Crean upholds dismissals of Bassett, Ellis

Posted: Fri May 2 4:15 PM

Bloomington, IN (Sports Network) - New Indiana coach Tom Crean informed suspended guards Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis that they would not be reinstated to the basketball team.

Bassett, a sophomore from Terre Haute, Indiana, averaged 11.4 points per game last season and led the Big Ten in three-point field goal percentage at 45.4 percent. Ellis, a junior from Chicago, Illinois, was a junior college transfer who averaged 6.8 points per game last season, his first with the Hoosiers.

Both players were suspended last season for violation of team rules. Bassett was suspended for three games and Ellis was held out of the regular- season finale against Penn State.

The Indiana Daily Student also reported that Crean dismissed junior forward DeAndre Thomas from the team, just one day after forward Eli Holman told Crean he will not return for the 2008-09 season.

"Before you build a team you need to develop a family," Crean said in a press release. "We will go through the learning process, feel some growing pains and experience some bumps in the road along the way. We need the Hoosier Nation to rally around this program as we go through these stages."

The dismissals leave the Hoosiers with only four players returning from last season -- sophomore guards Jordan Crawford and Brandon McGee, forward Kyle Taber and walk-on Brett Finkelmeier.

"Our staff if going to ensure that anyone who attends this University and "Our staff if going to ensure that anyone who attends this University and wears the Indiana uniform will make this privilege among their highest priorities and not treat the opportunity as an entitlement," Crean added.

"We fully expect our student-athletes to accept the responsibilities academically, athletically and socially that come with representing one of the top programs in college basketball history."