2025 NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament Discussion

[iubb]

Even the Purdue fan accounts are dunking on Goodman for this godawful take

 

[Asha’man]

5 minutes ago, iubb said:

 

 

What foolproof argument..  What I did was illegal at the time, but because its legal now its no big deal!

Kinda like smoking pot is illegal some places and not others. Still not a big deal anywhere other than a few who are old school. 
 

Sampson should have been backed. 1 don’t self report the phone calls. You have schools offering fake classes and winning titles yet IU self reports and gives themselves a post season ban. Pure comedy. Same school that backed a coach who had known anger issues and smacked a player or 2. I don’t care about the pot either. I’m not a pot head but it’s been rampant on college campuses since before I was born. And no I don’t care about an unenforceable “rule” made by some body (NCAA) that has no legal right to impose said rules, as we have seen time and time again once schools started suing. 

[CSP]

1 minute ago, Asha’man said:

Kinda like smoking pot is illegal some places and not others. Still not a big deal anywhere other than a few who are old school. 
 

Sampson should have been backed. 1 don’t self report the phone calls. You have schools offering fake classes and winning titles yet IU self reports and gives themselves a post season ban. Pure comedy. Same school that backed a coach who had known anger issues and smacked a player or 2. I don’t care about the pot either. I’m not a pot head but it’s been rampant on college campuses since before I was born. And no I don’t care about an unenforceable “rule” made by some body (NCAA) that has no legal right to impose said rules, as we have seen time and time again once schools started suing. 

No, he shouldn't have. He shouldn't have broken the rules that he had just broken. He should have also have entirely more control over his team, off the court, than he did. It was more than just pot.... plenty of Fs. 

2 faults here.... 1. the admin for hiring him at all 2. Him... he's at fault. His stupidity probably cost him 2 or 3 titles. 

[iubb]

Lets not forget there was a time (like not even 10 years ago) where the NCAA suspended players for having the audacity to get a free meal, because back then they were students and got paid nothing

 

But sure Goodman, continue with that foolproof argument 

[LamarCheeks]

9 minutes ago, Asha’man said:

Kinda like smoking pot is illegal some places and not others. Still not a big deal anywhere other than a few who are old school. 
 

Sampson should have been backed. 

[str8baller]

7 minutes ago, Asha’man said:

Kinda like smoking pot is illegal some places and not others. Still not a big deal anywhere other than a few who are old school. 

Kind of like some things are deductible on my taxes and others are not. The friendly IRS agent was totally chill when I brought up this line of reasoning and definitely let me deduct  the twenty cases of miller lite and 80” tv i bought for the super bowl. 

[Stuhoo]

22 hours ago, Asha’man said:

Kinda like smoking pot is illegal some places and not others. Still not a big deal anywhere other than a few who are old school. 
 

Sampson should have been backed. 1 don’t self report the phone calls. You have schools offering fake classes and winning titles yet IU self reports and gives themselves a post season ban. Pure comedy. Same school that backed a coach who had known anger issues and smacked a player or 2. I don’t care about the pot either. I’m not a pot head but it’s been rampant on college campuses since before I was born. And no I don’t care about an unenforceable “rule” made by some body (NCAA) that has no legal right to impose said rules, as we have seen time and time again once schools started suing. 

Sampson brought

1. Armon Bassett https://www.meadvilletribune.com/news/former-ohio-u-basketball-star-charged-in-alleged-bleach-attack-on-girlfriend/article_215ac17e-b66a-11e5-99fa-27481cbace8e.html,
2. Jamarcus Ellis
3. Rob Senderhoff https://www.si.com/college/indiana/basketball/kent-state-basketball-coach-rob-senderoff-refuses-to-discuss-ncaa-violations-at-indiana-with-kelvin-sampson
4. Tried to bring cocaine trafficker/armed robbery criminal Bud Mackey https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/news/story?id=3041907 ,
5. Eli Holman and his plant hurling, https://www.espn.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/36034/detroits-eli-holman-faces-assault-allegation and 
6. Brandon McGee

to Indiana Basketball. 

Before he was at IU, Sampson got caught for rules violations, knew he'd get his employer in tons of trouble if he continued, and then proceeded to keep violating the same rules.

'Kevin' Sampson can kiss my Hoosier @$$.

 

[Asha’man]

2 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

 

Sampson brought Armon Bassett, Jamarcus Ellis, Rob Senderhoff, tried to bring the drug dealing/armed robbery criminal Bud Mackey, Eli Holman and his plant hurling, and worst of all, Brandon McGee to Indiana Basketball. 

Before IU, Sampson got caught for rules violations, knew he'd get his employer in tons of trouble if he continued, and then proceeded to keep violating the same rules.

'Kevin' Sampson can kiss my Hoosier @$$.

 

All of which IU also brings in every year in the student population as well. Had immediate family member leave IU bc her roommate was dealing drugs out of the dorms freshman year. This stuff is happening already. Do I condone the behavior? no. would I fire a basketball coach over it? No  

 

The athletic department should have turned a blind eye to the phone calls. The rule was dumb. Had they waited a year it wouldnt have been a rule anyway and nothing to report. And the NCAA can’t legally force any institution to turn over materials or data. IU damaged themselves. 

[Asha’man]

42 minutes ago, Certified Sunshine Pumper said:

No, he shouldn't have. He shouldn't have broken the rules that he had just broken. He should have also have entirely more control over his team, off the court, than he did. It was more than just pot.... plenty of Fs. 

2 faults here.... 1. the admin for hiring him at all 2. Him... he's at fault. His stupidity probably cost him 2 or 3 titles. 

Don’t care about the grades either. As the Ohio state national champ QB once said, we didn’t come to play school. lol. UNC national title with fake classes. These kids are employees and always have been, the old guard is still fighting the recognition of it. 
 

IU could have chosen to keep Sampson anyway and had no ban bc the rule was changed a year later. The post season ban was by IU not the NCAA. 

[Stuhoo]

1 hour ago, Asha’man said:

All of which IU also brings in every year in the student population as well. Had immediate family member leave IU bc her roommate was dealing drugs out of the dorms freshman year. This stuff is happening already. Do I condone the behavior? no. would I fire a basketball coach over it? No  

 

The athletic department should have turned a blind eye to the phone calls. The rule was dumb. Had they waited a year it wouldnt have been a rule anyway and nothing to report. And the NCAA can’t legally force any institution to turn over materials or data. IU damaged themselves. 

Good lord... really? 

Yes, every university has a small percentage of kids that are up to no good. SAMPSON ACTIVELY RECRUITED THESE PEOPLE, TRIED TO BURY THEIR ONGOING ACTIVITIES, AND HIRED SENDERHOFF (and McCallum) TO HELP CARRY OUT THE PLAN.

Eric Gordon said that of the 13 scholarship players when he was at IU, only him, DJ White, and two others were not actively and openly using and/or dealing drugs. THAT's NINE OUT OF THIRTEEN IU PLAYERS. Hell, Jamarcus Ellis and Brandon McGee were among those who were actively using in the IU locker room.

Dakich was in the locker room that year:

"Rob Senderoff was cheating his brains out for Kelvin Sampson at Indiana and Kelvin is pretty smart. He got rid of Senderoff, but took care of him.''

-------------------

"Senderoff was a little cheat, and he wasn't even any good at it,'' Dakich said. "He got caught easy when he was at Indiana. It pays to cheat. Look at Kelvin Sampson. Nobody’s cheating more than Kelvin Sampson. And if anybody thinks it was just phone calls, I've got two words for you: My Backside.''

--------------------------

"Indiana fans, if you want to get under Senderoff's skin, cheer Bud Mackey,'' Dakich said. "Bud Mackey was a player from Kentucky that he sold Sampson on but never got to play. Why? Armed robbery, drugs, you name it. Multiple charges.

------------------------

"So we find out that Bud Mackey has been arrested and I'm sitting in my office, and I'm just laughing. I'm watching Senderoff, and Ray McCallum and Kelvin Sampson, it's like the Keystone Cops of idiots. We find out that Bud Mackey has been arrested and my man Senderoff is bawling in my office. Literally crying his eyes out.''

[LamarCheeks]

12 minutes ago, Asha’man said:

All of which IU also brings in every year in the student population as well. Had immediate family member leave IU bc her roommate was dealing drugs out of the dorms freshman year. This stuff is happening already. Do I condone the behavior? no. would I fire a basketball coach over it? No  

 

The athletic department should have turned a blind eye to the phone calls. The rule was dumb. Had they waited a year it wouldnt have been a rule anyway and nothing to report. And the NCAA can’t legally force any institution to turn over materials or data. IU damaged themselves. 

[Ryno6284]

20 hours ago, str8baller said:

Kind of like some things are deductible on my taxes and others are not. The friendly IRS agent was totally chill when I brought up this line of reasoning and definitely let me deduct  the twenty cases of miller lite and 80” tv i bought for the super bowl. 

You can do that?!

[Hoosier987]

I apologize for the long post.

It’s bothersome that after 20 years there are some that still regulate to Sampson’s players as “thugs.” I saw it mentioned as recent as yesterday. There were some players that he brought along that were in situations many of us couldn’t fathom. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. Jarmarcus Ellis (RIP) was mentioned recently. He ended up becoming a counselor for boys at a school before he tragically died in a car accident.

The majority of Sampson’s players he had and recruited were high character guys and represented the University well. Some of us went to IU the same time with them.  Eric Gordon, DJ White, Lance Stemler, Adam Ahlfeld, Kyle Taber, Tom Pritchard, Derek Elston, Matt Roth etc. further, Sampson’s team had 2 of the greatest players imo opinion to don the cream and crimson in DJ White and Eric Gordon and both have represented the University very well. Those guys are true Hoosiers through and through. Let’s stop calling his players “thugs.”
 

The irony of all this, is none of Sampson’s players had an arrest during their playing time while other coaches (namely Crean and Woodson) had players arrested multiple times under their watch…yet it seems like these coaches get a much easier pass by some…especially Crean. I’m not here to embarrass any former players because people change as seen with Ellis…also, these are low points in times where these players were young in adulthood—  so I won’t be listing any names or linking any articles, but here are some of the few issues players and former players have had not under Sampson but under other coaches at Indiana:

Player A - attempted murder, illegal possession of a firearm, drugs 

Player B - illegal consumption of alcohol, operating a vehicle under the influence which may have contributed to a teammate being hit by the car and consequently taken to the hospital. Fortunately teammate that was hit with the car didn’t have life threatening injuries. Ironically, the player who was hit by the car took his talents to Houston to play for Sampson, who clearly at Houston had a far more disciplined and controlled environment then we had at that time.

Player C - reckless driving, fleeing police

Player D - Fast food incident which directly led to arrest 

Player E - underage drinking, possession of fake ID

Player F - same as Player E

As for Coach Sampson himself, he’s done more for young people than many of us have done.  His players love him, and they loved him here — See Eric Gordon’s tweet as recent as last weekend. Sampson’s last game coached at Assembly Hall (after everything came to light) alum, students and fans alike were reigning down chants of “Kelvin Sampson” from the rafters. 
 

 I get it, but what about the Fs? These F’s occurred after what had transpired. There’s a notion here, that the players didn’t go to class the whole time and had bad grades. That’s simply not true. I went to IU during this time and attended class with some of these same players and they were there. The team did well academically that Fall semester. Now, I don’t agree with it, but some of them simply stopped going to class in the Spring semester after what had happened. They were hurt by what had transpired  to the team and Coach Sampson. They had National Tile aspirations and it was taken from them in a moment’s notice.  The irony of all this…we actually had classes while some of our rivals’ student athletes were attending “fake” classes. Which leads me to my next point.

What some media members fail to mention is the rampant cheating (far worse) that what Coach Sampson was doing…which of course, what Kelvin was doing became legal a short time later. These other Programs had fake classes, strippers, paying players and some coaches had sexual assaults going on in their program which was overlooked…many of these same coaches are celebrated but damn the phone calls and Sampson! What was going on in our program during this time was peanuts in comparison to many other successful celebrated programs. Media made Sampson into a pariah while it was well known far worse was happening at winning programs…but it doesn’t get mentioned because it doesn’t fit their criteria.
 

But what about the Show Cause Penalty? It’s simple…We told on ourselves. It wasn’t the NCAA. As seen with what was going on with other schools (Hell, our HOF coach has multiple instances that wouldn’t be tolerated but were) 99.9 % of the other schools don’t even bat an eye and self report…therefore, you never hear of any this, and we are hanging banners instead. Our little compliance team decided to tattle tell on ourselves. 
 

In hindsight, nothing is perfect and they weren’t certainly under Coach Sampson, but man we could’ve handled this a much different way that would’ve worked out all for the better…and please, let’s stop ostracizing people who part of the program during this time. Many of them are a part of the IU basketball Family and represent The Program incredibly well.

 

 

[CSP]

2 minutes ago, Hoosier987 said:

I apologize for the long post.

It’s bothersome that after 20 years there are some that still regulate to Sampson’s players as “thugs.” I saw it mentioned as recent as yesterday. There were some players that he brought along that were in situations many of us couldn’t fathom. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. Jarmarcus Ellis (RIP) was mentioned recently. He ended up becoming a counselor for boys at a school before he tragically died in a car accident.

The majority of Sampson’s players he had and recruited were high character guys and represented the University well. Some of us went to IU the same time with them.  Eric Gordon, DJ White, Lance Stemler, Adam Ahlfeld, Kyle Taber, Tom Pritchard, Derek Elston, Matt Roth etc. further, Sampson’s team had 2 of the greatest players imo opinion who to don the cream and crimson in DJ White and Eric Gordon and both have represented the University very well. Those guys are true Hoosiers through and through. Let’s stop calling his players “thugs.”
 

The irony of all this, is none of Sampson’s players had an arrest during their playing time while other coaches (namely Crean and Woodson) had players arrested multiple times under their watch…yet it seems like these coaches get a much easier pass by some…especially Crean. I’m not here to embarrass any former players because people change as seen with Ellis…also, these are low points in times where these players were young in adulthood—  so I won’t be listing any names or linking any articles, but here are some of the few issues players and former players have had not under Sampson but under other coaches at Indiana:

Player A - attempted murder, illegal possession of a firearm, drugs 

Player B - illegal consumption of alcohol, operating a vehicle under the influence which may have contributed to a teammate being hit by the car and consequently taken to the hospital. Fortunately teammate that was hit with the car didn’t have life threatening injuries. Ironically, the player who was hit by the car took his talents to Houston to play for Sampson, who clearly at Houston had a far more disciplined and controlled environment then we had at that time.

Player C - reckless driving, fleeing police

Player D - Fast food incident which directly led to arrest 

Player E - underage drinking, possession of fake ID

Player F - same as Player E

As for Coach Sampson himself, he’s done more for young people than many of us have done.  His players love him, and they loved him here — See Eric Gordon’s tweet as recent as last weekend. Sampson’s last game coached at Assembly Hall (after everything came to light) alum, students and fans alike were reigning down chants of “Kelvin Sampson” from the rafters. 
 

 I get it, but what about the Fs? These F’s occurred after what had transpired. There’s a notion here, that the players didn’t go to class the whole time and had bad grades. That’s simply not true. I went to IU during this time and attended class with some of these same players and they were there. The team did well academically that Fall semester. Now, I don’t agree with it, but some of them simply stopped going to class in the Spring semester after what had happened. They were hurt by what had transpired  to the team and Coach Sampson. They had National Tile aspirations and it was taken from them in a moment’s notice.  The irony of all this…we actually had classes while some of our rivals’ student athletes were attending “fake” classes. Which leads me to my next point.

What some media members fail to mention is the rampant cheating (far worse) that what Coach Sampson was doing…which of course, what Kelvin was doing became legal a short time later. These other Programs had fake classes, strippers, paying players and some coaches had sexual assaults going on in their program which was overlooked…many of these same coaches are celebrated but damn the phone calls and Sampson! What was going on in our program during this time was peanuts in comparison to many other successful celebrated programs. Media made Sampson into a pariah while it was well known far worse was happening at winning programs…but it doesn’t get mentioned because it doesn’t fit their criteria.
 

But, but what about the Show Cause Penalty? It’s simple…We told on ourselves. It wasn’t the NCAA. As seen with what was going on with other schools (Hell, our HOF coach has multiple instances that wouldn’t be tolerated but were) 99.9 % of the other schools don’t even bat an eye and self report…therefore, you never hear of any this, and we are hanging banners instead. Our little compliance team decided to tattle tell on ourselves. 
 

In hindsight, nothing is perfect and they weren’t certainly under Coach Sampson, but man we could’ve handled this a much different way that would’ve worked out all for the better…and please, let’s stop ostracizing people who part of the program during this time. Many of them are apart of the IU basketball Family and represent The Program incredibly well.

 

 

Lance Stemler is d bag lol... I watched him give directions to Providence to literally put "hits" out in a HS game. It's happened numerous times. 

you didn't even bring up the failed drug tests

[Scotty R]

11 minutes ago, Hoosier987 said:

I apologize for the long post.

It’s bothersome that after 20 years there are some that still regulate to Sampson’s players as “thugs.” I saw it mentioned as recent as yesterday. There were some players that he brought along that were in situations many of us couldn’t fathom. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. Jarmarcus Ellis (RIP) was mentioned recently. He ended up becoming a counselor for boys at a school before he tragically died in a car accident.

The majority of Sampson’s players he had and recruited were high character guys and represented the University well. Some of us went to IU the same time with them.  Eric Gordon, DJ White, Lance Stemler, Adam Ahlfeld, Kyle Taber, Tom Pritchard, Derek Elston, Matt Roth etc. further, Sampson’s team had 2 of the greatest players imo opinion to don the cream and crimson in DJ White and Eric Gordon and both have represented the University very well. Those guys are true Hoosiers through and through. Let’s stop calling his players “thugs.”
 

The irony of all this, is none of Sampson’s players had an arrest during their playing time while other coaches (namely Crean and Woodson) had players arrested multiple times under their watch…yet it seems like these coaches get a much easier pass by some…especially Crean. I’m not here to embarrass any former players because people change as seen with Ellis…also, these are low points in times where these players were young in adulthood—  so I won’t be listing any names or linking any articles, but here are some of the few issues players and former players have had not under Sampson but under other coaches at Indiana:

Player A - attempted murder, illegal possession of a firearm, drugs 

Player B - illegal consumption of alcohol, operating a vehicle under the influence which may have contributed to a teammate being hit by the car and consequently taken to the hospital. Fortunately teammate that was hit with the car didn’t have life threatening injuries. Ironically, the player who was hit by the car took his talents to Houston to play for Sampson, who clearly at Houston had a far more disciplined and controlled environment then we had at that time.

Player C - reckless driving, fleeing police

Player D - Fast food incident which directly led to arrest 

Player E - underage drinking, possession of fake ID

Player F - same as Player E

As for Coach Sampson himself, he’s done more for young people than many of us have done.  His players love him, and they loved him here — See Eric Gordon’s tweet as recent as last weekend. Sampson’s last game coached at Assembly Hall (after everything came to light) alum, students and fans alike were reigning down chants of “Kelvin Sampson” from the rafters. 
 

 I get it, but what about the Fs? These F’s occurred after what had transpired. There’s a notion here, that the players didn’t go to class the whole time and had bad grades. That’s simply not true. I went to IU during this time and attended class with some of these same players and they were there. The team did well academically that Fall semester. Now, I don’t agree with it, but some of them simply stopped going to class in the Spring semester after what had happened. They were hurt by what had transpired  to the team and Coach Sampson. They had National Tile aspirations and it was taken from them in a moment’s notice.  The irony of all this…we actually had classes while some of our rivals’ student athletes were attending “fake” classes. Which leads me to my next point.

What some media members fail to mention is the rampant cheating (far worse) that what Coach Sampson was doing…which of course, what Kelvin was doing became legal a short time later. These other Programs had fake classes, strippers, paying players and some coaches had sexual assaults going on in their program which was overlooked…many of these same coaches are celebrated but damn the phone calls and Sampson! What was going on in our program during this time was peanuts in comparison to many other successful celebrated programs. Media made Sampson into a pariah while it was well known far worse was happening at winning programs…but it doesn’t get mentioned because it doesn’t fit their criteria.
 

But what about the Show Cause Penalty? It’s simple…We told on ourselves. It wasn’t the NCAA. As seen with what was going on with other schools (Hell, our HOF coach has multiple instances that wouldn’t be tolerated but were) 99.9 % of the other schools don’t even bat an eye and self report…therefore, you never hear of any this, and we are hanging banners instead. Our little compliance team decided to tattle tell on ourselves. 
 

In hindsight, nothing is perfect and they weren’t certainly under Coach Sampson, but man we could’ve handled this a much different way that would’ve worked out all for the better…and please, let’s stop ostracizing people who part of the program during this time. Many of them are a part of the IU basketball Family and represent The Program incredibly well.

 

 

Even if IU hadn't fired Sampson the NCAA gave him a 5 year show cause so it would make it almost impossible for him to remain as the coach. Even if he stayed there would have been so many limitations on him it would made it to hard to compete

As for the players he did have some good character players but the bad ones were more prevelent. We had drug dealers and we had guys with major temper problems. We had a recruit get arrested and sent to prison for drugs and other things. It is great that players changed their lives but at the time they represented the University they disgraced it.

As for other coaches I felt they were to lenient on the players and should have kicked off those players who got in trouble with the law.

[Hoosier987]

8 minutes ago, Certified Sunshine Pumper said:

Lance Stemler is d bag lol... I watched him give directions to Providence to literally put "hits" out in a HS game. It's happened numerous times. 

you didn't even bring up the failed drug tests

Stemler? Lol. I guess nobody can be perfect. Someone is bound to think you’re a dbag.  

[Hoosier987]

2 minutes ago, Scotty R said:

Even if IU hadn't fired Sampson the NCAA gave him a 5 year show cause so it would make it almost impossible for him to remain as the coach. Even if he stayed there would have been so many limitations on him it would made it to hard to compete

As for the players he did have some good character players but the bad ones were more prevelent. We had drug dealers and we had guys with major temper problems. We had a recruit get arrested and sent to prison for drugs and other things. It is great that players changed their lives but at the time they represented the University they disgraced it.

As for other coaches I felt they were to lenient on the players and should have kicked off those players who got in trouble with the law.

Regarding your first paragraph. I mentioned my thoughts on that. 

[JustWinBaby]

21 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

Good lord... really? 

Yes, every university has a small percentage of kids that are up to no good. SAMPSON ACTIVELY RECRUITED THESE PEOPLE, TRIED TO BURY THEIR ONGOING ACTIVITIES, AND HIRED SENDERHOFF (and McCallum) TO HELP CARRY OUT THE PLAN.

Eric Gordon said that of the 13 scholarship players when he was at IU, only him, DJ White, and two others were not actively and openly using and/or dealing drugs. THAT's NINE OUT OF THIRTEEN IU PLAYERS. Hell, Jamarcus Ellis and Brandon McGee were among those who were actively using in the IU locker room.

Dakich was in the locker room that year:

"Rob Senderoff was cheating his brains out for Kelvin Sampson at Indiana and Kelvin is pretty smart. He got rid of Senderoff, but took care of him.''

-------------------

"Senderoff was a little cheat, and he wasn't even any good at it,'' Dakich said. "He got caught easy when he was at Indiana. It pays to cheat. Look at Kelvin Sampson. Nobody’s cheating more than Kelvin Sampson. And if anybody thinks it was just phone calls, I've got two words for you: My Backside.''

--------------------------

"Indiana fans, if you want to get under Senderoff's skin, cheer Bud Mackey,'' Dakich said. "Bud Mackey was a player from Kentucky that he sold Sampson on but never got to play. Why? Armed robbery, drugs, you name it. Multiple charges.

------------------------

"So we find out that Bud Mackey has been arrested and I'm sitting in my office, and I'm just laughing. I'm watching Senderoff, and Ray McCallum and Kelvin Sampson, it's like the Keystone Cops of idiots. We find out that Bud Mackey has been arrested and my man Senderoff is bawling in my office. Literally crying his eyes out.''

The revisionist history of some folks is absolutely ridiculous. Everything @Stuhoo said in his comment is correct. Normally I'd trim down a quoted comment but the whole thing is worth reading so I'm not editing it.

We may not like Dakich, but before he became a shock jock a-hole supreme he was a pretty decent radio host, and he openly discussed many times that when he was brought in as the interim HC and walked into the locker room, he found needles and spoons that several of the players had been using.

From a 2008 IndyStar article by our pal Jeff Rabjohns:

“It was the guys that were doing drugs that were separate,” Gordon told The Indianapolis Star in an exclusive phone interview this week, speaking publicly for the first time about the issues that played a part in a once top 10 team failing to win a single postseason game.

Gordon didn’t disclose which players used drugs, but he said D.J. White and two others still on the team were among those who did not. Attempts to reach White and several other former players were not successful.

Gordon said Sampson “tried to stop it,” but the coach “was just so focused on basketball and winning and everything.”

Gordon said he spent considerable time with a family friend in Bloomington because the atmosphere around some players was so bad he didn’t feel comfortable on campus.

“Sometimes it felt like it wasn’t even a real basketball team because of all the turmoil that went on,” said Gordon, now a starting guard for the Los Angeles Clippers. “I was just thinking about that the other day. It was so crazy that all that stuff threw off a good season and made it a waste, basically.

“It was really tough for us to be around each other all the time off the court because we were so separate.”

Tom Crean later said the following on the Rex Chapman Show a couple years ago:

"I had no idea what I was walking into there," Crean said on The Rex Chapman Show. "I found out the first day we had 19 Fs with three-and-a-half weeks left of school, started finding out about the flunked drug tests and that was just the beginning of it.

"I had no idea what I was walking into there. I took the job on a Tuesday, by the following Monday, a (Marquette) vice president said why don’t we treat this like a bad April Fool’s joke and have you come back...

"We would go clean lockers out and find lighters and roach clips. I had a player’s parent try to negotiate down failed tests down, if we got the two failed drug tests wiped out, the player would come back."

Kelvin Sampson is a great ball coach. He knows his X's and O's. He knows how to get the Jimmies and the Joes. And perhaps at this point in his career he's figured out how to balance all that with being a role model and proper leader for his players and staff. But during his time at Indiana, his priorities were all out of whack, and he was doing things the wrong way. He cared about winning above everything else, and while winning obviously is the most important part of the job, neglecting everything else that matters will eventually erode any sort of foundation that winning can be built upon. He did everything wrong at Indiana, and perhaps it was a learning experience that made him a better coach down the line. If so, it truly is our luck that he had to learn those lessons here.

[CSP]

8 minutes ago, Hoosier987 said:

Stemler? Lol. I guess nobody can be perfect. Someone is bound to think you’re a dbag.  

umm .... well telling HS kids to take cheap shots on other HS kids during a sectional championship, once his team was beat..... 

I'd say everyone should think that's the move of a dbag. 

[Hoosier987]

7 minutes ago, Certified Sunshine Pumper said:

umm .... well telling HS kids to take cheap shots on other HS kids during a sectional championship, once his team was beat..... 

I'd say everyone should think that's the move of a dbag. 

If true, Maybe we can chalk that up to the heat of the battle between high school rivals? I mean, if this constituted as someone being a “Dbag” person, then practically half (probably more) of the NCAA are dbags. But I’m not here to convince you otherwise and to hijack the board on who is a “dbag” and who is not. If you think Stemler is dbag - albeit seems a bit silly - then that’s  your own prerogative