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Kelvin Sampson Takes a Hit on the Recruiting Trail

Our good friend Kelvin has just taken a HUGE hit on the recruiting trail, courtesy of John Calipari.

East Chicago, Indiana's Angel Garcia, a 6-11 C, and rated by many inside the Top 20 nationally,
was one of Kelvin Sampson's top remaining recruiting targets for 2008, and the Hoosiers have been pretty confident of
getting the instate recruit of coming to play in Bloomington.
However, Garcia has just committed to MEMPHIS.
 
The only source reporting this, so far, is the Memphis newspaper--
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2007/sep/02/tigers-get-commitment-standout/

But it seems likely that it is true, and other confirmations should follow. Garcia had narrowed his choices down to Indiana and Memphis. And Rick Pitino also coveted the skilled big man.

But the newspaper report is not totally accurate. It reports that Garcia came to the US last year and played at East Chicago High School.

He actually came to the US 2 years ago. He played 1 season at Lake Forest Academy, north of Chicago--
http://www.chicagohoops.com/profiles2008/garcia-angel.html

He then left Lake Forest Academy . Apparently he flunked several subjects, and his lawyers claimed it was because he didn't speak English.
He transferred to Boys to Men Academy in Chicago, which is now defunct. Apparently there they don't care whether you can speak English or pass classes.
http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/btmenaug.html

But he never played there, and then transferred to East Chicago High School.
Apparently, they teach classes there in Spanish, while he learned English! His eligibility there was challenged, and he sued the IHSAA (The Indiana HS Athletic Assn). His lawyers were able to win an injunction, which allowed him to play. And his team went on to win the state championship.

I don't know what will happen with his eligibility this year. And perhaps his biggest hurdle will be the NCAA Clearinghouse before he is eligible at Memphis. But it is an interesting story to follow. If a kid has basketball skills, there seem to be no end to the number of people who are willing to help him and give him more chances to be eligible. I wonder who paid for all his legal expenses for his lawsuit against the IHSAA?

Here is a blog about the travails of Angel Garcia (scroll to the 2nd section).
http://blogs.indystar.com/recruiting/2007/04/

Indiana still has 1 more big man on their radar, Tyler Zeller. Kelvin Sampson will really turn up the heat on Zeller now that he has lost out on Garcia.
 
Tyler Zeller is being heavily recruited by Roy Williams at North Carolina,
so Kelvin may have some tough competition.
 
Yessssssssssssss....................

Poor old Kelvin takes yet another BIG hit on the recruiting trail.

DJ Byrd, a top Class of 2009 6-5 wing player/SF out of Crawfordsville, IN
has committed to Purdue.
Sampson and Indiana had Byrd as one of their top targets for 2009 and really thought they had him locked up!
Indiana had offered Byrd early.
 
tornado said:
Yessssssssssssss....................

Poor old Kelvin takes yet another BIG hit on the recruiting trail.

DJ Byrd, a top Class of 2009 6-5 wing player/SF out of Crawfordsville, IN
has committed to Purdue.
Sampson and Indiana had Byrd as one of their top targets for 2009 and really thought they had him locked up!
Indiana had offered Byrd early.
Click to expand...

looks like helmet-hair is getting some big time recruits to commit to Purdue.
 
Helmet- Hair?????? Coiffing must be a prerequisite for Big Ten coaches... Lou dew and Gene Keady were the trend setters.
 
Kelvin Sampson is really continuing to take the hits.
Of course the public relations nightmare going on right now, and almost certain NCAA penalties that'll come soon, and the loss of one scholarship already.

Then Bud Mackey is almost certainly lost to drug charges, and now the stories are building that this lastest controversy has caused their prime 2008 target, Tyler Zeller to drop IU from his list, since they now have NO scholarship left to offer him.

Then a couple of the 2009 recruits are now opening up their recruitment to new schools.
5-STAR Lance Stephenson, who was at IU Hoosier Madness and was rumored to be leaning to IU, is now contacting new coaches that hadn't even previously been recruiting him in an effort to find other options besides Indiana.
Stephenson has contacted USC and Kansas to set up visits.
"...Lance Stephenson, Sr. ...is turning the recruiting process on its head. Instead of waiting for schools to contact him and his son, highly talented 6-5 guard Lance Stephenson out of Brooklyn's Lincoln High, Lance Sr. has begun to contact coaches directly.
"I basically turned this around and instead of letting schools recruit us," Lance Sr. said, "we are going to recruit schools. I'm not going to sit back and wait for schools to give us a call."

http://indiana.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=728067
 
Interesting comment from Draymond Green, from Saginaw HS, teammate of Daniel West, who is committed to Michigan State.

He said this about Kelvin Sampson and the excess phone calls...........

" he doesn't fault Sampson one bit because in his experience, a lot of coaches exceed the allowable number.
Green said he's fully aware of what the rule is on calls and knows when a coach has violated it,
but nevertheless felt a coach who didn't call him as often as other coaches didn't want him nearly as bad."

In other words....even if the phone calls are disallowed, illegal, and might get the coach in trouble,
IT IS IMPORTANT for the coach to continue to make those calls,
or he will lose ground to other coaches in recruitint the kid!!!!!!!
 
This is just sick! If the NCAA does not set an example of this blatant disregard of the rules then I believe every school will or even should follow suit and see if they get slapped. Could you imagine if it was a non elite school who flaunted these rules? There are three tiers of schools the elite, the other BCS schools and the rest. I wish there was some type of democratic process in chosing who controls this organization.
 
tornado said:
One of the top 2008 players in the nation, 4-STAR Eshaunte Jones, who had already
verbally committed to Kelvin Sampson and Indiana, has backed out of his committment.
He is 6-4 shooting guard from Ft. Wayne.

http://indiana.rivals.com/content.asp?cid=687176

http://indiana.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=37798
Click to expand...



Some news along this front....Eshaunte Jones, the 4-Star guy that backed out of his IU committment has now decided to go to Oregon State.
http://www.wane.com/Global/story.asp?S=7286719&nav=0RYd

In the meantime, the guy Sampson seems to have landed as a replacement, is not a Top 100, he is a 3-Star guy from out east...Terrell Holloway
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071030/SPORTS0601/710300439
 
Yesssss............for all you Kelvin Sampson fans, our buddy just took another hit on the recruiting trail...although Kelvin's loss is Huggy's gain!

Kevin Jones.......a high scoring, FOUR-STAR PF from New York, that a whole lot of people already had in the fold for Indiana,
http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=2&pr_key=55562


Has reportedly just held a press conference at his high school in Mt. Vernon, New York,
and has decided for West Virginia...........and Bob Huggins!!
http://westvirginia.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=739466
 
Here's more..........

Kevin Jones just said this in an interview......

"Indiana was a close 2nd..."

"Gerard said that Indiana was in the mix despite the recent phone scandal that cost assistant Rob Senderoff his job and head coach Kelvin Sampson a $500,000 bonus and a scholarship for next year.

"The phonegate thing never really deterred us at all," Gerard said. "When it came down to it, Indiana has a lot of pieces and they do have a lot of wings there right now.
In the end, though, Huggins' resume and the chance to play at West Virginia were too much to turn down. "
http://indiana.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=739420


So......in your face Kelvin!!
 
Gee what a choice.. The kid can play for Huggins or Sampson.... the combined graduation rate for both coaches cant be greater than 10%... ;)
 
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