The question came from Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz, who asked the final question in Tom Crean’s postgame presser. Kravitz asked Crean to address the need for some big guys in the program and received this lengthy response:

“I think we have a lot of needs, Bob. And I think we’ve gotta develop the bigs that we have. We’ve got a very tough situation right now in the sense, if people have followed our program at all, which I know that you have, we had to get a team on the floor before we could build a program. That was last year. Then we were able to recruit guys that we wanted to, that we had a chance to develop relationships with. We’re very bottom heavy and we have to have a balancing act right now between what do we need to do in the short term versus how are we not going to have to start over again when these guys get older.”

“In the purest sense of your question, there’s no doubt we’re trying to address that in a big way. They’ve all gotta get stronger, bigger, better, more athletic that we have in the program. We’ve gotta continue to address that. But I look at our team and we also need somebody that’s better at getting in the lane. We need somebody that can get in the lane and create havoc, that can get into that paint and make decisions to get the ball to shooters. Our team will look different when you add the spacing element into it that Matt Roth and Maurice Creek bring. Obviously Maurice was our best guy at being able to absolutely get in the lane and make a play and make a good decision with it, but we’re not anywhere close to being done recruiting. And that’ll pick up again tomorrow in a big way. We’re going to address it. We have been and at the same time I have to sit here and look ahead into the future and figure out okay, how are we going to have to not do this again. That’s what’s hard because there’s a lot of good young players that we’re recruiting that we want and we’ve gotta make sure that we get those and we’ve gotta make sure we have the ability to sign them when they’re ready to come.”

A quick glance at the scholarship numbers page shows that the 2013 graduating class is likely the one being referenced as “bottom heavy,” with six grants being allocated to that group. (And technically, it’s now seven if Matt Roth is included.)

The concern, which Crean directly addressed, is having scholarships available to sign the plethora of players targeted in the 2011 and 2012 classes. The Hoosiers have offered scholarships to several players in both classes, including (but certainly not limited to), Cody Zeller, Marquis Teague, Jeremiah Davis, Marshall Plumlee, D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Hanner Perea, Peter Jurkin, Ron Patterson, Jeremy Hollowell, Yogi Ferrell, A.J. Hammons and Kenny Kaminski.

What’s not clear, however, is how exactly this balancing act will play out. For now, it’s best to leave this as it currently stands, but it’s certainly a storyline we’ll follow closely as we move toward the conclusion of the spring semester and of course, recruiting this summer.

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}

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?

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:

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.

+ 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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– 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.

– 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.

Updated, 10/16, 7:15 AM: Those of you hoping for a “this too shall pass” resolution to yesterday’s news regarding Kelvin Sampson’s latest sanctions for violating NCAA phone call rules are in for a rude awakening. It’s not happening, folks. Fan message boards are being overloaded, radio talk show lines are lighting up and talking heads from across the country are calling for, gasp, Sampson’s head.

A survey of prominent viewpoints from across the land revealed the following thoughts about Sampson:

Andy Katz, ESPN.com: Sampson has plenty of friends in the business. And when I say plenty, I would argue that the majority of coaches really do enjoy his company. But a number of them are perturbed by these latest violations. Some of his good friends even told me that they do think this will put a distinctive mark on the public perception of Sampson.

Will Leitch, Deadspin: The move is seen as a preemptive strike against any potential NCAA punishments. Indiana should be much better this year, thanks largely to recruit Eric Gordon (which Sampson swiped from Illinois, infuriating many of his fellow Big Ten coaches), but they’ve now officially wiped the regime of Bob Knight off the books. Say what you will about Knight, but this was never a problem with him. He was too busy strangling the players he already had.

Rick Bozich, Louisville Courier-Journal: Don’t fire up your search engine. Sampson committed similar violations at Oklahoma, then promised it would never happen in Bloomington. Sunday’s news suggests the man is either brash or careless. Doesn’t matter which side you pick. He’s still a repeat offender. IU uncovered the violations. IU reported them to the NCAA. IU is punishing the rule-breakers — Sampson and assistant Rob Senderoff. Sampson described the violations as “disappointing.” Losing to Purdue is disappointing. This is disturbing. Reckless also fits. So does ridiculous.

Mike DeCourcy, The Sporting News: The NCAA punished Sampson by confining him to his bedroom — but then opened the window and offered to help him shimmy down the tree. The sanctions dared Sampson to find a way around them and still involve himself in recruiting players for IU. That is not what discipline is supposed to be about. From the very start, Sampson was allowed to continue text-messaging recruits. One player I spoke with in July 2006 said he texted frequently with Sampson and got the chance to build a relationship with the coach. The player wound up signing elsewhere, but it was clear the sanctions were not having the necessary punitive impact.

Mike Lopresti, USA Today: Obviously, the basketball coach at Indiana University is a phone-aholic. Please, somebody stop Kelvin Sampson before he dials again. Sampson has not gotten the message, which is odd for a guy who apparently checks his cellphone every 45 seconds. The problem is how he keeps letting his fingers do the walking into trouble. The rash of recruiting call no-nos that landed him in the soup in Oklahoma should have been enough to get his full attention. Now, this new cloud emerges at Indiana.

And now, two of the more extreme takes:

Kent Benson, former IU player: Here we get rid of a legend (Bob Knight) who had a perfectly clean record in 30 years of coaching at Indiana University. We put a zero tolerance rule on him and he was gone. For the athletic director and trustees to allow this to happen, it’s an absolute travesty. It’s an embarrassment to the former players and the university. They need to do the right thing. If no tolerance means no tolerance, they should get rid of him. And (athletic director Rick Greenspan) should be right behind him.

Bob Kravitz, Indianapolis Star: At this point, Indiana University doesn’t just have the right to fire coach Kelvin Sampson for just cause. It has a moral imperative to close the book on his short and sordid stewardship of the school’s once-storied basketball program. And once Sampson is gone, send athletic director Rick Greenspan on his way, as well. Maybe they can carpool. Sampson was Greenspan’s signature hire after Mike Davis was sent packing, a signature hire who came here with an NCAA storm cloud hanging over his head and a dubious history with graduation rates. Now, IU and a local law firm have uncovered additional phone-related improprieties, some more major than others. And while the school’s grandstanding decision to self-report might assuage its institutional guilt, it will not alter the emerging view of IU as a sleazy operator.

Personally, I think calling for Sampson to be fired is a bit over the top, but that’s just me. Our current poll shows that some of you are ready to fire him and for those of you who voted that way, I’m interested in hearing your justification and rationale. I’m certainly not excusing his actions, but my detailed study of these violations doesn’t conclude that firing him is the solution. Instead, I’m going to give AD Rick Greenspan the benefit of the doubt and let this all play out. The punishment should fit the crime and I feel like it does. The unfortunate reality is that this news has already put a stain on a once promising season. Let’s hope that once the ball starts bouncing early next month, the focus shifts back onto the court.