At 4PM EST this afternoon, the NCAA officially released its findings of an investigation involving Kelvin Sampson, Rob Senderoff and the Indiana University men’s basketball program.

You can read the 60-page report by clicking here.

Take a deep breath. And then take a sigh of relief.

After a lengthy investigation, the NCAA Infractions Committee has decided that Indiana’s self-imposed sanctions are sufficient and that no further penalties to the men’s basketball program are warranted.

IU will have a probationary period of three years in which it will need to maintain a clean slate in order to avoid further sanctions.

The story was first reported by Terry Hutchens of The Indianapolis Star and Doug Wilson of the H-T/Hoosier Scoop.

The self-imposed sanctions, announced in October 2007 by Rick Greenspan and Grace Calhoun, included the following:

• A second year of restrictions on recruiting calls tighter than is permitted by the NCAA.
• Reduced Kelvin Sampson’s off-campus recruiting opportunities and took away a basketball scholarship for 2008-09. The off-campus recruiting penalties were extended to Tom Crean after he took the job in April, but IU opted to allow Crean 10 days to recruit off-campus.
• The basketball staff also had one less coach available for recruiting during the 2007-08 recruiting year.
• Sampson also voluntarily agreed to forego a $500,000 compensation increase for the 2007-2008 season.

Sampson and former assistant coach Rob Senderoff were not as fortunate. Sampson received a five-year show cause order and Senderoff a three-year show cause order.

Under a show cause penalty, a school must show cause for hiring a coach to avoid being sanctioned. Since Senderoff is currently an assistant at Kent State, it’s unclear what his future will be as a member of their coaching staff after this ruling.

According to a report in the Indianapolis Star, a decision from the NCAA in response to recruiting infractions at IU could be announced Tuesday.

We’ll have more on this story as it becomes available.

Update: The Hoosier Scoop reports that the announcement will be made at 4pm.

Indiana University President Michael McRobbie announced earlier this afternoon that the school has ordered an immediate investigation into the NCAA allegations involving the basketball coaching staff and Athletic Director Rick Greenspan will report back in a week with his recommendation on the next step the school will take. (This pretty much concords with what we reported yesterday.)

“Today I am announcing that I have directed the athletics director to oversee an immediate investigation of these new allegations and make an assessment as to whether they are credible and accurate. I have given him seven days as of now to complete this task,” McRobbie told the media.

McRobbie continued, “When this investigation is completed, the athletics director will use the findings to guide him in making a recommendation to me as to what our next steps will be. I want to make it clear that all of us are going into this with no presumptions. I do not know what conclusions the investigators will come to regarding these new allegations.”

In other words, Greenspan has a week to get to the truth and provide accurate information to McRobbie. He’s also got a week to do his best to save his own job, which will be no easy task.

You can be sure about one thing: the end game of where this is going seems perfectly clear to me. At the least, Sampson will be suspended while the university gets its ducks in a row to terminate him shortly after the season. If Sampson is found to have lied to the university and the lawyers sign off, he could be gone before that time. Either way, we can all agree there’s no way he lasts beyond this season.

Here are some links to coverage from the presser from around the Web along with a word from Rob Senderoff:

• Indiana probes accusations against coach (Associated Press)
• Indiana to conduct own investigation into allegations (Mark Schlabach, ESPN.com)
• IU: Sampson investigation will take a week (Indianapolis Star)
• Senderoff says he didn’t lie to investigators (Andy Katz, ESPN.com)
• Q & A with Michael McRobbie (The Hoosier Scoop)

Andy Katz is a senior college basketball writer for ESPN.com. His “Daily Word” is a staple of ESPN.com’s college hoops coverage. He is also an on-air reporter for the World Wide Leader’s coverage of college basketball and the NBA draft. We recently caught up with him and got his take on the upcoming IU season, how Kelvin Sampson is perceived by his peers, Rob Senderoff’s resignation and a few other topics. We thank Mr. Katz for his time.

Inside the Hall: With D.J White returning and the arrival of Eric Gordon, IU is back in the preseason top 10 for the first time since the 1994-1995 season. Is this team capable of a run to San Antonio and which player, White or Gordon, is the key to getting them there?

Andy Katz: Both. The Hoosiers need balance to make it to San Antonio. They haven’t had those two working parts in concert in years. If the Hoosiers get an all-American season out of White and what should be a one-and-done stellar season out of Gordon then they will have the two most important pieces in place to make a run.

ITH: The preseason media poll penciled in Michigan State as the favorite to win the conference. Are the Spartans the team to beat in the Big Ten and if so, why?

Katz: The reason was experience. The Spartans return more overall experience and have the most important player to his team in the league in Drew Neitzel. Gordon may end up having just as good a statistical season but he’s still a freshman versus a senior. It’s hard to argue that point.

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