I know Kelvin Sampson is under a LOT of stress right now. He violated his NCAA probation by illegally calling recruits when he was personally banned from doing so, then he lied to the NCAA about it. His school is being proactive by conducting its own investigation and the decision will be announced Friday, which means last night COULD have been his final game as Indiana's Head Basketball coach. The team will play again Saturday.
Following last night's big home win against in-state Purdue, Erin Andrews asked him what the win meant, then started to ask him about the Greenspan (The school's investigator) decision coming on Friday, to which he rudely brushed Erin Andrews aside, curtly saying, "I'm not talking about that." And then he left the interview to join his wife and team in the tunnel.
Now, up until that interview I had actually been a fan of this guy. I was secretly HOPING Indiana would fire him, so GEORGIA could hire him. This is was one HECK of a coach, taking Oklahoma to the Final Four a few years back, when they had NO business being there. His worst crime is calling kids too much. He likes to build relationships with his potential players. Oh, NO. Let's punish a guy for wanting to build a bond with a kid. He wasn't GIVING THEM CARS, TVs, or MONEY, he was CALLING them. I did NOT have a problem with this. But I DO now have a problem with how he handled that interview.
I remember when Jim Harrick was embroiled in his situation at UGA and after the Florida game (that UGA won with a game winning shot from Jarvis Hayes with less than 10 seconds remaining, Harrick gave an interview with the sideline reporter, then 4 days later he gave ANOTHER interview after the Dawgs took care of South Carolina in Columbia. The interviewer asked about the Tony Cole allegations and instead of being an ASS, which he could have been, he stood there, semi-smiled and said, "That is out of my control right now. I am just so happy for these kids to get a great win and I really hope we can make it to the finish line. I want to lead these kids because they deserve good things."
Well, we all know now that the school pulled the #6 team in the country out of its own conference tournament and banned itself from the Big Dance, less than one week later. I truly believe, having watched that team play, it could have made the Final 4, much the same way Syracuse did and eventually won.
Then UGA decided to give itself the Death Penalty, ala SMU back in the day. Wait, the NCAA didn't give UGA the Death Penalty you say. No. Georgia did it to itself when they hired Felton and they have NOT fired him yet. Basketball at UGA has not been relevant since 2003 when Jarvis Hayes hit that shot over Matt Walsh.
Do I think Florida would have won the last two championships if Harrick were still at UGA? No, I don't. I think UGA beats Florida at least once a year and cost Florida a No. 1 seed. Maybe a harder schedule puts Florida in another area of the bracket...
But back to Sampson. He COULD have gone the same route as Harrick, but he didn't. He curtly ended the Andrews interview when he COULD HAVE REALLY helped himself by saying "I just want what is best for these kids. I think we have a chance to REALLY be special and I hope I can get them to the finish line." Make the investigator and the school think about the kids and not Sampson. That is what Harrick did, and that's why it hurt so much, because maybe he was trying to use the kids, but he MADE THEM the victim and the school shot the hostage. I hope Indiana AT LEAST lets Sampson finish the season, then they can fire him if they want. Learn from UGA's mistake. I know Georgia hasn't yet.
PS, speaking of UGA hoops...
I saw this in today's ajc.
Two Atlanta-area players were named to the 2008 McDonald's All-America East team: Norcross' Al-Farouq Aminu and Dunwoody's Chris Singleton.
Aminu, a 6-foot-9, 215- pound forward, has signed with Wake Forest. Singleton, a 6-9, 225-pound forward, is bound for Florida State.
HEY GOOD JOB FELTON! Way to NOT keep two McDonald's talented kids in state......wait. No, you DIDN'T. AND PS, FLORIDA STATE? WAKE FOREST? And you wonder why Felton should be out of a job! Did you see his chokefest last night? Kentucky was ripe for the picking, but the coach couldn't get it done. And it pissed me off the Jimmy Dykes and Brad Nessler kept saying "Dennis Felton is not playing with a full complement of scholarships. Only 7 active tonight with 2 more out with injury."
Well, nothing you can do about the 2 injured, but the other three YOU KICKED OFF THE TEAM. Mercer, Brown and Singletary are OFF the team BECAUSE OF FELTON.
Nessler, quit feeling bad for him!
My favorite part of last night (actually the saddest part...) was when Bradley of UK, an 83% FT guy, MISSED two free throws and UGA was down 3 and Swansey brought
the ball up the court and was looking at Felton for a play call, and Felton just stood there.
You could SEE he didn't call a play unless "Stand motionless and say nothing" is the call for set a pick and wildly throw up a three.....which is what happened.
Terrible coaching.
At this point I am ROOTING for UGA to lose out so Felton WILL get fired.
In his UGA career he has gone 15-14, 8-20, 15-15, 20-14, and now 12-11 with a remaining schedule that I predict he will go 1-6. That's not good. Again, Gregg Marshall (Wichita State), Anthony Grant (VCU), or Chris Collins (Duke Assistant)
PLEASE DAMON!
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