Fast Break
Men’s basketball
Hoosiers slapped; Sampson banned
The NCAA placed Indiana University on three years’ probation Tuesday for a telephone recruiting scandal that decimated the program.
The governing body also imposed stiff penalties on an assistant and former coach Kelvin Sampson, who made more than 100 impermissible phone calls to recruits while he was still on probation for a similar scandal at Oklahoma.
The NCAA faulted the university for inadequate monitoring when Sampson was hired but acknowledged the former coach’s conduct was “unprecedented.”
Sampson, now an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks, repeatedly has denied the violations.
The NCAA imposed restrictions on Sampson through November 2013 should he return to college coaching. Former assistant Rob Senderoff, now an assistant at Kent State, also faces three years of NCAA sanctions.
The probation comes in addition to sanctions IU already has imposed, which included a loss of a scholarship for this season and extended recruiting limitations.
NFL
Redskins cut Alexander
Former Most Valuable Player Shaun Alexander has been released by the Washington Redskins after getting only 11 carries in five games.
Alexander was signed Oct. 14 after backup Ladell Betts sprained his knee in a loss to the St. Louis Rams. Betts has since returned and resumed the No. 2 role behind NFL leading rusher Clinton Portis.
Alexander was looking to make a comeback after foot and wrist injuries ruined his last two seasons and prompted the Seattle Seahawks to cut him in April. In his limited carries with the Redskins, the 31-year-old back never showed anything close to the form that helped him rush for 1,880 yards in his 2005 MVP season.
NFL
Vick guilty plea could hasten return
Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty to a state dogfighting charge, a move that could make him eligible to leave prison early and potentially speed up a return to the league.
Vick, 28, received a three-year suspended sentence – far less than the maximum of 10 years he could have faced. Vick was stoic throughout the approximately 20-minute hearing. Afterward, he turned to his young daughter and winked.
Vick already is serving a 23-month sentence in Leavenworth, Kan., on federal charges of bankrolling a dogfighting operation at a home he owned in eastern Virginia’s rural Surry County, southeast of Richmond. He is scheduled for release on July 20, 2009, and will serve three years of probation. His latest plea is important because it resolves the remaining charges against him, which is required under federal law if he is to move into a halfway house.