Jamar Smith could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

He could see that two long years of probation had nearly come to an end.

Two long years, that is, after pleading guilty to felony driving under the influence causing great bodily harm.

On that snowy night in February of 2007, Smith drove into a tree, injuring his former teammate Brian Carlwell and putting his own life in serious danger.

After the crash, Smith believed that Carlwell had died and decided to leave the accident scene, driving his damaged car and his injured teammate back to his apartment.

That night Smith and Carlwell had been drinking beer and tequila, and Smith, still under the age of 21 at the time, registered a blood-alcohol level that was more than twice the state's legal limit of .08.

Since then, Carlwell has moved on with his life and his basketball career, transferring to San Diego State last season while Smith sat out the year in Champaign on probation.

As part of his sentence, Smith was required to complete a course on drunken-driving risks. While he finished the class in May, he was also ordered not to drink until his probation has been exonerated.

But at 2:30 a.m. on Friday, Smith's playing days could be over after Champaign police spotted him standing outside a campus bar after being radioed to break up an argument between two other typical drunks.

So while Smith wasn't involved in the verbal back-and-forth that took place, police did say that Smith smelled like alcohol before he came forth with the truth.

Now after nearly reaching the end of his two-year sentence, Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz is calling for a revocation of Smith's probation.

And if that happened, it would be an even longer road for Smith's return to basketball.

"They did not arrest him based on anything that happened that night," Rietz said. "But they were aware he was on probation and that he was not supposed to be drinking."

Of course, with the evidence that Rietz and police have, Smith could ultimately be facing more probation and up to 14 years in prison.

While it's doubtful that the 21-year-old will be locked up in the slammer for violating the rules behind his probation, Smith's future is far more unclear than when he first began preparing for the 2008-09 season this summer.

"As his coach and someone who cares very much about him, I am disappointed that he would put himself into a compromising position, especially after the commitment he's shown over the last year is his effort to return to our program," said Illinois coach Bruce Weber, who was on a recruiting trip at the time. "We will wait to learn all the facts before commenting any further."

However hard he's worked this summer to get back into shape, Smith has managed to swing and miss twice now.

And with just one more big whiff, you can bet that Weber will finally be showing him the door.