•Twenty-four hours of basketball might be over, but Elliot Williams is going to be seeing this game for a long time. A contested 3 at the buzzer clanked off the rim, and Kansas escaped with their reputation sullied, but not their record. Memphis probably shouldn't get too excited, as within 5 years at least four of these players will probably be under investigation for some kind of violation. (Thanks to Russell for the screengrab.)

•With Larry Johnson gone, at least the Chiefs' skill players are all upstanding citizens now, right? Oh. Dwayne Bowe, four games for flunking a drug test. Gotcha.

•Here's a neat little list of the top 25 highest paid coaches. Some fun notes: four of them are college coaches, one of them a baseball manager, and of the top 11, only Phil Jackson isn't a soccer coach. You can click through, but you'll have to trust me they're not MLS coaches.

•Brendan Shanahan calls it quits after 21 seasons, leaving just one active NHL'er who played for Hartford's final season: JS Giguere. I guarantee you'll win a bar bet with that bit of trivia. It's what Shanny would have wanted.

•Puck Daddy finds some incredible video of a Swedish goal celebration going horribly wrong, with flying bodies and broken glass, and for all I know this is par for the course in Sweden. And holy cow, did the hockey fans all wake up from hibernation? Two hockey notes in a row. Let this be a lesson to you soccer fans, if you tip us, we will post.

•Elizabeth Lambert, who was public enemy number one for those two days we cared about women's college soccer, says she's sorry, and it wasn't pent-up sexual aggression. Seriously. She said that.

•Another day, another Volunteer arrested. This time it's Nyshier Oliver, busted for swiping a $110 polo from Dillards. Before you laugh at risking a scholarship on Dillards - The Style Of Your Life! - remember that this is Knoxville, and anything resembling luxury goods are at least two state lines away.

•••••

You might have noticed a new tag on this post. We're trying something different, so this is your new wake-up call. Not that I advocate any of you waking up at this hour; it's ungodly. But let's see what happens. Change doesn't have to be scary.

Nu'Keese Richardson, Janzen Jackson and Michael Edwards were the three Volunteer football players who got busted around 2:00 a.m. Two of them are accused of pulling a pellet gun on three guys sitting in a parked car outside a Pilot on Cumberland Avenue and Volunteer Boulevard, which is basically the heart of the UT campus. The gang was spotted a short time later in a car driven by one of their girlfriends—who then took a collar for drug possession when (in a shocking turn of events) marijuana was found in the car. Chivalry is not dead.

Nu'Keese, as you may recall, was the player involved in the "recruiting violation" kerfuffle between Tennessee and Florida, when Kiffin accused Urban Meyer of cheating in an effort to land Richardson, a claim that turned out to be not at all correct. He recently missed a practice before the Memphis game because of "personal issues," while Jackson was already suspended from that game for allegedly failing a drug test and was reportedly considering a transfer. This should speed up that process.

To be fair to the gentlemen accused—one of them was reportedly wearing a UT-branded Adidas shirt with the slogan "Impossible Is Nothing," but they did cover it up with an excellent disguise: A black hoodie. I don't know how anyone saw through that facade. And as a final capper on this stupid caper, the armed robbers collected exactly zero dollars from their victims, because they had nothing to steal. I'm guessing Urban Meyer isn't too upset about letting that one get away.

Three UT football players arrested on attempted armed robbery charges [GoVolsXtra]
2 Vols football players arrested for alleged armed robbery [VolunteerTV]
Tennessee Football Players Arrested for Armed Robbery [MSF]
Three Tennessee Volunteers players arrested, charged in robbery [ESPN]

•It's not another "Natinals," but rather Pedro forgetting to button up. Also Charlie Manuel forgetting to take Pedro out early enough (that sounds familiar). The Yankees even the series, sending it to Philadelphia. Hey, at least we're not seeing another sweep this year. (Thanks to reader Jay for the screenshot.)

•Vince Young will be back behind center on Sunday. Best case scenario, he replaces LenDale White as the rusher who'll spell Chris Johnson.

•The first AP poll is out, and Kansas is your overwhelming number one. But more fun is seeing who barely snuck in. Old Dominion and Holy Cross received one vote apiece. What, they're letting Nancy Lieberman-Cline and Bill Simmons vote now?

•The Big Lead has a good read on Jozy Altidore's stunted development. It's troubling, and with Charlie Davies likely out next summer, he's a more crucial piece than ever. For those of you who are confused what I'm talking about, it's soccer. Just move on.

•North Carolina takes down No. 13/14 Virginia Tech on a last-second field goal. It's been two and a half years...is it okay to not root for Va Tech now?

•Fifty thousand St. Louisans step off the ledge; Albert Pujols says he wants to be a Cardinal for life. Still, when people want to be somewhere for life, they sign long-term contracts like the ones the Cards have repeatedly offered. Just saying...

•Proving that Angelenos dole out their fandom based on how close to the playoffs each team is, here's a poll from the LA Times where USC comes out on top as LA's favorite team

•Finally, from Fail Blog, we bring you the only seat at Neyland Stadium that has a seatback:

WBIR has the video. The event was yesterday. Here's what Pearl said:

I've got a tough job. I've got to put these guys from different worlds together, right? I've got guys from Chicago, Detroit — I'm talking about the ‘hood! And I've got guys from Grainger County, where they wear the hood.

It's a pun, you see. Everyone in the audience had a laugh, but others apparently weren't so amused. (It's worth noting that none of his current players hails from either Chicago or Detroit.) Pearl apologized later in the day. His statement:

This morning while speaking at a private kick-off event for a great organization that benefits many local charities, I made a statement in jest to describe the diverse group our staff recruits year-in and year-out.

Unfortunately while I was trying to excite the crowd and encourage employees to give, I made an inappropriate joke. I certainly did not intend to offend anyone and I apologize to everyone, especially the people of Grainger County.

In no way am I trying to justify what I said, but I'm disappointed that the focus has been placed on me rather than the charities I was there to help. My only hope is that the visibility of this mistake will encourage those who can to give to those in need during these difficult times.

Doug McBee, the father of Volunteers recruit and Grainger native Skylar McBee, wasn't the least bit offended. He told the Knoxville News Sentinel:

"There's no hard feelings at all,'' Doug McBee said. "We are country up here, but we're not prejudice. It was a joke, and that's how I took it.''

Besides, everyone knows that Grainger isn't a hotbed of Klan activity. The KKK wasn't founded there or anything. It was founded in Pulaski, Tenn., a few hours away.

Pearl's off-the-cuff remark could raise eyebrows (video) [WBIR]
Pearl's comment elicits apology [GoVolsXtra]
UT's Pearl Gets In Trouble For His Mouth, Too [MrSEC.com]

It seems Lane Kiffin rewarded those players who kept in shape over the summer by letting them pose for the team poster. It also seems that bare chests and muscle cars are mandatory in Kiffin's "gift." Honestly, if it weren't for Layla Kiffin's existence, I'd question whether there really is a team poster at all.

Since I know you watched the video the whole way through, I don't need to tell you that's SS Eric Berry up front wearing the Junkyard Dog chain and waxing that puke orange Lamborghini with his ass. I'm sure that's some kind of recruiting violation.

It's good to see the 2010 ambiguously gay recruiting wars have started up early. Urban Meyer's going to have to counter by having his quarterback pose with countless gorgeous women, but publicly admit he hasn't slept with a single one. Oh wait.

Tennessee Football Players Pose With One Big Orange Hot Rod [WVLT]
(God, even that headline's suggestive.)

Evan Berry, the brother of Eric Berry, announced that he has committed to Tennessee, even though Kiffin technically hasn't offered him a scholarship because that would be a violation. Berry is the first member of the Volunteers' Class of 2013 — that's high school, not college — and he's presumably looking forward to breaking in with the varsity this fall. Again, high school.

Somehow, though, he's already talking to the press:

"It's the only college I know right now and it seems the best for me," Berry told Rivals. "My dad went there and my brother is there now. I know I can do the same things there. I have a real friendly relationship with the coaches there. I don't know them too well, but I know I will have plenty of time to get to know them."

So he doesn't know any other colleges, he doesn't know the Tennessee coaches too well and he hasn't played a snap in high school. Also, his father admits that "things happen, and four years is a long ways away." Coupled with the fact that Kiffin's staff is forbidden from offering him a scholarship — those damn "rules" get in the way of everything — this commitment seems about as real as Kiffin's chances of being in Knoxville in 2017, when Berry would be a senior in Neyland Stadium.

Meanwhile, the Berrys just "have to take it one day at a time." Start the countdown to Mini-camp 2013.

Eric Berry's brother, 13, commits to Vols [GoVolsXtra]

By Tennessee's own self-reported count, Kiffin has already committed five secondary violations since being hired by the school in January. (I don't have statistics to back this up, but I'm sure this is not an egregious number for a major program.) But his controversial reign has people buzzing, which is why ESPN decided to do an "Outside The Lines" segment on him—a segment that included a few seconds of Kiffin having a sitdown meeting with couple of recruits. And guess what ... that's another violation!

Why is that a violation? Because the media may not observe a coach having contact with a recruit. So in a story that discusses Kiffin's recruiting violations, ESPN helps him commit one, airs it on television, then calls him on it after the fact. (Bob Ley pointed out the possible violation at the end of the segment.) Even though the camera crew may not have been aware that it would be a violation when they filmed it, the producers clearly knew that it was before they aired it. So what's up with that? Isn't tWWL essentially complicit in this rule breaking?

At least they were able to clear up the controversy over Lane's gas pumping comment:

I wouldn't say anything like that. First of all, if you look at, I don't think that anybody pumps gas because everything is self-serve nowadays."

Touché. But if ESPN hadn't done enough dogpiling, they got the Oakland Raiders to chime in with their opinion of their former non-employee of the year:

Lane Kiffin is a flat-out liar. He lied to the team, he lied to the fans, and he lied to the media. He will try to destroy that university like he tried to destroy the Raiders, and will eventually clash with (Pat) Summitt and (Bruce) Pearl. Other than that, the Raiders can say nothing further."

I think they said plenty.

OTL: Kiffin's Wild Start At Tennessee [ESPN]
ESPN may have caught Kiffin in another secondary violation; Raiders take another shot at ex-coach [Go Vols]

Actually, his 140-character ramblings are incredibly dull. (Let's watch more game film!) Also, the offending Twit in question was actually sent by one of his assistants, because Twitter is filled with nothing but liars. But it did mention a committed, yet unsigned player by name—coaches are not allowed to discuss any unsigned player—and since UT is completely devoted to transparency and fair play, they called the cops on themselves. This may be the first ever Twitter-based recruiting violation and it is certainly the most boring.

However, I think we can learn something constructive about Lane as a result of this snafu. Kiffin has 4,600 people following him, but he has only found three fellow Twits that he are interesting enough to follow himself: THE_REAL_SHAQ (obviously), Bruce Pearl (sure, why not?) and ... Matt Leinart? Of all his former players, that's one he choose to keep tabs on? (The guy hasn't even updated since the Super Bowl.) Is Lane is still hoping to be introduced to Paris Hilton?

Tennessee plans to self-report another NCAA secondary violation [ESPN]
Lane Kiffin (LaneKiffinUT) [Twitter]

One of the players Kiffin is bringing to Tennessee next year is Daniel Hood, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound defensive end from Knoxville Catholic High. He is 19 years old, and a "model student on and off the field," with high grades and higher test scores. However, when Hood was 13 he was convicted of kidnapping and raping his 14-year-old cousin. His 17-year-old accomplice was tried as an adult and got 10 years in prison. Hood has been in the care of the state ever since.

Kiffin, the Volunteers, Hood's father, the dean of his Catholic school, the principal, his coaches, his teachers, the athletic director—all of them say that Hood is a stand up guy. The proverbial "nicest kid you'll ever meet," who even paid his own way through private school. He did a terrible, unconscionable thing, but has spent five-and-half years trying to make up for it. Even his victim wrote a letter to the university asking them to admit Hood to their school. But does he deserve that second chance? Would he get that chance if he wasn't so good at playing football?

Catholic Principal Dickie Sompayrak said, "Daniel's just been incredible. Football aside, as just a student and a school citizen at Knoxville Catholic … he's been a blessing to our school."

Sompayrak also went on to say, "We'll put our school's reputation on our recommendation for Daniel Hood."

His father says Daniel had 27 Division I offers, although many pulled their interest when they found out about his past. It probably doesn't help Tennessee's cause that Kiffin is already getting a reputation for playing loose with the rules. However, it's hard to argue that Hood is still the junior thug-in-training who did that awful thing over five years ago. People do grow up and I'm sure fans all over the SEC will be perfectly understanding and supportive should Hood make it into any games next year. Kiffin and the school will continue to catch heat for this, but for once, they might be doing the right thing.

Oh, one more thing: Would you be surprised to learn that Daniel Hood is white? I'm a little ashamed to admit that I was, and did not realize that fact until most of this post was written. Do you think the situation would be any different if he wasn't? More importantly, do you feel a little dirty right now?

Catholic star gets UT football scholarship despite troubled past [Knoxville News Sentinel]
Vols catch grief over football scholarship to Kingsport native convicted of rape as juvenile [Kingsport Times-News Online]
[Photo via]

Update: Since you're dying to know, here's Super Vol Clay Travis' take, along with some more grisly details about the crime itself. You make the call. [FanHouse]

The UT athletic department held their third annual VOLSCARS ceremony that I think is supposed to be a play on "Oscars" (as in Academy Awards) but it just reads as "Vol Scars," which is disgusting. Anyway, it's some sort of school-wide ESPY awards and this year's "entertainment" featured head basketball coach Bruce Pearl wearing a jacket, tie and no shirt while attempting to rap (poorly) on stage. If you have a letter opener handy, feel free to insert it in your eyes right now.

I just feel unclean after watching that. Lane Kiffin, I know you can top this, but ... please don't.

Bruce Pearl Rapping [Loser with Socks]
Tennessee hosts 3rd annual "VOLSCARS" [Volunteer TV]

PREGAME: This is a real exciting game, because both teams are just SIX wins away from immortality.

PREGAME: Well college basketball immortality anyways. (Obviously.) I'm also excited though because this is my first ever basketball live blog. Famous baseball player Evan Longoria once live-blogged a NBA playoff game for Bugs & Cranks though, and he gave me some tips while he was getting ready to save America's ass in the WBC this weekend.

PREGAME: I don't really have a rooting interest in this game, so feel free to try to win me to your side in the comments. My bracket's already pretty much shot because I had VCU going to the Elite Eight.

PREGAME: Lot of Orange on the floor today. To get ready I got a donut with Orange Sprinkles this morning. I always have an orange marinating in Gin, but I'm trying to wait for halftime for that.

PREGAME: Games almost underway — we'll play two 20-minute halves, and then maybe six or more 5-minute "overtime" periods. (Basketball version of Extra Innings.)

PREGAME: Starting lineups from the University of Dayton Arena in lovely Dayton Ohio — Hopson, Smith CHISM, Maze, Prince for Tennessee. Eaton, Harris, Moses, Anderson, and Page for Oklahoma St.

19:44, 1st: Oklahoma State takes the early lead 3-0 on a trey by Anderson. Did you know the team that scores first in the NCAA Tournament wins 69% of the time?

18:56, 1st: It's raining TRIPLES! (Three-point baskets, that is.) Now 6-3 OSU.

17:45, 1st: Make that 6-6. Nothing but threes so far from these teams that obviously like to party DOWNTOWN.

16:42, 1st: Finally someone drops a DEUCE. 8-6 OSU after the DEUCE dropped by Eaton, younger cousin of former Jazz great Mark Eaton

First commercial break, 15:32, 1st: 10-9 OSU.

UPDATE: Old school live-blogging is too much typing, I'm going to attempt to switch to CoverItLive. I was advised to disable comments, but I usually do the opposite of what I'm advised. I trust y'all will be on your best behavior, don't disappoint me.

All the bizarre recruiting stories—like the shirt ripping and the fake texting—plus all those insults to everyone in the SEC and those huge assistant contracts are just part of Kiffin's plan to get Tennessee's name in the paper. His theory is that when it comes to recruiting, there's no such thing as bad press.

It seems like the joke is on everybody else. Shortly before the spring presser, someone showed Kiffin a cell phone picture of one of his famous quotes now hanging in the Gators' new Heavener Football Complex.

"I'm really looking forward to embracing some of the great traditions at the University of Tennessee," Kiffin said the day he was hired, "for instance the Vol Walk, running through the T, singing Rocky Top all night long after we beat Florida next year. It will be a blast."

Glancing at the phone picture, the coach smiled and said, "Beautiful. Awesome. Wonderful. They even put our logo on it. Free advertising and we didn't have to pay for it."

I'm not sure how much "reach" advertising in the Florida locker room gets you, but I guess I see his point. Of course, the crux of this strategy depends on the fact that top players will want to play for a coach who seems a little off-kilter—and that the kind of player who seeks out instability and chaos is the kind of guy you want to recruit in the first place. I just can't believe this guy didn't fit in better with the Raiders...

Just Lane crazy? Actually, there's method to Kiffin's madness [CBS Sports]
Lane Kiffin boasts about success of Tennessee's topless recruiting [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

2) Problems with Being No. 1 Building on a Final Four run in 2004 and a Sweet 16 appearance in 2005, Oklahoma State signed the No. 1 ranked recruiting class for 2005. The class included: Byron Eaton, Terrel Harris, Gerald Green (entered draft out of high school), Roderick Flemings (avg. 16.6 PPG for Hawaii this year, his fourth school), Kenny Cooper (unexpectedly transferred to La. Tech before fall 2007 semester, where he was suspended in January 2009 for violating team rules), Torre Johnson (dismissed from the team after one year, transferred to Wisconsin-Milwaukee and was kicked off the team after an arrest last season) and Keith Brumbaugh (never played in a game for OSU due to flagged test scores, been in trouble with the law, currently playing for Sioux Falls in the NBA D-League) replaced Green. The class obviously never lived up to the hype and now the only two players left from that class, Eaton and Harris, are making their first NCAA tournament appearance.

3) Fucking Idiot Coach Ford did not make it out of his first year at Oklahoma State without controversy. As his team struggled early in the year the local press took notice of Ford's colorful language. This all came to a head when Ford audibly called Obi Muonelo a "fucking idiot" during a nationally televised game against Kansas. This started the debate of whether or not Ford had lost control of the team. However, after taking a drubbing from Texas in their next game, Ford showed his support in Muonelo by replacing him in the starting line-up with Freshman Keiton Paige. After this change the Cowboys went on a six game winning streak and finished the season winning eight of 10. If only I responded as well after being called a fucking idiot my father would be a happier man. – Joey_Graham_is_my_co-pilot and Little Lebowski Urban Achiever

TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS

1) He puts Candace Parker to shame While the blogosphere has been blowing up over ESPN The Magazine's cover story that discussed Parker's "C cups", it should be noted that she probably didn't have the biggest breasts out of the basketball players at Tennessee at the time. That "honor" would go to Brian Williams, who is now listed at a svelte 6'10" 267 lbs, but back in high school he weighed close to 400 lbs. He was able to drop over 100 pounds after getting off the Michael Phelps diet minus all the needless exercise.

2) Baller Vol Freshman Renaldo Woolridge is not only the son of former Notre Dame All-American Orlando Woolridge. He is also an aspiring rapper. Or at least he was until he decided to pose on his MySpace rapping page wearing a Tennessee uniform, which would be an NCAA violation. He has since taken down the image, but if you hear someone beatboxing in the Vols locker room you know who it might be.

3) Supersize Me According to McDonald's website, there are 23 McDonald's in Knoxville (for an estimated population of 183,546 residents or a ridiculous 1 for every 7,980 residents), but freshman Scotty Hopson is the Vols first McDonald's All-American since Vincent Yarbrough came to Knoxville in 1998. [Note: This heading probably could have worked for 1) as well.] — Rush The Court

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