing about and so the person I was speaking to respected the effort.

I’m not great at this gig yet. Far from it. But I feel like I have my arms around it finally.

Two advantages of writing for ESPN.com over a newspaper that immediately come to mind: no space limitations and more relaxed deadlines. Beyond that, how has your job changed moving to the online space? Or has it?

The no-deadline thing is sweet. First Final Four I covered for ESPN.com was Memphis-Kansas and I sat next to my former Philadelphia Daily News colleague (and mentor) Dick Jerardi. As soon as Chalmers hit the 3-pointer I laughed and said to him, ‘You’re in trouble.’ He wasn’t amused. I didn’t even have my laptop at my seat.

The turnover for online is greater in that I might write a great feature that gets posted at 1 pm and something breaking happens and that feature is pushed down on the site by 2 pm. But that’s also the beauty of the online product: we can react immediately. If we break a story, we can post it right away without those old day-worries of waiting until the newspaper hits the driveway and panicking that your scoop won’t be a scoop by then. Even for non-breaking news it’s great. Case in point: Texas loses to Kansas State this week. We didn’t have anyone at the game, but I did a quick instant reaction for our blog and Andy Katz, using his limitless connections, got Frank Martin on the phone and we had a story posted that evening.

In some ways, though, things aren’t that different. There are no space constraints but you have to be thoughtful. Do people have the time or interest to read a 2,000 word game column? Probably not. Is your story a worthwhile story, not just one taking up space? Those are important decisions that we still make just as any newspaper editor does.

You’ve covered Final Fours and have been to games in arenas all over the country. Where’s your favorite place to cover a game and why?

This will seem like a lazy answer but it’s not. It’s honest: the Palestra. The lighting is still horrible. You have to climb over the team bleacher seats and squish by five other reporters to get to your seat; the flimsy press table actually shakes if the place gets crazy enough; when the pep bands get going, you can’t hear; parking is a disaster and I absolutely love it. You can practically smell the history in the place and when it’s full to the corners, it is as loud and crazy as any place in the country. I also love that the modern-day students still fulfill the traditions. They aren’t allowed to throw streamers at the first made basket like back in the day, but they still unfurl their clever rollouts and pass them up the stands before shredding them.

And even though you didn’t ask I’ll give you the flip side: the place I like least is any dome. The noise disappears and sucks the atmosphere right with it. I understand the NCAA’s decision to move the Final Four to domes only (if you have it, they will come) but it really can dampen if not flat-out deaden the mood for what should be the most electric games of the year.

Let’s move to our specialty, the Indiana Hoosiers. Tom Crean obviously inherited a difficult situation from Kelvin Sampson. Looking back on the Sampson situation, were you at all surprised about everything that went down and how he essentially threw away his opportunity at Indiana by his excessive use of the telephone?

I was surprised about a lot of things with the Kelvin Sampson situation. For starters, I was stunned that Indiana hired someone who came not only with baggage, but with immediate baggage. His problems at Oklahoma weren’t ancient news. They were extremely recent and for a school like IU, which prides itself on its NCAA cleanliness, to take such a risk was a stunner. As for Kelvin, part of me was surprised and part of me wasn’t. His actions and decisions were based on pure arrogance – they won’t catch me doing this – and were flat-out foolish. That’s the surprising part, that someone could be so stupid. But then again, coaches become who they are because they possess a self confidence that exceeds normal human boundaries. They, like the 22-year-olds they coach, often think they’re invincible and that can lead to some pretty stupid decisions.

Indiana’s season hit a road bump with the loss of freshman guard Maurice Creek, but the Hoosiers have a pair of solid wins (Pittsburgh and Minnesota) and have already surpassed their win total from last season. There’s still a long road ahead, but how far away is the program from competing for conference championships?

Tom Crean inherited a disaster in every way – players gone, the program in disarray, fans disgusted and embarrassed – and he is doing everything right to rebuild it. He’s worked tirelessly to build up the passion and energy that had been beaten down by the shame of the last few regimes and anyone who thinks that’s not important to success in college basketball is crazy. You have to have a program that people feel good about so you can attract kids who want to be a part of it. That’s the second step – getting the right players. He has good ones now, the ideal kids to rebuild the foundation of the program with. They’re selfless and passionate and though they probably won’t deliver the titles, they’ll set the road in motion. I think now is the hardest part: he has to get the splashy recruits. Not 15 of them. Just one or two kids you can build a team around. I know patience is probably in short order in Bloomington. Folks there aren’t used to being irrelevant. But I’d say Crean deserves and needs at least two more seasons to truly restore IU.

There was a lot of talk prior to the season about the Big Ten potentially getting seven or even eight teams into the NCAA Tournament. The latest Bracketology has just five Big Ten teams dancing. Has the league been a disappointment or were expectations unrealistic?

I think it’s been something of a disappointment, yes. Some of the problems – injuries at Northwestern, suspensions at Minnesota – no one knew were coming and those obviously have major, major impact on teams’ success. But I also think people expected Michigan to be much better than it is and with good reason; I think even under the cloud of issues they’ve faced, the Gophers should be more consistent. Penn State, coming off an NIT title might not have been a tourney team but the Nittany Lions certainly shouldn’t be the complete disaster they are (and I’m a grad, so I can say that). Even Purdue with the caveat of the injury to Lewis Jackson is a little big mystifying.

That said, I also believe that Ohio State, with Evan Turner back, could be a major headturner come March and Michigan State, the team everyone forgot about in December, is lying in wait – or at least Sparty better be. I picked them to win the national championship.

Final question and we’re putting you on the spot (no pressure): Who are your mid-season All-Americans? And which teams will make it to the Final Four in Indianapolis?

Ugh, sure no pressure.

All-Americans (not in terms of position, just best players because this is exceedingly guard heavy): John Wall, Evan Turner, Damion James, Wes Johnson and maybe Scottie Reynolds right now. And I will eat a ton of crow for writing that because at the beginning of the season, Pat Forde put Scottie Reynolds on his ballot and I told him he was insane.

Final Four: I’m going to be stubborn with my pick and say Michigan State, Kentucky, Texas and Syracuse. I’m hesitant to count out Kansas because I think that maybe their midseason hiccup might be the best thing that happened to them, but going with what I see right now, I can’t put them in. I’m also flipping a coin between Villanova and Syracuse because I think either one could be there and I’d be stunned if neither one was.

Inside the Hall: Indiana is coming off a tough season and is still in the midst of rebuilding. They were nearly last in the country in turnovers a season ago, which I assume you believe will improve this season because it really can’t get worse. What measurable statistics are most important for Indiana to become a competitive team in a seemingly brutal conference?

JG: Measurable statistic? Points! For and against! No, just kidding. You’re asking about the stats that precede that one, and rightfully so.

Fair enough, try this on for size: If Indiana had been playing in some kind of weird parallel hoops universe last year where turnovers were forbidden and each team’s offense was judged simply according to how well they shoot, hit the offensive glass, and make free throws, your scrappy Hoosiers, even as young as they were, would have ranked a somewhat respectable seventh in the conference in offensive efficiency in Big Ten play (instead of 11th, which is where they really came out). So, yeah, the turnovers were huge.

Moving to defense we find that IU ranked 11th there as well, allowing Big Ten opponents to score 1.12 points per trip. That’s bad, sure, but it’s not catastrophic. In recent years teams like Northwestern and Penn State have on occasion done way worse than that. So there’s hope. In fact the Hoosiers were actually normal when it came to rebounding opponents’ misses–it’s just that, uh, there were no misses. Opponents lit it up from everywhere. This year’s deeper and taller roster should help make that a thing of the past.

ITH: I think a lot of IU fans are excited to see how Tom Crean’s approach will differ this season compared to last. Obviously, the infusion of freshman talent and transfer Jeremiah Rivers will allow more flexibility to try some new things. Schematically speaking, what will be the biggest difference from a season ago?

JG: If Crean’s past is any guide to Indiana’s stylistic future, the really exciting thing to me is that someday soon IU will be the conference’s first moderately up-tempo team, one that goes for steals and, yes, commits an occasional foul. All of the above, along with “guard-heavy,” accurately describes Marquette in 2007-08. I say: Bring on the Hurryin’ Hoosiers! The conference badly needs some diversity where tempo is concerned. When it arrives everyone will wonder what the heck took so long. Playing against a variety of styles over the course of your conference season benefits every team.

ITH: One of the most talked about pieces on this team is Rivers. In fact, I took some heat from our readers a while back for saying I wasn’t completely sold on Rivers being a huge difference maker. His calling card at Georgetown was defense, but offensively he wasn’t very productive as a sophomore (2.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1 assist in 18.6 minutes). Was his offensive output more a result of the system he was playing in?

JG: No, not at all. His output on offense would have been meager in any system Georgetown happened to play that year because he was tasked with being a role player on a team with Roy Hibbert and DaJuan Summers. If he’d started confusing himself with Eric Gordon, John Thompson III would have yanked him off the floor in a heartbeat.

Mind you, with my own two eyes I saw Drew Neitzel go from being a meek and deferential role player in support of Mo Ager and Paul Davis to becoming the shot-gobbling–and highly efficient–focal point of Tom Izzo’s offense, so I never say never. Who knows, Rivers might be a scorer waiting only for his chance.

But even if Rivers is “only” a lock-down defender is that really so bad? How many of those are there in the Big Ten heading into this season? Kramer, certainly. And Lighty, assuming he returns whole from his stint on the injured list. But the likes of Travis Walton are gone. So I think Rivers could be a valuable addition even if he’s “merely” what we saw at Georgetown. Not to be repetitive, but Indiana’s defense ranked dead last in the league last year.

ITH: It’s always tough to predict how freshmen will perform, but the six-man class Crean has assembled will be expected to contribute major minutes. What kind of impact do you expect guys like Christian Watford, Maurice Creek, Derek Elston and Jordan Hulls to have?

JG: I know this is heresy in Bloomington, but frankly what an IU fan should hope for is that this group of freshmen jells the way the Hummel-Johnson-Moore group did at Purdue in 2007-08. The impressive thing to me about that particular set of baby Boilers was that they played D and made their threes, neither of which freshmen are supposed to do. And given that both Painter and Crean are proteges of highly defense-aware Big Ten coaches who made their names screaming and getting red and preaching “toughness” as the silver-bullet answer to all of life’s challenges up to and including marriage proposals and home decor, it’s not too much of a stretch to envision a similar dynamic playing out in Bloomington someday.

Not that I expect IU to go 15-3 in the Big Ten this year the way Purdue did in ‘08. (Sorry.) I just think if I were a coach I’d point to that particular group of freshmen and say: “Look at those guys. They weren’t especially talented. No one’s in the NBA yet. But look at what they did. See if you can do that.”

ITH: Tell us about your book, The Basketball Prospectus 2010 Major-Conference Preview. How will it differ from last year’s and where will it be available?

JG: Wherever fine books are sold — online. The book will be available at the site in a few days and you’ll be able to choose between downloading it immediately as a pdf or ordering it as an actual book. (Much like the fine NBA book done by my colleagues Bradford Doolittle and Kevin Pelton, currently zooming up the charts at Amazon.)

I previewed the Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, and SEC. An obscure but promising young writer that I’ve graciously agreed to mentor, one Ken Pomeroy, did the Pac-10. I’m telling you this kid’s going places–remember the name, folks! And Dan Hanner of Yet Another Basketball Blog fame had the thankless task of previewing the Brobdingnagian Big East. Last year the instant I finished writing my Big East preview l shot out the door and found myself a hilltop from which to make a Scarlett O’Hara vow: As Jim Boeheim is my witness, never again. Damn thing’s too big.

But of course we’re too nosy to just preview teams. There are all kinds of goodies at the front of the book. For instance Will Carroll has a great and very timely piece on what happens to young legs when top prospects play hoops year-round, as they pretty much all do now. Pelton has become essential reading for anyone interested in draft projections, and he gave us the benefit of that wisdom for the current crop of college prospects. I could go on: Pomeroy, Doolittle, and John Perrotto all chipped in with essays. I did some scribbling in that direction too.

Lastly our Foreword was written by A Very Special Guest. I’m sworn to secrecy but I suspect these dots pretty well connect themselves. Bob Knight? UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon? Numa Numa Guy? Speculate away!

So, yeah, buy my book. I know some members of the self-appointed inside-the-Beltway gotcha media elite have questioned whether I could really write 60K words and edit an additional 60K this fast. Just tell them I say: You betcha! (Your readers can’t see this but I’m winking.)

Inside the Hall: The Big Ten is once again being mentioned among the top conferences in the country. From top to bottom, where does the Big Ten stand amongst the major conferences?

John Gasaway: It stands rather confidently in a clean well-lighted place at the center of the room where the league is respected but, alas, not terribly feared. The confidence comes from the exceedingly rare spectacle of a league returning its entire all-conference team (Kalin Lucas, Evan Turner, Manny Harris, Talor Battle, and JaJuan Johnson), not to mention last year’s preseason POY (Robbie Hummel).

On the other hand the Big Ten doesn’t terrify the other major conferences unduly because, even with all those returnees, our beloved glacially-paced league isn’t exactly brimming with lottery picks or even first-rounders. Turner, obviously, is going to be putting on a ball cap and shaking David Stern’s hand very soon here, and assuming Johnson and Mike Davis start consuming protein shakes in bulk I’ve seen them listed on some mocks as late first-rounders for 2011. But Turner notwithstanding there are no Walls or Warrens or Aldriches in the league right now. None of which precludes a Final Four run by a Big Ten team or two this year, of course.

ITH: Most of the preseason publications view Michigan State and Purdue as the top two teams in the Big Ten with Michigan, Ohio State, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin in the next tier. Which team, Michigan State or Purdue, do you consider to be the favorite to win the league and why?

JG: Purdue. Effectively they didn’t lose anybody. (OK, Nemanja Calasan. I stand by my earlier statement.) Hummel is said to be healthy and that’s unusually important because he’s actually vital to his team on both offense (threes) and defense (boards). It’s just that people can’t process that intellectually because he happens to be a skinny guy who looks like the kid who bags your groceries. If he looked like a taller Chris Kramer everyone would understand exactly what Hummel does for the Boilers.

Michigan State’s going to be tough too, of course. As always they’re the deepest and most talented team in the Big Ten. I just think Matt Painter’s group will be slightly better.

ITH: And from the second tier of teams, which team has the best shot at unseating the Spartans or Boilermakers?

JG: Ohio State. They’re like an elite commando unit in some ’60s movie with Lee Marvin where each person has a specialty. There’s Turner (cigar-chomping commander), William Buford (spot-up shooter), David Lighty (perimeter defender), Jon Diebler (threes), and, when he gets healthy, Dallas Lauderdale (shot-eraser). If Lighty can pick up where he left off on D in 2008 and if the Buckeyes can just hang on to the rock, people will run around screaming with their hands above their heads about how good this team suddenly is, what a huge surprise they are, etc.

ITH: Are Penn State and Northwestern being sold short by not being included in that second tier of teams? Will either of these teams be in the discussion for a NCAA Tournament bid?

JG: My brother’s a long-suffering Northwestern fan (redundant), so maybe I’m a little biased. But I do think the ‘Cats could be in the discussion if John Shurna or someone else steps into the role Craig Moore had last year, which was giving opposing defenses something to think about besides just Kevin Coble. The leap forward that NU experienced last season was, according to the stuff I track, as large as any improvement recorded by a major-conference team in at least four years. It’s just that, ironically, Missouri, Oregon State, and LSU were also registering the same level of (incredible) improvement last year. So there were turnarounds all around in 2009.

As for Penn State, much as I love what Talor Battle did for the Nittany Lions last year he’s going to need some help to get this team into bubble territory. And by that I specifically mean a teammate is going to have to surprise the heck out of us, like Turner did last year at Ohio State.

ITH: Let’s shift to a national perspective. Who are your top five teams? And who are two teams that could surprise some people with a run to Indianapolis?

JG: There’s Kansas and then there’s everyone else. I’m sure Kentucky’s John Wall and Georgia Tech’s Derrick Favors are everything everyone says they are but, until I see them actually play, Cole Aldrich is the best example of a college player that literally could start for an NBA team today, at this instant, just as he is right now. If North Carolina’s Ed Davis can come anywhere close to the season Aldrich had last year, Davis will get five times the pub. Unlike Aldrich he won’t have Blake Griffin hogging the spotlight.

I know everyone’s picking KU to win it all this year, of course, but I still feel like people don’t realize just how good this team was last year. To be sure, losing very late in the year by 19 to Texas Tech, of all teams, didn’t help matters. (The Jayhawks haven’t won in Lubbock since 2003.) But the truth is last year Kansas, with five new starters, came surprisingly close to the level of performance set by the 2008 national championship team. And now they’re all back, with McDonald’s All-American Xavier Henry thrown in for good measure.

Part two of our interview with John — an Indiana preview and a look at his book, The Basketball Prospectus 2010 Major-Conference Preview — will be published soon on Inside the Hall.

Go check it out, or I will be very, very mad at you.

Inside the Hall caught up with Wertheim and asked him about the thought process behind the story, his dealings with Kelvin Sampson, Crean’s relationship with Sampson and more. Our Q & A is below:

Inside the Hall: Your story is the most detailed chronicle of the last 30 months in Bloomington we’ve read. Did you go to your editors with the idea or did they assign you the task knowing you’d do best at it? How long did you work on it?

L. Jon Wertheim:  Thanks. An editor at Sports Illustrated asked me if I had interest in the story, given my Bloomington ties and IU ties. I said, ‘sure,’ thinking I would write a Tom Crean profile and just sort of rehash L’Affaire Sampson. It occurred to me, though, that while the day-to-day coverage was quite strong, no one had really told the Sampson saga from start to finish.

The larger issues of race and culture and pressure to win become clearer when you can step back a bit. Also, as I spoke to people in town—everyone from IU administrators to folks at Rosie’s diner*— it was clear that the wounds weren’t entirely healed. I visited Bloomington in mid-August and worked on the story on and off for a few weeks.
* Visit if you haven’t already done so. Best pie you will ever eat.

ITH: You were able to talk to Kelvin Sampson. We’re not aware of him talking to anyone else on the record about IU. How hard was he to track down? Did he seem annoyed by any of your questions? Did you get any sense of regret from him?

Wertheim:  I contacted Kelvin Sampson last summer via the Bucks and was told he wasn’t interested in speaking. Then in late September he called me out of the blue. My impression was that he heard that I had spoken with various people who were not painting him in a favorable light and decided he ought to get his side of the story across. In the end, I probably spoke with him half a dozen times. I did get a sense of regret and remorse.

I also got a sense that he feels as though his punishment—both literally and in terms of the hit his image has taken—did not fit the crime. I see it both ways. I think it’s hard to look at the facts and the unraveling and not hold him largely responsible. But I also think there’s an irony/sadness in that for all the indefensible behavior in college basketball, making improper phone calls (even as a repeat offender) doesn’t rate too high on the list.

ITH: You talk a bit about how fond former IU President Adam Herbert was of Sampson. There seems to be a debate on Herbert’s involvement in hiring Sampson. Some believe he was the main person responsible yet ultimately Rick Greenspan lost his job over this debacle. From what you gather, was it Herbert’s decision to hire Sampson and what role did Greenspan have in the decision?

Wertheim: I had been told by multiple sources that Herbert took an active role in the hiring of Sampson. Let’s put it that way. I asked a variation of this question to Herbert via email and was not extended the courtesy of a response. I know that Bob Kravitz raised this issue as well but I thought the lack of accountability and candor was pretty galling. For the high-minded “light and truth” talk (at a publicly funded university, no less), you’d like to think the leaders would have been significantly more answerable to the students/constituents when scandal hit.

As for Rick Greenspan this didn’t make the SI story, but I emailed him a question about Dr. Herbert and whether he felt betrayed or thrown under the proverbial bus. His response: “On these type of questions, I have and will continue to take the high road. I have seen the low road and there is too much traffic.”

ITH: Tom Crean’s relationship with Sampson appears to be over if the quotes in the story are any indication. We know they were once good friends. Do you believe the riff is a result of the circumstances or did something bigger happen here?

Wertheim: This is the “media training” response: “That’s a question for Coach Crean.” Reading between the lines, though, there’s simply too much tension and awkwardness to sustain the friendship. I also think it didn’t help that so many players, pledging loyalty to Sampson in most cases, stopped going to class and transferred, killing IU’s APR.

ITH: You mention a ruling from the NCAA is expected in mid-November. We hadn’t heard of a definitive date for a decision reported previously. Is mid-November a timeline provided by the NCAA or IU?

Wertheim: That came from a source at IU.

Recommended reading: Transition Game: How Hoosiers Went Hip Hop by L. Jon Wertheim

On the title if he were to write a book about his last six weeks at IU:

“Oh man, I don’t know. Angelo Pizzo, the guy who wrote Hoosiers, told me we need a third act and we’ve got a movie. He said it’s going to be ‘Hoosiers, Rudy and then Dakich.’ I don’t know, ‘Managing Chaos,’ I have no idea.”

On whether or not he was prepared to kick more players off the team at IU had he stayed on the job another day:

“One more day. One more day and I had two others that were outta there. There’s no doubt about that. I didn’t have time on that particular day, but you know, what Tom has done coming in there is what I told him he was going to do.”

“He had to make his own decisions. A new coach comes in, you’ve gotta figure out what you want to do and how you want to do things and give people chances. But the time Tom and I sat down and talked about it, I told him what the end result was going to be because it was not something that wasn’t obvious. It was something that absolutely needed to happen.”

“Unfortunately, in my opinion, for the players involved I think it’s unfortunate for them, because they, in my opinion again, got rid of a great opportunity, threw away a great opportunity at a great basketball program and a great school. I don’t care where you go, unless you transfer to Louisville or Kentucky or Duke or Carolina or UCLA, you’re never going to go any place that matches what IU has, other than those other schools that I just mentioned.”

On what has transpired since his departure and the fallout from last season:

“I think the culture needed to change. I said that after we played Arkansas and I was criticized by a number of different groups of people, but it just needed to be. Unfortunately for me, I’ve never been one that is good at beating around the bush. I pretty much say what needs to happen and then people criticize and then generally it happens.”

“In terms of Greenspan, I feel bad, very bad for Rick. I think Rick’s done a lot of great things at IU, I really do. The facilities that are going up are tremendous. His attempt and I think rightfully so, to push football into a very competitive place is what you have to do at a school like Indiana. Rick was certainly trying to do that as evidenced by what he’s doing with the facilities. I feel bad for Rick, I really do. I like Rick, Rick gave me a great opportunity, I didn’t necessarily agree with all the things that went down late in my tenure at Indiana, but that’s the way life is.”

“It amazes me the amount of people that were affected by all of this. When you think about Kelvin Sampson, I think about Kellen and his daughter Lauren and his wife. They had a beautiful home, Lauren had a great job, Kellen is a great kid. I think about my own family, my kid. Rick Greenspan and his family. Tim Fitzpatrick, his wife and newly adopted son. The managers that were there. The fallout for the people has been so wide ranged and so sweeping that it makes me really sad. It didn’t need to happen, but it did.”

“Jennifer Brinegar, who was the compliance director at IU and I’ve never been anywhere and I hope the NCAA is listening to this, where compliance was so strict. Now I was there after it all went down in terms of the phone calls and things and the investigation was starting, so I wasn’t there when it was all really happening, but in my term there, Jennifer Brinegar and her staff, Ian Rickerby, did a great job.”

Forde is one of ESPN.com’s more talented and consistently entertaining writers. He covers college football and basketball for the .com, and is a former columnist at the Louisville Courier-Journal. Our questions are in bold.

Inside The Hall: You left the Louisville Courier-Journal after 17 years in 2004 to join ESPN.com. What was the transition like moving to the most widely read sports Web site in the country? What are the pluses and the minuses of working at a newspaper versus a Web site?

Pat Forde: The transition has been great. It was hard to leave behind a lot of friends and emotional capital invested in the newspaper, and the newspaper business. It was the only place I’d ever worked as an adult. And even after moving on I’ve come to have even greater respect for some of the people there and the care given given to every story.

But if I complain about my current job, shoot me. I work for the industry leader in sports coverage, where they never think small, and never plead poverty as an excuse for not doing the job right. The impact of ESPN is amazing and was brought home to me my first fall on the job, when we broke the news that Urban Meyer had said yes to Florida. Within minutes I was on Dan Patrick’s radio show and a satellite truck was on its way to my house to do live TV for most of the rest of the day. When ESPN mobilizes to cover breaking news, it’s something to see.

As for pluses and minuses: The greatest advantages to ESPN.com are the lack of limitations. Deadlines and space are never problems, so we can cover events and issues in much greater detail than newspapers. Especially night games. Our travel budget is robust, so we go places where newspapers no longer go to report stories. The only minuses for me is the increased travel, which can be difficult with a wife and three kids. I miss a lot of stuff.

The “Forde Yard Dash” and “Forde Minutes” have become must reads on ESPN.com. Were the titles something you came up with and more importantly, do you hand-pick the Dashette for each column?

I did come up with the title and the concept for the Dash — that came first. Then, when that was well received, it was suggested by one my bosses that we do a basketball version and I think he came up with the “Forde Minutes” name. And yes, I absolutely hand-pick every Dashette. It’s the most important work I do every week.

Sports blogs really took off in 2007. Some members of the traditional media refuse to accept blogs as reliable sources and others have embraced and shown appreciation for what blogs like Deadspin have been able to accomplish. A lot of newspapers are now requiring their reporters and columnists to blog in order to keep up with the times. What effect are blogs having on sports journalism and do you view them as a trend or as something that is here to stay?

Blogs are definitely having an effect. I welcome all attempts to modernize our industry; the good innovations will stay and the bad ones will eventually disappear. Blogs are here to stay and definitely have some positive aspects, in terms of giving people more information, more points of view, and more access to topics of interest.

Since I am an old-school newspaper guy, I do have some issues with blogs as they exist today. First, how many bloggers actually report news themselves? Do they throw rumors at the cyberwall and hope one or two stick? Do they simply repeat other people’s gossip? Do they know how to conduct interviews? (Props to you all for at least reaching out and asking questions.) And if they don’t report news independently, where would they be without the mainstream journalists who do? What I don’t like are blogs that exist simply to snipe at mainstream media that does the heavy lifting of reporting the news.

Also: While I support everyone’s right to sound off on public affairs and events, I don’t find a lot of it interesting or entertaining. Everyone wants to be Bill Simmons, but to my knowledge there’s only one him. Two hundred thousand bloggers cracking wise from their living room in their underwear all want to be the next Simmons, but how many of them are being paid (handsomely) to do it?

You’ve covered Final Fours and routinely covered games in Freedom Hall, Rupp Arena and Assembly Hall during your time at the C-J. Where’s your favorite place to cover a game and why?

I love all three of the local venues. If that makes me provincial, fine. But the fans care so much here, and there’s so much history to all those gyms. Of the three my favorite is Assembly Hall. The students are more involved and it just feels more authentic. I truly love the fact that as I walk in the door, I can smell the popcorn. Every time. If that ever changes, I’m not going back.

Shifting now to our specialty, the Indiana Hoosiers. Kelvin Sampson has done a lot of good things on the court thus far in Bloomington, but he’s also had problems staying out of the headlines off the court. How would you rate the job he’s done so far at Indiana and how serious should fans take the self-reported sanctions that were announced in October?

Answering the second part of that first: Fans should take it very seriously. One thing I’ve respected about Indiana fans is that they don’t have much tolerance for cheating. They had way too much tolerance for Bob Knight’s bullying tactics, but I believe they want to win fair and square on the court. And in Kelvin Sampson they have a very good coach with a very troublesome track record of flouting the rules and twisting the truth.

If I were the AD and president, I would have thought very seriously about firing him after this latest phone issue. Breaking the same rule twice is unconscionable and shows a disrespect for the tenets set forth by the NCAA and IU. I can understand why Rick Greenspan did not: This was his hand-picked guy, on the verge of big season, and Greenspan already took some hits for the search to replace Mike Davis. He couldn’t afford to fire Sampson at that time. But if the NCAA produces any more dirt on Kelvin during its ongoing investigation, I’d say he’ll be gone.

The Big Ten doesn’t appear to have an elite team. Michigan State, Indiana and Wisconsin all look pretty good – but certainly beatable. Who do you see as the best team in the league and is there a sleeper team that could make some noise?

I thought Michigan State was the best team, til it hung 36 on Iowa. That’s pathetic, and not the sign of a team that can reach a Final Four. So I’ll say Indiana is the team to beat. It has an inside-outside attack with White and Gordon, plus a bevy of complementary parts. The Hoosiers play good defense as well. If they hit outside shots they’ll be tough to beat. As for a sleeper: Would you believe Minnesota? Hardly overwhelming talent, but the Gophers have experience and are being coaches much better now than in recent years.

Eric Gordon is putting up a lot of points (23 ppg), but he’s also been very efficient in doing so (49.2 percent from the field). We wrote the other day that he’s the best guard in college basketball, but we’re certainly biased. Do you view him as the best freshman in the country and where does he fit in on your list of the best guards in the country?

I think most of the best players in the country are freshmen, so Gordon certainly belongs in the conversation. The only guard of comparable ability is Derrick Rose of Memphis, another freshman. And the only other freshmen in Gordon’s company are Michael Beasley and Kevin Love. I’d take those four and maybe have 80 percent of of the first-team All Americans. This freshman class is the best I’ve ever seen.

Not only is Gordon having a fantastic year, D.J. White is also putting up the best numbers of his career. If Indiana was to win the Big Ten, which player, Gordon or White, would have the inside track on player of the year in the conference?

Good question. Right now I’d favor Gordon, because look how much better Indiana is with him this year. But White has been excellent. We’ll have to see what happens over the next seven weeks to know for sure.

Last question: Who are your top four teams in the country and your first team All-Americans as we approach the halfway point of the season?

My top four teams are Memphis, North Carolina, Kansas, and UCLA. I think you draw a line after those four and create some distance before naming the next four. Memphis has a real chance to go undefeated into the NCAAs. Carolina just set a school record with seven straight 90-point games (keep that in mind every time you hear a coach say defense wins championships). Kansas is killing people. And UCLA had an impressive win over Washington State. Those are my four #1 seeds at this point.

As for All-Americans: I guess I can take the four freshmen listed above — Rose, Gordon, Beasley, and Love — and add Tyler Hansbrough to make five. I kinda think Chris Douglas-Roberts might be the best player at Memphis, though. I reserve the right to completely change my mind.

Inside the Hall: With D.J White returning and the arrival of Eric Gordon, IU is back in the preseason top 10 for the first time since the 1994-1995 season. Is this team capable of a run to San Antonio and which player, White or Gordon, is the key to getting them there?

Andy Katz: Both. The Hoosiers need balance to make it to San Antonio. They haven’t had those two working parts in concert in years. If the Hoosiers get an all-American season out of White and what should be a one-and-done stellar season out of Gordon then they will have the two most important pieces in place to make a run.

ITH: The preseason media poll penciled in Michigan State as the favorite to win the conference. Are the Spartans the team to beat in the Big Ten and if so, why?

Katz: The reason was experience. The Spartans return more overall experience and have the most important player to his team in the league in Drew Neitzel. Gordon may end up having just as good a statistical season but he’s still a freshman versus a senior. It’s hard to argue that point.

ITH: The self-imposed sanctions announced recently have dominated local headlines and have created chatter regarding Kelvin Sampson’s future at Indiana. Is Sampson’s job on the line and do you feel the NCAA could enforce additional penalties on the program?

Katz: Indiana has made it clear that it isn’t going to fire Sampson. I don’t know what the NCAA is going to do. So, we’ll have to wait and see. If the NCAA adds anymore sanctions then that might change the administration’s stance.

ITH: You wrote on your ESPN.com blog that Rob Senderoff “took one for the team” by stepping down from his assistant coach position. When these sanctions were originally announced, it seemed that Senderoff would keep his job with the understanding that his salary wouldn’t increase and he’d be unable to recruit for a year. What changed between that time and Senderoff’s resignation?

Katz: I’m not sure. I was surprised that Senderoff “voluntarily” resigned two weeks after the sanctions were announced. But it does take time to work out a severance agreement so I wouldn’t be shocked to later learn this was in the works for a few weeks, even as early as when the sanctions were announced.

ITH: You’re plugged in to a national coaching scene like few in sports journalism. Without naming names, how do coaches regard Sampson? Is there an overriding opinion of him?

Katz: I will repeat what I wrote: everyone like Sampson as a person, respects his coaching ability but a number of coaches, including his friends, are disappointed in this latest violation. The first one caused some concern but he was given a pass by most. But the second violation, the one dealing with the same issue, has caused a number of them to question Sampson.

ITH: Large media outlets — especially ESPN — are often criticized for breaking news that ends up incorrect or for claiming to break news that was actually broken by smaller entities. Do you ever hear that criticism and what steps do you take to A) verify your scoops (you have a lot of scoops) and B) make sure that proper credit is given across platforms?

Katz: I’m sorry but I totally disagree with your first point. I can’t speak to reports of news that proved to be incorrect. My policy is simple: I want to be right first, not first and then maybe not right. I usually have at least two to three sources on any major story unless it is the sole person who the story involves. I have been beaten by some stories because I take more of a conservative approach. But I’ve also been right with a longer and more concise story on a few major issues after another outlet put the baseline story out before me but then had incorrect information.

ITH: You’ve been covering college basketball since 1990. You’ve been to Final Fours and have visited many of the most storied arena’s in the country. Where is your favorite place to cover a game and what was, in your opinion, the best game you’ve ever covered?

Katz: Hmmm, I love going to Kansas, Florida, Oregon, Gonzaga, North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky and Maryland to name a few. The Palestra is also one of my favorite spots. I would say the Stanford win over Arizona on Nick Robinson’s buzzer beater may be the most exciting game I’ve ever covered.

Additionally, Inside the Hall had a Q & A with Derek shortly after he committed to the Hoosiers. You can check that out by clicking here.

Inside the Hall: Why did you decide that IU was the right place for you?

Derek Elston: I wanted to stay close to home and my friends and family. I just knew that playing for the Hoosiers was the place for me.

ITH: What was it about the way IU recruited you that set them apart from other schools?

DE: The coaching staff, definitely. They treated me like I was already there, like I was already a Hoosier.

ITH: Position wise, how do yourself fitting in at the college level?

DE: I’ll probably play the 3 or the 4, like a wing man. If I get any bigger I’d like to play in the post, but 3 or 4, definitely.

ITH: You’ve visited Bloomington several times. What do you like most about the campus?

DE: I really like the area and it’s probably the best campus I’ve ever seen. It’s really beautiful.

ITH: I got a chance to see you play in July at the Kentucky Hoop Fest and you looked like a player that loves to do the little things. Is that something you pride yourself on when you get on the court?

DE: I really don’t notice it but my coach always tells me I do the little things, but for me it’s just something that I like to do. I’m always after the loose ball. I really don’t see that as a big thing to me, but my coach always tells me I’m always doing it so it just comes natural.

ITH: What areas of your game are you working on the most right now?

DE: My jumpshot definitely. I don’t want to say it needs a lot of work, but I’d like to get it to where I could get some perfection on the 12 to 15 footers.

ITH: You’re a junior this year at Tipton. Talk a little bit about your expectations for the upcoming season.

DE: To go far. I don’t know how far. Definitely a sectional victory, hopefully a regional victory. We’ve got a senior point guard coming back, Matt Hodges, and the rest of us are people I’ve been playing with for all my life. We have the best chemistry and we’ve never had a losing record before in our lives. I think we’re going to go real far this year.

ITH: Your father, Darrell, played for North Carolina. Was North Carolina a factor in your recruitment and how much did you think about going there?

DE: Yeah, definitely I always wanted to go to North Carolina but my Dad always told me that he, you know, wanted to come and watch the games and never wanted me to follow in his footsteps.

ITH: Last question: Who was your favorite player growing up and why?

DE: Definitely Michael Jordan just because everytime he stepped on the floor and I’d turn on the TV it was just amazing to see what he could do. You can’t even explain it. I always wore his clothes ever since I was 6 or 7, I’ve always been wearing his stuff just because he’s amazing.

{For those of you who are new visitors to Inside the Hall, check out our interviews from earlier in the summer: Lance Stemler, Jamarcus Ellis and Armon Bassett.}