- October 13th, 2006, 9:54 pm
#34507
Seems like Jeff is quite the wizard:
(from Andy Katz on ESPN)
IU seems to have nabbed Gordon
posted: Friday, October 13, 2006
Kelvin Sampson's best moves since he was hired at Indiana last March were to hire assistant Jeff Meyer, lean on his former USA Basketball assistant Dan Monson of Minnesota for advice, and stay persistent in trying to lure Eric Gordon to campus.
All of them may have led to Gordon's reported decision (according to TV and print reports in Indianapolis) to switch commitments Friday from Illinois to Indiana in one of the most heated and argued-over recruiting tussles in recent Big Ten history.
Gordon is a consensus top-five player in the class of 2007. If it weren't for the NBA draft rule preventing players from going directly out of high school, he'd probably be looking for a suit in June, rather than preparing to go through orientation on a college campus.
The stocky 6-foot-3 guard out of North Central High in Indianapolis committed to Illinois last season as a junior during the midst of the Illini's brilliant two-year run under guard Dee Brown (previously with mates Deron Williams and Luther Head) while IU was drifting toward an expected coaching change with the imminent departure of Mike Davis.
Once Davis was out and Sampson was in, though, everything changed. Sampson hired Meyer, a former Missouri and Butler assistant as well as a former head coach at Liberty. Meyer was close to the Gordon family from his time in Indianapolis.
According to Sampson and Meyer, they never initiated the recruitment of a committed player (they can't be quoted on Gordon per NCAA rules, but that's who they mean). They claim that the recruit's family initiated the contact. Still, Gordon never de-committed from Illinois, even though he reportedly went to Indiana twice and Notre Dame once for unofficial visits. Throughout the summer, Gordon told this Web site along with a number of other web outlets and local media in Chicago and Indianapolis, that he was going to Illinois.
Had he de-committed, this story wouldn't have been as sensational. Players de-commit a fair amount and although there are bitter feelings among coaches, if the player is honest and lets both sides know he is open to recruitment, then peace will prevail. This happened to Michigan, when Al Horford de-committed and eventually went to Florida and when Joe Crawford did the same thing and went to Kentucky.
Jerryd Bayless, a 6-3 guard in the class of 2007 from St. Mary's High in Phoenix, did de-commit to Arizona over the summer to explore other options, but then recommitted to the Wildcats. He flirted with Texas but stuck with his original commitment.
The difference with Gordon is that he is an Indiana player. He likely would have looked at his in-state school harder had there been stability in Bloomington. That's why Sampson went to Monson. When Monson got the Minnesota job, the top player in the state was Rick Rickert. Arizona landed his commitment, but Monson felt he was obligated to recruit Rickert, since he was an in-state star. Rickert was unlikely to commit to Minnesota during the Clem Haskins scandal, but once the situation calmed down, the Gophers became a viable option. Monson stayed with the recruitment and eventually got Rickert to come home, spurning Arizona.
That's the same thing Sampson had to deal with this summer, and hearing how Monson handled the situation put him at ease. He had to give Gordon a shot, since he was the top in-state talent.
Sampson's contention that he didn't initiate any recruitmen won't sooth the pain in Champaign. Illinois coach Bruce Weber was openly miffed when he saw Meyer sitting behind him watching Gordon at a game in Las Vegas this summer. Meyer went wherever Gordon did during the Big Time tournament last July. Sampson couldn't attend any of these tournaments since he was banned from off-campus recruiting, as well as from making phone calls, due to violations he committed while at Oklahoma from 2000-04.
The appearance of Indiana's recruiting a committed player irked Weber. The issue came up at the Big Ten meetings last spring. Michigan coach Tommy Amaker and Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, who saw committed player Eric Devendorf change his mind and go to Syracuse, were outspoken on the subject. National Association of Basketball Coaches associate director Reggie Minton wants to raise the issue on the ethics committee he chairs. Minton's committee admonished Sampson this summer for his violations while the president of the NABC, preventing him from receiving Final Four tickets for three years and from serving as an officer during that time.
Still, Minton said over the summer it would be hard to put punitive damages on recruiting a committed player. He's correct, since a player has every right to change his or her mind and commitments are given with words, not on paper. They are not binding in any sense of the word.
The school that gets burned, though, loses out on recruiting a player at that position. In Gordon's case, the Illini now must search for another combo guard and won't find one at his talent level at this late stage. Even though the signing period isn't until November, most of the top players are committed or close to committing by October. Losing a player of Gordon's stature can also have a domino effect if the Illini were recruiting other players with the hope of playing with him.
The anger coming from Champaign might also mean a nasty response from Illini fans whenever Gordon plays in Champaign. There is a chance, since Big Ten schedules aren't out for 2007-08, that he may not go to UI's Assembly Hall if the teams only play once.
Regardless, this is a major hit for Illinois and has severely damaged the relationship between Weber and Sampson as well as Indiana and Illinois. As for Indiana, Sampson has officially beaten the sanctions by landing possibly the top player in the class without ever going on the road or making a phone call. He also signed his top recruiting class at Oklahoma a year ago despite being banned from going out on the road over the summer because of self-imposed sanctions. That class eventually disbanded once Sampson left for IU and the Sooners hired VCU's Jeff Capel.
Sampson also may not be done. There's still a chance he could pull off even more of a coup if Gordon's friend and summer teammate, Derrick Rose, a 6-4 point from Chicago's Simeon High, were to choose Indiana. Rose's final five schools are Indiana, Memphis, DePaul, UCLA and Kansas. Memphis remains the leader but nothing is sacred in recruiting. Illinois was recruiting Rose, but didn't make the cut.
The two players talked about playing together over the summer but it was never a package deal. Now that Gordon appears to be heading to Indiana, there is the chance that the Hoosiers would land the top backcourt in the country, all the while with Sampson under a one-year ban from going on the road or making phone calls. Rarely has there been a coach who has been less hurt by an NCAA penalty directed specifically at him.
Isaiah 33:1
Woe to you, O destroyer, you who have not been destroyed!
Woe to you, O traitor, you who have not been betrayed!
- By PAmedic
- By Dalegarz1