soapy

i will be trying to get about 20 bleacher tickets for the July 12 game v. SF. i'll bring this up again when Friday gets here, but if anyone is able to get tickets for that game I'd definitely be interested in them. i have a few others helping me, but i'll need all the assistance I can get.

I agree IU should go 4-1, but I don't know if I see Purdue losing another Big Ten game. They had an off shooting night last night, and still hung in that game. Assuming they re-gain their shooting touch, I really can't see them losing any of their remaining regular season games.

I feel a little better now that White is supposedly going to play. If he can't go, or is ineffective, they are in trouble tonight. They need to play tough defense and Gordon/Crawford/Bassett/Ellis need to step it up, like the MSU game.

I think many IU fans are delusional and arrogant, but nobody in this thread. This is comming from an IU fan. We have a several people still living under the delusion that IU is what it was 15 years ago. It isn't. It could get back there at some point, but it isn't now. I do think it's completely rational to expect your program to be clean and be competetive on a national level with regularity. There are programs that do that now, and IU should be no different. I don't think you should necessarily have to give up one to acheive the other. Is that naive? Maybe. I don't think so. I'm very much against hiring Alford. If people want squeeky clean, he isn't exactly that (Pierre Pierce). There aren't any former Knight guys available that I'd consider at this point (aside from Dakich through the end of this season). I hate the mentality that it has to be a former "Knight-guy" (and I really don't care what you think, Pat Knight). That's ridiculous. There are plenty of different ways to win, and we shouldn't get too caught up on the whole Knight thing. I would very much like to see them bring in someone who can run an offense after these last two coaches.

He has a dirty reputation in the Big Twelve. Lots of alleged negative recruiting. Interesting. I haven't heard any of this before. If there is any truth to it, I'd certainly stay away.

with out giving it much thought so far, i'm interested in looking at Scott Drew at Baylor. You do NOT want Scott Drew to follow Kelvin Sampson. Drew as a clean-up specialist is laughable. i honestly don't know a lot about him, buy why do you say that? he's just one of the guys that popped in my head when i started thinking about what's next.

with out giving it much thought so far, i'm interested in looking at Scott Drew at Baylor.

i doubt that, but i hope so. unfortunately, i assume this will drag out through the end of the season.

regardless of Gordon, there is enough in the report to warrant Sampson's dismissal, assuming it's true (I don't see any reason to think it isn't).

Should this group of kids be penalized? They did absolutely nothing wrong. They gained no competitive advantage from this. The coach should be hit hardest because the allegations are most concerned about his coverup. The school should be hit second because they hired the coach, although the school was not complicit in any coverup, and in fact was the one who did a good job digging and finding out the truth. That should earn them points back, but they are still accountable for the actions of their employees. The kids shouldn't be affected. but who is the blacked-out player on the report? that could be someone on this year's team, i assume.

I'd say you can definitely start laughing. Jesus, Sampson. You're an idiot.

Ebanks is the guy I couldn't remember. He is a stud. Should take over nicely for Gordon. Holloway is good, but probably won't play for awhile because of the guard talent you have. I really like Jordan Crawford. Really like him. But, in '09 I had heard they are not doing nearly as well. That's true to some extent. They don't have the kind of guys lined up that Weber does (from what I've seen).

No McCamey did not. Just another false truth told by ESPN last night. Goes along with Gordon opening up his recruting. By opening up they mean we found out when he showed up at IU's MM. McCamey was waiting for us to offer the whole time. He has said in interviews we are his dream school. BS So him telling Weber, a newspaper, and Illinois fans that week he was still 100 percent committed isn't what happened? Nobody was dense enough to think he wasn't considering IU after they Davis left and they hired Sampson. It was common knowledge. To act like you or Weber or anyone else was blind-sided is a joke. Gordon/Gordon Sr. (and Sampson) went about it the wrong way, for sure. But this thing was all over the press as soon as Sampson got hired. Everyone knew it was a possibility. I repeat the same question? You gonna answer it? The Gordon's are classless. You do now EJSR flipped off the crowd yesterday as he was leaving? WTF is wrong with him? What kind of reaction did he expect? If he was that bothered he shouldn't have came. What? Answer the question? Give me a break. You are right (though I don't remember exactly that it was "that week") that those things were said. That's not the point. Everyone knew it was happening. Everyone. I clearly stated that Gordon and Gordon Sr. (and to a lesser extent IMO, Sampson) were in the wrong. Call it classless or whatever. It was wrong. What else is there to say? Gordon Sr. is an attention whore. I don't really care. I care about him flipping off the crowd about as much as I care about some moron throwing beeds and ice at them, which is to say...I don't. It has nothing to do with the game. All this whoa is me stuff (from both Weber and Gordon Sr.) is stupid and lame. It is what it is. Move on.

No McCamey did not. Just another false truth told by ESPN last night. Goes along with Gordon opening up his recruting. By opening up they mean we found out when he showed up at IU's MM. McCamey was waiting for us to offer the whole time. He has said in interviews we are his dream school. BS So him telling Weber, a newspaper, and Illinois fans that week he was still 100 percent committed isn't what happened? Nobody was dense enough to think he wasn't considering IU after Davis left and they hired Sampson. It was common knowledge. To act like you or Weber or anyone else was blind-sided is a joke. Gordon/Gordon Sr. (and Sampson) went about it the wrong way, for sure. But this thing was all over the press as soon as Sampson got hired. Everyone knew it was a possibility.

No McCamey did not. Just another false truth told by ESPN last night. Goes along with Gordon opening up his recruting. By opening up they mean we found out when he showed up at IU's MM. McCamey was waiting for us to offer the whole time. He has said in interviews we are his dream school. BS

i didn't see the big deal about Frazier's "bump" before the game. it annoyed the hell out of me that they kept showing it and making a big deal about it. so what? he wasn't trying to hurt him. i can see beeing a little bothered if I'm Gordon and wanting to take it to Frazier, but other than that, who cares? IU is still struggling. I never expect a highly effecient, high-scoring offense from a Sampson team, but I do expect good defense and that zone was a joke. On the offensive side, they once again went away from DJ when the game was on the line. I will never understand this. I agree all the "IU sucks" stuff from the UI fans is a bit much. I don't see any IU fans hear claiming IU is a final four team or a national contender right now or anything. They have flaws, we get it. Who is saying otherwise? Anyway, I'm glad IU came out with a (ugly) win. I hate UI and Weber so I'm glad to see a sweep (so far).

Last I read (this morning) was that they weren't going to have extra security. Either way, why would he bring the whole family to this game? That's just asking for trouble.

It's not, and I'm not at all advocating acquiring Payton unless it means we give up far less for Roberts, but I think his point was that it pretty much blows out of the water whatever you're likely to get from Pie against LHP. it's also better than the alternative of trading Murton for Byrd. is Payton signed past this year? if not, i'd take him off Baltimore's hands if it meant giving up less for Roberts. also on the condition that CCP raised that the money spent on Payton isn't prohibiting improvement elsewhere.

IU is better, but I honestly expect Illinois to win. IU hasn't played well of late, especially on the road, and Illinois will be highly motivated. Plus, seeing as this is a Big Ten game, I expect Gordon to have two fouls during warmups. yeah, i expect a loss for the reasons you stated, namely that they're not playing well recently. regardless of fouls, i don't expect a lot from Gordon tonight. he is human and i think he'll be affected by the situation and the crowd. Gordon is a pro. I expect him to tune it out. I bet he plays well and you win by 10 plus. We are terrible. i guess we'll find out. honestly, more than the gordon situation, i'm worried about how IU will play defensively against Randle and Pruit. DJ can't guard both of them.

IU is better, but I honestly expect Illinois to win. IU hasn't played well of late, especially on the road, and Illinois will be highly motivated. Plus, seeing as this is a Big Ten game, I expect Gordon to have two fouls during warmups. yeah, i expect a loss for the reasons you stated, namely that they're not playing well recently. regardless of fouls, i don't expect a lot from Gordon tonight. he is human and i think he'll be affected by the situation and the crowd.

IU/Illinois tonight. I'm ready for this game to be over with so everyone (or many) can move on.

If IU doesn't play much, much better the next five games are going to be a major struggle. They're not very good right now. Also of note, Kyle Taber is not the answer. Maybe Sampson is just sending a message to someone, but I don't look forward to Taber getting dominated in the coming games (starting Thursday).

IU @ Wisconsin tonight. Gordon supposedly playing with the bad (left) wrist. It will be a tough game and I'm looking for a hell of a lot more than I saw from them Saturday. I won't hold my breath...

i was assuming probation did not involve a post-season ban.

interesting. this might be a stupid question, but who is Loren Tate? do you have a link? thanks. Champaign News-Gazette. Illini Basketball reporter. His reliability isn't the greatest according to illiniboard.com It's a pay article, apparently he says this: Some things he knows: -NCAA is chasing complaints from other universities, -Quizing prep prospects that may have been contacted during dead periods, -Analyzing Senderoff dealings (including those 2 Ebanks), -Sampson calls weren't minor when taken in context to prior violations and him being president of Nat Assoc of Basketball Coaches. Here's what he thinks: Probation, Sampson and Greenspan are gone. Zero tolerance and lack of support by Alumni and former players brings down the house of cards. thanks. interesting take. though the actual violation may seem minor when looked at in a vacumm, i do agree they aren't minor in Sampson's case once you consider the prior violations. if probation is the end result, i'm not sure i agree Sampson and Greenspan are gone. most of this just sounds like speculation on his Tate's part, but maybe he has some inside sources.