Gregg Doyel

On the same day I was disgusted into writing about LSU football coach Les Miles, who finally saw fit to expel his best player, I'm moved to write in support of Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean ... who booted off his only players.

Crean inherited an awful situation at Indiana, one infected by the kinds of players Kelvin Sampson not only had recruited -- but then had allowed to run amok. Interim coach Dan Dakich was the first person to bring discipline to the program by kicking Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis off the team shortly after the season ended.

Crean came in, and immediately it sounded as if he was going to succumb to the same sort of crap that Les Miles succumbed to all those times he put up with Ryan Perrilloux: But my team needs these guys ...

But after sitting on it and thinking on it and presumably meeting with the carcinogenic players himself, Crean decided Friday not to let them back onto the team. Even better, he also kicked off DeAndre Thomas, whose rotten attitude could be smelled from a mile away.

Crean has no players left. No good ones, anyway. He's going to get his butt kicked for a year or two at Indiana because of it, but I'm more proud of the man than I've ever been.

And I'm more disappointed in Miles than ever.

What did Ryan Perrilloux do?

Let the speculation begin, but let the bidding start high. Perrilloux wasn't kicked off the LSU team after being investigated for his alleged role in a counterfeit ring. He wasn't kicked off after his alleged role in a nightclub brawl. He wasn't kicked off the team after using a fake ID or skipping classes or team meetings.

He wasn't even a junior yet, Ryan Perrilloux. That's quite a rap sheet for a college sophomore. But even after all that, he was going to be a junior this upcoming season for LSU coach Les Miles.

Until Friday, when Miles -- or someone above Miles -- finally kicked Perrilloux off the team for not fulfilling "his obligation as an LSU student-athlete."

So what does that mean? It means Perrilloux messed up really bad this time, so bad that even a shameless huckster like Les Miles had no choice but to part with his starting quarterback.

Does Costas work for CBS? Did he ever work for CBS? I can't keep up with the little garden gnome's career, but rest assured if he's getting a check from anyone at my company, I'll be fired for writing this by, say, 1 p.m. EST.

No matter. I have to say what I have to say, and what I have to say regarding Buzz Bissinger's hissy fit against Deadspin's Will Leitch on HBO's Costas Now is this:

I blame Bob Costas.

Bissinger was only a tool, and I suppose I mean every possible definition of the word tool. Costas knew what Bissinger was going to do. Inviting Bissinger onto that show was like inviting a pit bull into your back yard to play with the neighbor's poodle. Leitch doesn't deserve to be compared to a poodle, but work with me on this analogy, people. Costas knew it would make for great television -- something he once did on a legitimate basis -- to bring a dude from Deadspin onto the stage, take the leash off Bissinger and whisper into his ear, Sic 'em.

I don't blame Bissinger at all. He is what he is, which is to say, a surprisingly young dinosaur who'd rather kiss Tony La Russa's well-kissed ass than recognize the evolving world around him. His method was ridiculous, but at least his motives were pure.

Bob Costas? His motives were dirty.

The only respectable journalist on that stage was the blogger.

And I like Mark Cuban, most of the time anyway.

But firing Avery Johnson was a stupid knee-jerk reaction to a problem that wasn't of Johnson's creation. Unless it turns out that Johnson was the primary force behind the season-killing trade of Devin Harris for Jason Kidd, he just took the fall for the Dallas front office, which thought older-and-slower was the best way to win the wicked West. New Orleans' Chris Paul blew a hole in that theory, running circles around decrepit Kidd, and Avery Johnson is the one who pays with a pink slip?

Unacceptable. Avery Johnson didn't go from coaching savant to idiot overnight. But if there's any karma in the NBA, the Mavericks will go from the playoffs to the lottery as quickly as Johnson went from coach of the year to unemployment.

Who's next in Dallas? No clue, but I hear Louisville's Rick Pitino has had his eye on an NBA return for some time. Neither side will confirm this -- in fact Pitino's spokesman flatly denies it -- but I've been told by multiple sources on the periphery that a representative of Pitino spoke with the Miami Heat about their recent opening. Don't be surprised if Pitino speaks with Cuban about this one.