Rex Hudler

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Feb 17, 2008 -> 10:40 AM) I thought the show was awesome until the end when the taste-testers showed up. I thought the history behind the brands in each city was really interesting, especially all the different naming rights issues and stolen crust recipes. But once those firefighters sat down, the show certainly did suck. What they needed to do was find some completely neutral participants and test it that way. I dont know, maybe some guys in Idaho or Washington or somewhere that those types of pizza arent readily available Problem is no matter where they test it, it isn't the same. I don't care if you ship it in frozen or try and replicate it locally, I guarantee you that neither type of pizza is as good as if you were buying it in the restaurant. I buy half baked pizzas from a local Chicago-style joint down and finish them at home. But it is still not as good as when it is brought to your table piping hot.

I still like the idea of Brad Brownell, but I admit I am a bit biased.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Feb 17, 2008 -> 11:11 AM) The Big Tem overall is overrated. There isnt a clear cut top notch team in the bunch. But isn't this the kind of year the Big Ten usually sneaks up on everybody and gets two teams into the Elite Eight and one getting to the Final Four? Seems to me and only going through memory, that often when the Big Ten seems down, they find a way to get a team or two fairly deep into the tourney.

Right now there are no rumors about who will the next IU head coach, there is only speculation. Let's be clear on that. Just because a name gets tossed out doesn't mean it has ANY legs at all. OR, it could me that person may be considered. I still expect Dan Dakich to be the interim coach the rest of the year.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Feb 17, 2008 -> 12:00 PM) Does anyone believe that a postseason ban is forthcoming? If it was, would this happen next year or this year? There will be no post-season ban this year. IU has stated it will not self-impose such a ban unless there was an isuse with an ineligible player, which is not the case. Next year will depend on the NCAA. I doubt that will be the case, but it will depend on how things go down with Sampson. IU has to have a formal response to the NCAA in May, which would mean they will go to a hearing in June (assuming the NCAA has their stuff together and can review IU's response quickly enough). This means the unltimate decision of any penalties will not be known until late next summer.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan99 @ Feb 16, 2008 -> 10:00 PM) Great effort for IU tonight without White for most of the game. IU fans chanting for their cheating coach though, kind of sad. I didn't hear anyone chanting for Sampson. They were chating DJ White at the end.

If Dick Vitale spouts off about Bobby Knight tonight I may just puke.

Down just 1 pound this week

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Feb 15, 2008 -> 05:50 AM) They still benefited from it, though. That's debatable. What sicaffey is trying to say, I believe, is that if IU handles this properly then the penalties will be less and more manageable. It appears IU did everything right in handling this and there does not appear to be any lack of institutional control. So the penalties will be different if IU fires Sampson or if they do not and cannot change the minds of the committee on his transgressions (lying).

QUOTE(Jimbo's Drinker @ Feb 14, 2008 -> 10:50 PM) Let's wait and see who the next coach at IU is. IU or UI?

IU to quickly investigate/review new allegations and decide on Sampsons fate. From the Indianapolis Star: Indiana University President Michael McRobbie will announce Friday athletic director Rick Greenspan will review a new IU investigation into NCAA allegations against basketball coach Kelvin Sampson and offer a recommendation within a matter of days, a person close to the situation said this evening. McRobbie will outline his plan at a news conference Friday afternoon in Bloomington that will attempt to accelerate the adjudication process involving IU’s embattled second-year coach, according to the person. In the meantime, Sampson will continue to coach the Hoosiers, who play host to Michigan State Saturday night at Assembly Hall. If Greenspan recommends that Sampson should be fired, Sampson's contract calls for a 10-day appeal process by which he could challenge the termination. At that point, IU would suspend him of his coaching duties. At Friday's news conference, McRobbie will explain the investigation procedure and name those who will conduct the investigation. The investigation will involve only the new allegations that surfaced in the NCAA’s report which was released Wednesday that determined that Sampson knowingly violated telephone recruiting restrictions and then lied about it to members of both the university and NCAA investigative staffs.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Feb 13, 2008 -> 08:02 PM) CSI: IU BBall. That should really piss me off. But I couldn't help laughing instead

Please excuse the long dissertation that is this post, but I wanted to offer up some thoughts.... Please read the entire post if you want to comment on it. I think you need to read it all to understand the entirety of my point. I have read the entire 14 page NCAA response. I'll start off by sying that the allegations/violations by and large are bulls***, penny ante stuff, not high level cheating that should warrant this much attention. Again, bear with me before you react to that statement. Here is a good synopsis of things that happened, in no particular order. 1. Much of the this was not NCAA violations, but violations of the sanctions placed on Sampson after the Oklahoma case. 2. The NCAA allows for one call per month to be placed to recruits from June 15 of their sophomore year to August 1 of their senior year. Sampson's restriction limited contact to once every other month. Impermissible calls were made by assistants here. 3. The NCAA allows for two calls per week to be placed to recruits after August 1 of their senior year. Sampson's restriction limited contact to one per week. Impermissible calls were made by assistants here. 4. IU assistants placed two calls to Yancey Gates (Cincinnati) before June 15 of his sophomore year. 5. IU assistant Rob Senderoff made 1 impermissible call to Evan Turner on May 11 after already calling based on the above limitations. 6. Senderoff made 3 calls in May 2006 to Demetri McCamey over the above limitations. 7. Senderoff made 1 impermissible call to Markeif Morris (who is this?) on June 29, 2006. 8. Senderoff made 2 impermissible calls to DeJuan Blair during the month of July 2006. 9. From March 1 thru July 17, 2007 Senderoff made 22 impermissible calls to Bud Mackey, an IU commit at the time. I am not sure exactly when his legal problems arose, but I wonder if many of them may have been connected to that? 10. From March 26 thru April 15 2007 Senderoff made 3 impermissible calls to Philip Jurick. 11. Assistant Jeff Meyer made 1 impermissible to Scott Martin on July 18, 2006 after he had already made 1 permissible call that month. 12. Meyer made 6 impermissible calls to Robbie Hummel between June 29 and July 10, 2006. 3-way callls 12. The NCAA found that Sampson knowingly participated in several (it did not say a #) 3-way calls between May 31 2006 and May 1 2007. IU's report estimated it to be about a dozen over the course of a year. Again these were violations of the sanctions and not a violation of NCAA rules. The work around the rules calls - The sanctions on Sampson did not allow him to be present when another assistant was calling a recruit or visiting with a recruit. This limitation I was not familiar with. 13. Sampson participated in speaker phone calls to Marcus Morris, placed by Senderoff. 14. Senderoff called Sampson from his cell phone while in the present of several recruits and allowed Sampson to talk to the recruits. 15. Sampson spoke with Bud Mackey's mother while Senderoff was in her presence on Senderoff's cell. It did not say who initiated the call. 16. The NCAA alleges that Sampson and Senderoff provided false or misleading information regarding the above calls and the three way calls. 17. The allegations state their finding that Sampson failed to promote compliance in regards to recruiting restrictions placed on him, failed to promote compliance concerning telephone recruiting calls and failed to monitor the documentation of recruiting calls by his staff to ensure compliance. 18. Senderoff provided signed statements to the university that he had not placed recruiting calls from his home telephone. Of those calls 30 were against the recruiting restrictions from the sanctions and 15 were against NCAA regulations (see limitations in #2 and #3) 19. On June 30 Sampson and Meyer met with 2009 recruit Derek Elston during a two-day basketball camp held at IU. (not sure why this is impermissible) 20. Meyer gave a t-shirt and a backpack to Elston's coach the next day. The NCAA alleges Meyer told him to give it to Elston when they got home, which he did. So basically we are looking at 100 or so phone calls and a free t-shirt. This in itself is not big stuff. It is not what big-time cheaters do. If isolated, I would be disappointed bu by no means up in arms about this. Over a year's time it just doesn't reflect on what my mind thinks a guy intentionally cheating would do. I think the calls would be more frequent and there would be other issues. The sad part is that text messages were not illegal and not against his restrictions. He could have used text messages and the above would have been cut tenfold and there would be very little left to be dealing with. This is so stupid that IU is having to deal with penny-ante stuff. This would be scoffed at as amateurish by SEC football progams. All that said, the problem is not the actual violations. It is the fact that Sampson had already been busted for similar violations and was operating under santions at the time. The problem is that apparently he has either lied or misled to cover his ass. How stupid can a guy be???? He HAD to know he would be under a miscroscope based on the previous case. He had already been down this road before, he HAD to know that not being 100% truthful would fry his ass. I just don't get how someone can be so careless, callous or irreverent to their own situation to land here. I want to be clear that my problem is with Sampson and his stupidity. Something just doesn't make sense. I guess I should be happy we aren't dealing with cash payments and major issues. None of these violations would be considered major if they were not repeats. It just totally sucks that Sampson couldn't be smart enough to keep his nose clean and play within the rules (mistakes can happen - no one is perfect). It's just obvious that he either didn't care or was too stupid to do things right. I hope IU decides to handle this pretty quickly and not let it drag out. He needs to go, no ifs ands or buts.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan99 @ Feb 14, 2008 -> 09:48 AM) I think firing Sampson and imposing sanctions would definitely reduce the penalty. The problem still would remain that IU hired a known cheater and he continued to cheat under their watch. It doesn't exactly set a great example for other programs if simply firing the guy once he gets caught and imposing a one scholarship reduction is sufficient to not receive further penalties. Because really, 1 scholarship is not significant since teams often don't have 13 guys on scholarship and only 9 or 10 guys typically play. I agree and that's why I thinK IU would have to add to their self-imposed penalties. Whatever that is, I don't know. Part of the response IU has to priovide the NCAA is their compliance information. Documentation of meetings, what was taught, etc. If they determine the school was doing their part, couple that with the fact that IU found the violations in their internal checks and balances with the fact Sampson supposedly lied to both the school and the NCAA, then I would think a lack of institutional control would not be an issue. But who knows? I'm trying to be as objective as I can, but that's difficult to do. The bottom line is once IU has done their due diligence with the report, unless they just find it to be completely false (which I don't see happening), then they will have to fire Sampson. I don't see them delaying until after the season here. But I also don't see them flying off the handle and doing something yesterday.

QUOTE(thedoctor @ Feb 14, 2008 -> 09:04 AM) given that he's a big name and grew up as an indiana fan i do think his name will come up and maybe iu makes a call. that said, i don't think there's a snowballs chance he goes. I don't either. I think now is a time IU could go with a good solid coach that doesn't have to be a big name. On a separate note: Am I in never, never land thinking that if IU fires Sampson that the penalties won't be that bad or possibly not more than a loss of a scholarship or two with probation? Here is my thinking. It is obvious that Sampson and his staff were the problem here. The NCAA report stated that they believe Sampson lied to IU investigators as well as the NCAA. IU has a clean history with no major violations in the past 45+ years. Sampson made mistakes and unfortunately they were the same kind of mistakes he previously made. His actions in essence tell you that he chose to be selective in how he was going to follow the sanctions placed upon him. Now if he didn't fully understand them, then he is stupid or IU did a terrible job covering them. My guess is that doesn't even apply. So I am wondering, if IU fires Sampson, self-imposes say another scholarship and extends that to two years, what else is necessary? The problem has been eradicated in that scenario, IU is punishing iteslf going forward for making the hire. Is that enough? I'm trying to take off my crimson colored glasses here and look at this objectively. I'm interested in the thoughts of anyone else will do try and be objective as well.

QUOTE(Jimbo's Drinker @ Feb 14, 2008 -> 12:00 AM) IU is a top 5 job, they can get anyone they want. So who do you suggest? I submit that it is a high level job and while there may be difficulties it is primed for a new coach that will go about things the right way. That said, timing is everything and as many other big-time programs have found, it is not always as easy as just plucking who you want.

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 13, 2008 -> 11:27 PM) I almost want to throw Chris Lowery in there, but no way would IU follow the game plan of Purdue and Illinois. And the season they are having certainly does not help at all. I very thought about him and came to the same conclusion regarding SIU's season. He is another childhood acquaintance and went to the same HS as Brad Brownell, for what that's worth.

Not sure if Sampson will be fired Friday, but I do not expect him to survive this. In fact, I would be shocked if he does. If he is fired, my guess is that Dan Dakich is named interim coach. Now let's play the "what if" game. What if Dakich coaches this team deep into the NCAA Tournament (let's say Elite Eight for example)? Are we back in the same spot we were with Mike Davis? Obviously, Dakich is a former IU player so there are differences, but does the IU administration find themselves in a tough spot with an interim coach again? Just for fun, let's play the "name" game. In no particular order and completely off the top of my head.... Sean Miller Scott Drew Tony Bennett Mark Few Jay Wright Tom Crean Randy Wittman Brad Brownell (stretch, but a childhood neighbor) Brian Gregory Mike Brey Dana Altman Kevin Stallings Damn my head hurts after that one....

QUOTE(He_Gawn @ Feb 13, 2008 -> 11:04 PM) Sampson you f***up..... Now the Pat Knight rumors to IU can begin. Ummm.... please tell me you meant that to be in green!

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Feb 13, 2008 -> 10:58 PM) Haha, wow somebody is having a rough day. Yes I did watch the game, and if you think that a team can get shafted by the refs with a 15 shot advantage at the line, your stupid. End of story. Free throw attempts are indeed a poor way to determine officiating often times, but when it's a 20 to 5 difference, that argument goes out the window. I guess I'll let it slide though, rough day for the fanbase which can lead to silly commentary. And true enough greasy, I think Greenspan deserves the ax just as much for hiring somebody like Sampson as Sampson does for being who he is and doing what he does. That's bulls***. This argument has nothing to do with my day at all. You say it is a poor way to determine, but then you turn around and decide it is a good way if the numbers reflect your point. Go watch that game again. The # of FT attempts had EVERYTHING to do with the way the teams played, not the officiating. In fact, Wisconsin was only whistled for two more fouls than IU. Somedays you have good things to say. Other times you just spew out s*** that makes no sense at all. Be objective and not argumentative and tell me I'm wrong. You can't. 16-14 fouls does support your argument one iota.

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 13, 2008 -> 07:05 PM) I got to thinking more about the whole Samscum thing. 2) If you step back and think about it, the NCAA is so jacked up. As much as I love the fact that Samscum is getting what he deserved for being a douche-bag, the fact is he made some stupid phone calls. Obviously the being unethical and lying is horrible and he should be fired, but this all came about over some phone calls. Ok, fair enough. How long has the Reggie Bush thing been going on? They pushed Samscums sanctions in like 6 months. Reggie Bush got tons of cash, probably the biggest no-no possible, and still nothing on that. Am I the only one that see's a problem with that? That is the most intelligent thing I have seen you post in a long time. The thing that pisses me off most about this whole thing (other than the supposed lying/misleading/failure to cooperate) is that all of this is just stupid. If Sampson had half a brain he would have been doing what every other college coach learned they could get away with. Phone calls were regulated and restricted. Text messages, until last August, were not. All the idiot had to do is freakin text these guys instead. This whole mess is because he was too stupid to figure out how to communicate "within" the rules.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Feb 13, 2008 -> 10:51 PM) Grumble about the refs?? Free throw attempts were 20 to 5 Indiana, Eric Gordon alone had twice as many free throw attempts as the entire Wisconsin team, who shot their fewest free throws in 2 years. Yeah that play late was a travel, but overall the refs helped IU more than hurt them. Did you even watch the game? Wisconsin sat outside and shot threes all night long. Gordon drove to the basket constantly and got fouled many, but not all times. Looking at the FT attemps is an assinine way to determine how the game was called. That said, while I did not like several calls that were made, my glasses were colored so I am not going to make like an Illini fan and whine about the officiating. But if you are going to make statements, how about trying to make sure they have some semblence of truth.

I am also curious about what the reception from the fans will be tonight. Personally, I think the fitting response from IU fans would be total silence when Sampson is announced (IF they announce him). I'd rather not see boos, but dead silence would send the proper message.

QUOTE(Jimbo's Drinker @ Feb 13, 2008 -> 12:30 AM) Think he paid for gordon?? Uh, no. I'd still like to know what Sampson did at Oklahoma besides the phone calls. Never has anyone offered up anything more than that with any kind of substantiation at all. Lots of impermissible phone calls can't make him anywhere near the "dirtiest" coach. Maybe the dumbest because he was making phone calls while everybody else was learning to text message hourly which was outside of the rules. But phones calls are far from what we have seen and what I am confident goes on at other programs. NOTE: That is in no way me saying they are acceptable.

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 13, 2008 -> 12:12 AM) "The NCAA sent a notice of allegations to Indiana University last Friday detailing major violations in the men's basketball program" " the NCAA uncovered new information since Indiana self-reported violations" Sounds like new evidence on the existing allegations, though that could mean a wide range of things. "Multiple sources told ESPN.com that the NCAA was looking into whether Sampson did not tell the truth about those calls" Hmmm. I read all of that. I'll just reserve judgement until I see what they unveil. I will say this. I am f***ing sick of all of this bull s***!