THE STORY EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT
IU Gets Their Day in Court, For Good or for Ill

Perhaps a little too far with the hyperbole, no?

The long-awaited trial is finally coming. For months, we witnessed the gathering of evidence, heard public statements from shady characters in the saga, questioned the competency of the prosecution, and wondered if the right verdict and punishment would be handed down. Yes, for months we watched a noxious stew of sports and justice with a tinge of racism.

But today is the day the trial of O.J. Simpson will finally start.

Wait, wait … damn Google News, why do you display stories that are 14 years old? Unlike Billy Clyde, we’re not interested in things born in 1994.

[adjusts tie] Ahem. Let’s start over.

All that stuff in the first paragraph? Still true. The only changes: the trial is before the NCAA Committee on Infractions, with Indiana University and Kelvin Sampson playing the role of the Juice. And don’t try to tell anyone in Bloomington that the stakes are lower. For Hoosier fans, this trial - considering all that has already happened and punishment likely to be levied - is about the murder of IU basketball.

Mark Alesia of The Indianapolis Star has an excellent summary of the charges against IU and the procedure for the hearing. His colleague Bob Klapisch does his best Daniel Day Lewis, predicting there will be blood in the Athletic Department in the fallout from the trial. And our friends at Inside the Hall will have open thread coverage of the hearing all day.

There is a silver lining to this - no Court TV, and no Nancy Grace. At least we hope not, since she doesn’t exactly have the best record on cases involves college athletics.

Three more headlines, including some mid-major love for the weekend, after the jump.

THREE STORIES WORTH A FEW LINES APIECE

Whellistan Is Already Drooling at the Gas Savings Alone - A novel solution to the current scheduling problem for next year’s America East and MAAC conference tournaments - screw it and play them in Albany at the same time.

Because If You Can’t Get on TV, You Might As Well Not Exist - The always grand Mike DeCourcy sits down with the new commissioner of the Atlantic-10, Bernadette McGlade. The whole interview is worth reading, but this nugget killed us:

Last March, living in an Atlantic 10 city (Cincinnati) and subscribing to just about every satellite and cable package that could expand the college basketball available to my household (ESPN FullCourt, FOX College Sports, CSTV, DirecTV Sports Pack), I could not watch any A-10 tournament games except those involving Xavier and the title game shown on ESPN.

Mike - please inform us as to how you get away with such a plush cable arrangement without ending your marriage. We need all the tips we can get.

Welcome to the Valley - The Ohio Valley Conference has inked its newest member, as Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville makes the jump to Division I to join the conference. Sadly for the Cougars, they still don’t win the award for “Most Comically Long Public School Name in Division I”. That award has, does, and always will belong to Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, and you can give up your hopes and dreams for it now.