Sampson's Last Stand

Word is that the NCAA is about to release its big report on Kelvin Sampson's second round of impermissible phone calls. Now, the hearing for this is not set until June, so the hammer will not fall this season. However, if the investigation links any of this season's players to the impermissible phone calls, any accomplishments the Hoosiers make this season will likely be wiped off the map.

Now, there are two parties that I'm a little annoyed with in this situation. The first, obviously, is Kelvin Sampson and, in general, the IU athletic department. I don't want to jump to any conclusions before the official numbers are released, but it is entirely possible that we have been lied to by the Indiana coaching staff. We were originally told that there were something like 12 impermissible three-way calls from Sampson and assistant Rob Senderhoff to recruits such as DeAndre Thomas. From what I've read so far, it may be that the coaching staff made over a hundred impermissible phone calls, of the two- and three-way variety. Wheras the original numbers in the IU investigation fell under a minor violation to the coach -- a mere slap on the wrist -- the new numbers would fall under a major NCAA violations. If the NCAA finds that the Indiana coaching staff did indeed commit a major violation, this season could be a total loss. More importantly for fans in certain parts of the country, if these violations were committed in the recruitment of Eric Gordon, things will get extremely ugly.

The other party who really got this whole thing wrong, though, is the NCAA itself. Now, it is entirely possible that Myles Brand still feels a bit of an obligation to keep his old charge in check (remember, he was partially responsible for the probation and firing of Bob Knight), but the timing of all of this is completely wrong. The Hoosiers, beginning today, are about to play their three most important games of the season: Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Purdue. Six hours before this crucial homestand begins is not the right time to release this information to the world. In fact, maybe they should wait on releasing the information until after the season. It is completely unfair to the Indiana players, no matter how their recruitment went, to present such a major distraction at this point in time. The fans, who had mostly forgotten the prior transgressions of Coach Sampson because of the Hoosiers' 20-3 record, could very well attack Sampson in the way they attacked Mike Davis for not winning. The criticism against Davis obviously hurt the team as they went through Big Ten play in 2006, and that situation could come back up this season. The NCAA really should have waited until after the Tournament to release such a damaging report.

Whatever happens over the next few months, it is entirely possible that Kelvin Sampson will not be the coach of the Indiana Hoosiers going into the 2008-2009 basketball season, leaving the program in more disarray than when Davis was the coach. Since we don't really know how severe the transgressions or penalties might be, I won't jump ahead of myself thinking about a coaching search. However, if I start hearing rumblings about a certain coach who just came back on the market, I will not be very happy. We will get to all of this when it comes to us, not before.