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.

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}

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.

It’s one thing to relentlessly rant during an IU game about how Indiana should honor Bob Knight by renaming Assembly Hall after the Hall of Fame coach. It makes sense (but to be honest, since I’ve heard it about a million times, it’s getting annoying at this point). It’s another thing to campaign for Knight to return to the helm in Bloomington, especially in front of the man himself, who clearly wants no part of it. Dick Vitale did just that for the second time in as many days and if his facial expressions are any indication, Knight appears ready to go Neil Reed on Vitale. Witness:

We’ve all been guilty of it. We are finished with Kelvin Sampson, done, finito, that’s it. As you read this, Sampson could win the Big Ten, blow out Purdue by 40, capture a national title, and cure lupus (does lupus have a cure already?) and everyone would still monolithically demand Sampson’s head on a silver platter. And rightfully so.

But for all the unanimous consent to fire on this site, and among ESPN’s chosen local interviewees, last night’s game showcased an atmosphere, and a fanbase, still totally confused and weirded out by what’s happening right in front of them. I watched on TV last night, and it was clear from the Dolby 5.1 that the pregame crowd hadn’t made up its mind to boo Kelvin Sampson, nor had they decided to show solidarity with the embattled coach. Sampson was just sort of there most of the game — drawing angry comments from myself, PostmanR, and my girlfriend, all the while coaching IU to its best win of the season in front of an emotional and raucous home crowd.

Just how the hell are we supposed to feel about that?

I still don’t know. And it was clear from the Kel-vin Samp-son cheer last night — clear from friends on campus who say opinion on KS is split — that I’m not alone. No one who loves IU basketball is totally sure how to feel about all this.

For me, it’s a mixture of sadness, anger, doubt, excitement, revenge, righteousness, forgiveness. It’s hard to say goodbye to someone who knows he needs to leave. It’s hard to force him out when you watch him hug his kids. It breaks the heart to see him cling for dear life in the face of certain failure. And then you remember what he did in the first place — the stupidity and arrogance — and it brings you back to the angry, vengeful thoughts you first had.

And that’s what it is right now. That mixture. That confusion. We’re on the tail end of something, and if the above paragraph was any indication, things aren’t going to be easy to synthesize anytime soon.

(more…)

- Dick “Hoops” Weiss of the New York Daily News appeared on the Zonebusters today on 1570-AM in Louisville with Rick Bozich and Jody Demling and offered up the following on our boy, Eric Gordon:

“I think Eric Gordon is very special and NBA scouts think he’s special. For some people, the game comes so easy too. (Gordon) is one guy that has the NBA scouts salivating. When the draft comes I’m not sure he’ll be the No. 1 pick but I would take him.”

If there’s a better player in college basketball right now than Gordon, I’d love to see him. He’s a unique blend of speed, power and finesse that we may never see again in an Indiana uniform. The NBA mock draft sites are starting to take notice as well. NBAdraft.net recently moved him to the No. 3 slot just behind fellow freshmen Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose.

- ESPN’s Dick Vitale announced today via his Web site that he’s taking a leave of absence after surgery to have lesions removed from his left vocal cords. Here is a snippet of the press release from the World Wide Leader:

ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale had successful surgery today to treat ulcers on his left vocal chord. Vitale plans to return to the air in early February. He will continue to provide his college basketball observations on ESPN.com and dickvitaleonline.com while he recuperates. Vitale is in his 29th season with ESPN and had never missed a game. The surgery was performed by Dr. Steven Zeitels at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Say what you will about Vitale, but the man is great for college basketball. He brings an enthusiasm unmatched by anyone and I’m hoping he’ll be able to return to the job he loves. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery for you, Dickie V. If you’d like to read more on Vitale, I highly recommend PostmanR’s take over at the Postmen.

I caught ESPN’s Dick Vitale on the radio this afternoon with the Zonebusters on 1570-AM in Louisville and here’s what the Vitale Bald Dome Index (VBDI) had to say about IU, Eric Gordon and the Bud Mackey situation:

“Eric Gordon, I think could be the guy on the perimeter like Kevin Durant. I think he’s going to really have people going bananas down there at Indiana. I think Sampson’s recruiting class has been phenomenal. They just got a tough blow with the kid out of Kentucky who got in trouble for next year. It’s just sad when you hear those situations. It really breaks your heart when kids have such an opportunity. He’s certainly innocent until proven guilty, but you read about so many athletes today who just don’t make good decisions in their life and that really bothers me because I love the game so much. I think Indiana will be a major, major factor in the Big Ten.”

Wow, Kevin Durant? The same guy who just won player of the year as a freshman? That’s a lot to live up to, but I wouldn’t put it past our boy, EJ. As far as the comments on the Mackey situation, I have to echo the sentiments of Dickie V. It’s just a sad situation all the way around.