Basketball program has turbulent summer

Even without mentioning coach Bob Knight, the IU basketball program found itself constantly in the news this summer. \nSome people involved with the program moved on the NBA. Others ran into some trouble with the law. Here are the highlights, and lowlights, from summer headlines.\nPromotions:\nGraduate A.J. Guyton waited three hours on June 27 for NBA commissioner David Stern to announce his name. After waiting through the first round and not hearing his name, Guyton finally cheered when the Chicago Bulls selected him with the 32nd pick in the NBA draft.\nThe Bulls also selected point guards Khalid El-Amin and Jamal Crawford. It's likely that one of the three will be cut before the season begins. Guyton played shooting guard at IU, but will play the point for the Bulls, a position he played during his freshman and sophomore years.\nFormer IU standout Isiah Thomas was named head coach of the Indianapolis Pacers July 20, taking over for Larry Bird who retired from the position. Like Bird, Thomas has no coaching experience. He takes over a team that made it to the NBA finals, but lost in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers.\n"We chose Isiah by the qualities that he has a person, and as a player," Pacers president Donnie Walsh told The Associated Press. "I feel he\'s got the leadership, intelligence and determination to be successful as an NBA coach." \nThomas led the Hoosiers to an NCAA title in 1981 when he averaged 16 points per game and was selected a first-team All-American.\n"I understand how special a place Indiana is with its basketball tradition in terms of its basketball heritage," said Thomas, who was nominated to the Basketball Hall of Fame earlier in the summer.\nBefore accepting the job, Thomas had to sell his ownership of the Phoenix-based Continental Basketball Association.\n"My job is to continue to develop our young players, to get the most and best out of our veterans and to lead this team and organization to a level that it has not reached," Thomas said.\nFormer administrative assistant and unofficial assistant coach Norm Ellenberger left the program to take an assistant coaching position with the Bulls Aug. 7. He spent 10 years with the Hoosiers, where he coached current NBA players Calbert Cheaney and Alan Henderson. \n"This is an exciting opportunity which I have looked forward to for many years," Ellenberger said. "This is a real thrill and the realization of a dream for me. I have known coach Tim Floyd for many years and I look forward to working with him and his staff."\nBefore IU, Ellenberger spent four years at University of Texas at El Paso, helping the Miners to the NCAA Tournament in each campaign. When coach Don Haskins was sidelined with laryngitis in 1990, Ellenberger served as head coach, directing the team to a 16-8 mark.\n"Certainly there is a difference in the game because there is a difference in the rules, but the game of basketball is the same at all levels," Ellenberger said. "Now working with young millionaires ... that's a little more complicated." \nTwo days after Ellenberger was named assistant coach, former IU standout Keith Smart also took an assistant coaching position in the NBA. He signed a contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers to be the director of player personnel and an assistant coach. \nHe spent the last three seasons in Fort Wayne as head coach of the Fury, a CBA team. Smart led the Fury to winning seasons in 1997-98 and 1998-99, marking the first time in the franchise's history that the team posted back-to-back winning seasons.\n"Keith has great enthusiasm for the game and his success in the CBA demonstrates his ability to teach and develop players at the professional level," Cleveland coach and IU alumnus Randy Wittman said. "We feel his attributes will be instrumental in the development of our team."\nSmart made one of the most historic shots in NCAA history when his jump shot at the end of regulation won the 1987 NCAA title for IU.\nProblems:\nThe Huntington Herald-Press identified Sean Kline ' who has committed to play for IU in the fall of 2001 ' as one of two players suspended this week from the Huntington (Ind.) North High School athletics program for violation of the school's substance abuse policy.\nKline, a 6-foot-8 standout, was suspended from his team for five games for unspecified violations of the school corporation's substance abuse policy, according to Associated Press reports. Ranked among the nation's top-50 high school players in many circles, Kline averaged 22.2 points and 12.5 rebounds as a junior.\nKline spent part of the summer playing for an Indiana team in the 2000 AAU Boys' Nationals in Orlando, Fla. \nJunior guard Dane Fife was arrested in the morning of June 15 for illegal consumption, Bloomington police reports said.\nFife was seen leaving Kilroy's Sports Bar shortly before 3 a.m. with Jeff Sagarin and Adam Auffarat by Bloomington Police Lt. Joseph Qualters, who was unsure of Fife's age, police said. At the time he was 20 years old.\nQualters asked other officers in the area to look for Fife, who was found in the 200 block of E. Seventh Street, police said.\n"(Fife) readily admitted that he had been doing wrong," said Qualters in a police report. "The subject also acknowledged that he had been inside Kilroy's Sports Bar."\nFife also had a false Michigan driver's license, which stated his birthday was May 24, 1979, police said. His blood alcohol level was .08 and he was issued a misdemeanor citation of illegal consumption, minor entering a tavern and issued an infraction citation for possession of false identification, police said. \nQualters opted to cite Fife and allow him to be released to Sagarin and Auffarat because he was cooperating, police said.\nSophomore forward Jeffrey Newton was arrested June 3 near Scottsburg, Ind., for misdemeanor possession of marijuana and a felony charge of obstruction of justice said state police Sgt. Marvin Jenkins. The obstruction of justice charge was later dropped.\nNewton was riding in a car driven by senior Olumuyiwa A. Baker, 23, of Bloomington, police said. Baker also received a preliminary misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana and was charged with driving with a suspended license, police said.\nAn Indiana State Police trooper pulled Baker over about 1 p.m. for speeding and not wearing a safety belt, Jenkins said. The stop occurred on Interstate 65 four miles south of Scottsburg and about 50 miles southeast of Bloomington.\n"During the stop, the unit that made the initial traffic stop happened to be a canine unit ' with a drug dog ' and during the stop one of the other troopers observed what he believed was the smell of burnt marijuana," Jenkins said. "They used the dog for a search. In and around the vehicle there was a small amount of marijuana located."\nSophomore Tom Coverdale was arrested May 26 for illegal consumption, after Bloomington police responded to a report of a fight at Bluebird Nightclub, police said.\nAccording to a police report, initial reports were that Coverdale battered a female in the club, then left and ran from the area. Officer Fritz Lantzer found that no battery occurred, but that he smelled alcohol on Coverdale's breath and cited him for illegal consumption, police said. He was booked into Monroe County Correction Center, then later released on his own recognizance, the jail said.