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411hoops: Other than the obvious what does a coach like you come to an event like this?

Coach Sampson: Good question. I come to see players that my assistant coaches have been tracking and to see how they stack up against top talent. I am also looking for player that might step out from the crowd, has size, and young points that can run a team and make good decisions.

411 hoops: What do you think about the point guards that are here?

Coach Sampson: (chuckle) Most of the points here play too much in traffic. They drive into a lot of people and then complain if they don’t get the call. If they were playing in the street a car would hit them. Our young points play to much one on one and hold the ball too much. The European guards drive and kick. I would say that 70% of American young points today get to deep into traffic before they make a decision and are forced to make emergency passes.

411hoops: What are some other reasons you come to events like RBK U?

Coach Sampson: Mainly to put names with faces, make evaluations. Camps like this are real hard to evaluate for a variety of reasons, 1) these are not there real teams. Events like Peach Jam and the Main Event in Vegas are places were we really can get true evaluations. There are some good coaches on the AAU level who run the kind of stuff that we want to see and kids at these those events play their roles. Out here it’s sort of a free for all. At a camp like this the kids are not playing remotely close to how the coaches they will play for in college.

411hoops: There has been a lot written in the past year about the state of Grass roots basketball and changes that need to be made. Do you think progress is being made in this area?

Coach Sampson: I don’t think Grass Roots basketball will ever change that much. It’s an imperfect product. Shot selection is real bad at events like this. Too many kids don’t finish. There are several reasons for this, part time coaches on the bench (doing there best, but still these aren’t their kids they see day to day or week to week).

Let’s not kid ourselves these camps aren’t for us(coaches). They are for the shoe companies. They are looking for the next Lebron, kobe, AI, etc. We benefit from it and get to do some evaluating and cutting away of the fat, but this is a shoe company event period. We support the effort because in a small way it helps us.

I think RBK U has done a nice job making this beneficial for everyone. There is only so much you can do.

We are managers of this process and the kids want to know we are here and it helps recruiting. I evaluated a lot of kids today and I have been able to drop a lot of kids off our list.

411 hoops: Why would you drop a kid off your list.

Coach Sampson: They are not good enough or I should really say, they are not what we are looking for at IU.

411 Hoops: Thanks coach

Coach Sampson: My pleasure.