06/17/2008 7:17 am // Alex Bozich
– Eric Gordon completed his third and final pre-draft workout on Monday for the Los Angeles Clippers. Gordon also worked out for Seattle and New York, but the Clippers at No. 7 seem to be the most realistic option of the three. “He’s got pro 3-point range,” Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said afterwards. {Catching the Clippers}
– Our old friend Robert Vaden came to his senses and pulled his name out of the NBA Draft on Monday. Vaden was projected as a second round pick at best by a majority of the mock drafts. {Indiana Daily Student}
– The thought of IU matching up with North Carolina in Maui just got a lot scarier. Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson and Danny Green all pulled their names out of the NBA Draft, making UNC the overwhelming choice for preseason No. 1. {AOL FanHouse}
– 2009 commitment Bobby Capobianco was invited to the NBPA Top 100 Camp in Charlottesville, Virginia and will team up with Stephan Van Treese and Roger Franklin. Van Treese visited Bloomington on Monday and met with Indiana coach Tom Crean. {ESPN.com}
06/16/2008 11:08 am // Alex Bozich
As much I like to follow recruiting, there are some things that drive me crazy. One of those things is when a recruit, parent, coach, representative or handler takes a list of schools and discusses it with a reporter. Take Emmanuel Negedu’s coach at Brewster Academy, Jason Smith, for example. Smith talked to Adam Zagoria of the Zagsblog about the four schools in the running for Negedu and the result was a big pile of nothing:
Indiana has tremendous tradition and passion for basketball. The previous staff recruited Emmanuel, so he was familiar with the University, but it was a great chance for him to get to know Coach (Tom) Crean and hear about his style and track record of player development. They are rebuilding and would offer a shot at immediate playing time. He is very familiar with Bloomington, since he lived there and played for Indiana Elite. A few of his former teammates at IU definitely make it an attractive option. Emmanuel enjoyed getting to know Coach Crean. It’s very evident he’s a high-energy, upbeat coach who Emmanuel reports works non-stop…constant motion.
Indiana has tradition and passion for basketball? Who knew? I know some of you are waiting anxiously on a decision from Negedu, but all signs point to Tennessee or Memphis. Luckily we have Kyle Taber* back to hold down the paint.
{HT: Basketblog}
*For the record, Kyle Taber is a fine lad who I enjoy watching play basketball.
06/16/2008 8:48 am // Alex Bozich
I know, I know, you heard rumblings that a deal could be close all of last season. Meanwhile, you grew tired of the posturing from both sides and got a dish or switched to RCN because you wanted to see Eric Gordon and D.J. White from the comfort of your living room instead of a bar stool. I don’t blame you.
According to a report late last night by Teddy Greinstein of The Chicago Tribune, a deal between Comcast and the Big Ten Network should be announced this week:
Comcast, which had been losing customers to DirecTV, the Dish Network and RCN Cable, will have video-on-demand features that will allow customers to access their favorite team’s greatest games and replays of condensed, “snap-to-snap” games, according to sources.
The BTN completed the deal without caving on its central demand: that the channel be placed on expanded basic, rather than a sports tier, in the eight-state footprint. Only Philadelphia will be excluded.
So not only will Comcast carry the Big Ten Network, they’re going to have some on-demand features and condensed games for your viewing pleasure. Probably not enough to get you to climb up on your roof and take down the dish, but for those of you still left in the dark due to this fiasco, this is good news. Better late than never, right?
06/15/2008 10:33 am // Alex Bozich
The latest departure in the mass exodus from the Indiana program, Jordan Crawford, is reportedly hopeful that he’ll garner interest from a program in Lexington, Kentucky. This according to Jerry Tipton of The Lexington Herald Leader, who got the following update from Jordan’s mom, Sylvia:
“I would hope they would be interested,” she said.
But, first, the Crawford family and Indiana need to work out the terms of Crawford’s release. In the wake of former IU Coach Kelvin Sampson’s departure, Crawford decided last week to transfer from Indiana.
Indiana has not decided what, if any restrictions, it wants to place on Crawford’s choice of a second college, spokesman J.D. Campbell said in an e-mail message.
So the Crawfords must wait for those details to be finalized before seriously considering Jordan’s options.
Besides Eli Holman, Crawford is the only player that left the program willingly, so Indiana has some decisions to make on his situation. It is not uncommon for a school to place restrictions on a transfer, but there have been cases in which a student athlete has fought the restrictions in the media and the school eventually caved to avoid the bad publicity.
Crawford will likely be prohibited from transferring to another Big Ten school, but Kentucky could also be a no-go because of the rivalry between the schools and the fact that Jordan’s brother, Joe, also played there.
So my question for you, ITH’ers, is this…Should IU block Jordan Crawford from transferring to Kentucky? Either way you go with your answer, back it up with some substance and hit us up in the comments. Happy Father’s Day.
06/13/2008 6:30 am // Staff
Update #2: The hearings concluded late on Saturday and The Hoosier Scoop has comments from Rick Greenspan, Jerry Meyer and Rob Senderoff’s attorney. The case is now in the hands of the infractions committee and it could be as long as six weeks before the results are made public.
Update: The hearings will continue into Saturday. No big news from Friday, but reporters from the AP caught up with Sampson and here’s what he had to say about the hearings: “It went well. It’s a process. We’ll be back tomorrow.” That’s some groundbreaking stuff, Kelvin. IU officials had no comment.
Today, Kelvin Sampson has his date in court with the NCAA — the day he’s supposedly been looking forward to in order to set the record straight. So what happens on this Friday the 13th? Does Sampson win the court over and pull out an O.J. Simpson-esque victory? Does the courtroom turn into a scene from A Few Good Men … YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!
And most importantly, how worried are we the NCAA is going to drop the hammer and further sanction the men’s basketball program when a decision is announced a month or so from now? A little worried? Sort of worried? Not really worried because the penalty will be light if there’s any penalty at all?
(Those of you looking for specifics of how everything will go down, Mark Alesia of The Indianapolis Star has you covered.)
Holler at us in the comments with thoughts and we’ll do our best to get some coverage up as the day unfolds.
Also, for some background on how it’s all come to this, check out our time line with links to coverage after the jump…
Read →
06/11/2008 4:21 pm // Eamonn Brennan
Surprise, surprise: Jordan Crawford’s family has told new IU coach Tom Crean that Crawford won’t be returning to IU. The Herald Times’ diligent Chris Korman has the scoop.
Nice. That officially gives IU, what, two returning players next year? Three? I’m not joking: I honestly have no clue how many players the Hoosiers will suit up next year. If only Adam Ahlfeld had one more year of eligibility, he could have started at the point.
Now, please excuse me. I’m going to go ignore the fact that any of this ever happened. If you close your eyes so hard you see stars, breathe deeply, and hit yourself in the head with a ball peen hammer forty or fifty times, it’s like our team is still really good. And there are pretty colors everywhere! I highly recommend it.
Update: The Basketblog has a couple of confirmations, too.
Update #2: The H-T/Hoosier Scoop has a statement from the Crawford family:
“We are proud that our son Jordan has been a part of the Indiana University basketball program, one with a long and storied tradition of academic and athletic excellence. In Jordan’s short career, he was able to show his desire to emulate these characteristics. However, due to unforeseen circumstances he has chosen to move in a new direction. He and our entire family wish Indiana University continued success.”
Related:
06/10/2008 10:13 pm // Alex Bozich
Former Indiana Director of Basketball Operations/Assistant coach/Interim coach Dan Dakich talked to Al Hamnik of The Northwest Indiana Times and Hamnik fired off some questions we’ve all been clamoring to have answered. Dakich gave a couple of good responses and predictably, dodged the toughest question:
NW Times: It’s been rumored there was a drug problem on the team.
Dakich: I’m not going into that.
NW Times: The Hoosiers finished 3-4 with you at the helm, leading many to believe the team quit on you.
Dakich: We were 3-1 and then a lot of things started happening, internally, that I’m not about to go into. Truth of the matter is, it got easy for people to say the players quit on Dakich, they quit on Indiana. But Eric Gordon went 7-for-50. That ain’t quittin’. That’s just missin’. Guys didn’t make shots they had made earlier in the year. This team lived on the edge — with Gordon making shots. This whole notion of the players revolting or being against me … the players were against losing Coach Sampson. I’m not going to say they weren’t (ticked) off at the administration, at the school. The players didn’t understand why phone calls were such a big deal when some of them had been called numerous times by other schools.
NW Times: Following the season, you kicked sophomore Armon Bassett and junior Jamarcus Ellis off the team. The exodus of players continued when Tom Crean was hired as the new coach. Were these simply bad recruits?
Dakich: When I took over the team, there was going to be accountability for class attendance, getting to practice on time, things of that nature. There were kids there that absolutely did not respect Indiana University and had no respect for the basketball program. My decision to dismiss two guys was really easy. Crean’s decision to dismiss the rest of ‘em was really easy. The only way that wasn’t going to happen was if somebody came into Indiana University and didn’t care about anything. I said that in my postgame after the (NCAA) Arkansas game: The culture needed to change and get back to being Indiana University basketball, which is on the level with North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and UCLA.
For all of the second guessing that a lot of us (myself included) did when Dakich kicked Ellis and Bassett to the curb, it’s good to see the man has been vindicated for his actions. He started the cleanup of the program and now Tom Crean is moving forward with the rebuilding process.
As far as Dakich saying the team didn’t quit on him, I think the effort was there from guys like White, Gordon, Stemler and Taber, but there were definitely others who looked like they could not have cared less. Sorry Dan, but the downfall of the season can’t simply be blamed on missed shots by Gordon. The swagger the team had in those two home games against Purdue and Michigan State completely evaporated after Sampson’s dismissal. Combine that with an injured Gordon and a group of players that weren’t on board with Dakich and well, you know how the story ends.
