Gary Parrish

Everybody knew the Kelvin Sampson situation took its toll on the court at Indiana.

You could see it in the record.

But it also devastated the Hoosiers in the classroom.

"There were just so many problems and so many issues," new Indiana coach Tom Crean told me Thursday by phone. "From the looks of it, people took a lot of liberties with not being in class and not doing the work they needed to do (in the second semester)."

Crean said the basketball team had a combined 2.9 GPA in the first semester and that seven players had a 3.0 or better. In other words, the academic problems that have forced Crean to completely alter IU's roster didn't surface until the second semester, which coincided with Sampson's departure becoming more and more apparent.

"I don't think I had any idea how far it had drifted academically," Crean said. "I don't think anybody did."

Question: Who is the first player to publicly withdraw from the 2008 NBA Draft.

Answer: Missouri's Leo Lyons.

Only a week after the NBA released the list of early entrants, Lyons released a statement Thursday afternoon explaining that he has tested the waters and heard all he needs to hear. Of course, I could've told him this wasn't a realistic option a week ago, which is why I wrote that it wasn't a realistic option a week ago. But this is no time to ridicule Lyons. Sure, it might've been silly to officially declare, but it would've been sillier to pointlessly drag this out. So I offer congratulations to the guy for recognizing his situation rather than being delusional about what's possible and what isn't.

"This process over the last two weeks has allowed me to get feedback from NBA organizations," Lyons said, "and now I get a chance to use that (to) my advantage."

Good for you, Leo.

Now go talk to your temmate, DeMarre Carroll, and make sure he follows your lead.

Josh Pastner, as expected, is leaving Arizona for Memphis.

A source close to the situation told CBSSports.com on Thursday morning that the 30-year-old assistant has agreed in principle to make the move and should be formally introduced in the coming days, soon as everything is signed and official. In the meantime, count this as a huge coup for John Calipari, who has hit a home run by luring the Arizona graduate to replace Derek Kellogg on the Memphis staff.

Kellogg, of course, left Memphis to become the head coach at UMass.

So if you're keeping track, Calipari's revamped staff will feature Pastner, John Robic and either Rod Strickland or a yet-to-be-determined member. Meanwhile, Lute Olson's staff will feature three new assistants. They are Russ Pennell, Mike Dunlap and a yet-to-be-determined member who will essentially fill the void left by the departure of Pastner.

I've got a column going up later today about the wackiness at Arizona and the difficult task facing AD Jim Livengood.

I spoke with Livengood for about 30 minutes yesterday.

He was candid and addressed everything.

But one interesting tidbit I didn't get to in the column (but thought I'd share with you here) is the seemingly imminent departure of assistant Josh Pastner. To be clear, Livengood said he still wasn't sure whether Pastner will accept an offer to join John Calipari's staff at Memphis. But it's worth noting Livengood didn't sound like a man who expects Pastner to return.

Should Pastner return?

Actually, Livengood said he isn't sure staying at Arizona is best for Pastner.

He explained why in great detail.

"I have personal experience with this," Livengood said. "When I first got to Washington State ... I had no idea that I wanted to be an AD. But after I had been there two or three years I thought, 'You know, I want to be an AD.' And I was not going to be an AD by staying at Washington State. I needed to go somewhere. And the people that counseled me and counseled me very well would've loved to have had me stay at Washington State, but they would not have been helping me. They would not have been serving me. They would've been serving themselves. So I went to Southern Illinois and was there for 22 months and came back as the AD at Washington State.

"Now I don't want you to misread that," Livengood added, "but Josh's entire career as a walk-on student-athlete from Houston, Texas has all been with Arizona. ... So I would love to have him stay. But I'm also interested in what is in the best interest of Josh. His ultimate goal is very simple: He wants to be a Division I head coach as soon as he possible can be. .. We've talked about it a ton every day. He knows how badly I want him to stay. But at the same time, I tell him every day, 'Josh, this needs to be about you. This needs to be about what's in your best interests' because one of the things I can help him with is if he's trying to become more attractive as a future Division I head coach. That part doesn't have anything to do with Arizona or Lute (Olson). It has everything to do with somebody looking at him and saying, 'OK, what kind of background does he bring to the table?' and that's hard for me to say because what a lot of people would like me to say -- and what a lot of people are critical of me for not saying -- is that he's so loyal and he is Arizona basketball and he's done an incredible job recruiting and he's extrememly popular in Tucson and we need to keep him and never let him go. Well, I don't disagree with that. But at the same time, that's probably very selfish, as well."

Translation: Expect Pastner to land at Memphis in the spirit of broadening his resume and becoming familar with C-USA.

Then expect him to become a bigtime candidate for a C-USA school in Texas in the coming years.

At Houston, perhaps