Roger Franklin still high on the Hoosiers
By Big A | July 8, 2008
Jerry Meyer, the national recruiting analyst for Rivals.com, had an update this afternoon from the LeBron James Skills Academy and one of his tidbits should be of interest to Hoosier fans.
Roger Franklin, a 2009 forward who’s playing this summer with Team Texas, is still high on IU despite the recent troubles with the NCAA:
“Indiana is a basketball powerhouse and right now I’m still high on them. They have a great coach in Tom Crean. And I know they have lost a lot of players, but that means there is a great opportunity to play and that’s why they are still on my list.”
Franklin is one of the most logical candidates to fill out the 2009 class and he’s exactly the type of player that IU needs. One scout told me that Franklin plays so hard that other kids often get angry at him and a couple of players told the same scout they don’t like playing against Franklin for that very reason. He’s 6-6, 217 lbs and can finish inside, but also has a developing outside game. He’s definitely a player to keep an eye on as the summer AAU tournaments move along.
(Photo Credit: Rivals.com)
Tags: Roger Franklin Posted in Recruiting |
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Together at last: Armon Bassett and Mike Davis
By Big A | July 8, 2008
Armon Bassett will finally suit up for the coach responsible for bringing him to Bloomington - Mike Davis - as the former IU guard announced his intentions to transfer to UAB in today’s Birmingham News.
“I’m good friends with Robert (Vaden). Coach Davis put Robert in a good situation and he’ll probably be a top 20 pick next year. Seeing that put me over the edge (toward UAB).”
Bassett was one of two players dismissed from Indiana’s team by former interim head coach Dan Dakich in April for missing an appointment and refusing to run laps as punishment. Current Indiana head coach Tom Crean upheld the dismissal after taking over.
“Its tough, man, but going through that makes you stronger. Things happen for a reason. When God closes one door, he opens another.”
Most people I’ve talked to insist that Bassett isn’t a bad guy — but his extracurricular activities weren’t going to fly under the new coaching staff. And they shouldn’t have. Solid pickup for Davis, as he’ll be able to pair Bassett with 2009 recruit DeMarcus Cousins. Whether or not that turns into on the court success remains to be seen.
Tags: Armon Bassett, Mike Davis, UAB Blazers Posted in Former Hoosiers | Subscribe to RSS Updates |
Third assistant announcement could come in August
By Big A | July 7, 2008
Those of you waiting to hear who will take the final assistant coaching spot on Tom Crean’s staff should plan to wait a few more weeks. Indiana is not expected to name a third assistant coach until after July 31, the final day of the summer evaluation period for college coaches.
The likely reason for the delay: waiting until after July 31 will allow a prospective candidate to travel the AAU circuit during the month of July and make an unlimited amount of stops. The prospective candidate will not be allowed to recruit for the school, but he will be able to watch countless AAU games and see plenty of prospects.
Had Indiana already chosen to name the third assistant, that position would not have been allowed to travel off campus due to restrictions imposed last fall. This is a strategy other schools have used in the past during transitions of coaching staffs and it makes sense as July is the biggest month of the year in recruiting.
Tags: Assistant Coach Search, Tom Crean Posted in Media | Subscribe to RSS Updates |
Possible AD candidates start to trickle out
By Big A | July 5, 2008
The Indianapolis Business Journal has an excellent piece this morning on the search for a new athletic director and it includes a list of candidates that could potentially fill the opening:
Former IU basketball player and current Senior Associate Athletic Director Chris Reynolds, IU Varsity Club Director Scott Dolson, former IU football star Harry Gonso, former IU basketball player and TV commentator John Laskowski and well-known Indianapolis sports attorney Jack Swarbrick are the names with the strongest local ties that have surfaced. Tom Jurich, the highly regarded University of Louisville athletic director, is the first and most prominent within the AD fraternity to surface. He certainly won’t be the last.
Not a bad list to kick off the search with, but the chances of Jurich leaving Louisville for Indiana are zero unless IU is willing to pay upwards of $750,000 (or more) annually. And given the financial packages that are currently on the books, it would be hard to justify that kind of cash for a guy who would likely want to come in and get his own guy to head the football program.
McRobbie, who departed the country for a planned trip shortly after Greenspan’s resignation was announced, is expected to make the final decision himself. He hasn’t said how the candidates will be identified, but sources within the university’s athletic department expect him to take one of three routes.
The most likely process would mirror the one McRobbie used to hire Crean. He formed a search committee to identify two or three finalists and made the hire after conferring with IU’s nine-member board.
Hopefully this will be the route used in the hiring as it would put McRobbie’s accountability front and center and give him a chance to put his stamp on the athletic department going forward. If he makes the right call, he solidifies himself as an important figure in the rebuilding process following the Kelvin Sampson fiasco. If not, well, you know the story.
The final point of interest from the piece is the debate on whether IU needs to hire an AD with “Indiana ties.” Mike Pegram, who runs Peegs.com, feels it’s a necessity while former IU cross-country and track runner Bob Kennedy isn’t so sure:
“I didn’t formerly subscribe to hiring an IU guy,” said Pegram. “But now I do. I just think now it’s so important to nurture the Indiana culture—emphasizing playing by the rules, graduation, doing things the right way. I think having the kind of sensibility that will come from someone with Indiana ties is now more important than ever.”
“We have to keep our horizons broad and get the best possible person,” said Kennedy, who was recently elected to the IU Varsity Club board of directors. “It’s up to the president and trustees to define a culture and hire people best able to nurture the culture you want.”
I’m going with Kennedy on this. If we subscribe to the “we need an IU guy” theory, Tom Crean is still in Marquette and we’re left with Steve Alford or Dan Dakich. The necessity is to hire best candidate out there, regardless of previous affiliations.
So, ITH’ers: A couple of questions for you to ponder and then discuss. What do you think of the early list of candidates? Any names that intrigue you? Do you want McRobbie making the final call on Greenspan’s replacement? And finally, do we need an “IU guy” in the role of athletic director?
Tags: Athletic Director search, Kelvin Sampson, Michael McRobbie, Tom Crean, Tom Jurich Posted in Media | Subscribe to RSS Updates |
Bud Mackey is a free man (for now); Jordan Crawford down to five schools
By Big A | July 3, 2008
Bud Mackey, who lost his opportunity to attend IU after being caught at school with crack, is a free man once again. WKYT in Lexington, Kentucky reports that Mackey was released at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday:
Former Scott County High School basketball star Bud Mackey is out jail, but not out of trouble. Workers at the Scott County Jail say Mackey was released at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.
He served 60 days for violating his bond. He’s been in trouble since being arrested on drug charges.
A judge says Mackey must now live with his grandfather in Lexington and get a full-time job or work toward his GED. His trial on drug charges begins in August.
The most unbelievable part of the whole story is that Mackey’s name still comes up as one of the “best available” players remaining on the board for 2008 by a couple different recruiting services. I put Mackey’s chances of ever suiting up at a legitimate DI school at less than 50 percent.
Switching gears a bit, Jordan Crawford has narrowed his list of schools to five and Kentucky isn’t among the finalists. Jerry Tipton of The Lexington Herald Leader has the details:
Jordan is considering Xavier, Cincinnati, Texas, Oklahoma and Central Michigan. He’s ”leaning more than heavily“ toward one of those schools, his mother Sylvia said.
The school that Mrs. Crawford is referring to is Xavier, reportedly the second choice for Crawford when he picked Indiana in November of 2006. He’s expected to make his decision sometime this weekend.
Tags: Bud Mackey, Jordan Crawford Posted in Former Hoosiers | Subscribe to RSS Updates |
And Kelvin Sampson claims another casualty
By PostmanR | July 3, 2008
We’ve seen the reverberations inside the program since Sampson left: players getting dismissed, scholarships being lost, an AD peacing out on the program. But what about us common folk who were looking at the Sampson tenure in the long haul? What about Matt Kesten who sold 2,592 “Sampsonite” shirts to Steve and Barry’s and hasn’t seen a penny for it?
Kesten is a 23-year-old entrepreneur, who started a sports promotional products company called Hoosier Beat after graduating from Indiana University. After the school hired Kelvin Sampson to be their head basketball coach, Kesten received approval from Sampson to, without royalty owed, make “Sampsonite” T-shirts.
In November, three months before Sampson was forced to resign because of recruiting violations, Steve & Barry’s in Bloomington, Ind., took an order of 2,592 of Kesten’s “Sampsonite” T-shirts and agreed to pay $12,312 within 60 days.
“They told me a check was cut on December 28th,” Kesten said. “But they told me that it was awaiting a signature.” Kesten was told the only person who signed the checks at the company was co-founder Barry Prevor.
Weeks went by and Kesten was promised it was coming. Over the last four months, he says the exact status of his check became more vague and it has been impossible to get a phone call returned from the company.
“It was only in the past week where they set up an inquiry line,” Kesten said. “I assume that was done for the hundreds of people like myself who are just trying to get through to get the money that was owed to them.”
Now, this anecdote speaks to the larger point of Darren Rovell’s scoop: Steve and Barry’s is likely filing for bankruptcy and thus, aren’t paying out to their vendors here and there. But one would think Mr. Kesten is getting the rawest of deals out of all of them because well, I’m sure Steve and Barry’s customers aren’t clamoring for “Sampsonite” t-shirts. Just a hunch.
I have a similar quandary: my signed and framed column I wrote praising Sampson is somewhere amidst all the junk in my closet. Certainly not going to ever be putting that up on the wall. Bastard.
{HT: Cannot Falter.}
Tags: Kelvin Samspon, Steve and Barry's Posted in Commentary | Subscribe to RSS Updates |
Crean hitting the road this weekend
By Big A | July 3, 2008
Tom Crean is expected to use one of his seven remaining recruiting evaluation days this weekend to watch the It Takes 5IVE event at the University of Cincinnati. Crean will get a good look at the Indiana Elite team, featuring 2009 commitments Bobby Capobianco and Jordan Hulls. He’ll also get a chance to see Lawrence North’s Stephan Van Treese, who is listing Indiana as one of his five finalists but does not have an offer from the new coaching staff.
Back in April, Indiana lifted self-imposed recruiting sanctions to allow Crean ten days of off-campus recruiting.
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