 That dunk set the tone. Soon after, DJ had to sit with fouls and DeAndre Thomas came in. Like he has in other occasions (Kentucky game), Thickburger came in and made a difference. At the 9 minute mark, EJ dunked one to tie the game. Between those two points, DJ's dunk and EJ's dunk, Thomas had 6 points and a a few key defensive stops. After the game was tied, Gordon took over. I love it when TB comes in a plays hard. The crowd loves it.
I like that Thomas has a little bit of touch around the bucket. He isn't what I would consider a strong finisher, but he has a good sense of space and seems to know where the bucket is. He has some offensive skill in terms of hands and feet, and he wants to contribute. On defense, he is big and stout and it probably ends there. Still, his usefulness was on excellent display when the collective arseholes of thousands of Hoosiers violently clenched into diamond forming mode as DJ White went down holding his knee. I know I had to get up and pee. DeAndre put us back into it. He isn't unstoppable, it just takes so long to get around him that he gets his shot off before you get there.
The aggression and spark the Hoosiers showed after the got themselves back into it is to be commended. They were more tenacious than they had been and moved much faster. I think their aggression had them moving faster that MSU expected and they finally started taking advantage of their opportunities. They outshot MSU from the floor and from the stripe (the 10 for 11 from the line was pleasing to see) and beat them on the boards even with DJ on the bench for 25 minutes. MRI is supposed to be Sunday. The turnover margin was a big improvement (10 to 19).
Gordon took a big step forward. With IU looking for a little bit of an identity after the 2 losses to Wisconsin and the last second loss with Ellis chuckin and prayin, it was good to see Gordon take things over. His 28 points and 5 boards were great. I would like to see him improve on the single assist, but Crawford and Bassett helped out with 5 a piece and Gordo still had a block and a steal.
As much as this was a great game for the players, it had to be a little better for Sampson. It seems like the community has turned on him a little, and nothing is better for public relations than a big, fat W. ESPN writers are already convinced he is on the way out.
"Indiana's self-reported violations caused the NCAA to take a closer
look, which is never a good thing. The NCAA alleges Sampson knowingly
broke the restrictions it placed on him, then lied about it to Indiana
officials and NCAA investigators. Indiana officials seem pretty confident in the NCAA's
findings. The three-person committee appointed by McRobbie to
investigate Sampson's behavior won't even interview the recruits who
accused the coach of breaking NCAA rules. Instead, the school will rely
on transcripts from those players' interviews with NCAA investigators,
according to Indiana University spokesman Larry MacIntyre said.
So much for defending your coach." It would seem that this guy thinks that IU is just buying time until they can fire Sampson. That is a sentiment shared widely in Bloomington. With this great win, though, I will say two things.
1. Kelvin Sampson is a likeable guy.
2. If you want people in Indiana to love a basketball coach he only has to do one thing. Win
The hearing is in June. It is February 17th. That means the Boilermakers and March are waiting. If Sampson can survive that long, he has a shot.
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From what I'm hearing, I would be very, very, very surprised if Sampson is on the sidelines against Purdue. Look for McCallum to be there on Tuesday, even though there are rumors it could be Dakich.
We are hearing the same thing, then. I have been hearing that it will be Dakich. That is the first I have heard McCallum might take it.
I certainly think things are looking bad for him, right now I think he is about 80% to be fired. The widespread belief locally is that the "inquiry" that IU is involved in is based solely on lawyering out paying him money after we fire him.
I am just saying that, if he can survive the week, there are things in store that might (might) save him should they go his way.
Nice game last night. It was the first time I've seen Gordan play on TV instead of watching the game on espn.com's gamecast. I was impressed! I did get tired of hearing the commentators talk about the sampson controversy. They didn't bring anything new to this topic and didn't even talk about the game all that much. I don't know how many times Vitale said he had a better chance of winning sexiest man alive then sampson has of remaining the coach.
Can't wait til Tuesday!
Vitale said one useful thing, and that was this. AD Rick Greenspan has to go. There are lots of commentators out there on the bandwagon to ax Sampson, but many seem to think greenspan should stay. I think that is ridiculous. Greenspan was either aware of the violations or tacitly accepting of them. The volume of calls was too high for him not to be. Not only that, but he has been too aggressive in bringing in his own personnel to operate the athletic department to claim that it was outside his control. I think he is trying to skulk into the shadow on this and folks should realize that HE is the head of the department and is therefor responsible for the conduct of people underneath him. Given that, he is just as responsible for this mess as anyone, in my opinion, and should ge removed as well.
Speaking of Vitale beating a dead horse. How much can one man talk about Bob Knight during a single game? Every two minutes he was saying they gotta name this building after Knight, gotta appreciate his legacy and blah blah blah. Vitale never took Knight's dick out of his mouth the entire time.
Bruce,
Good post, especially in regard to comments on DeAndre Thomas and how the team sparked and put the game away. I have some thoughts on various things in the post, as well as comments thus far. I also like the large font, "here come your Indiana Hoosiers" part. I could just hear Chuck Crabb saying that phrase with his trademark sound.
To start, your point about a coach just needing to win is truly valid. I was in attendance for the MSU game and when he was announced after the starting lineups, he was summarily booed. Fast forwarding to the end of the game, he got a rousing "Kelvin Sampson, Kelvin Sampson" from many of the fans. The short term memory loss was extremely evident amongst many in the crowd, especially the students.
In regards to the potential firing/suspension/punishment, there are some issues to raise. Out of the three people on the investigative team, having the guy how brought in Sampson, be on that team is poor form, in my opinion. Greenspan has been privy to details this whole time. I will consistently question his ability to be objective, especially now. I hope that he can balance that many things in play throughout this process.
I am still not sold on Eric Gordon. I say that with two things in mind. Minus the first 6 minutes of the game, this was the most solid (speaking in length of game time) that IU has played all year. Passing, and more importantly, a balance of inside and outside scoring, showed many people what this team can do. Some of the best basketball IU played against MSU was when Gordon was not on the floor. Yes, he had 28 points, and yes, he had some explosive scores. Those are easy to forget when he would lose control of the ball on drives, and not make a pass that would keep the offense moving. To me, the difference makers in this game were JaMarcus Ellis and DeAndre Thomas. This was a solid game for Ellis, he needed it. Having 12 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals is what he needs to do, every night.
I still feel as though Gordon and Sampson are not on the same page. I expressed that to the person I attended the game with and she said something interesting. She said, (and she is privy to some upper echelon donors/people knee-deep in the program) that the deal with Gordon and Sampson was this. If he came to IU, Sampson would give him carte blanche to play his style. Hearing that statement, this far into this season, made me think. While he has been explosive all year, he has not really been in total synch with this team.
Alright, that's enough, my Lord, that was a lot of typing.
I like the points Lucas makes. I would say that I'm sold on Gordon as a player (yes he could still improve on some of his basic skills like a mid-range jumper, dribbling, and passing) but not sold on the fit at IU. UNC or Kansas would be a better fit for him. I always viewed Sampson's system as a grind it out on the boards and on the defensive end type of system. Gordon can't thrive in that type of system. Now, Sampson is trying to make a fit for Gordon and it has some things not necessarily pan out in the grand scheme of the team. If White is out any amount of time, I think Sampson has to go with a helter skelter type of system involving Bassett, Gordon and Crawford. I think Gordon as shown on Sat. can thrive a bit more in a system such as that. On another note, I'm tired of hearing 18 & 19 yr. old college kids say "Bring Bobby Back."
IU is garbage. Look at your SOS people. 91. George Washington is number 92. Arizona State is 90.
IU is garbage basketball.
I have to believe that the chanting at the end of the game was more for the TEAM's victory and knowing how much they love their coach. I wasn't there (gave my ticket away to son!) but dang, I probably would have been caught up in the moment, too. Sad situation all around.