INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana University basketball team found a new coach in Marquette's Tom Crean, but now it's apparent the Hoosiers will need to replace a host of players, after starters Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis were dismissed by interim coach Dan Dakich.
Multiple sources told The Indianapolis Star that Bassett and Ellis were kicked off the team after first missing a prearranged appointment last week, and then not reporting for a 6 a.m. run the following day. The run was punishment for missing the meeting.
Dakich confirmed the players' dismissals to ESPN.com.
Bassett, who was at Assembly Hall on Tuesday, declined to comment on his dismissal.
Dakich, who took over as Hoosiers coach when Kelvin Sampson resigned in February, told Bassett and Ellis they would be dismissed if they did not show up to run, The Star reported in Tuesday's editions.
Bassett, a 6-foot-1 sophomore guard who was a third-team All-Big Ten selection, missed three games this season. Ellis, a 6-5 guard/forward, missed one game for disciplinary reasons.
Ellis, in his first season at Indiana after transferring from a junior college, averaged 6.8 points and 3.4 assists in 32 games. Bassett averaged 11.4 points in 29 games.
Seniors D.J. White and Lance Stemler have completed their eligibility, while it is widely expected that freshman Eric Gordon, who averaged a team-high 20.0 points per game, will declare himself eligible for June's NBA draft.
Gordon said he planned to announce his decision about his future Monday.
The dismissals could mean Indiana would have no returning starters next season if Gordon does turn pro.
Indiana announced on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with Crean to become the Hoosiers' new coach. He has spent the past nine seasons with Marquette.
Sampson accepted a buyout a week after the school received an NCAA notice of allegations for major violations within the program, stemming from excessive phone calls to recruits. Indiana must appear before the committee on infractions in June. The university could add additional self-imposed sanctions prior to its case being heard.
Information from ESPN.com senior writer Andy Katz and The Associated Press was used in this report.