As the world turns.

Through Bob Knight, Mike Davis, and Kelvin Sampson, IU's on-court fortunes have varied from season to season. The constant, of course, is that Indiana basketball is a soap opera. It seems unlikely that Tom Crean will ever match Knight's legendary temper, Davis's arrogant incompetence, or Sampson's disregard of NCAA and academic obligations. Still, Crean was considered by other Big East fans to have a bit of a temper and is known for in-game, well, enthusiasm, so who knows where that will lead us.

Still, at least in the first soap opera moment of his career, Crean seems to have been the victim. As the IDS basketblog reported yesterday, Eli Holman lost his temper during a meeting with Tom Crean to such a degree that someone called the IUPD. Holman, who played a few games before missing the rest of the season with a wrist injury, was widely expected to return, and given IU's frontcourt problems, was considered a player who would have to play a role if IU were to have a decent season in 2008-09. As has happened before in the basketball office (allegedly), "The IU Police Department was dispatched to Assembly Hall at 3:40 p.m. after a man threw a potted plant in the men’s basketball office, IUPD Spokesman Jerry Minger said, reading from a police report."

While I'm making light of the situation, it's pretty sad. I've been following the Eli Holman saga since he committed to IU. Holman came from a rough background and has shown a hot temper before--he was suspended for most of his senior season for bumping a high school referee as a junior--but came across as an intelligent and thoughtful person. I was particularly impressed with an audio interview of Eli conducted by Mark Montieth of the Indianapolis Star, which may remain somewhere on the Star's website. Obviously, he has some demons, but I really do hope he works it out and is able to continue his basketball and academic careers somewhere.

The strange saga of Eli Holman continues.

Eli Holman's story is interesting and compelling. He overcame a tough upbringing and was suspended for a year of high school basketball for bumping an official. Despite all that, Eli comes across as mature and with a great perspective on where he has been and what he needs to do. Nevertheless, controversy and confusion seem to follow him. It is undisputed that Holman injured his wrist during practice last week, and he was on the bench in streetclothes (or a "prom suit," as Kelvin Sampson described it) alongside Armon Bassett and AJ Ratliff. What's unclear is whether Holman will play again this season. Here's what the Hoosier Scoop says:

Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson said after the game that he didn’t know the long-term outlook for Holman, who didn’t dress Saturday and had his wrist in a brace. Sampson said team doctors won’t be able to accurately diagnose Holman until the swelling goes down. They don’t think Holman has any broken bones but they fear ligament damage.
Holman, however, told fans after the game that he will have surgery Wednesday on his ligaments and will miss the rest of the season. Confronted with what Eli was saying to fans, an IU spokesman said that the team’s medical staff did not expect Holman to have surgery Wednesday.

Who knows?

Holman eligible.

With less than 30 minute to go before basketball practice begins, great news: Eli Holman is eligible.

Basketball!

Anyone who has stumbled across this blog in the last couple of months might be forgiven for assuming that this blog focuses only on Hoosier football. While I haven't had much to say about the hoops program in the last few weeks, rest assured that there will be plenty of basketball talk here. Usually, the football Hoosiers are about 2-4 at this time of year, which makes basketball much more seductive. Last week, I was reading the Peegs forum, wondering why people were obsessing so much about the opening practice and the TV coverage and so forth, and finally realized...oh...that's next Friday. Next Friday is now tomorrow, and thanks to the Big Ten Network, those of us sitting at home will be able to watch coverage of IU's "Hoosier Hysteria" and other schools' opening events.

The Hoosiers seem to be a consensus preseason top 10 team and in Kelvin Sampson's second year, may be ready to regain what we all consider IU's rightful place at the top of the Big Ten standings. IU has not won an outright Big Ten title since 1993 (the 2002 team won a 1/5th share of the title in a really odd season) and is considered a legitimate NCAA contender for the first time since then. In the coming days and weeks, amongst the continuing football discussion, I plan to take a look back at the promising 2006-07 season and a look at the considerable number of newcomers on the Hoosier team. It strikes me as fairly unusual for a team to be as highly regarded as this IU team is with so many guys who have never played together.

I had lots to say about Bud Mackey, much more than I said when the story broke during my vacation, but all indications are that IU has withdrawn the scholarship offer, so there's not much to say. Hopefully he gets his life in order and has the opportunity to use his basketball talents somewhere down the road.

Eli Holman, who I followed pretty closely during the spring and summer, seems to be in some eligibility saga in which his high school, the NCAA, IU, or some combination thereof have not provided sufficient information to secure Eli's eligibility. Everyone seems to agree that Eli should be eligible, but for some reason his is not, as we sit here today, eligible. Not much time to digest it, but Inside the Hall has done some fantastic work on this issue lately, even if he did violate the blogger ethics code by conducting some actual journalism. He talked to sources! I know some have expressed concern about Holman's background (grazed in a drive-by shooting, suspended for making contact with an official), but the more I have read and listened to Holman in recent months, the more impressed I have been. As I have said many times before, if you don't believe me, read this post and follow the link to the audio of Mark Montieth's interview of Eli. By any standard, Holman comes across well, and in this and other sources, has shown, particularly for a teenager, amazing perspective and candor about life in rugged Richmond, California.

A roadblock for Eli Holman?

I've written before about freshman big man Eli Holman's circuitous route to Bloomington. Early in the summer, there was much speculation about Holman's eligibility or lack thereof. During this month's recruit barnstorming tour, Holman nonchalantly mentioned that he is eligible, echoing a report from early July from one of his high school coaches, Leonard Coleman. Now, nearly two months later, we learn that Holman has not accompanied the team to the Bahamas because he "has not been fully processed through the NCAA Eligibility Center." How can that be? To be clear, I am not criticizing IU or Holman. What I want to know is how this apparent staffing issue can happen to the rolling-in-cash NCAA, an organization with palatial downtown headquarters, an organization that somehow scrounges up enough cash to pay something approaching a million dollars a year to that charlatan ninny who used the most painful episode in IU's basketball history to advance his own career. How can they not find a way to let each NCAA student athlete know whether he or she is eligible before the fall semester starts? If, as all reports indicate, Holman has sufficient grades and test scores to be eligible, it is inexcusable that Holman will be denied this opportunity to develop his game. Even if he or some other person in his position is not eligible, shouldn't the athlete know that before he starts taking classes and the eligibility clock begins rolling? The NCAA is for the athletes, of course. So, how about it, Myles? Why is this acceptable?

Recruit barnstorming; Holman eligible

Jody Demling of the Louisville Courier Journal has been all over the recruiting world, including this article about the IU recruits' game in New Albany. Gordon scored 38 points, but the most encouraging nugget was buried in the article:

Eli Holman, a 6-10 forward from Richmond, Calif., played better than his billing. Holman, who said he just heard from the NCAA Clearinghouse that he is eligible, hit his first 11 shots. Holman finished with 30 points, 10 rebounds and six blocked shots.

Holman is eligible, and played well. Good news.

Inside the Hall has some great coverage as well, including a live blog of Thursday's game in New Albany. Terry Hutchens also has a wrap-up, include an indication that there may be an Indy-area game at Noblesville or Center Grove.

Good news for Eli?

This story is a few days old, but for anyone who missed it, things do appear to be looking up for Eli Holman. As I have mentioned before, Eli seems to be quite an amazing young man despite a really tough background, and it would be great to see him on the court this year. This Terry Hutchens article from last week provides some reasons for optimism:

One of his high school coaches said Friday that Holman has qualified and it's just a matter of the Clearinghouse making it official. The Clearinghouse will announce his eligibility status by late August. "It's our understanding that he has qualified, but it isn't official until the Clearinghouse says so," said Leonard Coleman, an assistant coach at Richmond (Calif.) High School. "Eli was able to improve his test score, and his grade-point average was already strong. "I know that Eli worked really hard after basketball season to get his academics in order. He was pretty much a hermit. He stayed in his house and prepared for the SAT, and he worked hard in the classroom, too."

This info, plus Eli's presence on campus and in summer school, would seem to be positive signs. Let's hope that the athletic department's math skills have improved. George Leach, long -suffering IU fans will recall, had to sit out his first year because he was 10 points shy of a qualifying SAT score. He took the SAT only once and would have had ample opportunities to take the test again had he not been erroneously informed by IU that he had the score he needed.

I've mentioned it before, but here is the link to the audio of Mark Monteith's interview of Holman (warning: audio begins automatically).

Always an adventure with Eli.

The Eli Holman saga continues. As I documented in a post a few weeks back, Holman, despite growing up in a rough town and despite the red flag of the referee incident, seems to be a high-quality kid with a promising future. After the unfortunate incident early in his junior season, Holman had to fight hard for the right to finish out his senior season. Soon after he won his appeal with California's high school athletic association, he was grazed by a bullet.

It has been apparent that Eli is not yet qualified academically, and Doug Wilson of the H-T raised some red flags this week when he posted that Holman and his assistant coach, Lon Coleman, had stopped returning calls, whereas they had always been highly cooperative in the past. Yesterday, however, Doug reported that Holman is in Bloomington, and several posters on the Rivals forums provided eyewitness confirmation. It's hard to say what to make of this. My guess is that if Holman were qualified, someone would tell us so. Still, if the situation looks hopeless, I doubt Eli would be in Bloomington. At this point I suppose we should presume the status quo--Eli and co. are optimistic that he will do so but it hasn't happened yet.

Eli Holman.

Mark Montieth's article in today's Indy Star on IU freshman-to-be Eli Holman is a must-read, and I highly recommend the audio interview that is available on the sidebar. Holman sounds mature beyond his years, and anyone who has elected to form his opinion on Holman based upon the unfortunate altercation with the referee or the drive by shoting of which Holman was a victim ought to take a look.