The Futon Report

I’m … I’m speechless.

Indiana University is making plans to finish the basketball season without Kelvin Sampson. The coach of the Hoosiers is not expected to be with the team when they play at Northwestern Saturday.

A source close to the situation tells Eyewitness Sports that officials from the IU administration have met with assistant basketball coach Dan Dakich about taking over the basketball team as interim head coach for the rest of the season.

So, to repeat. Dan Dakich — the guy BGSU cast aside last year for many reasons, including this — will now coach Indiana basketball for the rest of the year. Read more

I’ve seen the plans and heard of the season ticket pinch that is going into the renovation’s of UT’s Savage Hall. It looks quite nice, and will rejuvenate the interest of the team.

But do they realize what they’re doing? They’re tinkering with the only building in which Toledo basketball can win games. Read more

I dare say, the MAC does not in fact revolve around Toledo, but rather all colleges revolve about the conference.

“BURRRN HIM!”

Even though UT’s comeback win over Ohio University was a feat of beauty, it’s easy to get caught up in the “UT always wins at home and loses on the road” mantra because, well, that makes the season a lot simpler. But they play actual games with actual humans without factoring past results or tea leaves into future final scores, so maybe it wasn’t just the security blanket within the Savage Hall walls that caused Toledo to win and Ohio to lose. Read more

I’m not exactly notorious for thanking a media entity for bringing me in their fold, if only for 10 minutes, then turning around and biting their fleshy, delicious hand. But wait a few paragraphs.

Even if a home game isn’t an automatic win for BG (one more defensive rebound and they win that game against Central Michigan), it’s certainly an automatic win for any team hosting Toledo. In case it needed repeating: 7-1 at home and 0-13 on the road coming into Wood County. And why don’t we go ahead and just make that 0-14 on the road? Read more

Because, well, everyone on TV is talking as if he passed on. So, that has to be the reason.

He was bigger than the game. I’ll always remember that one thing when I was in that one town after that one game, and he said that thing to me. And there will never be another guy like him. If there is, then he still won’t be like Bob Knight, because Bob Knight died yesterday after yelling at a grease fire in his house. Read more

I could have seen it if they kept the game at 7 p.m. like a good little team. But the start time was noon, right in my wheelhouse at Deadspin HQ. Therefore Toledo’s rather large upset of Kent State is condensed into my memory to this holy crap he just dunked that in the final second video. Read more

The Greg Stempin Variety Hour is the periodical celebration of excellence and existence of MAC basketball.

The story this year has been teams going on the road and losing nine out of 10 times. No exaggeration. After last Saturday, the home team was 32-4 in conference play. But Wednesday night the home team as 1-3. The exception? Of course it was Toledo. Read more

Trades are funny in the NBA. In baseball, you can build for the future by dealing a veteran for unheard-of prospects. In football, the roster is 53, so there’s a good chance of being able to trade one position for another. But in basketball, rosters are maxed out at 15, so options are limited. (Read: draft picks.)

During the NBA season, we see normally one big trade (last year it was Allen Iverson to the Nuggets), and this year it could be Nets point guard Jason Kidd to the Cavaliers. Actually, let me retract that. It probably won’t happen, but LeBron James did in fact publicly pine for the point guard when asked about it during a road trip in Portland. Read more

When a team loses five key players on a basketball team, the following season is always slightly rougher. But the BGSU gals were actually keeping it together for quite some time, going 11-3 headed into conference play. (Three losses, if you recall, was as many as they had in 2006-07.)

Somehow I knew it wouldn’t last, as much as I didn’t want to admit it.

Conference play began just fine, winning their first four. Then came last week. A loss at home to Miami. Then came absolute decimation at Ball State, 68-47. Read more