IU players must remove Sampson from Fave 5
Talented team needs to get comfortable with new coach Dakich, and university must try to keep Sampson as far away as possible
<!-- Article Publsih Date -->February 25, 2008
<!-- Article By Line -->BY JAY MARIOTTI Sun-Times Columnist
<!-- Article's First Paragraph -->The first sign that Indiana's problems aren't over, but really just beginning, was a startling revelation Saturday night. Armon Bassett, one of many terrific players on a team in mid-scandal limbo, said he received a text message from an admirer after a tense victory over Northwestern.
``He told me he loved me, he's happy for me and good win,'' Bassett said.
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The texter: Kelvin Sampson.
Insert your punchline here about the serial cell-phone monster who can't help himself, but this is neither humorous nor encouraging for the immediate future of a potential Final Four team. Only a day after he was bought out as a repeat rules offender who shamed a legendary basketball program, Sampson still was associating with his former players via the very technological toys that doomed him. It begs the question of how close he'll remain with the Hoosiers as the tournament nears -- and how university officials and the NCAA will view such a bond as IU tries to avoid crippling long-term sanctions.
They can pay him off with a $750,000 settlement, but they still can't purge the ghost of Sampson. It's the latest twist in an institutional quagmire that gives new meaning to March Madness, with Indiana about to emerge as the month's biggest story for all the wrong reasons. Back when Bob Knight was squeezing into his red sweater, the tournament became a perpetual over-under on when he'd lose his volcanic temper. Now, it's about whether an outlaw continues to counsel the players in absentia and whether they're so loyal to Sampson that the school is helpless, fearing they might protest -- six skipped practice Friday -- and turn his ouster into a Save Kelvin crusade. When Kellen Sampson, Kelvin's son, remains on the bench as a graduate manager, you realize some things haven't changed at Indiana.
``It just wasn't the same, not having him around,'' said Bassett, among the players who scribbled ``K.S.'' on their sneakers for their deposed coach and one of those who missed practice. ``We all have to get used to not having coach Sampson with us.''
``He wasn't just like a coach. He was more like a father to us. We just miss him,'' said freshman star Eric Gordon, who didn't boycott the practice. ``A head coach has a big effect on this program. He's here to run it, and we're here to play for him, so it was just really tough.''
The issue is whether a team of talented kids who are just that -- kids -- can channel their bitter feelings about Sampson's demise into a Big Ten title and long March run. The chance of an implosion might seem likelier than a joyride, which brings us to interim coach Dan Dakich, a Knighthead from way back who has been thrust into the emotional fray and asked to transform turmoil into glory. You might say Dakich has used up his one hoops miracle, having limited Michael Jordan to 13 points in Indiana's memorable upset of North Carolina in the 1984 NCAA East Regional -- MJ's final collegiate game. Dakich fouled out with four minutes left and threw up. So at least he has experienced feeling physically ill on the bench, a possibility over the coming weeks in the most pressurized challenge any coach could face. As a lifelong IU fan who grew up in Gary, he always wanted to coach the Hoosiers and thought that might be in the plan before he was fired last year at Bowling Green. Obviously, this isn't how he wanted to inherit a dream, stumbling in at another's expense.
``It's not the way you want to get a job. There's a responsibility with it that I accept on a multitude of levels, mostly to the players and fans,'' Dakich said in Welsh-Ryan Arena after the 85-82 victory. ``I haven't given it a lot of thought simply because it's a difficult situation. Our players have all kinds of emotions right now, and so do I.''
To his credit, he survived his first crisis. As Sampson was accepting a buyout Friday, a half-dozen players blew off Dakich's first practice as word spread of a possible boycott of the Northwestern game. Known as a disciplinarian in the Knight vein, Dakich could have suspended the missing players as a hard-line statement. Instead, he exercised a virtue not often seen at Assembly Hall: patience. Of course, Sampson made a plea to them to make the Evanston trip -- with the cell phone, I'm sure -- and former Hoosier Damon Bailey showed up to persuade them. But Dakich also kept his cool, and by Friday night, the players were alerting the interim coach they'd be at a walkthrough. Among those in touch was senior captain D.J. White, who was particularly devastated to see Sampson go after his original coach, Mike Davis, was run out of Indiana two years ago.
``I thought it was a natural. It wasn't like a boycott,'' Dakich said. ``They got told at 11:45 (Friday morning) about coach Sampson. To ask them to go to practice -- well, some do and some don't. These guys are 18-to-22-year-old kids. They're not robots. Coach was a father figure, and now, for whatever reason, he's no longer there. That's a difficult thing. There was no way I was going to sit there and demand that they (practice). I knew they'd be back. I understand and anyone who has been around kids understands.
``It was a non-issue. (Later,) I was getting texts, `I'll be there. Walk-through tonight, I'll be there.' Soft is not one of the things I'm known for as a coach, but the kids needed time and needed space."
The players seemed to appreciate the gesture. And, for now, they have bought into Dakich, despite reports they preferred another assistant coach, Ray McCallum, a Sampson confidante who recruited them. ``It's an emotional time for us, but, you know, we weren't going to sit out no game,'' said Bassett, who scored 24 points. ``We just had some things going on and didn't come to practice. We're sorry about that.''
But are they comfortable with Dakich? Ever see a college head coach wave signs at his players -- ``DRAG'' ... ``4 HIGH'' -- from the bench? ``We don't have no other choice but to be comfortable," Bassett said. ``If we want to win it, we've got no other choice but to be comfortable with coach Dakich.''
``We've got to keep on playing for coach Dak,'' Gordon said.
For a school that hasn't won a Big Ten basketball game since Feb. 10 of last year, the NU fans were quite obnoxious. When they weren't chanting, ``Where's your coach? Where's your coach?'' they were shouting, ``Sampson's calling! Sampson's calling!'' There was the inevitable barrage of cell phones when IU players shot free throws, and the inevitable ``Hoosier Coach?'' sign in the same building where ``Hoosier Daddy?'' once was chanted at Knight.
Yet there were many more Indiana fans in the audience, a byproduct of a scraggly NU hoops program that has to fire Bill Carmody and start over. And before the game, the drama built when the Hoosiers entered the gym behind a team manager who carried the 2002 Big Ten championship trophy. ``That's coach Dakich's idea," Bassett said. ``He said he's going to keep on bringing it until we win our own."
Just make sure Kelvin Sampson isn't at the celebration.
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Talented team needs to get comfortable with new coach Dakich, and university must try to keep Sampson as far away as possible
<!-- Article Publsih Date -->February 25, 2008
<!-- Article By Line -->BY JAY MARIOTTI Sun-Times Columnist
<!-- Article's First Paragraph -->The first sign that Indiana's problems aren't over, but really just beginning, was a startling revelation Saturday night. Armon Bassett, one of many terrific players on a team in mid-scandal limbo, said he received a text message from an admirer after a tense victory over Northwestern.
``He told me he loved me, he's happy for me and good win,'' Bassett said.
<!-- start sidebar --><!-- Fact box starts here -->
The texter: Kelvin Sampson.
Insert your punchline here about the serial cell-phone monster who can't help himself, but this is neither humorous nor encouraging for the immediate future of a potential Final Four team. Only a day after he was bought out as a repeat rules offender who shamed a legendary basketball program, Sampson still was associating with his former players via the very technological toys that doomed him. It begs the question of how close he'll remain with the Hoosiers as the tournament nears -- and how university officials and the NCAA will view such a bond as IU tries to avoid crippling long-term sanctions.
They can pay him off with a $750,000 settlement, but they still can't purge the ghost of Sampson. It's the latest twist in an institutional quagmire that gives new meaning to March Madness, with Indiana about to emerge as the month's biggest story for all the wrong reasons. Back when Bob Knight was squeezing into his red sweater, the tournament became a perpetual over-under on when he'd lose his volcanic temper. Now, it's about whether an outlaw continues to counsel the players in absentia and whether they're so loyal to Sampson that the school is helpless, fearing they might protest -- six skipped practice Friday -- and turn his ouster into a Save Kelvin crusade. When Kellen Sampson, Kelvin's son, remains on the bench as a graduate manager, you realize some things haven't changed at Indiana.
``It just wasn't the same, not having him around,'' said Bassett, among the players who scribbled ``K.S.'' on their sneakers for their deposed coach and one of those who missed practice. ``We all have to get used to not having coach Sampson with us.''
``He wasn't just like a coach. He was more like a father to us. We just miss him,'' said freshman star Eric Gordon, who didn't boycott the practice. ``A head coach has a big effect on this program. He's here to run it, and we're here to play for him, so it was just really tough.''
The issue is whether a team of talented kids who are just that -- kids -- can channel their bitter feelings about Sampson's demise into a Big Ten title and long March run. The chance of an implosion might seem likelier than a joyride, which brings us to interim coach Dan Dakich, a Knighthead from way back who has been thrust into the emotional fray and asked to transform turmoil into glory. You might say Dakich has used up his one hoops miracle, having limited Michael Jordan to 13 points in Indiana's memorable upset of North Carolina in the 1984 NCAA East Regional -- MJ's final collegiate game. Dakich fouled out with four minutes left and threw up. So at least he has experienced feeling physically ill on the bench, a possibility over the coming weeks in the most pressurized challenge any coach could face. As a lifelong IU fan who grew up in Gary, he always wanted to coach the Hoosiers and thought that might be in the plan before he was fired last year at Bowling Green. Obviously, this isn't how he wanted to inherit a dream, stumbling in at another's expense.
``It's not the way you want to get a job. There's a responsibility with it that I accept on a multitude of levels, mostly to the players and fans,'' Dakich said in Welsh-Ryan Arena after the 85-82 victory. ``I haven't given it a lot of thought simply because it's a difficult situation. Our players have all kinds of emotions right now, and so do I.''
To his credit, he survived his first crisis. As Sampson was accepting a buyout Friday, a half-dozen players blew off Dakich's first practice as word spread of a possible boycott of the Northwestern game. Known as a disciplinarian in the Knight vein, Dakich could have suspended the missing players as a hard-line statement. Instead, he exercised a virtue not often seen at Assembly Hall: patience. Of course, Sampson made a plea to them to make the Evanston trip -- with the cell phone, I'm sure -- and former Hoosier Damon Bailey showed up to persuade them. But Dakich also kept his cool, and by Friday night, the players were alerting the interim coach they'd be at a walkthrough. Among those in touch was senior captain D.J. White, who was particularly devastated to see Sampson go after his original coach, Mike Davis, was run out of Indiana two years ago.
``I thought it was a natural. It wasn't like a boycott,'' Dakich said. ``They got told at 11:45 (Friday morning) about coach Sampson. To ask them to go to practice -- well, some do and some don't. These guys are 18-to-22-year-old kids. They're not robots. Coach was a father figure, and now, for whatever reason, he's no longer there. That's a difficult thing. There was no way I was going to sit there and demand that they (practice). I knew they'd be back. I understand and anyone who has been around kids understands.
``It was a non-issue. (Later,) I was getting texts, `I'll be there. Walk-through tonight, I'll be there.' Soft is not one of the things I'm known for as a coach, but the kids needed time and needed space."
The players seemed to appreciate the gesture. And, for now, they have bought into Dakich, despite reports they preferred another assistant coach, Ray McCallum, a Sampson confidante who recruited them. ``It's an emotional time for us, but, you know, we weren't going to sit out no game,'' said Bassett, who scored 24 points. ``We just had some things going on and didn't come to practice. We're sorry about that.''
But are they comfortable with Dakich? Ever see a college head coach wave signs at his players -- ``DRAG'' ... ``4 HIGH'' -- from the bench? ``We don't have no other choice but to be comfortable," Bassett said. ``If we want to win it, we've got no other choice but to be comfortable with coach Dakich.''
``We've got to keep on playing for coach Dak,'' Gordon said.
For a school that hasn't won a Big Ten basketball game since Feb. 10 of last year, the NU fans were quite obnoxious. When they weren't chanting, ``Where's your coach? Where's your coach?'' they were shouting, ``Sampson's calling! Sampson's calling!'' There was the inevitable barrage of cell phones when IU players shot free throws, and the inevitable ``Hoosier Coach?'' sign in the same building where ``Hoosier Daddy?'' once was chanted at Knight.
Yet there were many more Indiana fans in the audience, a byproduct of a scraggly NU hoops program that has to fire Bill Carmody and start over. And before the game, the drama built when the Hoosiers entered the gym behind a team manager who carried the 2002 Big Ten championship trophy. ``That's coach Dakich's idea," Bassett said. ``He said he's going to keep on bringing it until we win our own."
Just make sure Kelvin Sampson isn't at the celebration.
<!-- Start Bottom Story -->
