I’ll say this for Indiana University athletics — no one, and I mean no one, does drama better than the Cream and Crimson. Everyone always blamed the drama on Bob Knight, but that’s selling IU short. They certainly appear to have their own special type of crazy going for them.

What the hell happened today? Just to recap, there was a report from an Indianapolis TV station this morning that Sampson was toast — he would either be bought out or fired outright, and that former Indiana player and Bowling Green head coach Dan Dakich would be named to the interim position.

This story seemed to gain legs, as Fox Sports reported on it (noted below by the Hebrew Hammer). Meanwhile, ESPN and the Indianapolis Star held back, as did the local paper in Bloomington, the Herald Times.

So is this whole stupid episode finally over?

Apparently not. But who the hell really knows?  Let’s recap what’s happened Thursday afternoon and evening. Enjoy the picture to your right (courtesy of HGoF), because it will be by far the prettiest thing you see in this post.

Late on Thursday afternoon, there were still conflicting reports regarding the situation. Larry McIntyre, Indiana’s PR boss, came out and told the media that the initial story about Sampson and Dakich wasn’t true, or that elements were wrong, or that it was premature. Or something.

Anyway, flash forward to later in the evening. Cobra Brigade, the HT blog, and the Indy Star noted that the players were called in to meet with athletic director Rick Greenspan. Now, here’s where it gets interesting. According to CBS Sportsline’s Gary Parrish, Greenspan informed the players that Sampson was going to be removed as head basketball coach, to which an unidentified player supposedly stated that if Sampson was fired, then they wouldn’t be playing.

This report, however, stands in direct contrast to the report from the HT blog, which stated that Greenspan told the players that nothing has been decided yet regarding Sampson’s status.  Both of the reports ended the same way — with the players leaving the meeting, piling into two SUVs, and leaving the scene without making any comments to the press.

The assembled media remained gathered around Greenspan’s door for the duration of the evening, hoping for a quote or two. But Greenspan left his office shortly before midnight, refusing to make any substantive comments to reporters.

Meanwhile, several media outlets have already drawn up the obituaries. Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports has steadfastly maintained that Sampson is done and will not be on the sidelines as of Saturday’s game at Northwestern, according to sources close to the situation. Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports (prematurely?) applauds IU for taking a stand for off-the-court integrity in the face of on-the-court success.

Not everyone is rushing down this path, however. ESPN has remained strangely silent throughout the day — heck, the story that the WWL has on its site right now is just the AP report on the situation. The Indianapolis Star had only one interesting item to contribute, noting that the final decision on this matter will apparently be made by Greenspan, and not university president Michael McRobbie.

Meanwhile, there are now some as-of-yet-unconfirmed reports that there is some level of support for the interim head coaching job being given to current assistant (and former Ball State and Houston head coach) Ray McCallum, instead of Dakich.

So what does it all mean? My synopsis is simple: One big god-damned mess.

How the IU athletic department ever allowed this situation to degenerate like it has is truly remarkable. Whether any (or all) of the above stories are true or not is almost immaterial at this point. What is material is that the whole situation has made the university, the basketball program, and the key players involved look foolish. We’re well past the point of things “getting ugly”, and are now rapidly descending into free-for-all time.

There is supposed to be a press conference sometime today. I don’t know how the drama will unfold, but I’m sadly certain that it’s only going to get messier.

Be sure to check back here for updates during the day. We’ll do our best to keep you abreast. Be sure to stop by Cobra Brigade, as they have Bruce Paine on the scene in Bloomington to give up-to-the-minute reports on things.