In the unlikely event that you’re not aware, Little 500 is taking place this weekend in Bloomington. Go Osterman. With the NBA season in the books for the Clippers, Eric Gordon was back on campus for a Ludacris concert and Palestra.net caught up with him for a brief interview:

I’ve always thought that the NBA — its media, its day-to-day traveling, its camaraderie — exposes personality far better than the NCAA’s sheltered world. That may be more true in some cases than others, but as a rule, I think it fits. And I think it explains how we know more about Eric Gordon now than we did when he was living in Bloomington and playing his basketball under our obsessive gazes.

For example, I knew Gordon was a quiet, reserved dude, but who knew he had never seen “Lord of the Rings?” Come on, man. It’s “Lord of the Rings!” You get the point.

Anyway, the L.A. Times has another in the current string of Gordon media profiles, and this one reveals, well, I don’t know, that his dad used to have an afro and short-shorts, and that’s the only thing that separates him and his son? That his teammates call him “the quietest Clipper?” I don’t know. The whole thing is just sort of weird and funny, and you should be sure to give it a read.

Eric Gordon: You, sir, are a mysterious fig.

Let me preface this by saying I’m a huge Eric Gordon fan. He seems to be a soft spoken, genuinely nice kid that does things the right way. I even own an “Air Gordon” t-shirt and admittedly watched YouTube highlights of him when I was down after IU losses to Northeastern and Lipscomb earlier this year. That said, if there is one weakness for Gordon, it’s his uber awkwardness when talking to the media. Case in point, this interview with Nick Friedell of the superb NBA blog, Ball Don’t Lie:

Ball Don’t Lie: Every rookie has to make a major transition once they get into the league, but you’ve gone from living in Bloomington, Indiana to living in Los Angeles, California. What has the transition been like?

Eric Gordon: Well, it’s a major difference. Bloomington is a small city and it’s just a whole different atmosphere. You’re on your own now; you’re basically a grown up. When you’re in college, you still have a lot of different priorities as a young adult. (The professional lifestyle) is just a totally different change.

(more…)

I was browsing the Interweb earlier this morning and came across this gem from Clippers rookie DeAndre Jordan on our boy EJ:

“By the way, Eric got banned from the team half-court competition. I told you how after practice we have competitions; one of them is taking half-court shots and seeing who can make the most. He got so good that now he shoots from half-court like he’s shooting from the free-throw line. He’s so strong he can just step into it and make it almost every time. I watched him yesterday after practice. He was taking and making shots from about a foot inside the half-court line. His upper body and lower body are so strong that he doesn’t even have to really push the ball. He just shoots it and the ball flies out of his hands. He’s actually banned from a lot of things, like lifting weights. He’s too big. I think he’s an alien. Or I think when he was born his parents locked him up in the basement with weights and didn’t let him out until he was 15, then he started playing basketball.”

Remember that ridiculous range Gordon showed us last season? That was nothing. Before you know it, he’ll be tempted to try one of these long range bombs in a game situation. And he’ll probably make it. He is, after all, a freak. Or an alien. Either one works.

Former Hoosier and LA Clipper rookie Eric Gordon put together his best performance to-date in his brief NBA career on Friday: 41 points in a 107-104 win over Oklahoma City.

Gordon shot 12 of 19 from the field and 12 of 14 from the foul line and is averaging 17.5 points since being inserted into the starting lineup on November 24.

The 41 points set a Clippers franchise record for a rookie.

Related:

• Video highlights

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.

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

+ Eric Gordon tells Chris Korman of The Herald-Times that he and Kelvin Sampson stay in touch and that the two will always be together. {The Hoosier Scoop}

+ Matt Dollinger of The Indiana Daily Student chronicles Gordon’s return to Conseco Fieldhouse and spots Indiana coach Tom Crean. {Basketblog}

+ Gordon says he’s not interested in talking about what happened in the past. {The Indianapolis Star}

+ Pacers coach Jim O’Brien says that Gordon has all of the right tools to become great at the NBA level. {The Indianapolis Star}

+ Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy talks about Gordon’s surprising defense for a rookie and Gordon talks about adjusting to the NBA. {Video, Pacers.com}

Quotable:

“I didn’t shoot the ball as well as I would expect to. It was different out there tonight. My heart was racing a little bit and I was trying to calm myself down. I had a lot of fans and friends in the stands tonight.” — Gordon on being back home in Indiana