Indiana University's basketball program got three years probation for failing to monitor former coach Kelvin Sampson (aka Sanctions) and his illegal recruiting phone calls.
Sampson himself is facing five years of recruiting restrictions if he gets hired by another school. He will be banned from all recruiting activities for the first three years. Serves him right.
Sampson, now an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks, says he is "deeply disappointed" by the decision. I'd say the rest of the world is "deeply disappointed" that Sampson sullied the tradition of a Big Ten basketball program that has been clean and historically successful.
I don't feel sorry for Indiana fans because many of them turned a blind eye to Sampson's cheating. Some of them even defended Sampson's actions. They mocked Illinois fans because Sampson talked star guard Eric Gordon out of his verbal commitment to Illini coach Bruce Weber. They assured us that Gordon would lead them to multiple Final Fours.
Instead, they got one year of Gordon, a first-round elimination from both the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament and three years of probation. I hope they are satisfied. The Hoosiers are going to suck this year and probably next year as well.
While I personally will enjoy each and every Hoosier loss, the reality is a weak program at Indiana is bad for the Big Ten and bad for college basketball. Kelvin Sampson is to blame. Hopefully, he never works in the college game again.
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