Hoosier Highjinks?

His name is Eric Gordon and, if you fancy yourself a basketball fan, he is someone who you really ought to know.

You see, Eric Gordon stands 6'3 yet dunks on seven footers as easily as Jack Bauer breaks down terror suspects, scores from absolutely anywhere on the floor, has elite athleticism, and is widely recognized as one of the top three high school prospects in the country (including having been rated as the top overall high school hoopster by noted recruiting expert Bob Gibbons). LeBron James he is not, but Gordon, who attends North Central High School in Indianapolis, is undeniably the type of player who can single handedly lead a tead to glory.

Another 17-year old whose name you really ought to know is Gordon's best friend and summer league teammate, Derrick Rose. Like Gordon, Rose is recognized as one of the top three high school basketball players in the country and is considered the type of player who will be an absolute star the minute he steps foot on the campus of his choosing. Rose is a 6'4 point guard with tremendous court vision and elite scoring ability and is about to enter his senior season at Simeon High School in Chicago.

Random Thoughts readers... meet Eric Gordon and Derrick Rose. Eric Gordon and Derrick Rose... meet the Random Thoughts readers.

Now that we have got the introductions out of the way, let's take a trip back to last November and set the stage...

In November of 2005, Manuel Zelaya had just been elected the new president of Honduras, the Edmonton Eskimos had just won the Canadian Football League's 93rd Grey Cup and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was the #1 movie at the box office. Ted Koppel was freshly off Nightline and Christina Aguilera was mercifully off the market, trading in her gold-level membership to Alexander's Adult Arcade for a set of formal china and the quiet married life. It was a time when thousands and thousands of morons actually thought that Wood and Prior would remain healthy, Ronny Cedeno would hit .320 and win the Gold Glove and 2006 would be the year when the Cubs would finally break through...

And it was at this time that Mike Davis was still the embattled head coach of the Iniana Hsiers and Eric Gordon was getting ready to choose which college's professors he would get his education from (along with playing a little basketball on the side). And in late November, Gordon made his choice, turning down, not only IU, but Coach K and the Blue Devils as well, and giving a verbal commitment to Coach Weber and the Fightin' Illini. When asked why his homestate Hsiers were not given more consideration, Gordon specifically cited the uncertaintly surrounding the coaching staff.

While Gordon, having made his decision, was researching whether it would be more advantagous to spend his Friday nights at Kam's or Gully's, Rose elected not to give a verbal commitment at that time. Despite Rose's inaction, Illini fans begin dreaming of a Gordon-Rose backcourt, noting the relationship between Rose and Gordon (which at that point was reportedly approaching Sigfried-Roy levels -- oh great, now I am going to get sued) and the fact that Rose is from Chicago.

Fast forward eleven months now and, ohhhh, how things have changed. In the first six months of Zelaya's presidency, several cabinet members, disgusted by Manuel's pathetic leadership, simply up and quit (aren't you learning a lot?), the Eskimos are in last place in the CFL's West Division, and, when not cursing the very concept of Whacking Day, Syltherins everywhere are flocking to the theatres to see Snakes on a Plane rather than Goblet of Fire. Ted Koppel is missing in action and Christina has apparently resumed shopping at Sluts 'R' Us. Prior's uterus is sprained, Wood's right arm fell off, and Cedeno and his 22 errors, make Shawon Dunston look like a magician in the field.

And Eric Gordon? Well, nobody is really sure anymore what Eric Gordon is going to do, although things certainly have gotten more and more interesting.

Let's start off by taking a look at the recent events surrounding the continued saga of Eric Gordon... Please keep in mind that the following timeline is based on media reports (rather than internet speculation and meaningless message board chatter. For example, I have no interest in reporting that Gordon was seen in an Iowa City sports bar with Steve Alford, Elvis and the ghost of Kurt Cobain and, therefore, is planning on skipping college to become a hairspray salesman -- what else could he possibly have been doing if he was talking to Alford other than pitching Aqua Net?) That said, there is obviously no way that I can verify or refute anything that has been reported so I will simply present the facts as they have been presented by reputable media reports.

* March 29, 2006: Kelvin Sampson is hired as the new head basketball coach at Iniana (The RT hasn't been this suprised since Michelle announced that while at band camp she stuck a flute up her...).

* Summer 2006: Sampson reportedly contacts Eric and tells him that he is still welcome at IU, should he decide that he really would rather spend his college years eating pizza from Bloomington's own Pizza Express than from Urbana's Gumby's (Illini fans respond to the news by getting as nervous as Willie Mays Hayes when he went to check whether their was a red card hanging in his locker on the final day of Indians' spring training.)

* Summer 2006: Gordon announces that he is still "committed" to Illinois, but will listen to what Iniana has to say (Illini fans now get as nervous Zack Morris while waiting for Kelly to make her decision regarding whether she is going to take him or Slater to the Bayside dance -- she chose Zack by the way).

* August 2006: Gordon and his family are seen in Bloomington on the IU campus. Gordon says it is just to see his younger brother play in an all-star game (Illini fans get as nervous as Clarice Starling before her first meeting with Dr. Lechter).

* August 2006: Rose announces his final five schools. The list includes: Kansas, Memphis, UCLA, DePaul and...................................................suprise! Iniana. (Illini fans look as shocked as Terence and Phillip when Conan O'Brien set them up and had the police take them into custody for corrupting the minds of America's youth).

* August 31, 2006: Weber invites Gordon to come to Champaign for the weekend. Gordon turns him down citing unspecified pre-existing obligations.

* September 1, 2006: Gordon and Rose walk into Yogi's, a popular Bloomington restaurant, with Sampson, IU assistant coaches and a number of current Hsier players. Restaurant patrons give Gordon and Rose the type of standing ovation that is usually reserved for those extremely rare times when Larry Bird, John Mellencamp and some Indy car driver whose name is probably either Rusty or Woody and The Hick from the Sticks walk in arm-in-arm and look as excited as if Jessica Alba had walked in wearing only her navel ring, knee-high black leather boots and a come hither smile. Quick moment to let that image sink in... Okay. (Illini fans get as nervous as Carol and Mike when the Brady girls told them that the boys had taken a bus to the other side of the island to return the tiki idol to its rightful home).

* September 2, 2006: Gordon and Rose scrimmage with current IU players at the real Assembly Hall (Illini fans get as nervous as the Brady boys, when, in attempting to return the tiki idol to its rightful home, they are held hostage by Dr. Hubert Whitehead and his psychotic friend Oliver).

* September 3, 2006: Gordon refuses to comment about his trip to IU and whether he is still "committed" to Illinois (Illini fans get as nervous as Peter who, after making it out of the cave alive suddenly realizes that the cute Hawaiian chick who has been hanging out by the pool will probanly see him wearing that hideous orange, black, blue, and brown shirt forcing him to reamain holed up in the Hotel HeiIWainaLaiYu for the rest of the vaction out of shear embarrassment).

* September 16-17, 2006: Gordon attends the Illinois - Syracuse football game in Champaign. and recoils in horror at the sight of Illini football team. Eric wonders whether Briscoe High School could beat Illinois by 200 points. Other than that, the visit seems to have gone fine.

So, where do we stand now? Is Gordon still planning on signing a letter of intent with Illinois when the signing period opens this November? Are Gordon and Rose giving serious consideration to playing in Bloomington? Is Zelaya planning on overhauling the Honduran tax system and outlawing Guatemalan coffeee imports?

Gordon is expected to issue a statement this week regarding his future and, until then, we can only speculate on what he is ultimately going to do. Illini fans have unsuprisingly responded to the situation by crying foul. They are outraged over the possibility that Gordon may now choose IU, claiming that Sampson has engaged in unethical behavior by staying after Gordon despite his "comittment." But, Illini disgust aside, has Sampson really done anything wrong in getting involved with a player who has already "committed" to another school? Let's take a look...

First and foremost, let's start with three things that are not debatable...

1. In recruiting Gordon and Rose, IU coach Kelvin Sampson has not committed any NCAA violations. I mean, it's not like he gave the guy a Chevy Blazer or anything (I checked with Bruce Pearl and he has assured me that he, at least, has no knowledge of such a possibility). Further, there is absolutely no reason to believe that Sampson has violated his "probation" by contacting Gordon or Rose in an inappropriate manner or in a way that is not allowed under his sanctions. Yes, he reportedly contacted Eric and asked him if he would reconsider IU, but the contact came before the sanctions were handed down. As I mentioned above, this is not open for debate.

Everyone okay with that? Good.

2. College basketball recruiting is a lot like Angelina Jolie's old relationship with Billy Bob Thornton -- there is an awfully seedy side to it that most people really don't want to know about. Heck, Deon Thomas stunk and he got the aforementioned Chevy Blazer. Chris Mills was sent 1,000 in cash in a FedEx envelope by Kentucky head coach/ drunk Eddie Sutton in order to convince Chris to pledge his services to UK (sheesh, an autographed photo of Ashley Judd probably would have done the trick). And Coach Pete Bell gave Butch McRae's mom a new house, Neon Boudeaux a fully loaded Cadillac and Ricky Roe a tractor (yes, a tractor -- did he think he was recruiting Roy Oswalt?) just to suit up for the Western University Dolphins. Think that college basketball recruiting is not chock full of questionable ethics and blatant rule violations and you probably think that Barry Bonds really did think that he was eating a Snickers Bar when it turned out to be a Sterumdiddlyumptious bar (now with more HGH!). I believe the old adage is "all's fair in love and war... and big time college athletics recruiting..."

Now, I am not suggesting that we should excuse unethical behavior just because it is commonplace. After all, 6,392,850 wrongs don't make a right. I recognize this and will keep it in mind in discussing the situation. I just want to make sure that we are all on the same page regarding the reality of the situation.

3. If I had a quarter for every high school athlete who changed his mind and did not live up to his verbal "commitment," I may still not be able to buy a Rolex but I could probably afford a new Swatch. And I may even have money left over to buy a swatch guard! And some leg warmers!!!

It is important to remember that we are dealing with 16, 17, and 18 year old kids. One minute they want to go to Denny's for a Super Bird and the next minute they just want to sit on the couch and eat an entire box of Double Stuf Oreos. They change their minds more often than Spinal Tap changes drummers. This is simply the nature of the beast. The bottom line is that you could field an all-star team of players who gave a verbal "commitment" to one school, yet wound up taking the floor for another.

And let's not pretend that Kelvin Sampson is the only coach who has remained in contact with Gordon. National recruiting expert Dave Telep of scout.com, notes that there was a period of time this past summer when, besides Illinois and Iniana, Notre Dame was also very much in the mix for Gordon's services. The Golden Domers? The keepers of all that is holy? The alma mater of Regis Philbin? Someone call Darryl Hall and John Oates and say it isn't so.

In fact, the Gordon family has noted the hypocrisy of many of the coaches who are now critical of Sampson. According to the Gordons, the criticism is most often coming from those coaches who also contacted Eric this past summer, but were told that he was not interested. How's about some sour grapes with your humble pie, coach?

Now that everyone has a good understanding of the reality of college recruiting, let's consider how Sampson's actions should be judged and try and answer three big questions..

* It is appropriate for Sampson to initiate contact with a player who had already given another school a verbal "commitment?"

Wouldn't it be nice if we could all dance through the meadow listening to the sweet sounds of nature? The butterflies would flutter about, the squirrels would be chubby and friendly and a young fawn would come up and present us with an aromatic bouquet of beautiful daisies. Ahhh... what a wonderful place the world would be.

Well, you know what? I'm allergic to the grass in the meadow, the butterflies have gone south for the winter, the squirrels are all scraggly and mean and the deer just got hit by a Mazda Protege that was being driven by that little kid who looks like Kirk Hinrich circa 1990 and says "zoom, zoom." In other words, the world is not the wonderful, perfect place that we all wish it could be.

Now, once again, I have to go on what has been reported by reputable media sources (the latest post on the message board mentions that Gordon and Rose were seen carrying autographed photos of Maceo Baston, Juwan Howard and Dugan Fife, while wearing maize and blue mock turtlenecks with their pants pulled up to their armpits in imitation of Wolverine head coach Tommy Amaker. Hail to the victors, indeed). It is my understanding that Sampson's initial message to Gordon was limited to "hey, IU would love to have you, if you would like to be a Hsier" (although, he probably included the 'o's'). If Sampson's initial contact with Gordon was, in fact, limited to just that, I have absolutely no problem with it. In fact, I would argue that he would remiss if he did not reach out to Gordon. After all, here is a kid from nearby Indianapolis who reportedly rejected Iniana because of his concern over the unsettled coaching situation. Well, now that the coaching situation is clear (unless, of course, Norman Dale finally decides to return AD Rick Greenspan's phone calls) isn't it reasonable to think that Gordon will look at IU in a whole different light? In the least, doesn't Sampson, the new coach who never had the opportunity to discuss his program with Gordon, deserve a chance to let Eric know that Iniana is still interested?

Look, if you spent two years with Ted Styker and Elaine building school houses and teaching the natives to play basketball in Burundi and returned to find out that your high school sweetheart was engaged to your crumb-bum neighbor, wouldn't you at least want to let her know that you were still interested before letting her run off with the schmoke? And if you were rejected by the love of your life because you didn't have money or a job, wouldn't you want to let her know that The Waffle House management finally caved in and decided to try you out as a dishwasher even if she is already dating the griddle cook? Let's not forget that once Sampson approached Gordon he certainly could have said, "No thanks, Coach. I'm happy with my decision." He didn't.
* Did Sampson cross over some ethical line by hiring individuals who are connected in some way to Gordon and, therefore, could have an influence over Eric's final decision?

Now, we all know that Sampson did not just contact Gordon to let him know that IU still had a scholarship available should he want it. He also, conveniently, hired Jeff Meyer as an assistant coach and Travis Steele as the team's video coordinator. Meyer was Eric Gordon's father's head coach at Liberty University and has known Eric since his birth and Steele has been friendly with Gordon since junior high school and coached him at the Adidas all-star classic this past spring.

Hold on. Let me recapture that Jessica Alba image again. Feel free to join me...

Thank you.

This certainly is not an unusual phenomenon. Most memorable was Larry Brown's famous hiring of Ed Manning as an assistant coach at Team Voldemort the year before high school superstar Danning Manning was set to make his college choice. Think that did not have an affect on Danny? Besides hiring relatives, summer league coaches, and parole officers, in the case of Cincinnati and UNLV, coaches also routinely offer scholarships to marginal players who are friendly with superstars in hope that the star will sign on as well to play with his buddy (call it the Jack Haley syndrome).

And it not like Meyer (the more notable of the two hires) is not imminently qualified for the position. First and foremost, Meyer is a Reynolds, Indiana native with invaluable ties to the Hoosier State (a necessary qualification of an IU assistant coach, especially given Sampson's complete lack of Indiana state connections). He spent the last three years as an assistant coach at Missouri and before than was an assistant at Butler University, the associate head coach at Winthrop and the head coach at Liberty. And the guy must know at least a little basketball, as his teams have amassed a combined 484-320 record. Sound like a decent hire, doesn't it? And the fact that he is close to the Gordon family? The proverbial icing on the cake...

Steele also has basketball qualifications (although I have to admit that I am not sure how he ended up the video coordinator and what his qualifications are for that particular position -- did he once work at Blockbuster? Did he organize his family's home video collection? Did he order both the Pam-Tommy Lee and the Paris Hilton sex tapes and splice them together so it looks like its actually Pam "spending the night in Paris?"). He was a graduate assistant at Ohio State, an assistant coach at Wabash Valley College, and is a Butler graduate. Look, it's not like they hired Gordon's aunt or his cub scout leader or the guy from whom he bought that cool orange Indianapolis Colts hat. Sampson hired qualified individuals who happened to have ties to the Gordon family. Did he know what he was doing? Of course, he did. Should he not have hired Meyer and Steele because of a concern that it may look fishy? C'mon...

* Is it ethical to continue to "recruit" Gordon despite the fact that Gordon has not withdrawn his verbal commitment to Illinois?

This, in the end, is the crucial question. The real key is Gordon's reaction to Sampson's initial overtures and, as I mentioned earlier, Eric apparently did not tell Sampson to take a hike. Instead, I would argue that the only way that IU would continue to court Gordon is if Eric was receptive and gave them ample reason to do so. Otherwise, it would be a tremendous waste of time and Sampson and his assistants would have been better off spending their time watching Judge Hatchett or breaking down Alfonso Ribiero's and Lucy Lawless' chances of winning the Celebrity Duets title. Obviously, Gordon was not convinced that Illinois was, without a doubt, the right place for him. Otherwise, if he truly was "committed," I have to imagine that he would have told Sampson "thanks... but no thanks."

Thus, the question must be asked, why didn't Gordon just decommit to Illinois? Well, imagine the chaos if he had. After all, we are not talking about a Chester Frazier or an Errek Suhr here. Instead we are talking about a top three player in the country. Decommit and Duke would have called. Kentucky would have called. UCLA would have called. Coastal Carolina would have called. Gunston would have paid the Gordon family a visit. Heck, even the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who need all the help they can get these days, probably would have sent a free copy of the team's 2007 Cheerleaders Calendar (I'm telling you... it's worth the ten minutes to take a look). You really cannot blame Gordon for not officially de-committing in such a situation.

So as soon as Gordon expressed a continued interest in IU, why wouldn't Sampson continue pursuing him? Isn't it unrealistic to expect Sampson to tell Gordon that he cannot come to IU for a campus visit? Isn't is silly to think that Sampson is not going to open the door if Gordon is the one doing the knocking? In the end, if I'm the head coach at Iniana and I hear a knock at the door, you can bet that I am opening it if it is a girl scout selling Do-Si-Dos or Tagalongs, Ed McMahon and the Publisher's Clearinghouse Prize Patrol or a consenus top three high school player from my own backyard who turned down my school for a reason that no longer exists.

***I certainly recognize that my opinion is likely tainted to a certain extent by the fact that I am an IU fan and would love to see Gordon (and Rose) wearing cream and crimson. That said, I have truly tried to be as impartial as possible and look at the situation by considering the reality of college recruting. In the end, in my opinion, if the kid was truly "committed" none of this would be an issue and if Gordon had not given Sampson and IU a reason to continue pursuing him they would not have.

****So, what do I think will happen? I still believe that in the end Gordon will end up at Illinois and Rose will sign with Memphis. After all, Willie Mays Hayes did make the team, Agent Starling ended up winning Hannibal's respect, the Brady boys made it out of the cave alive, the Hawaiian girl never did see Peter in that shirt, and Kelly ending up choosing Zack. I knew we should have hired Calipari and his fleet of Blazers!!!

*****What is your opinion of the situation (especially if you are not an IU or Illinois fan)? Has Sampson acted unethically? Please post a comment and let's get a healthy discussion going...

******The next post will focus on Week 2 in the NFL and will include the RSFC WIR.

As for now... I've got to get back to campaigning. Tegucigalpa here I come!