Former Indiana C Holman transfers to Detroit Mercy

5/7/2008 6:03 PM

DETROIT (AP) -Eli Holman, the center who left Indiana last week after throwing a tantrum in new coach Tom Crean's office, will enroll at Detroit Mercy.

The 6-foot-9 freshman, one of four players to leave Bloomington since Crean arrived, will be reunited with former Hoosiers assistant Ray McCallum, who was hired to replace the retired Perry Watson.

Holman, who received a medical redshirt after playing six games last season, averaged 24.7 points, 12 rebounds and 10 blocks as a senior at Richmond (Calif.) High School and selected the top defensive player in the state.

He became agitated Friday during a discussion with Crean and knocked a potted plant to the ground while he was leaving the coach's office. Campus police were called but Holman was not arrested. He publicly apologized to Crean a day later.

Holman did not play a significant role with the Hoosiers last season, averaging 1 point and 1.7 rebounds in six games before injuring his left wrist and taking a medical redshirt, but he likely would have been a contributor next season because of Indiana's already thin roster.

The Hoosiers led the Big Ten for much of last season but faded badly after coach Kelvin Sampson resigned in February amid a phone-call scandal that brought allegations of five major rules violation by the NCAA.

Holman's departure, coupled with the dismissals of forward DeAndre Thomas and guards Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis, leaves Indiana with just seven scholarship players on next season's roster.

Indiana took one scholarship away from the men's basketball program and limited the staff to 10 off-campus recruiting days after Sampson resignation. The university faces a June hearing before the NCAA, which could impose more severe sanctions.

Holman is the third new player to join the Titans, who signed junior college forwards Thomas Kennedy and Xavier Keeling in recent weeks.

McCallum, who recruited Holman to Indiana, also announced Wednesday that centers Justin Sample and Russel Allen have been released from their scholarships. Sample started nine of the 12 games he played last season before becoming academically ineligible. Allen averaged less than a point in 13 games as a reserve.

The Titans went 7-23 last season, their worst performance in Watson's 15-year tenure.