Surprise, surprise. Indiana hires a coach under investigation for recruiting violations, keeps the coach when he gets some pretty stiff penalties, and then is surprised when he does it again while still on probation.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3063434

This will not be the last time he has IU in trouble if they don't get rid of him.

RUMOR ALERT: There is talk of an illegal in home visit at some point too, but I am skeptical of it as he would be the world's dumbest man if he did that.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

There is a good chance that the NCAA will come down even harder on this since the belief is that Sampson has no respect for the rules of the NCAA.

The rumors of an illegal home visit seem to be gaining a little bit of steam, but I still am quite skeptical.

The interesting new information is that a certain high profile head coach at a Big Ten university in Illinois may have been the one to turn him in.

I would take it with a grain of salt, but no one thought the current story was true last Friday when the rumors of this started coming out.

I guess we don't have many basketball fans on here

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

It's a shame. Really.

Who could have seen this coming?

_________________
https://twitter.com/DrKenCast

The funniest part is that for the previous two or so years, the message boards have been filled with Illini, Purdue, Kentucky, and other schools fans basically saying that it was only a matter of time before he got IU on sanctions and it looks like he didn't even wait *to be* off of them to commit more.

He actually violated his current probation by 10 three way calls. Lesson kids: Three ways are never a good idea.

He did new violations by his assistants making 35 impermissable calls, which is the same thing that got him in trouble at OU.

Kelvin Sampson may not keep his job from this.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I stay away from the Illini Boards for the most part because if you guys think I drink the Orange and Blue Kool-aid, Good Lord, read those things sometime. They are either looking at the world through orange shaded glasses or calling for everybody and their families to lose their jobs.

Anyway, I think they've been calling him Kelvin Sanctions ever since the Gordon thing hit. It would be a shame if Mr. Gordon couldn't go to the NCAA Tourney due to NCAA sanctions. I'd be all broken up about it.

_________________
https://twitter.com/DrKenCast

Illiniboard.com is quite an interesting place. Some posters come over to our site and tried to tell us that Jeffrey Jordan was better than any of our recruits in that class(walkon vs. top 150).

Bruce Weber saved his job in the past couple weeks. Some big recruiting gets. Everyone knows he can coach, but he looked like he couldn't recruit. Illini basketball is in good shape.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I agree. His verbals from last week, Bertrand, Richardson, and Paul are excellent. And, combined with Richmond, should be enough to keep the boosters quiet through what might be a tough season unless Randle and Pruitt stay healthy and play to their potential.

Keys for Illini will be for guys like McCamey to come on early and Brock to play to his potential because they'll need scoring from the outside from somebody.

_________________
https://twitter.com/DrKenCast

He'll have to ask Ron Zook on how to survive a year off of recruiting

I like Bruce Weber and I'm glad that he can stop looking on career builder for MAC head coaching jobs.

The Big Ten may be down in football, but is going to be very up in basketball and may challenge the ACC once again.

Indiana, MSU, Ohio State, Illinois, Purdue, Wisconsin are all building up to great things even though Indiana will have a pretty steep dropoff after this season with Gordon and White gone.

Michigan hired a good coach and Minnesota has Tubby Smith.
Northwestern and Penn State are going to need to get better quickly.

Iowa is rebuilding after the Steve Alford debacle. I don't know what to think of them.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

BTW, the early word I read on Jordan was that Weber thinks he's really athletic (shocking) and is athletic enough to consider working him into the rotation based on his defense but that his offensive skills are not where they need to be.

I doubt he'll get any real playing time but I thought it was kind of interesting. I could see him playing a role in a few years.

_________________
https://twitter.com/DrKenCast

After seeing him play several times in high school, the Illini will be in big trouble if he plays any significant minutes. Loyola chose not to give him a scholarship after signing a better player. That is really all you need to know. On the good side he would be a great grinder for the White Sox.

You're right. I wouldn't expect Weber to have anything but glowing things to say about his kids anyway, especially Jordan.

_________________
https://twitter.com/DrKenCast

I think Iowa hired a good coach in Lickliter but with the depatures of Haluska and Mike Henderson (graduation) and Tyler Smith (transfer), they will be in for a long season. The best returning player looks to be Tony Freeman who's a very small shooting guard, but can play the point. The post players stink. (All averaged under 5 pts and 5 boards.) Cyrus Tate has the most ability down there being a younger player. They do get the services of David Palmer who was a transfer from Seton Hall. The recruits are down since Alford took a handful with him. They have two lower rated guards and a fair post player coming in.

Lickliter will try and mold the team into a Butler team where the post player can step out and nail the three but it won't be this year.

Well it is up to 100 calls which "may" have been impermissible. You have to wonder how far this will go.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071017/SPORTS0601/310170009

Pro-IU writers and columnists are starting to bring in the phrase "lack of institutional control" because the coach was already under sancations and it would be a message to the rest of the NCAA that you can't hire a person on sanctions and not expect to be treated harshly if you allow it to happen.

Lack of institutional control could mean a ban from postseason play and Eric Gordon never seeing the NCAA tournament.

I doubt IU gets more than a slap on the wrist as the NCAA doesn't have the guts to go after a school like Indiana but you never know.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Lack of institutional control and Eric Gordon is eerily similar to Lack of institutional control and Deon Thomas.

I can only hope that IU has to live through a Tom Michael/Richard Keene/Andy Kaufmann era.

_________________
https://twitter.com/DrKenCast

There is not one Indiana fan I know that liked the appointment of Sampson. They'd rather have a clean program than a national title.

They didn't like it at the start, but he had a pretty successful season and he brought in Eric Gordon and everyone forgot the fact that he was a walking time bomb for more sanctions.

The excuses were "He won't be allowed to cheat at IU", "Everyone deserves a second chance", "You don't have to cheat at IU, anyone will play here".

Now all of the same people are back and calling for his head.

If he didn't have a team predicted to finish in the top ten this year then he would be gone and the athletic director with him. That is the most interesting thing. The athletic director is tied to Sampson as he hired him. If he fired Sampson, he would in effect be firing himself as it would be an admission that he is in fact a terrible hire.

The NCAA was not happy that IU let Sampson off of the hook and now they have a chance to show that disappointment.

One interesting possibility is a two year ban from post season play for Kelvin Sampson. He is a multiple offender, whereas Indiana is only on it's first offense. Indiana would then have to choose between the distraction that would be letting an assistant coach take over for the NCAA tournament or firing Sampson.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I'm not sure what I would think... I might hire Sampson... or even give one of my kidneys to get NU to make it to the tournament. It's an embarassing stat I would love to remove. We just can't seem to recruit well enough. Carmody is a good guy and a good coach... but I'm gettin' sick of this.

Stay tuned.

There is about to be some big news on this situation. An IU assistant is probably gone, as is the last highly regarded recruit of next years class.

Kelvin Sampson will have a hard time keeping his job from this.

Edit: If rumors are to believed, the Big Ten/NCAA will weigh in on tuesday, and there will be more punishments coming.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I read in the sun times today that Delaney said the big 10 will take no action until after the ncaa has made a ruling.