DISQUS

All I wanna do is address the 4-spot. Aside from a lack of hustle (which I am confident that Coach Sampson will fix), I think that the 4-spot is the one thing keeping IU from being a Final Four team.

I'd say that Coach should go ahead and give Taber another chance to prove himself as a starter. Rebounds, solid defense, and hustle is really all we need out of the 4-spot and Taber provides it. He's bigger than Stemler so he can bang down low with the big boys and he's taller than Mike White, so taller guys can't shoot over him at will. Let Taber play against the bigger 4s and let Stemler play against the smaller ones, that way Lance won't get dominated when he's playing defense inside and he can step out and shoot the 3.

Deandre, as much as a love the guy, needs to lose about 30 pounds to be effectie and I think Sampson knows it. He said he wants to get D down to 275 by next season, but I'd say he should drop to more like 260. He can't defend because he isn't agile enough. He can't shoot from point blank range because he can't jump. And he gets called for a foul whenever he shrugs because he's just too big and everything seems like his fault.

Taber won't do anything spectacular, but he'll do everything well. He will bring the hustle that we need and do all the little things that other players won't do. He's like a Lance Stemler who actually plays the 4-spot. Lance is just a tall shooting guard without athletic ability.

My views have have a lot less to do with my political ideology (I am a moderate Democrat) and my religious beliefs (I am a Christian) and a lot more to do with my respect for women as individuals and not objects than anything else.

This is by far the best IU Basketball Blog on the net, but PLEASE stop showing pictures of scantily clad woman for no apparent reason. Please have some respect for both the women who are being objectified and for your readers, many of whom (like myself) are disgusted by the objectification of women. While I'm sure some readers do enjoy the pictures, there are plenty of other places they can go on the net to get that crap..

Mike White is not 6'3, he's 6'6.

Why does everyone have to keep trying to drum up more negativity and talk about "what-ifs?" Lets just wait until the NCAA rules on it and be done with it. There's nothing good that can come from dwelling on this.

We have a basketball team here at this University that can do great things this year and we just signed a solid recruit to an already solid 2008 class. Good things are in store for the Hoosiers this year. Let's focus on that. Don't stoop down to the lowly level of the Herald Times, the gossip newspaper who is just trying to sell an article.

As for Kelvin Sampson, maybe he is a cheat or maybe he's the classy guy I thought he was 3 weeks ago. Whatever he is, he's a great coach. BUT NO ONE HAS PROVEN THAT HE HAS INTENTIONALLY CHEATED and until that is proven, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. Lets support him and this team. Put the naysaying to rest. It only hurts our university and our basketball program.

I am relieved to read the conclusions of the Ice Miller report. I only wish that they had been released in conjunction with the announcement two weeks ago, because I feel like most of the backlash (including the “dump Sampson” talk) would have been avoided if people had just known the facts from the beginning. I only hope that the NCAA responds appropriately and accepts our self-imposed sanctions as punishment enough. Knowing the facts, my faith in Sampson is restored.

I'm going to trust that Coach knows what he's doing here, but as much as I like Pritchard, I don't personally think this was a good pick-up. Are we going to have a second straight 6-man recruiting class? Why not hold onto a scholarship for '09 and spread the wealth. No disrespect to Pritchard, but I'd rather have K-Jones and Zeller.