Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Rare, midweek ramblings...
Wow, two minutes to share some thoughts on what's going on around the Big Ten. Amazing!

First of all, Holy Hoosiers Batman. Lose a key role player yesterday, face MAJOR sanctions today. What in the h-e-double hockey sticks is goin' on in Bloomington (aside from three straight critical games over the next six nights)?

Second, hat's off to Purdue. Baby Boilers aren't babies anymore. This is a tough team that reminds me so very much of the first few MSU (Big Ten) title teams in the late 90s. In your jock defense. Solid guard play. Timely shooting. Hustle galore. If State can't win it (they can't if they play like they did in the first half, but CAN if they play like they did in the second) then I'll throw my support the way of the old gold and black.

Last - I am sick and tired of the slams the Big Ten takes from the Pat Forde's of the world. The Big Ten has four teams that are deep tourney run capable. How many other leagues are really that strong? ACC has two. SEC - do they have anyone outside of Tennessee? I'll give you the Big East and Pac 10 but damnit, respect us people. Mark it down, ONE Big Ten team will be in San Antonio in April...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

IU's and Sampson's infractions should be no surprise if you have followed the Eric Gordon saga. Illini fans weren't that worked up over losing a recruit. We've lost recruits before even at or about signing day.

It's clear that Sampson has thumbed his nose at the NCAA. Not only was he violating contact rules at Oklahoma, (while the head of the ethics committee for the NCAA), he continued to violate contact rules once he moved to IU.

What came to light today was that not only did a previous IU assistant, Senderhoff, facilitate this illegal contact, but IU assistant Meyer did the same. Meyer was Eric Gordon's Dad's hoops coach who was hired to help get Gordon to switch his commitment. One of two Gordon family friends hired by IU so they could pressure Gordon to switch his commitment.

Sampson being the scum he is has admitted nothing. He has continued to act as if he made all the calls by accident and has outright lied to investigators.

We can only hope IU and the NCAA do the right thing and come down extremely hard on Sampson, and his guilty assistants, but also hit IU hard as well. IU knowingly hired a cheater and did almost nothing to make sure he was in compliance.

IU through Sampson's cheating has had their best season in years. They need to get a post season ban for this season otherwise IU has benefited from this cheating.