Sampson has work cut out at IU, but he's up to task

	MAILBAG Seth Davis will periodically answer questions from SI.com users in his Hoop Thoughts column. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

I spoke last week with Kelvin Sampson and listened sympathetically as he lamented Oklahoma's first-round exit from the NCAA tournament. As is usually the case with our conversations, Kelvin and I went on to cover a variety of topics, including the standard shared gossip about the annual coaching carousel.

I asked Kelvin if there was any truth to the rumor that he was being considered to replace Mike Davis at Indiana. He went through the usual motions -- he hadn't been contacted officially by anyone, he had a great situation at Oklahoma, there were a lot of inherent difficulties in taking over that job -- before making it clear that if Indiana did make a strong rush at him, he would relish the challenge.

"I'll tell you what," Sampson said. "I'd choke the heck out of that job."

Except he didn't say heck.

The new coach at Indiana doesn't just attack challenges. He chokes them. And while that might be an unfortunate metaphor considering Bob Knight was fired partly because he was caught on videotape grabbing a player by the throat, it should make Hoosiers fans excited about the type of basketball Sampson is bringing to Bloomington.

Kelvin Sampson has faced huge challenges all his life, but he has thrived because he operates in a virtual state of panic over the idea of failing. A full-blooded Lumbee Indian who grew up in segregated Pembroke County, N.C., Sampson was raised to believe that hard work and strong teamwork could overcome any obstacle. Even after ascending to great success at Oklahoma, Sampson never completely shed the inferiority complex that drove him up an unconventional career path that included stops at Montana Tech and Washington State.

One of my favorite stories about Sampson occurred several years ago, when he was drawing up plays with an assistant right before being wheeled into surgery. When his wife, Karen, asked him why he couldn't just let it go for a few minutes, Kelvin replied, "I can't. If I relax, they'll catch me."

Sampson took Oklahoma to nine consecutive NCAA tournaments and the 2002 Final Four (where, ironically, they lost to Mike Davis' Indiana Hoosiers). Yet in all his time in Norman, he had just one NBA first-round draft pick -- Eduardo Najera, in 2000. Now Sampson won't have to overachieve all the time. He'll have a recruiting base that is the envy of most programs. If he can convince future players as talented as Sean May, Josh McRoberts and Greg Oden to stay in state, there's no limit as to where he can take this program.