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.

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+ 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.

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.

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.

“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.

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.”

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.

Bassett’s first choice would be to return to Indiana, but the big question is will he make the cut academically? And in addition to that, will he make the necessary changes to be reinstated by Coach Crean? Finals begin today in Bloomington and run through Friday, so we should know more on the status of Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis in the upcoming weeks. My guess is that both players will exhaust all avenues that could lead to a return to the Indiana program before opting to go elsewhere. If that is the case, this could play out well into the summer.

(Anytime you talk about rumors, it’s essential to reference this post by Hutch.)

So what does this poor academic standing mean for the team at large? Perhaps a scholarship loss.

If Indiana fails to meet the NCAA’s cutoff score, 925, it faces the prospect of losing more scholarships. The school already stripped itself of one next season because of Kelvin Sampson’s alleged phone call violations, and The Indianapolis Star reported the men’s basketball team is expected to turn in a score of 899 next month.

Neither Crean nor team spokesman J.D. Campbell would confirm that number Tuesday.

NCAA rules say any team below 925 could lose a scholarship for each player who leaves the school while academically ineligible. The maximum penalty in men’s basketball is two scholarships.

Crean declined to identify specific players who were struggling in the classroom because of privacy laws, but acknowledged he is concerned about the Hoosiers’ academic performance as a whole. Plus, he still has not decided whether to reinstate starting guards Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis, who were dismissed from the team just hours before Crean took the job April 1.

So basically here’s the deal: if Armon Bassett or Jamarcus Ellis or anyone else ends up leaving IU — and they also happen to be academically ineligible — IU could very well lose another scholarship. Hoosier Nation reported that Ellis was one of the seven players on the team that had a GPA above 3.0 first semester, so if he happened to leave, a betting man would say he might be leaving in good (enough) academic standing.

This certainly isn’t the worst thing to befall the program in recent months, but it’s a bit unsettling nonetheless. Crean has a stellar graduation rate and a strong focus on grades; hopefully this is the last time we have to deal with something like this under his tenure.

From a basketball standpoint, allowing both Bassett and Ellis to return to the program is a no-brainer. The duo represents IU’s only returning starters for next season’s team and their presence would go a long way in solidifying a shot at middle of the road stature in next year’s Big Ten race.

Unfortunately, due to the actions of both players over the course of this past season, this decision is not simply about basketball. In his press conference following IU’s loss to Arkansas, then interim coach Dan Dakich talked about changes that were needed to send the program in the right direction. And a couple of weeks later, Dakich, with the approval of the athletic department, booted Bassett and Ellis from the team.

While it is unclear exactly what type of infractions were committed to lead to their dismissal, rest assured it was much more than missed meetings and refusals to “own up” to those missed appointments. Neither guy seemed willing to let Dakich do his job in the tough situation he inherited. Ellis was shown in a few instances talking back to Dakich on the sidelines and Bassett had already been suspended once before. No matter how tough the situation was for everyone involved, their disrespectful behavior towards Dakich cannot be justified.

Now the responsibility to sort out this mess falls on the shoulders of Crean. I’m confident he’ll make the right decision for the program, the university and the players. If that means allowing both guys to return if they meet certain criteria set out by Crean, we should welcome them back to the program once they’ve paid the price. Or if Crean decides they don’t deserve another shot, I’m positive the rationale behind that decision will be plentiful.

Either way, it’s important to remember that no one individual is, or ever will be, bigger than the program.