One of the major questions remaining from Kelvin Sampson’s most recent brush with NCAA law is how it will effect Indiana’s ability to recruit. We know that he has been slammed by the media, fans, and alumni alike. But if Sampson can find a way to continue his success on the court will the IU faithful back off in their stance to have him fired? Well if the early returns are any indication, Sampson may not being going anywhere. The cornerstone of any good program are recruits and two of Indiana’s biggest targets for 2009 don’t really seem to care about the recent cheating scandal:
Scout’s #40 ranked player overall in the Class of ‘09 (from Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis) and one of IU’s most important recruiting targets Stephan Van Treese had the following conversation with Indiana Basketball Blog Inside the Hall:
Inside The Hall: Does the recent news regarding Indiana have any effect on your interest?
Stephan Van Treese: Not really. The only way it would effect me is, like the tourney, if they wouldn’t be able to go to the tournament or something like that.
Given the NCAA’s propensity for being lenient with schools that handle punishment internally and the history of post-season bans focusing mostly on illegal benefits, I don’t see Indiana receiving a post season ban. If that is the case, then Van Treese doesn’t seem to have wavered at all in his sincere interest in Indiana.
But the non-effect of these sanctions on recruits reachs further than the Indiana borders. Lance Stephenson from Lincoln High School in Brooklyn is the #5 overall player in Scout’s class of 2009, and is one of the most highly touted recruits in the country. Lance, who recently attended Indiana’s Hoosier Hysteria lets his father handle of all his recruiting. Lance Stephenson, Sr. made the following comments (on behalf of his son) after the news broke about Sampson’s impropriety:
“Indiana is a great institution, especially for basketball, and when you combine the two with the fans they have there. The arena is beautiful. Whether Coach Sampson is there or not, that would definitely be a place that we would consider sending Lance.” -http://njmg.typepad.com/zagsblog/2007/10/lance-to-visit-.html
Sampson might be damaging his reputation with media but he sure hasn’t hurt himself on the recruiting front which is probably more than enough to save his job as long as those ‘W’s’ and recruits keep coming.
Of course he hasn’t hurt himself with recruits, he’s constantly on the phone reassuring them that everything will be all right.
Oh wait…
One of the things that has consistently puzzled me throughout this past week is this effort people have made to say “We don’t need to worry about this, because it won’t affect recruiting!”
Well, no crap! We’ve all hung around high school-aged basketball players. Most of them don’t think much beyond what they’re having for breakfast that morning, let alone what the effects of violating NCAA rules has on a program they’re going to go play for.
Personally, I think it’s unfortunate that some people allow their opinion on a topic like NCAA violations be dictated by whether it will affect recruiting or not. It’s short-sighted, and it’s not really relevant to the ethical considerations at hand. After all, Jerry Tarkanian and Jim Harrick never had any problems getting recruits, either.
This point of the article was not to defend Sampson or rationalize his impropriety. He cheated, no doubt about it. In fact, the title of the article implies that he is hurting IU. But the implication by the media and fans is that IU is headed for this kind of doomsday scenario with Sampson as head coach. The post simply points out that IU can and will survive this blow and salvage their reputation. Which makes the public perception of Sampson and the program extremely relevant to Indiana University and its supporters. If you area speaking about ethics, those are determined in the court of public opinion which is completely relevant to this situation and the quotes above.
And yes I agree that a high school age basketball player probably doesn’t think much beyond what they’re having for breakfast. But Van Treese in his quote clearly thinks about the impact of the sanctions when he mentions the post season ban. So whether he fully understands that or not he at least has considered the possibility beyond his lucky charms. Finally it’s easy to simply blow off a recruit making statements but will your comments change when the #5 high school player in the country commits to your alma mater? Can you chalk up every recruit that Sampson gets to cheating and still cheer for the team?