Yo, UKSUX, you want me to get you tickets?

[Doobius]

The NCAA will use Conseco Fieldhouse -- and a live peformance by Hoosier rock star John Mellencamp -- as the setting for an upcoming tribute to Myles Brand, the former president who died last month.

The Oct. 28 event -- by invitation only, but with limited public seating -- will chronicle Brand's achievements and provide a revealing look at the important segments of his life and his professional career in higher education, according to a news release issued by the NCAA today.

The tribute will be jointly presented by the NCAA and Indiana University, where Brand served as president for eight years.

“We look forward to honoring and celebrating a special colleague and friend,” said NCAA Interim President Jim Isch, in a prepared statement. “We will remember and reflect on Myles’ deep commitment to higher education and athletics, his love of family and friends, and his sense of adventure. This evening will serve as a fitting tribute of his life and his legacy.”

Mellencamp, a prominent figure in Bloomington, was presented with an honorary doctor of music degree while Brand was president at IU.

Jim Nantz, CBS Sports’ lead play-by-play announcer for college basketball, will serve as host for the tribute event...

...Among the speakers and performers who will be at Conseco Fieldhouse: Michael F. Adams, president, University of Georgia; Josh Brand, son of Myles Brand; Jocelyn Fisher, staff specialist at Duke University; Nils Hasselmo, former president of the Association of American Universities; Paul Hewitt, men’s basketball coach, Georgia Institute of Technology; Garrett Hongo, poet and distinguished professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon, where Brand served as president before moving to Indiana; Michael A. McRobbie, president of Indiana University; Wallace Renfro, vice president and senior advisor to the president, NCAA; Pat Summitt, women’s basketball coach, University of Tennessee; Marshall Swain, an emeritus professor and former Philosophy chair at Ohio State University, and Brand’s graduate school classmate at the University of Rochester; and John D. Walda, president and chief executive officer of the National Association of College and University Business Officers and former chair of the IU Board of Trustees.

Video tributes and comments will come from state and national pliticians, and others like Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and NBA Commissioner David Stern. In addition to Mellencamp, the event will also feature a musical performance by Sylvia McNair, acclaimed soprano and faculty member at the IU Jacobs School of Music...

No word on whether Bob Knight will be able to attend and/or send a special message

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200991021033

[cooker]

Perhaps they can get Chris Simpson to emcee the event? lol

[UKSUX]

I don't like to speak ill of the dead -- even people who royally fucked over our basketball program, so I will not be making any further negative comments on Brand beyond this post.  Unless compelled to do so.  Regarding Cooker's point, it would have been interesting to see Simpson return from the dead to give the eulogy for his mentor.

[Laffy]

The Hoosiers are playing in Vegas in December.