No doubt I'd be pissed, but at the player and not the coach. And to me it's really hard to be angry with an 18 year old kid for a prolonged period of time. Kids change their minds all of the time. EJ will have to hear enough when he visits Champaign next season. My prediction is it will be nothing short of ugly based on comments I have read from Illini fans on other message boards online. I just don't blame KS for coming in and doing everything he can to start getting kids from Indiana to come to IU. He missed out on Moore, Hummel, Martin and Johnson and the Gordon recruitment was important for stopping the long line of kids who are leaving the state (Oden, Conley, James, McRoberts, Courtney Lee to name a few). It will probably be the start of a reversal of fortune for IU keeping in-state talent.

Until they realize how bad of a coach Sampson actually is, 0 NBA players.

Until they realize how bad of a coach Sampson actually is, 0 NBA players.

He's never been anywhere that he can recruit the talent he can recruit at IU before. Although I do think he turned Najera from a project into a guy who is still earning a NBA paycheck. That'll change rather quickly, first with DJ, then EJ and more to follow, most likely Jamarcus Ellis as well. Word is he could be one year and done at IU.

but let's not get on our high horses and put this as "oh, illinois fans are just pissed they didn't get their guy." tommy amaker, tom izzo, matt painter, and jim delaney are all on record saying they thought the situation was handled poorly.

This tells me all i need to know right here. Certainly both Sampson and EJ handled it poorly IMO.

 

Hard to be a well respected coach when your conference already can't stand you...

This tells me all i need to know right here. Certainly both Sampson and EJ handled it poorly IMO.

 

Hard to be a well respected coach when your conference already can't stand you...

 

Show me where those coaches say they couldnt stand Sampson. Izzo may of said the way he handled was wrong, but he still respects Sampson a hell of a lot. They started out coaching with each other and I still hear they are pretty good friends. And Painter would obviously say that, seeing as he bleeds gold and black and well, they are our rivals, and he's pissed Gordon didn't give him the time of day. Sour Grapes must suck.

Sampson has Eduardo Najera off the top of my head.

This tells me all i need to know right here. Certainly both Sampson and EJ handled it poorly IMO.

 

Hard to be a well respected coach when your conference already can't stand you...

Sampson and Izzo are good friends, so there goes your argument that his conference can't stand him.

 

The other guys I could really care less about, most of them have accomplished nothing, mainly Painter and Amaker who will be fired if he doesn't reach the tourney this year. So it won't matter if he likes KS or not, he'll be at a small school just happy to earn a paycheck or an assistant somewhere.

Aboz, seems like you think Sampson did nothing wrong and it was all on Gordon.

 

Other big ten coaches and the commish disagree with you.

 

That's all i'm saying.

Sampson and Izzo are good friends, so there goes your argument that his conference can't stand him.

 

The other guys I could really care less about, most of them have accomplished nothing, mainly Painter and Amaker who will be fired if he doesn't reach the tourney this year. So it won't matter if he likes KS or not, he'll be at a small school just happy to earn a paycheck or an assistant somewhere.

 

well, that's kind of besides the point. rex's initial statement was that the entirety of questions about sampson's character have grown out of illinois's fans unhappiness with the way the gordon thing went down. by citing other big ten coaches and the conference commissioner's statements, i think it at least shows that it's not just bitter illini fans who have raised those concerns. they are out there whether anyone likes it or not.

 

i mean, i don't know squat about sampson's character other than what we read in the news media. he could be a great guy and a totally wonderful man. but there is evidence out there that suggests that he doesn't always behave ethically. that didn't just get fabricated out of thin air by some stooge in a chief head dress.

but let's not get on our high horses and put this as "oh, illinois fans are just pissed they didn't get their guy." tommy amaker, tom izzo, matt painter, and jim delaney are all on record saying they thought the situation was handled poorly.

 

The general consensus was the situation could have been handled better and Sampson should have called Weber and told him what was going on (which I agree with). None of them have said Sampson did anything wrong or unethical.

 

i'm also not at all comfortable just absolving sampson of blame in the phone thing because "everyone does it." that's b.s. the rule is the rule and to flout the rules while your chairing the nabc's ethics committee strikes me as at the least hypocritical. if you can't see that you need to take the crimson and cream goggles off.

 

I don't think anyone thinks he should be absolved. He's paying the price as he should. But, I think a point can be made that worse things go on all the time and he should not be made out to be the scum of the earth because of some phone calls. I'd rather people just call him stupid for not being as technologically advanced as the coaches who did/do the same exact thing he did, only through unregulated text messages. If Sampson was a little tech savvy, this wouldn't be an issue. Also, let's not forget the phone calls happened over a four year period, two of which Oklahoma was investigating the issue. If they knew he was doing something wrong, all they had to do is tell him to QUIT shortly after the investigation started and then turn themselves in to the NCAA. It would have then been a much more minor infraction, but they let it go on for two years after they suspected what was going on.

 

Lastly, I know this is a rare mentality on a message board, but I do believe that people can learn from mistakes and become better off having made them. We're all human and everybody makes mistakes. Call me naive, but I do believe people can change. I DON'T think IU would have hired him had they not believed the same.

So, has anyone heard about Martez or Brent? Weren't they have supposed to declare yesterday?

So, has anyone heard about Martez or Brent? Weren't they have supposed to declare yesterday?

 

wilson is declaring tonight at 6 p.m. chicago time.

 

brent is not declaring with wilson because he had a basketball game rescheduled to this evening. not sure when he's announcing, although reports suggest that wisconsin is making a strong late push.

wilson is declaring tonight at 6 p.m. chicago time.

 

brent is not declaring with wilson because he had a basketball game rescheduled to this evening. not sure when he's announcing, although reports suggest that wisconsin is making a strong late push.

 

Sorry, I thought they were going to declare on the 20th.

 

Let's hope Kelvin Sampson doesn't get his mitts on either of them.

Sorry, I thought they were going to declare on the 20th.

 

Let's hope Kelvin Sampson doesn't get his mitts on either of them.

 

no comment on indiana's coach. that will get you chastised around here.

 

brent and wilson were initially supposed to commit together, but i've read that brent had one of his basketball games from earlier this year rescheduled to tonight, thus eliminating that option.

 

wisconsin is a real player here. bielema did an in-school two weeks ago, and after his visit to wisky last weekend brent said wisky had moved past ohio state on his list.

http://www.news-gazette.com/ngweblog/index...780&blog=12

Tez officially an Illini.

 

:headbang

This recruiting season has been fantastic. Can't wait for these guys to play on saturdays.

zook must have the hottest wife in the planet, good god he knows how to talk.

geez. imagine how well this guy will recruit if we ever win more than two games.

zook must have the hottest wife in the planet, good god he knows how to talk.

 

Coach Wainwright said something similar to that when asked about his ability to recruit...something to the effect of "look at me, look at my wife, and tell me if I can recruit"...(Yeah, I know he's kinda scary-looking, but he's got a goofy charm and is full of one-liners)...

 

 

Anyways, wouldn't mind freeman...

The Waddler gets owned by Zook again. What a class.

If only Zook could coach like he recruits.

The Waddler gets owned by Zook again. What a class.

 

Is this statement directed at Notre Dame? Because if it is you are a fool, I will take a top 3 class and winning more than 2 games a year. And just so you know, Harrison Smith who is annoucing today has been considered an ND lean and as is Chris Donald. Both reign from Tennesee and that would make a clean sweep for ND of their big three. Lets just remember, Zook also has to coach these recruits. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that Wilson can kiss the chance at a BCS bowl every year away.

 

Weis>>>Zook

Edited December 22, 200619 yr by He_Gawn

Is this statement directed at Notre Dame? Because if it is you are a fool, I will take a top 3 class and winning more than 2 games a year. And just so you know, Harrison Smith who is annoucing today has been considered an ND lean and as is Chris Donald. Both reign from Tennesee and that would make a clean sweep for ND of their big three. Lets just remember, Zook also has to coach these recruits. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that Wilson can kiss the chance at a BCS bowl every year away.

 

Weis>>>Zook

 

Yeah, it must suck when the extent of your coach's acumen ends in February.

Arizona, Iowa, Iowa State, UConn, Miami, Illinois and Indiana are the five schools in the running for ***** SF Emmanuel Negedu.

 

We have fans of four of those teams here, at least, so this one should be fun.

Thats nuts that he plays on the Indiana Elite and hes from N.H. Come on Sampson!