Around the league is recommended reading from around the Big Ten from the Inside the Hall crew. Enjoy.

+ Jeff Goodman writes that Purdue is a much different team than it was a season ago when he watched the Boilermakers get crushed by Duke. (Fox Sports)

+ Andy Katz writes that Purdue can thank its upperclassmen for the big win over West Virginia. (ESPN)

+ Rick Bozich writes that the Michigan Wolverines are falling far below expectations. (Fox Sports)

+ KJ breaks down Michigan State and Northwestern. (The Only Colors)

+ Michigan State opens its defense of Big Ten championship against pesky Northwestern. (Grand Rapids Press)

+ Illinois steps out of conference on Saturday for a matchup with Gonzaga at the United Center. (The News Gazette)

+ The latest on Evan Turner of Ohio State is that he’s yet to be cleared for contact in practice. (Columbus Dispatch Hoops and Scoops)

+ Myron Medcalf writes that Minnesota freshman Royce White is back. Sort of. (Star Tribune Gold in the Barn)

+ Medcalf also writes that the loss of Ralph Sampson will stretch Minnesota’s bench even thinner today at Iowa. (Star Tribune)

Ah, Kentucky fans. Annoying and hard-headed as they are, no one can deny their passion for their program. After Billy Gillispie secured a commitment from Daniel Orton this past weekend, Fox Sports writer Jeff Goodman raised questions about the university’s dealings with Orton’s father, Larry:

But because it certainly didn’t hurt that Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie paid Orton’s father, Larry, to speak at camps in Lexington on three separate occasions this past summer. Let’s be clear. This isn’t against the rules. It’s just Gillispie being Gillispie.

Remember, he was basically the guy that came under fire for being one of four coaches to hold Midnight Madness a week before the “official” start of practice.

Creative? Absolutely. On the verge of being unethical? It depends who you ask. Larry Orton admitted he was also paid to speak at Kansas and Oklahoma State, but he only picked up one paycheck from each of those schools.

C’mon. He may be articulate, knowledgeable and could even rival Bill Clinton in terms of his ability to captivate a crowd, but that’s not why he was there. He was there because he is Daniel Orton’s father.

And now, some of the articulate responses from UK fans:

Goodman you are a ####!!!!!

Goodman-you suck!!!you have always sucked and you have always had this dislike for the Blue. Don’t worry EVERYONE in Kentucky hates you too!!! Seriously dude, go find a new job…

Goodman is the biggest #### bag i’ve ever read. Get over your anti-Gillespie self. What’d he do, steal your girl??

Goodman is just mad he couldn’t be Rocky when he looks just like sylvester stallone..well, a goofy lookin sylvester stallone! Get off the Wildcats back.

All comedy aside, the bigger picture here is the huge loophole that the NCAA needs to close off as soon as possible. This isn’t happening only at Kentucky — it’s happening everywhere and it just doesn’t seem right. Anyway you slice it, paying the father of a recruit to speak at a summer camp is indirectly paying for a player, right?

• Read Eamonn’s take at The Dagger

Don’t let this post distract you from the real issue at hand, which is the voting we’re doing just down the page. That’s the democratic process at work. This is just a sarcastic post about Kyle Taber. Anyway, Jeff Goodman from Fox Sports talked with the senior about last year’s team, and this year’s team, and the fact that this year’s team is pretty much Taber and bunch of new guys. Sentences like this are enough to make an IU fan more than a little squeamish:

Now Indiana has actually become Kyle Taber’s team.Let’s put this into perspective. This is a 6-foot-7 forward who averaged 1.3 points and 2.5 rebounds in a little more than 11 minutes per game a year ago.

If Crean has to rely on Taber, then the Hoosiers are in major trouble.

I’m not saying Taber has to go out and become a combination of Gordon and White, but he’s the face of the program and the likely leader of a team with seven new faces.”He’s grown up being appreciative of what Indiana basketball is all about,” Crean said, “He realizes that it’s a real honor to be here and he’s got a chance to provide leadership and have a senior year to be remembered for in this state for a long, long time.”

There’s not a whole lot else in the story — Taber refused to confirm or deny the drug-use rumors that surrounded the team last year — but the general gist is terrifying. Kyle Taber is an OK player, and a seemingly nice dude, but he is not a Division 1 centerpiece. I hate to be pessimistic, but items like this are like a slap of reality: IU is going to be really bad next year. Sigh.

A report this morning by Jeff Goodman of Foxsports.com says that NBA commissioner David Stern and NCAA President Myles Brand are in agreement that both entities would benefit from a new rule requiring players to stay in college for two seasons.

According to sources, the proposal would still need to be passed through the NBA Players Association.

“It’s a big step for the owners and the commissioner to say they’re ready to bargain in good faith to get the rule passed,” said one college coach who wished to remain anonymous. “The NBA is willing to give up something to get this rule passed; we just don’t know what it is yet.”

The NBA adopted a 19-year-old age limit through the collective bargaining agreement which expires in 2010-11.

Since the NBA put the current age restriction in place, I’ve always felt it either needed to be two years (or more) or done away with completely. If you’re going to require players to attend college, get in line with college football and college baseball and make it a three year out of high school rule. All the current rule has done is create the phrase “one and done.”

There will always be those who argue that players should be able to jump directly to the NBA from high school and they’ll throw out the success stories of Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Kevin Garnett and countless others. For every Bryant, McGrady and Garnett, there’s a Lenny Cooke, Korleone Young and DeAngelo Collins. Guys who would have benefited greatly from college but instead tested the NBA waters and got burned.

So what are your thoughts on the current rule and this new proposal? Do you agree with having an age limit rule to enter the NBA or should players have a right to enter the league immediately following high school?  Thoughts are welcome in the comments.

There’s been no shortage of reports today regarding Tony Bennett and the Indiana job. First, it was Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports reporting that IU offered the job to Bennett. Then, you had Andy Katz of ESPN come back with a contradicting story that IU had not contacted him with a quote from Bennett that said as much. If that wasn’t enough Gary Parrish of CBS Sportsline weighed-in with his side of things and told us we’ll know if Bennett is the man within 24 hours.

A lot of you have commented asking for my take on things, so here it goes:

First, it’s important to remember that Goodman, Katz and Parrish are all trying to break this story. After all, it’s a pretty big one. Since they’re not bound to the rules of normal print media, they’re going to write about anything they feel is legitimate information from a good source. As far as Bennett telling Katz that he hasn’t talked to Indiana, what do you expect him to say? That he’s in negotiations and will arrive in Bloomington tomorrow? That’s not how it works, folks. Katz is a very good reporter, but he’s been wrong before (see his report a few years back that Steve Alford was going to Missouri). I do believe that Indiana has made contact with either Bennett or his representatives to gauge his interest. And he’s probably interested.

I can’t think of a good reason for Bennett to stay at Washington State. No offense to what Bennett has done there or the fans of the program, but let’s be honest, it’s not a destination job. Indiana is a destination and given Bennett’s ties to the Big Ten and the prestige of the program, he’d be foolish not to give it serious consideration. On the surface, he seems to be an ideal fit for the situation.

I have been told by multiple people that IU would like to have a coach in place before the Final Four, so whether or not Bennett is the man, we should know a lot more in the coming days. Until then, stay tuned…

The latest:

• Will Tony Bennett stay at Washington State?
• Seattle Post-Intelligencer blogger weighs-in
• Washington St: “We haven’t been contacted by any university”

More from ITH:

• PostmanR profiles Washington State’s Tony Bennett
• Complete coaching search coverage

Reminder: Registration now required to post comments. Click here to sign up for free. You’ll get access to avatars, the ability to rate comments and gain clout points based on the rating of your comments by other users.

According to Jeff Goodman of Foxsports.com, IU has offered its head coaching position to Washington State head coach Tony Bennett. Here are the details:

Indiana offered its men’s basketball coaching job to Tony Bennett one day after his Washington State team was knocked out of the NCAA tournament, a pair of sources told FOXSports.com.

The names that had surfaced were Bennett, Xavier’s Sean Miller, Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon and Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings. However, the Hoosiers’ administration wasted little time in making a play for Bennett — who may also draw interest from other jobs — including LSU and California.

I really don’t know what to make of this report. It would seem to me the “blue ribbon” committee would at least want to talk to some of the coaches still remaining in the tournament to gauge interest in the job. Perhaps they’ve already done that via representatives. Also, Goodman reported that IU had fired Kelvin Sampson about a month ago and that report turned out to be false.

Related:

• Bennett calls report inaccurate; IU hopes to name coach by Final Four

Reminder: Registration now required to post comments. Click here to sign up for free. You’ll get access to avatars, the ability to rate comments and gain clout points based on the rating of your comments by other users.

At this point, I’m not really sure what to believe. We’ve had three different reports today on Kelvin Sampson’s future as the head basketball coach at Indiana. The latest is from Jeff Goodman of Foxsports.com:

Sampson was informed early Thursday that he will no longer be the coach at Indiana, numerous sources told FOXSports.com. The official announcement is expected to come Friday, when the university’s self-imposed seven-day investigation period ends. When asked to confirm Sampson’s firing, Indiana director of media relations J.D. Campbell told FOXSports.com, “I don’t know that to be true.” Campbell also said no official announcement was currently scheduled for Friday.

This is precisely what happens when different media entities try to get the scoop on a major story: we get varying reports. We’ll keep a close eye on developments of this story as the day continues and keep you posted with the latest.

For those of you clamoring for up to the second updates, our friends from The Hoosier Scoop are on the scene…

Still nothing official from the Hoosier camp, but Jeff Goodman of Foxsports.com reported late last night that a knee sprain is likely to keep D.J. White from taking the court on Tuesday against Purdue. Here are the details:

White landed awkwardly on his left knee late in the first half of Indiana’s victory against Michigan State on Saturday night. Although an MRI on Sunday morning came back negative, Kelvin Sampson told FOXSports.com that doctors weren’t optimistic White would be able to play Tuesday night against Purdue. White was diagnosed with a sprained right knee just above the kneecap, and he’ll likely miss a week or so, according to Sampson.

Again, this story is according to Jeff Goodman. He could be wrong, but for the sake of the discussion I’m about to open up, let’s say he’s right. Without D.J. White, can Indiana beat Purdue? How does the game plan change? Your thoughts are welcome in the comments.