Renardo Sidney, the mystical freshman-that-never-was at Mississippi State will soon become the sophomore I'd never thought he'd be. Amid the drama that's surrounded Sidney's situation, MSU has held the 19-year-old at much more than an arm's length from the media; much of what surrounds his past 24 months remains coated with smog. Nevertheless, he'll be sitting out the first nine games or so of 2010-11, the final dose of punishment from the ... Read More

A quiet afternoon on the Twitter front just got a lot of activity with the news that Bruce Pearl gave Tyler Smith the boot from Tennessee's basketball team. Smith, a senior starter, averaged 11.7 points, 4. 7 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. Did Tennessee just become a bubble team with the loss of Smith? Here's some of Bruce Pearl's statement, hot off the printer: “From the beginning, the student-athletes involved have been ... Read More

It appears Southern Cal has made a huge mistake. Erasing the records from the 2007-08 season? How could they!? Because, as it turns out, LaPoe Smith, Mayo's agent (not the one he originally had coming out of USC) said the young lad totally didn't take any dough or goodies while living on campus during his brief stint in SoCal. "O.J. Mayo was totally in the dark about anything happening inappropriately at USC," ... Read More

What is Bruce Pearl waiting for? It appears he is hoping something comes up that gives him an excuse to keep these players around. Whatever that is, only Pearl could tell you.

A timeline of events from 2006 to today. Three years, one coach, many recruits and a Sweet 16 season all gone to the ether.

The self-imposed banhammer has become more and more devastating. Schools used to try and punish themselves with transparent actions that didn't faze the NCAA suits, who would then enter and further knock down the house. These days, programs figure it's better to come down hard early and hope the NCAA shows some mercy later. Southern California, with its eight-game winning streak and 10-4 record, put itself out of the postseason picture this ... Read More

When the problems at South Florida were addressed recently, someone told us that Bretty McMurphy's story was somewhat petty in nature; McMurphy had apparently butted heads with the school's administration for whatever reason, and it seemed the longtime journalist was chasing ghosts.I can't speak how true that is. Besides, how does that explain what's currently going on?

This is a new one. That braw-looking ballroom in the photo above is actually the arena of a preseason tournament. Sometimes, when friends are mocking me about the college game, I can defend it pretty well. If they find out about this, I'm going to have to sit back and take it. The Cancun Classic kicks off tomorrow. The field is less than stellar, but Kentucky will be there. Thank god ... Read More

That didn't take too long, did it? We can't even enjoy two weeks of college basketball without a story about cheating surfacing. This is kind of a doozy, and there's a lot of layers involved, so follow along. Said cheating involves the University of South Florida, and it has to do with a conditioning coach, primarily. Clearly, these gruff guys are getting involved in all the gritty, behind-the-scenes dirty work, right? ... Read More

Was Derrick Rose worth it? Word is expected to come down later today that the NCAA will bring the hammer to Memphis ... by taking away 38 wins from the record books. No scholarships lost, the current team (rightfully) is unaffected. But those wins — they gone. Totally. The most serious allegation was that former Tiger point guard Derrick Rose had a stand-in take the SAT for him, thus making him ... Read More

While anyone who claims that seeing a school like SMS receive three years of probation while other, bigger institutions skirt the NCAA would by lying, it is frustrating to see a Small Guy get such a harsh punishment for what are clearly inferior infractions when compared to what has/is happening at larger schools. The Redhawks' men's and women's programs were hit with some pretty heavy penalties yesterday. The committee found that the ... Read More