Armon Bassett, the subject of an excellent piece written by Chris Korman in yesterday’s Herald-Times, has enrolled at Ohio University.

Here’s an excerpt from the press release:

Ohio University head men’s basketball coach John Groce announced on Friday that guard Armon Bassett has enrolled at the University for the winter quarter and will begin competing for the Bobcats at the conclusion of the 2009 fall quarter.

“We’re extremely excited to welcome Armon Bassett into the Ohio basketball family,” Groce said. “I’ve been close with Armon and his family for a number of years, and I’m confident that he’ll be a great addition to the program, both on and off the court. This is an exciting day for Armon and Ohio basketball, and we all look forward to helping him reach his goals over the next few years.”

I’m glad Bassett is getting a chance at another DI school, but from what I understand, one of Bassett’s reasons for leaving UAB was to be closer to home due to a personal issue. Maybe I’m looking at a different map, but Athens, Ohio is 328 miles from Terre Haute. Something tells me there’s more to the story, but we’ll probably never hear it.

+ Connect to Inside the Hall with Facebook: Inside the Hall readers can now login and post comments using their Facebook account. Just click the Facebook Connect link under the comment box to get started.

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

+ Pete DiPrimio raises the question on the mind of a lot of IU fans: Could the Hoosiers go winless in the Big Ten? {Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel}

+ ESPN analyst Dick Vitale says that in two to three years, Indiana will be a perennial top-20 program under the leadership of Tom Crean. {Indianapolis Star}

+ Eric Gordon is financially backing a new AAU program, Gordon Elite, and several of the top players from Indiana are already on board. {Basketblog}

+ Crean, Tom Pritchard, Nick Williams and Daniel Moore address the media in advance of Saturday’s Big Ten opener at Carver Hawkeye Arena. {IUHoosiers.com}

Quotable:

“There wasn’t anybody involved in last year who didn’t make a mistake. Everyone would take something back. But they can’t. And, you know, we paid our debt. Look at the situation. No one got out without suffering.” – Armon Bassett on what transpired last year at Indiana.

Former Indiana guard, who was booted off the Indiana roster last spring by interim coach Dan Dakich, is leaving UAB.

Jeff Goodman of FoxSports has the scoop:

Former Indiana guard Armon Bassett won’t play a game at UAB.

The 6-foot-1 junior, who was forced to sit out this season after transferring from Indiana, is leaving UAB, according to sources close to the situation.

Whatever the reason for leaving (speculation here that it’s grades), it’s a shame that a string of bad decisions ended Bassett’s career at IU and he’s now at another crossroads. Depending on the circumstances of his departure from UAB, it’s possible that he’ll get another chance somewhere, but his window of opportunity is getting smaller by the second.

Thanks to the Herald-Times for doing the grunt work on this: through an open records request it looks like we can now confirm IU’s atrocious academic standing in the second semester with a figure. That figure? A 2.13 GPA. Whoopsies!

Armon Bassett told the H-T players didn’t go to class for two weeks during the turmoil and this contributed to the low number. I would buy this as an excuse until I remember my last semester at IU; one in which I didn’t go to class ever, drank four nights a week and managed a GPA much higher than 2.13. And I didn’t have any tutors.

The moral of this story is that everyone should major in journalism.

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.

Here is a statement released a short time ago by IU Media Relations:

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – ­ Indiana Men’s Basketball Coach Tom Crean announced today that junior DeAndre Thomas has been dismissed from the program and will not have his scholarship renewed. In addition, sophomore Armon Bassett will not be reinstated for failing to comply with University and Athletic Department guidelines. Junior Jamarcus Ellis also will not be reinstated to the active roster. Both Bassett and Ellis were originally dismissed from the program on March 31. Crean also announced on Thursday that freshman Eli Holman could not return next season.

“Before you build a team, you need to develop a family,” said Crean. “We will go through the learning process, feel some growing pains and experience some bumps in the road along the way. We need the Hoosier Nation to rally around this program as we go through these stages.”

“Our staff if going to ensure that anyone who attends this University and wears the Indiana uniform will make this privilege among their highest priorities and not treat the opportunity as an entitlement,” added Crean. “We fully expect our student-athletes to accept the responsibilities academically, athletically and socially that come with representing one of the top programs in college basketball history.”

Andy Katz over at the World Wide Leader is reporting the following this afternoon:

New Indiana coach Tom Crean will be down to three returning scholarship players and eight players in all for next season once the school officially announces the departures of four Hoosiers later Friday afternoon, a high-ranking Indiana source told ESPN.com.

Sophomore Armon Bassett and junior Jamarcus Ellis, who had appealed their suspensions by former interim coach Dan Dakich, were dismissed from the program. Junior forward DeAndre Thomas will also not return and neither will freshman Eli Holman, who has elected to transfer after a meeting Thursday that required a call to campus police when Holman became agitated.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it does. More later today after we’re able to wrap our collective brains around this mess. For now, I’ll just say: Thank you Kelvin Sampson. Not.