Bobcat fans weren't celebrating like you might expect when a former McDonald's All-American nominee officially transferred to Ohio last Friday.
That's because Ohio was Armon Bassett's third school in three years.
Usually that's reason enough to raise red flags, but there were an abundance of stories that made the case even more worrisome.
It was reported that the 6-foot-1-inch, 176-pound guard - a former third-team All-Big Ten selection - was kicked off the Indiana basketball team by interim coach Dan Dakich in April of 2008 after first missing an arranged appointment and then missing a 6 a.m. run the next day.
There were rumors that Bassett was one of the drug users that former teammate Eric Gordon said caused the team to fracture.
But Bassett had stayed relatively quiet on the topic until speaking with a small group of reporters at a makeshift news conference in The Convo following practice Tuesday.
He said that many of the statements about him in the media are false and that he even had the option of returning to Indiana when the Hoosiers hired coach Tom Crean later that season.
I had an option
Bassett said. The last phone conversation with Coach Crean I had an option. I chose to leave. Unfortunately the media doesn't hear the whole story all the time
but I chose to leave.
That was it, and no, I didn't get kicked off the team for drugs.
Asked why he didn't talk about it sooner
Bassett said he thought no one would take his claims seriously.
(Indiana) wasn't all the way honest with the media with what was going on there, he said. I'm not going to go back and forth with (Crean) through the media, because he's an established coach and people are going to probably take his word more likely than not so I wasn't going to try and go against that.
Bassett then transferred to the University of Alabama at Birmingham and reunited with former Indiana coach Mike Davis.
That didn't last long either
though
and Bassett transferred out of the school in the second week of December.
Bassett said that it wasn't a problem of fitting in as much as a problem of stability.
I just had some personal stuff going on back home, Bassett said. And I came there to play for Coach Davis, and I just don't feel like he's going to be there, for whatever reason, next season.
Whether he's going to another job or kind of falling out with the administration ... I couldn't wait until the end of the year.
Bassett said he transferred to Ohio because it is on the quarter system, which would make him eligible at the end of Fall Quarter 2009. The other reason was that he had a good relationship with coach John Groce.
Groce has known Bassett for years. The Bobcat coach said Bassett even stayed at his childhood home in Danville, Ind., when Bassett played for Groce's brother, Travis Steele, on the Indiana Heat. His grandmother even cooked Bassett's meals.
So Groce may be the answer to one of Bassett's biggest problems - trust.
Coach Groce is different from other coaches
Bassett said. He knows my story. Like Coach (Kelvin) Sampson can relate to people
but (Groce) actually knows what's going on in my life. Like some personal stuff that I don't trust many people (with).
It's a good decision with Coach Groce, and I feel all the way comfortable playing with him.
And Groce feels comfortable that Bassett will appreciate the clean slate he has been given and be a major factor for the Bobcats during his remaining two years of eligibility.
When you look at everything he's been through, as a coach, you'd be foolish not to do your due diligence and research it, Groce said. We're just focused on the fresh start that he has now and the chance he has to be here and to grow not only as a basketball player, but as a student and as a person.
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73,2009-01-08 04:59:00,Female Representation lacking on OUPD staff,There is one sworn female officer among the 26 working for the Ohio University Police Department
creating a gender gap with peer schools that a women's rights group deems a huge problem.
,There is one sworn female officer among the 26 working for the Ohio University Police Department
creating a gender gap with peer schools that a women's rights group deems a huge problem.
Women make up less than 4 percent of the officers in the OUPD
