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.

If there's one group of fans that I managed to tick off the most in my previous blog for CSTV.com, it had to be Memphis basketball fans.

And while they almost proved me wrong this past April - that is, until Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts choked on the free throw line with two minutes left in the national championship game - it was head coach John Calipari, his players and the Memphis faithful who were ultimately heartbroken on that Monday night in San Antonio (I know because I saw their tears and heard their disappointment afterward in the post-game press conference).

But having a national championship slip out of their hands isn't something they should be concerned with at this point.

At least not after seeing the story that FOXSports.com's senior college basketball writer, Jeff Goodman, a friend and colleague of mine, broke Thursday regarding a Memphis booster's phone call to Oseye Gaddy, mother of highly touted recruit Abdul Gaddy.

As Goodman explains, FedEx Express president and CEO David Bronczek made the call to Oseye, one of the company's customer service representatives in Tacoma, Wash., just a few days after Calipari contacted the family.

But what Bronczek, a member of the exclusive 32-member Ambassador's Athletic Foundation, didn't know is that school boosters are not allowed to contact recruits under NCAA regulations.

Of course, there's no denying Bronczek's status as a booster.

After all, Bronczek is a "representative of an institution's athletic interests" and serves as a member on the Tiger Athletic Advisory Board of Directors. Better yet, each member of the Ambassador's Athletic Foundation has donated at least $500,000 to Memphis' basketball program and many have exceeded the $1 million mark.

"He's absolutely a booster, there's no question about it," Johnson told Goodman in discussing Bronczek's role with the program.

According to NCAA rules, a "representative of an institution's athletic interests" is someone who either makes financial contributions to the athletic department or a specific athletic program or promotes the school's athletics through an agency or organization.

And as Rule 13.1.3.5.1 states in the NCAA Division I Manual, "Representatives of an institution's athletics interests are prohibited from making telephonic communications with a prospective student-athlete or the prospective student-athlete's relatives or legal guardians."

So that's where Bronczek went wrong.

Yes, it was only a phone call.

But as we saw with former Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson, a phone call or two can get you in an awful lot of trouble.

That's quite possibly what could come the Tigers way now, whether it is a probation sentence, a loss of scholarships/scholarship money or even worse, a season without Abdul Gaddy.

All that over something that neither Calipari nor Johnson could control. All that over something that Bronczek didn't even know was wrong to do.

But in this day and age where college basketball recruits are so easily lured by gifts and riches - just look at O.J. Mayo for instance - it's not too surprising to see Calipari and Memphis sitting under the NCAA's microscope now.

After all, who could forget the Marcus Camby scandal that Calipari endured at UMass back in 1996 as he saw his star player take the Minutemen to the Final Four, only to have it ruined when the NCAA discovered that Camby accepted $28,000 from a couple of sports agents.

Sure, Bronczek's call isn't quite what Camby did during his junior season, but who's to say that Calipari hasn't turned his eye on other NCAA violations while he's been at Memphis?

Because with the phone call that Bronczek made this summer, more and more doubt will grow about the recruitment process of Derrick Rose, the NBA's top draft pick last month, and Tyreke Evans, one of the nation's top backcourt recruits who committed to the Tigers in April following the 2007-08 college basketball season.

For some reason - I can't tell you why - I have a feeling there's more to this story than what has already transpired.

Still, no one knows for now whether Bronczek's mistake will trigger a further investigation into Calipari's program, but with the NCAA aware of the violation and Gaddy still deciding between Memphis and Arizona, the Tigers can only hope that Bronczek's mistake won't cost them a chance at reaching next year's Final Four in Detroit.

Heck, I wouldn't even consider the NCAA Tournament a guarantee at this point.

Joe Paterno is 81-years-old, but he's still knows something about discipline and character.

Just ask Penn State defensive tackles Chris Baker and Phil Taylor, who were kicked off the school's football team Wednesday by Paterno.

While no information was provided as to why they were dismissed, both Baker and Taylor had a history of off-the-field problems during their playing days in State College, Pa.

Last year, the two were involved in off-field fights and had to be suspended for a game by the school and Paterno.

Then in May, Baker earned two years of probation in Centre County court for his role in two separate fights, yet was still allowed to work out with the team in preparation for the 2008 campaign.

Taylor, on the hand, received one year of probation for his role in a separate campus fight and wasn't expected to rejoin the Nittany Lions (9-4 overall, 4-4 Big Ten in 2007) until Aug. 16, just two weeks before Penn State's season opener vs. Coastal Carolina at home.

Despite handing down the dismisals, Paterno had said last week that no final decision had been made on the players' status for the regular season, but now a decision has been made, and the Nittany Lions will be moving into a new season without Taylor or Baker.

I guess when it came down to it, their play on the field didn't outweigh their off-the-field antics.

Taylor, after all, recorded 20 tackles (12 solo), three sacks and two fumble recoveries in 2007, while Baker finished with 37 tackles (16 solo) and 4.5 sacks in 12 games.

Maybe, though, Paterno is trying to send a message to his team and more importantly, to those treasured alumni and boosters.

Thanks to a report from ESPN's "Outside the Lines" this week, 46 Penn State football players had criminal charges filed against them since 2002 and 27 have either pleaded guilty or were convicted.

That's not exactly the kind of track record that JoePa wants to be remembered for when he finally does call it quits - whenever that may be - but don't expect a resignation any time soon.

"I don't know," the legendary coach said about the timing of his retirement at Big Ten Media Day. "I don't know. Let me spell it. I, D-O-N-T, and final - I don't know. How many times can I say it?"

Well, once would have been enough for me, Joe.

Well folks, it's seems like we keep seeing the same stories pop up every day or two, and unfortunately there aren't many other headlines to discuss, so this is what we've got to work with at the moment.

And for that you can thank Joe Mazzulla and Cameron Thoroughman, two members of West Virginia's basketball team who were arrested Monday night for underage drinking and fighting with police at PNC Park during a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game.

According to the criminal report, the incident started after police smelled alcohol on the two players and asked to see their IDs. But when the officers requested identification, Mazzulla and Thoroughman both began arguing with them.

Thoroughman, for one, said that he did not have his ID with him, but police say that he lied about his age and even threatened a security guard. It wasn't long before, though, that he was tossed to the ground after refusing to put his hands behind his back.

Mazzulla, meanwhile, thought it would be good idea while his teammate and friend getting handcuffed to shake things up by throwing a punch at the police sergeant (did Bob Huggins teach them that move in practice?).

Anyway, the 6-foot-2 junior from Johnston, R.I., who helped lead the Mountaineers to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament this past year, was charged with aggravated assault, hindering apprehension and underage drinking, while Thoroughman, a 6-foot-7 sophomore from Portsmouth, Ohio, was cited for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and underage drinking.

Of course, what else do you expect from a Bob Huggins program after what went down at Cincinnati through the mid-90s and then Kansas State less than two years ago.

Well, in case you forgot...

Over his 16 years at Cincinnati, Huggins graduated roughly 30 percent of his players. In 1998, the Bearcats were placed on probation for lack of institutional control.

In August of 2005, Cincinnati president Nancy L. Zimpher forced Huggins to resign, claiming that his program did not fit in accordance with the school's academic plan. But the other reason that Zimpher wanted Huggins out was his DUI conviction in 2004.

After taking a year off from coaching yet still staying busy on the recruiting trail (Huggins was close with O.J. Mayo, Bill Walker and Michael Beasley throughout their high school basketball careers), he returned to the sidelines in 2006 to take over a struggling Kansas State program. While the Wildcats finished fourth in the Big 12 with a 23-12 overall record, the team fell short of an NCAA Tournament berth before Huggins would abruptly leave Manhattan, Kan., for a chance to take over at his alma mater, West Virginia. But what transpired in a matter of days left many KSU fans disgusted and bitter at the longtime coach for giving up on their program so quickly.

With that said, I think that's all you need to know about Huggins at this point.

In other college basketball news...

Jordan Crawford is the second Indiana recruit to transfer to Xavier in the last three months after accepting a scholarship with the Musketeers Monday.

As a freshman in Bloomington, Ind., Crawford averaged 9.7 points and 2.3 assists and will join Terrell Holloway, a highly-touted talent from Harmony Prep School in Cincinnati who initially committed to the Hoosiers but then went against his decision when coach Kelvin Sampson resigned amid his infamous phone-call recruiting scandal.

In the meantime, let's wish the best of luck to first-year Indiana head coach Tom Crean because after all, he's sure going to need it with Kyle Taber standing as his only returning player.