Indiana hit a home run.

Indiana needs Tom Crean as much as the Marquette coach needs the tradition-rich program in Bloomington.

Sure, IU is going to take a short-term hit. However, Crean is a relentless recruiter who can coach – and he’ll be ideal in the community as well.

The die-hard Hoosiers fans will love him – more than they would have loved Tony Bennett, Lon Kruger, Mike Montgomery or whoever else that Indiana athletic director Rick Greenspan could have legitimately wooed.

Greenspan saved his job with this hire.

This is a young, dynamic 41-year-old coach who has made inroads with the state of Indiana. His best player, Dominic James, hails from the state.

He’s fearless, but he also knows how to do things the right way.

Case in point: He had his entire Marquette team come over and introduce themselves to me a couple years ago after a shootaround. That’s the only time I’ve ever seen that happen.

They say he eats, breathes and sleeps basketball. However, hours before a game last season, he asked me to join him and a couple of his assistants and we went to a bookstore. He said he tried to hit a bookstore in every city.

Crean may have made his share of enemies in the industry, but that’s usually the mark of someone who is fearless and successful.

It’s going to take a couple of years to get Indiana back to what it once was – or even what it was at the start of this season. Crean can sell – and now he’s got a Cadillac instead of a Toyota.

But it’ll happen.

Kelvin Sampson can coach. The guy has won at least 20 games in 11 consecutive seasons. He may not get the opportunity to do it again as the head man at Indiana.

When Sampson walked off the floor following the Hoosiers victory over Purdue last night, it may have been for the final time.

The administration is expected to make a decision on his status prior to Indiana’s next game, which comes Saturday against Northwestern.

According to sources, a decision still has not been made on Sampson’s future. It’s unlikely he will coach another game on the sideline for the Hoosiers, but not completely out of the question.

There is one scenario that would have Sampson continue to coach the Hoosiers until the end of the season before he is fired. The more likely routes would be that Sampson is suspended, fired or comes to a financial agreement with the school later this week.

All of this could have been avoided if Sampson had just come out and said, “My bad.” All he had to do was say he messed up and he would have been given a second (well, maybe a third) chance.

Just look at Jason Giambi. Or wait to see how fans react to Andy Pettitte.

However, Sampson is now accused of five major NCAA violations – including lying to investigators.

Was he wrong? Absolutely.

Are there coaches who have done worse acts than making an abundance of phone calls?

No question.

CREAN ADDS KEY PIECE

Marquette guards Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews can match up with just about anyone.

However, it’s Tom Crean’s frontcourt that has been questioned.

Ousmane Barro has been inconsistent in the middle.

Well, Crean just got some much-needed help in the form of athletic 6-foot-8 freshman forward Trevor Mbakwe, who was cleared and played limited minutes in the rout over Pittsburgh on Friday.

Mbakwe is Crean’s most talented inside player, but he’s missed most of his freshman since after a knee injury sustained back in November.

``He can definitely have an impact for us,” Crean said. “There’s no doubt about it.”

Don’t be shocked if Crean increases Mbakwe’s minutes down the stretch and in the Big East tournament and the Minnesota native becomes an important piece of the team in the NCAA tournament.

MCDONALD’S NEEDS A CHANGE

We touched on it yesterday, but this McDonald’s All-American Game is getting out of hand.

Kids grow up dreaming of playing in the game and you’ve got people making decisions that shouldn’t be involved.

How else do you explain the inclusion of Mike Rosario and Larry Drew into the game?

Rosario made the cut because his coach is Bob Hurley and he plays for a high-profile high school. Drew earned the invite because he is committed to North Carolina, it’s a weak point guard crop and his high school coach led the west squad in last year’s McDonald’s Game.

Neither is one of the Top 24 players in America.

The voting panel for the McDonald’s Game is embarrassing.

There are too many guys on the panel who have a political agenda, aren’t objective and/or don’t see the majority of the players in the mix for this prestigious honor.

I am not taking shots at these guys, but Dave Krider hasn’t been on the AAU circuit in years. Mike Sullivan is exclusively a New York guy, Vince Baldwin works for Nike, Tim Stevens is a writer from Raleigh who watches a handful of kids.

The voting panel needs a major overhaul. Here’s my suggestion for what it’s worth. Use the following 10 guys, who see more basketball than anyone and don’t have any political agendas:

Dave Telep, Scout.com – The best in the business. Period.

Justin Young and/or Jerry Meyer, Rivals.com – Take your pick. You can’t go wrong with either.

Clark Francis, Hoop Scoop – A veteran who is out on the road as much as anyone.

Rob Harrington, Prepstars – He’s completely objective and can evaluate talent.

Van Coleman, Hoopmasters – He’s a fixture in the spring, summer and at high school events.

Tom Konchalski, H.S.B.I. – One of the most respected analysts in the industry.

John Carroll, Scouts, Inc., ESPN – A former college and NBA guy who sees all of the elite players.

Frank Burlison, Long Beach Press Telegram – The best newspaper guy in the industry at covering preps and AAU.

Eric Bossi, Freelance Writer – He’s on the road as much as just about anyone and knows the Midwest as well as anybody.

Bob Gibbons, All-Star Report – He’s a big name and he’s out on the road a lot, but we question his objectivity.

Morgan Wootten has done it again.

A couple of years ago, the former DeMatha coach and McDonald’s Selection Committee Chairman used his veto power to keep Paul Harris out of the McDonald’s All-American Game.

This year, Wootten has done it to Devin Ebanks, who is clearly one of the top 20 talents in the senior class.

Ebanks, an Indiana signee who will likely explore other options when Kelvin Sampson is fired, received more than enough votes to be in the McDonald’s Game.

However, he’s a fifth-year player so he was left out.

J.R. Smith spent five years in high school and made the game in 2004. Gerald Green was a fifth-year kid and played in the McDonald’s Game in 2005.

The announcement of those who made the game is tonight.

While Ebanks, who is ranked No. 13 in the country by both Scout.com and Rivals.com, won’t play in the game, Mike Rosario, who wasn’t ranked in the Top 50 by just about anyone, was included.

Rosario earned the invite because he plays for St. Anthony’s and its legendary coach, Bob Hurley.

It’s all about politics.

It’s also a complete joke.

BURRELL MAKES DRASTIC TURNAROUND

Who says you can’t teach old dogs new tricks?

Stanley Burrell never played defense in high school. In fact, he rarely defended for his first three years in college.

Then, after a terrific performance against arguably the nation’s elite scoring guard, Eric Gordon, the Xavier senior guard changed his entire mindset.

Now he’s become the defensive stopper.

Burrell held one of the nation’s top shooters, Rhode Island’s Jimmy Baron, without a field goal last night.

Gordon was 4-of-12 from the field in a loss to Xavier back in late November.

``It’s what I do,” Burrell said. ``I do my best to pitch a shutout every night.”

Burrell’s willingness to go from a guy who led the team in scoring for three straight years to a lock-down defender who rarely looks for his offense could be the key to Xavier making a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

RANDOM NOTES: It looks like we were a couple days off when it came to the official announcement of Tom Asbury being hired at Pepperdine. It’ll come later today. … Xavier coach Sean Miller said that Drew Lavender (ankle) played at about 50 percent last night. … Memphis will be without Shawn Taggert at Tulane. Taggert broke his nose and also has a knee injury.

Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio said he lost it after the game last night.

The Demon Deacons snapped Duke’s 12-game winning streak and knocked off the No. 2 team in the country. However, Gaudio became emotional thinking about winning the game without his best friend, Skip Prosser, who died suddenly of a heart attack this past summer.

``These are Skip’s players and this is his staff,” Gaudio said. “He would always joke that the older he gets, the faster he wants to play. He would have loved to coach Ish (Ishmael Smith) and Jeff (Teague). They’re fast.”

Wake Forest used its speed and aggressiveness to upset the Blue Devils and move into sole possession at 16-8 overall and 6-5 in conference play.

``It’s been incredibly rewarding,” Gaudio said. “Half the polls picked us to finish last and the other half finished 11th.”

Wake starts three sophomores and a pair of freshmen and the Demon Deacons were supposed to struggle this year before the influx of talent that will arrive in Winston Salem next year.

``It’s nice just to be talking about the chance to make the NCAA tournament,” Gaudio said. “But we need to keep our heads on straight now.”

SAMPSON SPEAKS

Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson didn’t duck the weekly Big Ten conference call.

Sampson gave an update on senior big man D.J. White’s condition, saying that the MRI on his left knee came back negative. ``I’d say he’s iffy,” Sampson said of White’s status for Tuesday night’s game against Purdue.

Sampson also said he’s tried to focus on his team and family in the last week with all of the speculation mounting about him on the verge of being fired.

``It’s been practice as usual,” he said.

NORTHRIDGE IN DRIVER’S SEAT

Ok. I admit it. When I did the preseason Big West preview for one of college basketball’s annual magazine publications, I picked Cal State Northridge to finish sixth in the conference.

It looks like I was way off. Bobby Braswell’s Matadors are 17-6 overall and lead the Big West at 9-2. If not for a last-second shot by Pacific to force overtime about 10 days ago, Northridge would be in full command of the conference race instead of just a game in front of Cal State Fullerton.

Braswell isn’t surprised by the 23 or so combined points from Jonathan Heard and Calvin Chitwood. However, one of the key surprises has been that of former Long Beach City College guard Deon Tresvant.

Tresvant leads the team in scoring (13.2).

``We call him the Microwave because he’s like Vinnie Johnson,” Braswell said. “He can really get it going quickly.”

Braswell also said that another difference is point guard play. Josh Jenkins, another junior college kid, is averaging 9.9 points and 6.8 assists per game.

``The two areas we struggled in last year were point guard play and scoring,” Braswell said. “We shored up both this year.”

RANDOM NOTES: UCLA guard Russell Westbrook turned in an impressive defensive performance against USC freshman O.J. Mayo, holding the Trojans star to just 4 points on 2-of-8 shooting and 10 turnovers. … USC coach Tim Floyd used just six players and four of them went the full 40 minutes in the loss.

Ever since the NCAA allegations surfaced last week that Kelvin Sampson had once again violated recruiting rules, people have been tossing around names for his replacement in Bloomington.

Tony Bennett.

Sean Miller.

Personally, I’d go with an Indiana guy this time around.

Lawrence Frank.

Frank graduated from Indiana in 1992 and spent four years as a manager under Bobby Knight.

He was an assistant under Kevin O’Neill at Tennessee for three seasons before spending time as an assistant coach in the NBA – first with the Vancouver Grizzlies and then with the New Jersey Nets.

Frank, 37, became the head coach of the Nets in 2004 after Byron Scott was fired. Frank’s career record is 180-159.

He knows what IU basketball is all about, is a Knight loyalist, is a tireless worker and he’s also been out on the recruiting trail.

Guys like Randy Wittman and Mike Woodson will be mentioned as well, but they don’t have the college experience that Frank possesses.

According to a pair of industry sources, LSU is set to go after Anthony Grant.

However, don’t entirely discount Tigers interim coach Butch Pierre.

Pierre recruited most of the players to LSU and has the backing of some big money people in Baton Rouge. If Pierre can win some games down the stretch, it’s not completely out of the question that he could keep the job on a permanent basis.

USC’s Tim Floyd will be mentioned prominently as well, but sources insist that he’s not interested in making the move – and also that he’s not at the top of LSU’s list.

The Tigers have lost 10 of the last 11 games, but Pierre kept his team more than competitive in a 47-45 loss to Tennessee over the weekend. LSU has eight regular-season games left.

Understandably, Grant declined to comment to FOXSports.com. However, he told me how much he and his family love it at VCU and he’s focused on trying to win another CAA crown.

Grant picked up plenty while working for Florida coach Billy Donovan over the years. One of Donovan’s greatest attributes to live in the moment – and that’s exactly what Grant is doing. He’s not going to get distracted and lose sight of the current task at hand.

ILLINOIS FANS GOT BAD RAP

Eric Gordon knew what to expect.

Except for maybe the pre-game chest-bump from Illinois guard Chester Frazier.

Gordon, the Indiana freshman and one-time Illini commit, went into Champaign and was called a liar and a sell-out. The Illinois fans were chastised for their treatment of Gordon, but it wasn’t all that much worse than Gerald Henderson Jr.’s reception in Chapel Hill.

Sure, there were a few fans that got carried away – one even threw a cup of ice into the section where Gordon’s family was sitting in the waning minutes of the Illini loss.

However, it wasn’t as if the entire student section was shouting profanities in unison.

RANDOM NOTES: North Carolina coach Roy Williams still isn’t certain when to expect Ty Lawson back. … Duke big man Brian Zoubek played two minutes against Boston College on Saturday – his first action in 10 games. … UNC Greensboro senior forward Kyle Hines scored his 2,000th point this past weekend. He’s also scored at least 10 points in 72 straight games – the longest active streak in the country. Hines is 24 rebounds shy of 2,000 for his career. … Seton Hall will be without guard Paul Gause (torn ACL) for the rest of the season.

CHICAGO – It’ll be difficult to match the atmosphere in the Dean Dome last night for Duke’s win against North Carolina, but there should be plenty of intensity tonight when Eric Gordon makes his first – and probably only - appearance in Champaign.

The Tar Heels fans booed Gerald Henderson Jr., when he stepped onto the court at 7:38 p.m. for pre-game warmups and throughout much of the game, but my guess is it’ll be nothing compared to the reaction Gordon, Indiana head coach Kelvin Sampson and even Gordon’s father receive tonight.

Remember, the Illini would be near the top of the Big Ten right now if Sampson hadn’t lured him to Bloomington despite being committed to Illinois.

Roy Williams made the correct move in holding out his point guard, Ty Lawson, due to a sprained ankle. There’s no chance that the Tar Heels can go anywhere in the postseason without their jet-quick floor leader and that was clear last night.

I’m not sure much would have changed from a defensive standpoint if Lawson had been on the floor, anyway. Sure, he’s quick – but he rarely shows any interest in trying to lock anyone up. Duke does a nice job spreading the floor and the Tar Heels haven’t shown they can defend on the perimeter this season.
 
Wayne Ellington was more affected by the absence of Lawson than anyone else. Ellington benefits by Lawson’s ability to penetrate and kick. Last night, Ellington was forced to have to create off the dribble – which isn’t his strength.

COOLEST SIGHT: Roy Williams throwing T-shirts into the crowd just prior to the start of the game. You just don’t see that often – especially from a future Hall of Famer.

WORST SIGHT: Seeing Tar Heels reserve guard Bobby Frasor in a shirt and tie. He’s one of the most underrated players in America and has had tough luck the last two years with foot injuries last year and a torn ACL in December.

STRANGEST SIGHT: Danny Green’s dance on the sidelines before the opening tip. I’m not sure there’s a name for it, but it’s downright entertaining.
  
 ARIZONA’S DEPTH TAKES HIT

You wouldn’t think the loss of Nic Wise be a crushing blow to Arizona, but Wildcats coach Kevin O’Neill has no frontcourt depth whatsoever and now he has none in the backcourt, either.

Wise will miss 4-6 weeks after yesterday’s surgery on his left knee. Now the Wildcats will be forced to move Jerryd Bayless to the point and move someone into the lineup who just isn’t good enough to be a Pac-10 starter.

If there was ever a three-man team, it’s Arizona.

Bayless, Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill.

The Wildcats are 5-4 in league play, which is tied for third place. However, Arizona is also just one game from being in eighth place.

RANDOM NOTES: Franklin Street, the place to go after North Carolina games, was a virtual ghost town after the Tar Heels loss. … I haven’t seen it yet, but one coach told me Pat Knight looked downright giddy in the post-game news conference despite losing his first game at the helm. ``He looked like a college kid,” the coach said. ``It was embarrassing.” … Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel isn’t ruling out the return of Longar Longar, who broke a bone in his lower leg Saturday against Texas A&M. Longar has had a stress fracture since the loss to Kansas and it will depend on how much pain he’s experiencing whether he can come back later this season. ... Here’s how unpredictable and balanced the ACC is these days: All four road teams won last night, including Maryland’s victory at Boston College that gave Gary Williams his 600th career win. … St. Joe’s was without star forward Ahmad Nivins in the loss to Duquesne because of a sprained ankle.

Armon Bassett is back from his suspension. A.J. Ratliff has been cleared.

It’s only a matter of time before Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson is finally able to utilize his full team.

Bassett will return from a three-game suspension Saturday against Chicago State. Ratliff, who missed the first semester due to academics, was cleared prior to the Coppin State game this past Saturday – but suffered a sprained ankle in practice and his status is still unclear for this weekend.

``Hopefully the Christmas break helped him, but I don’t know because I haven’t seen him since Saturday,” Sampson said.

Sanpson is also hopeful that freshman big man Eli Holman is getting close to returning after suffering a pair of torn ligaments in his left wrist in the win over Kentucky. Holman won’t play against Chicago State, but Sampson is hopeful he’ll be back for the Big Ten opener at Iowa a week from today.

Sampson said his primary concern with this team was its chemistry. He added a ton of new faces – freshman Eric Gordon, Jordan Crawford, Brandon McGee and Eli Holman and junior college standouts Jamarcus Ellis and DeAndre Thomas.

``There’s been no selfishness,” he said. “Everyone understands that Eric and D.J. are the two best players and guys have really accepted their roles.”

Sampson said that Gordon has been as advertised thus far, but his concern is that the freshman scoring guard may settle for shots beyond the arc since defenders are sagging off on him.

``I don’t want him falling in love with the 3-point shot,” Sampson said.

Here are some other Sampson notes:

 

- Jamarcus Ellis is his ultimate role player while the other Chicago native, the 300-pound Thomas, is the team jokester.

- On Thomas’ shorts - ``You can house a small family in those.”

- Gordon never has a bad practice and is as humble of a superstar as he’s been around. ``He doesn’t talk much. He just works hard and our kids respect him.”

- D.J. White’s scoring and rebounding numbers have both improved substantially despite the fact he’s playing fewer minutes. ``I’m able to keep him fresh this year,” Sampson said. “Last year we had no depth in the frontcourt and he had to play even when he was in foul trouble.”

- Sampson is trying to get his point guards, Crawford and Bassett, to become more vocal.

- Seven kids on the current team earned a 3.0 or higher in the classroom.

WOLFPACK SUFFER ANOTHER BLOW

North Carolina State was just starting to pick up some momentum after a disappointing start – and then Sidney Lowe’s team took another hit.

Wolfpack point guard Farnold Degand, who had started all 10 games this season, will miss the rest of the year after tearing his ACL late in Sunday night’s win against Cincinnati.

The point guard situation was considered to be the primary area of concern heading into the season. However, Degand had been solid – averaging 6.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists while shooting 50 percent from long distance.

Now Lowe won’t have much choice, but to go with freshman Javi Gonzalez and sophomore Marques Johnson, a transfer from Tennessee who isn’t a pure point guard.

Gonzalez has averaged 11.1 minutes per game so far this season and Johnson has yet to see any action after becoming eligible after the first semester.