Now, I’m still not entirely sure what that means, but it’s been rolling around in my head for the last few hours, so I just thought I’d get it out there.

Like most (if not all) of you, I watched at least some portion of the sound beating IU took at Wisconsin on Saturday. I was unable to watch from stem to stern, but I got the gist — not enough offense, not enough defense, not enough points, not enough hustle, not enough of anything for anyone to really find positives in anything but the final buzzer and those brief moments when it slipped from your mind that there was a game yesterday at all.

Now, it’s been suggested, in this space and in others, that I, specifically, am too easy on Tom Crean, too forgiving of the Hoosiers’ plethora of shortcomings as this season slowly turns the way of last.

But the truth is, folks, I understand. I really do. I understand how hard it is to watch this team play, and struggle as it does. There’s a standard Indiana fans expect, and it’s not being met.

And I know that for many of you, that standard isn’t measured solely with banners or wins-per-season averages, but simply with hard work, teamwork and commitment. The majority of you have (at least, I think you have) bought into what Tom Crean is selling — the rebuilding, baby steps approach that celebrates every move forward this team makes, and forgives most of its regressions.

But water will always boil when succumbing to intense heat, and so fans will become displeased when they see performances like the last three IU has managed. I’ve seen part or all of Northwestern, Ohio State and Wisconsin, and this time, I’ll agree with you, Hoosier Nation, your complaints are valid.

Sitting inside Mackey Arena on Saturday, (I cover Purdue for the Times now, too) I recalled IU’s trip to West Lafayette last season, because of something Matt Painter said after the game. I don’t recall, nor can I track down, his exact words, but essentially, Painter sympathized with Tom Crean a little bit.

Every coach that had come through the door after beating Indiana praised the Hoosiers’ hustle, their tenacity, their drive. But Painter had been through the same sort of rebuilding project, albeit on a smaller scale, in his first years at Purdue. So when talking about Indiana, and all those intangible qualities they supposedly offered, Painter also checked himself, saying essentially (and now I’m paraphrasing) that he understood how Indiana felt, that after awhile, you just don’t want to hear about how hard you try if you aren’t winning to go with it.

Painter said he knew Crean didn’t want pity, but respect, and I believed that day that in Painter, Indiana had earned it from the coach of their most-hated rival.

The problem, as I see it, is that Indiana has even lost that. They’ve lost that spunk that at least made them endearing without replacing it with genuine results, at least in the last three games.

Is it fair to judge so harshly on three games? Maybe. Maybe not. But it’s Indiana basketball. The coach is the state’s highest-paid employee, the spotlight is brighter, it comes with the candy-striped warm-ups.

In this team’s defense, which many do think I come to too often, it’s hard to talk about this group and the tradition of Indiana basketball. One former player told me last year that that tradition, as it was passed down from player to player under Bob Knight and at least for a time under Mike Davis, had all but evaporated well before everything fell apart and needed putting back together again.

So what makes us think that this Hoosier pride, as it were, can be restored simply through speeches and t-shirts? What was it that made playing for Indiana so much more special that it was set aside as “tradition” rather than simply the trappings of playing within an elite program? Was it a commitment to honesty? Academic excellence? Hard work? Fair play? All of the above? None of the above?

When Dan Dakich said Saturday on the Big Ten Network’s studio show that Indiana essentially played with no heart against Wisconsin, I’m not sure he was attacking the Hoosiers so much as he was pointing out a significant program-wide mentality that has been lost in recent years.

The questions, of course, are how that is restored, and whether Tom Crean is the man to do it. Is a commitment to the way of those who came before, with an emphasis on playing hard, hustling, out-working everyone no matter the task in front of them? Because those challenges look like maybe they’re starting to fall on deaf ears.

Or is it something else? Is it time for a coach to come in and put his own stamp on Indiana the way Knight did, but independent of Knight’s methods?

Alabama football clung for two decades to the notion of trying to do things exactly as Bear Bryant had done them, and the only coach who was successful in that span was Gene Stallings, himself an incredibly formidable sideline task master.

After Stallings, the program faltered until Nick Saban arrived, with his own way of doing things, with his own plan and his own attitude and no time to look back because it was necessary only to move forward.

Maybe for Indiana, the dogmas of the quiet past (although I’d hardly call it “quiet”) truly are inadequate to the stormy present. Perhaps it’s time to stop holding onto the Bob Knight-instilled way of doing things, and let another coach come in and run the show his way, with his methods and his agenda.

This isn’t condoning the methods of, say, Kelvin Sampson. I think we can all agree that an adherence to the rules is requisite for any program anywhere. (Well, almost anywhere.) But unless these recent performances become an aberration rather than the expected — and given the way the Hoosiers have played and who they have coming up, that seems unlikely — then this will become the latest in nearly a decade’s worth of seasons that ended, at best, in disappointment.

Tom Crean would be the first to tell you, that won’t get it done at Indiana.

That Memphis club, which won 38 games before falling to Kansas 75-68 in the title game, was spearheaded by freshman point guard Derrick Rose. And after a lengthy investigation, the NCAA ruled that something just didn’t smell right when Rose took the SAT on May 5, 2007.

After failing to achieve a qualifying score on the ACT each of the three times he took the test in Chicago, someone, presumably not Rose, achieved the SAT scores needed on that early day in May.

Only this time the test was taken in Detroit, which also happens to be the home of William Wesley. You might know Wesley better as World Wide Wes, a confidant of Calipari. You do the math.

Calipari will do his usual song and dance when pressed to disclose whether or not he knew of possible indiscretions with Rose’s test score: Deny, deny and deny some more. It’s all in the past, right? It’s the same tune currently being belted in Lexington by fans who are desperate for a winner after Billy Gillispie flamed out last spring in the NIT.

The fact is that Calipari made history on Thursday when he became the first coach to have Final Four appearances at two different schools vacated. That’s certainly not a distinction one aspires to place on their resume. Nonetheless, congrats on the achievement, Cal.

Thursday’s ruling only reinforced the sad reality that more often than not, the NCAA fails to get it right. To call the penalty of vacating the season a slap on the wrist would be giving it too much credit. Rose is now a millionaire in Chicago, Calipari bolted for a record-setting pay day at Kentucky and Memphis will move forward relatively unscathed if the school can keep its nose clean for three years. Not exactly what I would call dropping the hammer.

The penalties given to Memphis are far less substantial than the NCAA sanctions slapped on Kelvin Sampson for excessive phone calls, which led to the dismantling of the Indiana program. Call me crazy, but using a player who committed academic fraud to achieve eligibility is more reckless than a three-way call with a recruit and Rob Senderoff. But this ruling proves that the NCAA doesn’t see it that way.

This story will be top of mind in the college basketball world for a few more days and then it will sink from the surface as an afterthought. Rose will be an NBA all-star soon enough and Memphis should continue to be a powerhouse in Conference USA under Josh Pastner. As for Kentucky, Calipari will probably hang some sort of banner in Rupp Arena. The only question is: How long before that banner comes down too?

But, Sampson did not agree with the NCAA’s ruling. So he appealed. And today, he was officially denied.

Some more details from the Indianapolis Star:

Sampson appealed the penalties in an April hearing, saying his ban was too severe and that the original committee hearing was biased against him because a date was set before the NCAA enforcement staff issued formal allegations and before it completed interviews.

The NCAA contended that the the original findings and penalties were correct.

Nothing surprising here: it was unlikely Sampson’s appeal was going to help lessen the penalties brought down upon him. Now that he’s been denied, IU has no more hearings with the NCAA on the matter and he’s toiling away on Scott Skiles’ bench in Milwaukee, this will likely be the last nail in the coffin on the Kelvin Sampson era at IU. (Unless members of that team/Sampson/an assistant coach/a member of the athletic staff/a member of the administrative staff/a recruit does a tell-all interview or leaks something to the media. I suppose there’s always a chance of that happening.)

Feels good, doesn’t it?

Here’s the reaction from athletic director Fred Glass:

“We take this public notice very seriously. The poor academic performance for which we’re being cited all occurred under two coaches who are no longer at IU.  We are confident that under Coach Tom Crean’s leadership and commitment to academics, responsibility, and character, we will soon be able to put our previous academic issues fully in the past. Coach Crean’s outstanding academic record at Marquette, including the graduating of all of his senior players, speaks for itself.”

I think Mr. Glass is pointing at you, Kelvin. For the record, Crean’s APR score from Marquette was also released this afternoon and it was 970. Because IU voluntarily forfeited two scholarships this past season in anticipation of a low APR, they’ll be able to utilize all 13 scholarships moving forward.

So, we’re a few days removed from Indiana’s season-ending first round loss to Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament. Ho, hum. We all knew the Hoosiers were probably going to lose. Whatever hopes we had of an upset were minimal and fleeting. And so the season ends, and on we go, set for another offseason that will be far less angry, anxious, and uncertain than last season’s.

Comparing the two situations is almost funny. This time last year, we had just been destroyed by Arkansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Sure, Arkansas was a good team, and it was a tough draw, talent-wise, but by that point it almost didn’t matter. A once-promising season with a lineup stocked full of players was derailed entirely when Kelvin Sampson was fired for being a naughty boy. The team lost most of the rest of its games, limped into the NCAAs, and were promptly spanked. But it wasn’t the loss that was disconcerting. It’s what came before it, and what was still ahead.

Cue the offseason: a series of ugly incidents and confusing decisions punctuated by a brief moment of optimism. That moment was Tom Crean’s hire. It’s the hire IU should have made two years ago, when they instead chose a coach under investigation for having the cell phone tendencies of a 13-year-old meth addict. Crean was a steadier, calmer, more reasonable choice with just as good of a coaching record and a history of recruiting well in Indiana and Chicago. Why he wasn’t originally chosen to succeed Mike Davis is a mystery that still confounds to this day. (Then-IU president Adam Herbert’s insistence on a minority hire is likely the answer, but oh well. Spilled milk, and all that.)

By contrast, this year’s offseason promises to be far more quiet and far more enjoyable. For one, Crean won’t be undergoing a massive lineup turnover. There will be recruits to incorporate and some players from 2008-09’s team to wave goodbye to. But there won’t be a coaching change. There won’t be an NCAA rules committee hearing with an historic program’s future at stake. There won’t be any of that. It will be calm, and the only developments we have to fret over are how much better IU will be at all of the positions Crean recruited last season. It’s a welcome change.

But before we go forward, we must look back, and so, without further ado, here’s my one-word summary of the 2008-09 Indiana Hoosiers:

Meh.

You might think I’d be more enthused, or less. I’m right in the middle, and here’s why.

IU, this year, managed to be both depressing and uplifting. They were unequivocally a horrible team. It’s a strong word to use, but it’s true; when you’re so futile in such a weak Big Ten, and you play so few veterans and your coach coaches so hard but to little avail, well, you’re horrible. It’s just how it is.

But in their horribleness, the Hoosiers also managed to be kind of interesting. Which would you prefer? A team that plays hard every night, that does all the right things, and that gets the most out of their potential — regardless of how limited that potential is — or one with two future NBA players and a host of great complements that gives up on itself when adversity hits? That folds under the pressure? That shows no spine, and no backbone, and no integrity? Of course you’ll take the latter. If bad basketball has to be part of that bargain, fine. For a year or two, we can make that trade, can’t we?

And so that’s what we got: A team that managed to make me less interested in general. But also one that occasionally shone through that disinterest, one that could, on occasion, inspire, if only by contrast to the disaster that came before it. The 2008-09 Indiana Hoosiers taught me, even in failure, that all of the romantic, moralistic cliches that underpin college basketball can, on occasion, be true.

Of course, now I’m ready to get back to being good at basketball again. Fortunately, that’s the other thing we learned this season: Tom Crean can really coach.

Think about it. Indiana, a team without any real, discernible talent, at least none on par with its opponents, was consistently in close games. They improved all season. Their final games were some of their most efficient efforts, and they got better at playing on the road. They had all the characteristics of a well-coached team. And they had no talent. Imagine the possibilities when Crean gets something workable going in Bloomington. The sky can reasonably be called the limit.

So, all things considered, I feel good. My favorite college basketball team just went 6-25, and 1-17 in the Big Ten. It just had its worst season ever. And I feel good. If that’s not a sign of the optimism at work here, I don’t know what is.

+ 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.”

Inside the Hall is now on Twitter … Follow us here.

SN: Was the NCAA too harsh on you?

SAMPSON: I think so. I think they were unfair. I think they were unfair to IU, too. I don’t think anybody got treated fairly in this. This thing got hit in the media, it got sensationalized. It just took on a life of its own. When they start using the word unethical, when they describe you as unethical –somebody that’s unethical, to me, knows right from wrong and then does it anyway. There’s intent behind it.

That’s pretty much the gist of the whole interview. Kelvin believes he was treated unfairly, that he really didn’t do anything wrong, and that the NCAA’s mind was made up about him before he had the chance to prove himself innocent of all those charges. Blah. If it wasn’t obvious Sampson wants to coach college hoops again, it should be by now. Otherwise, he would go away. He would spare us the nonsense. He would make me forget he ever existed.

Instead, expect the media tour to roll on. Gee. Can’t wait.

Inside the Hall is now on Twitter … Follow us here.

Today online, a few companion pieces ran along with it. Including two from me. The first is a column about what it meant for me to be a fan during Sampson’s reign of calling, and what Tom Crean has taught me. A sample:

I’d always heard about the Indiana Tradition or doing things the Indiana Way, but I’d usually roll my eyes at such pronouncements, thinking of them as nothing more but tired, clichéd statements from Bob Knight disciples. I’m a bit of a cynical guy.

Times had changed, I thought. It’s OK to bend the rules in recruiting, as long as you win, as long as you don’t get caught. It’s OK you don’t fit the Indiana mold, doing things the right way with dignity and class, as long as you win. It’s OK to bring in players of questionable character, as long as you win.

This is what the Kelvin Sampson era was at Indiana: win at all costs. And I was hooked, cast under his spell, because that’s all I wanted for my team, too. I wanted to win.

Second is four others affected by Sampson, but like the original piece in the actual print version, is behind ESPN’s Insider wall. Boo.

Lastly, Scott Powers wrote a tremendous story about all the guys who left last year, catching us up with their situations. He got a lot of quotes from Brandon McGee. That guy is behind the Insider wall too.

The moral of this post is that ESPN is putting a lot more of their stuff behind Insider’s wall this year. You’ve been warned, sports consumer.

Oh, and if you want another take on the whole Deadspin topic, Midwest Sports Fan has an indepth look at it today.

If Eamonn’s post yesterday wasn’t enough to wet your Kelvin Sampson palate, I’ve got your fix. Speaking prior to tonight’s Bucks-Pacers game, where he likely heard obscenities thrown his way without discretion, Sampson tried to rationalize his appeal to the NCAA:

“I think they were wrong. They were wrong in every way. If I didn’t think they were wrong, I wouldn’t have appealed.”

Sampson acknowledged he and his staff had erred, though not deliberately.

“When someone makes a mistake, the first thing you have to ascertain is intent. There was no scheme or nobody sitting around trying to get away with something. A lot of people paid the price for those mistakes.”

This, my friends, is the same song and dance we’ve been hearing from day one. But apparently Sampson, who also said tonight that he’s enjoying the NBA and has no intent to come back to college, can’t just let it die and ride quietly into the night. He’s still fighting. He doesn’t really believe the NCAA is going to revisit this and determine they had it all wrong, does he?

In any case, The Star reported this morning that Sampson is appealing his NCAA penalty. Seriously. From Mark Alesia (thanks to Michael for the tip):

A source close to Sampson said the appeal is based on two points: The first is that the infractions committee misinterpreted testimony by former IU assistant Rob Senderoff, which led to a conclusion that Sampson knowingly placed impermissible recruiting phone calls, and thus was guilty of unethical conduct.

The second is that the NCAA enforcement staff, essentially the prosecutor in the case, was biased and showed a prejudgment of guilt by requesting a hearing before all of the interviews were complete.

I’m no legal expert. Nor am I well-versed in the judiciary procedures of the NCAA. So I don’t really have much in the way of comment to offer, except this: Go away, Kelvin. Go away. You got caught, dude. Your own school caught you. Maybe the NCAA will admit they “misinterpreted” Rob Senderoff’s testimony — and as someone who used to tell his ex-girlfriend she was “misinterpreting” me, let me tell you that’s nothing but a rude backhanded insult — but I doubt it. Your best option? Coach in the NBA, and go … away.

Now, about that memory procedure. There’s got to be something on the Internet somewhere here …