Indiana Hoosiers: Revisiting The ‘Wat Shot’

The Fall

“It was, obviously, pretty f***ing bad. Between the losses of Stemler & White to graduation, E.J. to the draft, Crawford & Holman to transfer, & Bassett/Ellis/Thomas to dismissal, Crean’s cupboard was pretty bare. Throw in the issue of the team’s culture (which was combustive to begin with & only made absolutely explosive by the perceived actions of the administration in light of Sampson’s discovery & later termination), and the program with an absolute dumpster fire when Crean arrived” – ChronicHoosier

To understand the rise to the top, you must first understand how hard the fall was.

After three straight woeful seasons under Mike Davis, he and the Indiana Hoosiers parted ways, having missed the NCAA tournament two of those final three seasons.

Upon his resignation, the Hoosiers looked to make a splash by bringing in Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson. But the warnings signs were evident immediately. Within two months of coming to Bloomington, Sampson had restrictions placed on him by the NCAA for recruitment for his role in impermissible phone calls while at Oklahoma.

“The program had lost some prestige along the way, even in the Mike Davis years. They had missed the NCAA tournament for two years, they missed the post-season altogether one of those years”

Everything went haywire quite quickly for Sampson while in Bloomington. In what was all later revealed during another NCAA investigation, Sampson and assistant coaches Jeff Meyer and Rob Senderoff all made impermissible phone calls and committed other recruiting violations.

All the information came out on February 8, 2008, when the NCAA let Indiana University know Sampson had committed five “major” recruiting violations. Moreso than the violations themselves, Sampson also lied to investigators about his involvement in many of the phone calls and the violations he made himself.

IU president Michael McRobbie ordered an internal investigation, and by February 23, 2008, Sampson and the University had agreed to a buyout, ending his tenure with Indiana in just under two years. The University brought sanctions upon themselves, including many recruiting restrictions and the loss of a scholarship for the following season. The NCAA would uphold the punishments while also adding three years of probation.

However, the problems extended far beyond University and NCAA sanctions. In an effort to immediately improve the win totals upon his arrival, Sampson had brought in talented players who had questionable character.

“What Kelvin never grasped was the things he did at Oklahoma weren’t necessary at Indiana,” Bikoff said. “At Oklahoma he was willing or needed to cut some corners when it came to character to draw in the right talent. At Indiana, you don’t need to do that. Kelvin really stocked his roster with some guys who, basically, they might have been talented, but there was a reason why they had been sent to the junior college level.”

By the time he left, Indiana was forced to remove two more scholarships for a poor rating in the Academic Progress Report. After the 2007-08 season, four seniors graduated including star D.J. White while Eric Gordon would declare for the NBA Draft. Nearly every remaining underclassmen transferred from the program as well. Add to that the two players dismissed from the team – Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis – when Dan Dakich was named interim head coach and 11 of the 13 players on the roster were out of Bloomington by that summer.

The program was leveled by sanctions, wiped clean of players, and had lost it’s way in just a few short seasons.

Next: The Foundation