Indiana, Sampson Finally Taking Some Heat

By Trashtalk Superstar

It's no secret that Indiana head basketball coach Kelvin Sampson has had trouble following NCAA rules.

Sampson committed recruiting violations when he was the head basketball coach at Oklahoma. And Indiana was well aware of Sampson's checkered past when they hired him to replace Mike Davis.

When it became obvious that Sampson was continuing to skirt NCAA rules at Indiana, IU conducted an internal investigation which resulted in their "self reporting" some of Sampson's "minor" violations -- relating to improper phone calls that had been placed to recruits -- to the NCAA.

The results of that investigation were released in November.

But Wednesday, the NCAA accused Sampson of committing five major infractions while at Indiana.

IU is now in an unenviable position.

Indiana has been one of college basketball's traditionally elite programs. But they endured some trying times during Mike Davis' tenure as head coach. Davis' Hoosiers missed the NCAA Tournament in 2005. Indiana did get back to the Tournament in '06, but they made an unexpected early exit -- despite the fact that they'd been expected to be one of the top teams in college basketball that year.

And recruiting had fallen off significantly under Davis' watch.

Although he's considered a player's coach, Mike Davis struggled to recruit top talent to Indiana. To make matters worse, Davis was unable to "lock down the borders" of the talent rich Hoosier state. That is, Davis couldn't convince the state's best high school players that it would be in their best interest to continue their basketball careers in Bloomington (donning the Crimson and Creme Indiana uniform).

Bloomington's Sean May chose North Carolina. Indianapolis' Mike Conley and Greg Oden left for Ohio State. And Eric Gordon (also of Indianapolis) originally committed to Illinois (before Davis was let go, Sampson was hired and Gordon reneged on that commitment).

In just two seasons at Indiana, Kelvin Sampson has guided the Hoosiers back to national prominence.

Sampson has one of the most talented teams in college basketball. Eric Gordon is one of the most electrifying freshman in the game. The Hoosiers have either been atop, or near the top of the Big Ten standings since the start of the season. And, this year, Indiana has been a fixture in top 15 of the AP Top 25.

But Kelvin Sampson has infected the once proud (and clean) Indiana basketball program with his slimy, shady ways.

And it's finally catching up to him

After ignoring Sampson's legacy of sleaze for years, members of the national media are beginning to call Sampson out.

And there are even voices in the local Indiana media that are starting to cry foul.

In today's Indianapolis Star, Bob Kravitz labels Sampson "slime" and calls for his ouster at Indiana.

The NCAA won't rule on Indiana's fate for several months. So IU has time to decide what to do with coach Sampson and its basketball program.

But the university is already deliberating in order to consider its options with regard to Sampson.

It's a shame to see what Kelvin Sampson has done to the image and reputation of Indiana basketball. The Indiana basketball brand used to be synonymous with hard work, teamwork and old school values. Bob Knight may not have always been the nicest guy in the world, but he ran a clean program and focused on teaching/motivating his student athletes to be the best basketball players that they could be -- both as individuals and as a team. Over the years, many of Knight's players left the program early, but among most of those who remained in the program (especially the guys who played before the mid 90's), there exists a deep, profound loyalty to coach Knight and to what his Indiana basketball program represented.

Kelvin Sampson has taken one of the most storied institutions in college basketball and turned it into a renegade program.

Indiana should be better than that.