Catch 22 ... and then some

According to several sources cited in an article by Gary Parrish of CBS Sportsline, a number of players reportedly threatened to quit the Indiana University basketball team if head coach and regular breaker of NCAA rules Kelvin Sampson is either suspended [for the remainder of the season] or terminated.

This is a Catch 22 for a number of reasons, of which I will provide only a few ...

First and foremost, college basketball is a business (goodbye, NCAA Tournament money), and athletic departments depend immensely on athletes. The fact that players are allegedly using the upper hand to stick up for a coach who has cheated is somewhat sickening yet understandable.

Second, IU is an unenviable position of either deciding to terminate or suspend a coach who has repeatedly committed NCAA violations at the expense of losing the existing players, or keeping a head coach in place who should be fired outright and being on the business end of more serious probationary measures doled out by the NCAA. For this position, the IU brass can only blame themselves because Sampson drew ire from the masses prior to gaining the Hoosiers post for red flags that went up while coaching at Oklahoma.

Third, no matter how this turns out, this saga will have a negative effect on the recruiting trail, such as 2008 Signing Commitments - SF Devin Ebanks (13th overall according to Rivals.com), PG Terrell Holloway (100th overall according to Rivals.com), C Tom Pritchard and SG Matt Roth - being able to get out of their commitments.