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)

According to Louisville Courier-Journal sports columnist Rick Bozich, Indiana has entered the mix for Brandon Knight, the No. 2 player in the 2010 according to Rivals and Moses Morgan, a four-star guard from Las Vegas:

Indiana is now involved with two solid juniors — Brandon Knight, a 6-3 point guard from outside Miami, considered the top point guard in the 2010 class. Knight already has offers from Connecticut, Duke, Florida, Georgia Tech and Miami.

The Hoosiers are also making a push on Moses Morgan, a 6-5 wingman from Las Vegas. He’s the son of former IU player Winston Morgan, who played at Anderson Madison Heights. Michigan appears to be the leader on Morgan, who moved into the top 100 prospects in the 2010 class last winter.

It’s the first I’ve heard of IU being involved with either player but it certainly makes sense as Knight is making a push for the No. 1 overall spot in the 2010 class and Morgan’s father is a former Indiana player.

– Tim Buckley, Bennie Seltzer, Jayd Grossman and Brian Barone addressed the media on Tuesday and The Indiana Daily Student was all over it. Still no word on the third assistant, but perhaps this guy deserves a look?

– Terry Hutchens tackles several topics on his blog, including (but not limited to): Verdell Jones, Maurice Sutton, big men and Rick Greenspan.

– Former Purdue coach and Big Ten Network studio analyst Gene Keady is baffled by what Kelvin Sampson did at IU. Note to Gene: we’re in the same boat as you.

– Rick Bozich of The Louisville Courier-Journal agrees with Bob Knight and writes that the one-and-done rule was one of the worst things to happen in college basketball. In case you missed it, PostmanE had an interesting piece on The Dagger @ Y! a few days ago about O.J. Mayo and the one-and-done rule.

– Ben Homrig of The Indiana Daily Student encourages former IU basketball and football player James Hardy to get it together. Hardy, meanwhile, is calling the recent altercation with his father a mixup and has apologized. Try to stay on the good side of Commissioner Goodell, Mr. Hardy.

– The new Rivals 150 is out for 2009 and Derek Elston is No. 96, Maurice Creek is No. 136 and Bobby Capobianco is No. 138. What should this mean to you? Absolutely nothing.

– Quinn Buckner is ‘living in the now,’ according to The South Bend Tribune. I’m really not sure what that means, but you can read about it here.

I woke up this morning to an interesting exercise performed by longtime Courier-Journal columnist Rick Bozich. The question posed to 30 knowledgeable college basketball minds was as follows: “If you were buying stock in 10 college basketball programs, which 10 would you buy and in what order?”

Some of the names of those who participated (and among my favorite college hoops scribes in the country): Pat Forde of ESPN.com, Blair Kerkhoff of The Kansas City Star and Skip Myslenski of The Chicago Tribune. It’s also important to note that Greg Doyel of CBS Sportsline wasn’t included, which immediately brings more credibility to the survey.

Here were the results:

Ten points were awarded for a first-place vote, nine for second and on down to one point for a 10th-place vote.

The voting (first-place votes in parentheses):

1. North Carolina (23) 293 points; 2. UCLA (4) 264; 3. Kansas (1) 208; 4. Duke (2) 171; 5. Florida 126; 6. Texas 106; 7. Louisville 99; 8. Kentucky 89; 9. Memphis 73; 10. Georgetown 62.

Also receiving votes: Michigan State 45, Connecticut 36, Indiana 24, Ohio State 19, Tennessee 13, Arizona 9, Stanford 4, Gonzaga 4, Wisconsin 3, Washington State 2, Xavier 2, Southern California 1, Marquette 1, Pittsburgh 1.

To be perfectly honest, I was surprised to see IU this high on the survey given the recent tournament success (or lack thereof) and the uncertainty regarding the program due to possible NCAA sanctions. However, I think the results speak highly for not only the tradition of the program but also the potential for success under Tom Crean moving forward.

(more…)

In the constant search for any and all information relating to the coaching opening at IU, I just came across some more information on Xavier coach Sean Miller. According to Rick Bozich’s blog on The Louisville Courier-Journal, Sean Miller told Xavier AD Mike Bobinski that he won’t be going to Bloomington:

Just talked to Xavier athletic director Mike Bobinski. Asked him if he was worried that he might lose his basketball coach, Sean Miller, to Indiana after Xavier’s marvelous NCAA Tournament run finally ends.

“No,” Bobinski said.

Miller and Indiana have been mentioned as a possibile marriage. But Bobinski said it’s not going to happen. Why?

“Because he (Miller) told me so,” Bobinski said.

Also, Marquette coach Tom Crean didn’t jump at the chance to comment on the IU opening, according to Bozich:

I also asked Marquette coach Tom Crean about the Indiana opening Thursday night before Western Kentucky’s game against UCLA. I’ve know Crean for 15 years, but it’s fair to say he was not a big fan of my question.

This is what Crean said: “I’ve got no idea (who the next coach at Indiana will be). It’s out of my area of jurisdiction.”

I’ve got to be honest: I was really enamored with the possibility of getting Miller to Bloomington, but things aren’t looking good here. As far as Crean is concerned, I’m really indifferent. If we had to settle for him after exhausting several options, I would embrace his hiring and live with it. But he’s definitely not in my top five.

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.

Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson was on the Zonebusters with Rick Bozich and Jody Demling moments ago and had the following to say about Eric Gordon’s injury status:

He’s doing a lot better today. That was a nasty fall. I didn’t really see it. I was blocked out when he fell, so I didn’t realize how bad it was until after the game. He didn’t come down directly on the tailbone, it was more to the side.

It was a really nasty fall. We’re not practicing today, but he couldn’t practice today if we were. Hopefully he’ll be able to go on Thursday.

Sampson added that he expects Gordon to be ready to go on Saturday against Kentucky.

(Editor’s Note: The Indianapolis Star has revealed secondary violations that have taken place in the last 15 months. You can read that report by clicking here.)

Updated, 10/16, 7:15 AM: Those of you hoping for a “this too shall pass” resolution to yesterday’s news regarding Kelvin Sampson’s latest sanctions for violating NCAA phone call rules are in for a rude awakening. It’s not happening, folks. Fan message boards are being overloaded, radio talk show lines are lighting up and talking heads from across the country are calling for, gasp, Sampson’s head.

A survey of prominent viewpoints from across the land revealed the following thoughts about Sampson:

Andy Katz, ESPN.com: Sampson has plenty of friends in the business. And when I say plenty, I would argue that the majority of coaches really do enjoy his company. But a number of them are perturbed by these latest violations. Some of his good friends even told me that they do think this will put a distinctive mark on the public perception of Sampson.

Will Leitch, Deadspin: The move is seen as a preemptive strike against any potential NCAA punishments. Indiana should be much better this year, thanks largely to recruit Eric Gordon (which Sampson swiped from Illinois, infuriating many of his fellow Big Ten coaches), but they’ve now officially wiped the regime of Bob Knight off the books. Say what you will about Knight, but this was never a problem with him. He was too busy strangling the players he already had.

Rick Bozich, Louisville Courier-Journal: Don’t fire up your search engine. Sampson committed similar violations at Oklahoma, then promised it would never happen in Bloomington. Sunday’s news suggests the man is either brash or careless. Doesn’t matter which side you pick. He’s still a repeat offender. IU uncovered the violations. IU reported them to the NCAA. IU is punishing the rule-breakers — Sampson and assistant Rob Senderoff. Sampson described the violations as “disappointing.” Losing to Purdue is disappointing. This is disturbing. Reckless also fits. So does ridiculous.

(more…)

- There was an interesting piece from our good friend Jody Demling’s blog regarding 2008 recruit Bud Mackey earlier today that caught my eye. Rick Bolus, best known for his “blue chip” basketball camps he’s held since 1980, has ranked Mackey as the top player in Kentucky’s 2008 class.

Most national recruiting services rank Mackey below Mason County and UK recruit Darius Miller as well as University Heights and Mississippi St. recruit Scott Hopson.

That’s not the case with Bolus and I’m guessing a lot of that has to do with the fact that Mackey was the best player on the best team in the state last year. I’m really not sure if Bud is the best of the three players, but it makes for an interesting debate nonetheless.

- A quick note: IU football coach Bill Lynch will appear Wednesday just after 2 p.m. on a new Louisville based radio show with Demling and Courier-Journal Sports Columnist Rick Bozich called the Zonebusters. Those of you in the Louisville area can hear the show on 1570 AM and for those of you who are out of the area, you can stream the show at 1570thezone.com.