No Postseason Ban for Hoosiers – Kelvin Sampson Gets Five Year Ban
Finally! Some positive news, relatively speaking, for the Indiana Hoosiers mens basketball program.
According to ESPN.com, the NCAA has decided to not to place a postseason ban on Indiana but will uphold the self-imposed penalties that Indiana levied against itself in the wake of the Kelvin Sampson phone call scandal that rocked the program last year. Indiana will received three years’ probation.
Kelvin Sampson, however, has received one of the stiffest penalties ever levied against an individual by the NCAA: a five year show-cause penalty, that will essentially ban Kelvin Sampson from coaching in college basketball for the next half-decade. The show-cause means that if someone wants to hire Kelvin Sampson, they will have to appeal to the NCAA to do so. I cannot fathom a set of circumstances in which the NCAA would allow Sampson back on the sidelines before the course of his punishment is up.
There is a 4:00 pm news conference scheduled by the NCAA in which they will officially announce the ruling.
The irony of the no postseason ban, of course, is that it is quite likely the Hoosiers will not be challenging for a postseason berth this season anyway. I am excited by Tom Crean, and have enjoyed watching the Hoosiers’ first three games, but IU fans everywhere understand that this will be a trying season. Crean basically had a couple of months to build a team around the only two returning players: former walkons Kyle Taber and Ryan Finkelmeier.
In my opinion, any win over 10 is a bonus this year — though I definitely think it’s possible. This team already seems to be taking on the personality of its coach in playing hard, being tough, and doing everything with enthusiasm. That is exactly what we need with such bleak hope for W/L success in 2008. Luckily, the foundation is already being laid for success in 2009.
My favorite part about today’s story is the five-year penalty against Kelvin Sampson. I don’t hate many people, but I hate Kelvin Sampson. Indiana has no one to blame but itself for hiring Sampson aft
er he committed similar violations at Oklahoma; but Sampson is the one who took a giant dump all over the basketball program that I have loved since I was a kid, and I will forever hold a grudge against him for how far into the depths he forced IU basketball to plummet. It still sickens me to think about the chants of “Kel-vin Samp-son” that used to emanate loudly from the cheering IU faithful in Assembly Hall. We were so sure that Kelvin Sampson would lead us back to national prominence. And I was cheering the same at home right along with them. It literally makes me want to just stop writing and go vomit.
None of us realized that to get Eric Gordon and get back into the top-10 we would have to sacrifice the soul of the program we loved so much. No one would have made that deal if we hadn’t been forced to enter into fraudulently. And that sad fact is just as much the fault of Adam Herbert and the idiots who hired Kelvin Sampson as it is Sampson’s. He was a snake in the grass at Oklahoma, and he was a snake in the grass at IU. Oklahoma got fooled; unfortunately my beloved Indiana Hoosiers got exactly what they deserved, thanks to the inept people making decisions at the top.
Hopefully, this ruling will close the ugliest chapter in the history of IU basketball. We know have an excited and (God I hope) ethical coach on the sidelines who will do things the right, the IU way. We may not win many games this year, but I do believe that we will build a foundation for next season and for many to come after that.
Just stay up in Milwaukee Kelvin, you dirty, lying turd of a man. I curse the day you stepped foot in Bloomington and hope that you used some of your $750,000 buyout and six-figure NBA salary to buy a clue and some integrity.
Oh wait, those things can’t really be bought. You either have them or you don’t.
I wish that Indiana had realized this when they hired you. At least know we have someone who has both to clean up the mess you left.
(Stay tuned to the Indiana Hoosiers News Page for the latest updates regarding the NCAA ruling and how the Hoosiers are doing out in Maui.)
[tags]indiana hoosiers, kelvin sampson, ncaa, college basketball[/tags]
Tags: College Basketball, indiana hoosiers, kelvin sampson, ncaa, tom crean
---------------
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing with your friends:
That picture of Kelvin Sampson. . .Was that his reaction when he heard the news?
Reply
Probably. I can’t stand him.
Two straight 25 point losses for the Hoosiers in Maui — and it’s all Sampson’s fault!
Reply
I’ll take those losses and live with them knowing that we are a better program now then we have been the last 5 years. Sure a bad record is in store for us this year, but we will be back.
Reply