Around the Hall is recommended reading from the Inside the Hall crew. Send us a news tip at tips@insidethehall.com.

+ Chris Korman of the H-T/Hoosier Scoop has highlights from the Hall induction, including the full text of Bob Knight’s letter to Fred Glass that was read at the ceremony. {The Hoosier Scoop}

+ Michael Rosenburg of Sports Illustrated writes that it’s time for Knight and Indiana to move on and bury the hatchet. {SI.com}

+ Terry Hutchens writes that Bob Knight was recalled fondly at the Hall of Fame induction. {The Indianapolis Star}

+ IU Athletics celebrates 2009 Hall of Fame class. {IUHoosiers.com}

Quotable: “You are the only person in the administrative capacity at Indiana in the last ten years to say thank you for what we did, and I appreciate your doing so. You mentioned in your letter to me that you would like to sit down and talk with me any place or at any time. I would be willing to do this and would suggest that you bring Bob Hammel with you as he would be a great help in your understanding why I feel as I do. It is obvious that the people who replaced the aforementioned people over the years have not nearly maintained the standards with Indiana’s athletic program that those people established. I would hope that during your tenure you would be able to get Indiana athletics back where it once was and want to wish you the very best in that regard.” – Excerpt from Knight’s letter to Glass.

(Photo courtesy of Tom Crean’s Twitter.)

Around the Hall is recommended reading (and in this case, listening) from the Inside the Hall crew.

+ The Big Ten Network has video interviews with most of the coaches in the conference (Tom Crean not included). {Big Ten Network}

+ The media selected Michigan State as the preseason favorite to win the Big Ten and also announced its all-league team, headlined by Kalin Lucas. {Big Ten Conference}

+ Fred Glass confirmed that he talked to Bob Knight and the former coach will not attend his Hall of Fame induction. His reason? He didn’t want to detract from the other inductees. {IU Athletics}

+ Michigan State coach Tom Izzo says the Big Ten is the best its been in a decade. And Bruce Weber chimes in on Indiana. {The Hoosier Scoop}

Big Ten Media Day Tom Crean Audio (Thanks to The Hoosier Scoop)

Or if you prefer video

If Bob Knight’s comments released on Tuesday weren’t a clear indication on where he stood on showing up to his induction into Indiana’s Athletics Hall of Fame, ESPN’s Dick Vitale has your clarification. Knight isn’t coming.

Making matters worse, fans will now be treated to another season of Dick Vitale mentioning that Indiana should rename Assembly Hall after Knight. Might be time to make sure your mute button works.

Remember Friday when I surmised that maybe, just maybe, this olive branch extended by the alumni might have healed the last wound standing between Bob Knight and IU? Yeah, about that.

“The Indiana University administration recently made a public announcement on a very private issue that I was being sent a check for $75,000 from alumni donations to cover expenses I incurred as an employee at Indiana University,” Knight said in a statement. “Indiana University has refused for nine years to take care of their obligation in this matter. I did not know until [Monday] that this check was sent to my attorney. Upon finding out about it, I immediately gave him instructions to send the check back.

“In all the years I coached at Indiana and elsewhere, I never accepted a thing from alumni and I don’t intend to start now,” Knight said in the statement. “This issue is with the university, not with the alumni.”

[ ... ]

“It would be amazing what this university’s legal office has spent over the past nine years avoiding this obligation as well as paying off all the broken athletic contracts they have made,” Knight said in the statement.

Did anyone else envision steam coming out of his ears as you read that? This does not sound like a man that’s coming back to IU with open arms on Nov. 6 for his Hall of Fame induction.  As some of you rightly guessed, the money gesture seems to have backfired. (Even if the alumni claim it had nothing to do with the upcoming HOF ceremony.) You can’t buy Bob Knight; if the man ever steps foot inside Assembly Hall again, it’s going to be on his terms.

(more…)

Yesterday, the Herald-Times reported that anonymous donors hooked Indiana up with $75,000, which will be used to reach a lawsuit settlement with Bob Knight, the last of such unresolved disputes between the former coach and the university.

The agreement was spelled out in a memorandum drawn up by the Indianapolis law firm of Ice Miller LLP and signed last week by representatives for IU and Knight.

It is believed the move is in reference to a lawsuit the former IU basketball coach filed against the university, arguing that IU failed to represent him in a lawsuit filed against him, while he was an employee of the university, by former assistant coach Ron Felling.

The timing of this sure seems coincidental, eh? The Hall of Fame induction ceremony Knight will be honored at is next month, and this money suddenly appears out of the blue? Smells of someone really wanting Knight to come back to Assembly Hall, trying to pull a few last strings so the old coach breaks down and enter the house he built one more time. But here’s what’s interesting, there was actually some wording in the memorandum that said: “Specifically, the resolution of this matter creates no obligation for Coach Knight to participate in the upcoming induction into the IU Athletics Hall of Fame. The choice whether to attend or not to attend the induction ceremony is completely up to Coach Knight and has nothing to do whatsoever with the resolution of the litigation.”

Even if that’s the case, this is still an olive branch extended to the former coach. And if this is the last of the disputes between the former coach and the school — at least legally — it’s clear IU has done much to gain favor with him. There’s a whole new administration on board that wants to honor Knight. There are no more ill feelings from the university’s end. They simply want to publicly recognize his legendary run at the helm of the Hoosiers.

But for as much as IU has done, it really doesn’t matter. This is Bob Knight. He dances to the beats of his own DJ. If he doesn’t show up, it wasn’t for a lack of effort by IU. It’s because, as always, he does it his way. Even if that way is stubborn and petulant.

Around the Hall is recommended reading from the Inside the Hall crew. You can send us a link at tips@insidethehall.com.

+ Andy Katz talks to Mike Krzyzewski and the Duke coach says that Indiana should “celebrate” Bob Knight before he returns to Bloomington. {ESPN.com}

+ Dana O’Neil profiles the freshman class and gets a must-read quote from Bobby Capobianco. {ESPN.com}

+ Herald-Times sports editor Chris Korman and beat reporter Dustin Dopirak discuss Tom Crean’s focus on “Scoop Talk.” {The Hoosier Scoop}

+ Korman writes that Indiana players have decided they’ll need to become “nasty, scrappy dogs” to compete in the Big Ten. {The Hoosier Scoop}

+ LaMond Pope looks at the progression of Tom Pritchard, who Crean says has become more efficient offensively. {Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette}

+ Verdell Jones tells DaAntae Prince that IU practices are “like a war field.” {Indiana Daily Student}

As many of you know, our very own Eamonn Brennan is the editor at The Dagger on Yahoo! Sports. The Dagger is currently on the hunt for the most interesting team in the country and Indiana checked in at No. 53. There’s a little bit of everything: a brief recollection of last season, Tom Crean’s Diet Coke habit and the 2009 recruiting class. You can read it by clicking here.

And as a bonus, there’s the following video of Bob Knight which showcases the General’s unparalleled ability to see the future: