Hoosiers, Vols must handle emotional waves
Tuesday reading, with an eye on the Vols-Commodores and Hoosiers-Buckeyes. But first, another Kelvin Sampson update.
Former Indiana University president Adam Herbert, who approved the Sampson two years ago, commented on the Sampson fiasco, telling the Jacksonville Times-Union that he thought the coach’s previous NCAA violations were “an aberration.”
Ex-squeeze me? Baking powder? Surely there was more than that.
“We had every confidence that the letter and spirit of (Sampson's contract) would be met," Herbert told the paper. "We had to have a pretty high comfort level (to hire him)."
Ah. That clears it up. It was all about winning.
The school didn’t mind trying their luck because “When you're looking at someone who is one of the best coaches in America, who had 20-win seasons for a decade, this became a value hire for us. ... It was worth giving him a second chance.”
It’s crazy to think that Indiana was going for a value hire. Maybe the job isn’t the best in America, but it’s still Indiana. There wasn’t a coach out there who represented a value hire and had a clean background?
(One last thought on Sampson, for now. If you haven’t yet, click here to read John Gasaway’s post on Kelvin Sampson. He thinks Sampson, a coach who always had to hustle to beat out other schools for top-notch recruits, simply didn’t understand that – as the Hoosiers coach – he didn’t have to do that anymore. It’s an interesting thought: Don’t be arrogant about the NCAA rules but be arrogant about yourself.)
So enough about that. Let’s consider the Hoosiers, who have won three games in a ridiculous 10-day stretch. Two were impressive wins under Sampson (against MSU and Purdue), while the third was a putrid 85-82 victory against Big Ten bottom-dweller Northwestern.
Did the emotionally roller coaster of losing their coach have an effect on the game? Did the Hoosiers (23-4) seem a little unsteady under interim coach Dan Dakich? Probably both. But if nothing else, it’s shown them they should be able to handle the rigors of March.
“I think any adult knows that when you've been through a lot, you're able to handle more," Dakich told the Indy Star. "And these kids have been through a lot … These kids have shown that they can handle things. They've shown that they'll play hard, that they'll play tough, and that's what we expect here as we come down the stretch.”
However, if there’s a Big Ten team even more unsure of itself right now, it’s Tuesday’s opponent, Ohio State (17-10), which has lost four of its last six games. Thad Matta kept Jamar Butler out of the starting lineup in Sunday’s loss to Wisconsin because of a “personal matter” as OSU continues to play its way out of the Big Dance. Butler, one of the keys to last year’s title run, says no way, telling the Columbus Dispatch “I don’t think we’re falling apart, and me being a leader and a captain of this team, I’m not going to let it happen.”
The only coach who may be more nervous on Tuesday? Newly No. 1 Bruce Pearl. He knows Vandy will be gunning for his Vols (25-2).
“It's our toughest challenge; a tougher challenge than the Memphis game,” Pearl told the Knoxville News Sentinel. “What makes this the tougher challenge is there's a lot more at stake because we're playing for an SEC championship and we're doing so on less rest and less preparation.”
But the question is, can Vandy (23-4 and in the middle of its own dream season) really be a trap game for Tennessee when everyone in the country knows it’s a trap game?
Other notable Tuesday items:
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UConn guard Jerome Dyson returns for the Huskies’ game against Rutgers tonight. Now that his nine-game suspension is over, it lets A.J. Price go back to being a pass-first point guard. That’s good for UConn’s offense, which now has two guys who can create their own shot in the clutch.
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Ken Pomeroy writes that the NCAA seeding committee placing less importance on the RPI is a good thing for Davidson. I wonder if it a team like Wake Forest – with its RPI in the 60s, but .500 ACC record and a win against Duke – also is helped by something like this.
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