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

+ Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz talks to Dick Vitale, a long-time advocate of a Bob Knight return to IU, about whether he thinks the former coach will show up in Bloomington. Former H-T sports editor Bob Hammel also gives his take. {Indianapolis Star}

+ Duke has extended an offer to Marshall Plumlee and the 6-11 junior also holds offers from IU, Florida, Purdue, LSU, Minnesota, N.C. State, Notre Dame and Virginia. {Asheville Citizen-Times}

+ Stacey Poole Sr. says that his son, Stacey Jr., now has Kentucky as the No. 1 school on his list. {Louisville Courier-Journal}

+ 2010 forward Brandon Mobley, an AAU teammate of 2010 commitment David Williams, will visit Bloomington in November and has the Hoosiers in his final three schools. {Indiana Daily Student}

+ The incoming freshmen will wear the following uniform numbers: Jordan Hulls (1), Christian Watford (2), Maurice Creek (3), Bawa Muniru (15), Bobby Capobianco (23), Derek Elston (32). {IU Hoosiers}

+ 2009-2010 preseason prospectus is available in PDF format. {IU Hoosiers}

+ Courier-Journal recruiting writer Jody Demling held a live chat yesterday and a replay is available. {Louisville Courier-Journal}

+ Florida International threatens to withdraw from the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament if the Panthers have to open the event against North Carolina rather than Ohio State. Either way, they’re still losing by 20+. {ESPN.com}

Word broke late last night that Indiana will announce plans Saturday to induct Bob Knight into its Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in November.

Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz spoke with Fred Glass and revealed that the AD is already making a concentrated effort to bring back Knight on November 6:

Already, Glass has sent Knight a hand-written letter asking him to come to the ceremonies.

He also has commissioned one Hall of Fame committee member — former Bloomington journalist Bob Hammel– to personally reach out to The General and convince him it’s time to come home.

Time heals wounds. But something tells me that the letter from Glass could be lost on Knight’s desk. It’s encouraging that Hammel, a long-time friend of Knight and former Herald-Times sports editor, has agreed to assist in this process. But Hammel’s involvement doesn’t guarantee Knight will return.

Kudos to Glass for realizing that it’s a sham to have a Hall of Fame at IU for athletics that doesn’t include Knight. Regardless of the way things ended nine years ago, it’s time to do the right thing and recognize Knight’s accomplishments and contributions to Indiana.

The only question that’s left to be answered: Will Knight accept Indiana’s invitation?

For those of you outside of the Indianapolis area, Indy Star columnist Bob Kravitz (a huge fan of blogs, by the way) hosts a weekly radio show with Eddie White on 1070 the Fan. And on today’s show, Bob & Eddie talked to 2010 Lawrence North forward Dominique Ferguson about a variety of topics, including his recruitment.

The good news? He’s still listing IU. The not-so-encouraging news? He had trouble narrowing his list down to less than ten schools. Here’s a direct link to the audio and we’ve also embedded it below for your listening pleasure:

First, a preface: I’m no fan of the current rules that prevent athletes, specifically in college basketball and college football, from entering the professional league of their choice at the conclusion of high school.

It’s probably a good rule in college football because only a handful (if that) of players would even be able to make the jump. But in the case of the NBA, it’s a terrible rule unless your name is Korleone Young.

But the column from Bob Kravitz in this morning’s Indianapolis Star suggesting college athletes should be able to choose between a scholarship and $25,000/year was a bit off the wall for my liking. Let’s go to the text:

When athletes arrive at a Division I school, give them a choice: They can get a full-ride scholarship, with all the perks that involves, or offer them a salary of, say, $25,000 per year to work on their NBA, NFL or NHL degree.

That is, let them compete for the school, use the college as a paid minor league and do so as true mercenaries, with no requirement they go to class.

Why is it so bloody important that we maintain this student-athlete hypocrisy when it’s clear that some athletes have absolutely no interest in, or aptitude for, a college education?

Again, the proposal: A Division I athlete, man or woman, revenue-producing sport or non-revenue-producing sport, gets the option: a scholarship or a paycheck with no academic strings attached.

The problem with this whole argument is that Indiana University or any other institution, is not a paid minor league system. Nor should it be. It’s a university. Which means, in theory, it’s supposed to be a haven for learning and getting an education, no?

Sure, there are athletes all over the country that go to school without the intention of ever receiving a diploma. I’m not blind to that. But that’s no fault of the school or the athlete. It’s the fault of the system. Both the NBA and NFL refuse to create a legitimate minor league system. So by default, these kids are forced into attending college when in reality they should be able to choose their next step after high school. The ball is in the court of the NBA and NFL to step up, but it shouldn’t be on schools to start forking over paychecks.

My guess is that this will generate strong opinion one way or the other, so let’s hear it in the comments.

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

+ Indy Star columnist Bob Kravitz discusses Kelvin Sampson’s unwillingness to take responsibility for what went down in Bloomington. As Kravitz notes, “Haven’t we gone through this already?” {Indianapolis Star}

+ Lance Stemler and Adam Ahlfeld confirmed that Sampson talked the players into finishing out the season after Stemler, Ahlfeld, D.J. White and Eric Gordon told Sampson they wouldn’t finish the season without him. {Indianapolis Star}

+ Former Indiana assistant Rob Senderoff has his penalty reduced by the NCAA — but only by a smidge. {The Sporting News}

+ Gary Parrish chronicles the story of Kellen Sampson and says the aspiring coach should be judged on his own merits and not by his last name. {CBS Sports}

Quotable:

“We were sitting there every day tearing through the rules and regulations of the NCAA, and I’m just like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ I felt like the biggest white elephant in the room, especially when we spent a week on the rules and regulations of phone calls. I told the professor, ‘I can probably teach this section.’” – Kellen Sampson on how he felt during the class he took at IU last year titled “NCAA rules and compliance.”

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– Dan Dakich talked to Terry Hutchens of The Indianapolis Star and the former interim coach addresses Kelvin Sampson, Armon Bassett, Jamarcus Ellis and the overall state of Indiana basketball. Dakich will get $180,000 promised to him by the university and hopes to coach somewhere next season. Dakich was criticized for kicking Bassett and Ellis to the curb, but ultimately, we’re all finding out that he was just looking out for a program in desperate need of discipline.

– Former assistant Jeff Meyer denies intentionally violating rules in his response to the NCAA obtained by The Indianapolis Star.

– Bob Kravitz raises some excellent points about Rick Greenspan and wonders how the AD is still employed by IU. Here’s my favorite part:

Let’s not engage in selective amnesia: former coach Kelvin Sampson was hired by Greenspan. Now, were former school president Adam Herbert and trustee Jeff Cohen the people who most strongly supported Sampson’s hiring? Sure. Greenspan had his own favorite — sources tell me it was former West Virginia and current Michigan coach John Beilein — but Sampson was among the three candidates Greenspan sent to the trustees.

Ultimately, Greenspan signed off on this terrible hire, and on the day Sampson was introduced, Greenspan happily stood out front and sang Sampson’s praises.

You can’t have it both ways.

Or can you?

– Eric Crawford of The Louisville Courier-Journal writes that the self-imposed sanctions are not sufficient and that IU should pay for hiring Kelvin Sampson.

– And finally, Terry Hutchens has an update on IU’s self-imposed sanctions. Tom Crean has seven days of off-campus recruiting to use in July, IU has added two paid official visits and the staff will lower its frequency of correspondence with Derek Elston (who was named in the NCAA’s report) from seven times to six times for the upcoming school year.

– Wisconsin, barring a total choke job, wrapped up at least a tie for the Big Ten title with a 57-42 beat down of Michigan State at the Kohl Center. A couple of observations: Brian Butch should be a first team All-Big Ten selection. Second, is there a more disappointing team than Michigan State? A lot of talent on that team, but something just isn’t right. I’m shocked at how bad of a season Drew Neitzel is having. And finally, Wisconsin only had one turnover in the entire game. That’s a pretty amazing statistic.

– Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star wrote a column today which provided his two cents on the impending coaching search for IU. It was a decent piece, but there were a couple of names included that I don’t want anywhere near the program: 1) John Calipari: do we really want Worldwide Wes hanging around IU? 2) Kevin Stallings: He’s a nice guy I’m sure, but his Purdue background and personality (or lack thereof) don’t thrill me. Surely we can do better than Stallings. The sizzle just isn’t there, but maybe I’m missing something.

– Our old friend Coach Knight has joined forces with ESPN for “championship week” and the NCAA Tournament. As you would expect, Knight appeared on “Mike and Mike” this morning and side stepped all questions about Indiana and the Kelvin Sampson situation. It’ll be interesting to see how well Knight does in this new role. He’s always had disdain for the media so it’s somewhat ironic to see him as a member of it.