Sean Miller Wows Johnny Carson

University of Arizona head basketball coach Sean Miller was a basketball wizard long before he took either the Wildcats or the Xavier Musketeers to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Flash back to 1983 when Johnny Carson was the undisputed king of late night television and a fresh-faced, 14-year old Miller appeared on The Tonight Show and yukked it up on the couch with Johnny and Ed McMahon before dazzling the audience with a pretty sick handle.

Kyle Fogg and Lamont Jones may want to make sure Miller's out of eligibility. Just sayin'.

Alex Trebek Calls College Football Games!

Who knew that Alex Trebek, the venerable 70-year old host of Jeopardy!, might have a second career waiting for him if the game show thing ever went south?

The guys at The Solid Verbal, that's who:

Take that, Rolf Benirschke! 

Wife of USC Basketball Coach Slaps Arizona Fan

Just in case USC or Arizona fans needed another reason to be fired up about Friday night's Pac-10 tournament semifinal matchup, Trojans head coach Kevin O'Neill may have just given it to them.

According to PointGuardU.com, an apparently drunken O'Neill and his wife got into it with an Arizona fan at a LA hotel.

O'Neill reportedly threatened the fan that USC was going to “beat the hell out of Arizona.” Words were exchanged and our sources say that O'Neill's wife struck one of the Arizona fans. O'Neill and his wife were escorted out of the hotel, and Arizona fans were left wondering what just happened.

Since the alleged altercation, USC athletic director Pat Haden released a statement saying the school is looking into the incident.

It's unknown what might have started the fracas, but O'Neill and Wildcat fans don't have the greatest relationship. O'Neill was Arizona's head coach in 2007-08 in place of Lute Olson, who took a leave of absence. At the time, the university had announced that O'Neill would become the head coach when Olson retired and it appeared as though that moment had arrived. However Olson said he would return for the '08-09 season and reports began to surface of acrimony between the two coaches.

Eventually, O'Neill was let go, Olson abruptly retired and Russ Pennell was left to run the team on an interim basis. What exactly happened between Olson and O'Neill isn't fully known, but usually when you run up against a legend, you're going to lose in the court of public opinion. O'Neill is known to be a pretty fiery guy and if you add in a little liquor and some trash talking, it's easy to see how things can escalate.

Sunday Reading: Will the NCAA Make An Example of Oregon?

Sandwiched in between the minute-by-minute updates of the NFL's labor negotiations, breakdown of the BYU Honor Code and the start of college basketball's conference tournaments have been reports that the NCAA is showing an interest in the recruiting practices for the University of Oregon's football program.

Just in case you hadn't heard - and considering most of America's media has been swimming in Charlie Sheen's Tiger Blood all week, it's understandable - the short version of the story is that Oregon paid $28,000 to two men with close ties to a pair players who committed to the school. The university says the money was paid for recruiting services, including video tapes of the players. You can read about it in-depth here.

Oregon has been forthcoming about its payment of the middle men involved in the story. Since the expenditures can be found on the state's website, it's pretty hard to deny it. On the surface it all looks pretty shady, but whether any NCAA rules were broken isn't clear.

But as George Schroeder of the Register-Guard points out, this could be the beginning of some uncertain times in Eugene.

When it comes to the NCAA, this isn’t so much about hammering Oregon. The Ducks have simply provided the opening the NCAA has been waiting for: the chance to send a message about the expanding influence of street agents in football recruiting.

At best, Oregon is guilty of nothing more than being bad comparison shoppers. Anyone involved in any aspect of college recruiting (or just anyone with good sense) will tell you that paying $25,000 for tapes is ludicrous. But financial irresponsibility isn't necessarily against NCAA rules.

What is against the rules is paying someone considered to be a street agent to funnel athletes to your institution. In the worst case scenario, that's what Oregon could be found guilty of. It's a possibility that gains legitimacy when the mother of one of the players in question expresses concern that the man her son considered a friend and mentor was paid by the school he eventually chose.

In between the two extremes is a large, murky Purgatory of NCAA investigation. As Schroeder points out (and as any USC fan can tell you), it's hard for any athletic department to hold up under deep NCAA scrutiny. Even if Oregon is cleared of any of these latest recruiting issues, what else might come up in a deep investigation.

But there is another issue at work. The scourge of street agents and AAU coaches has left a stain on college basketball recruiting and appears to be spreading to football. As such, the NCAA believes it has a chance to nip the problem in the bud. That could mean bad news to the people in Eugene (and College Station, Clemson and elsewhere). If there is a touch of impropriety, does the infraction committee drop the hammer on the schools involved?

This time, Lyles delivers NCAA's full attention

With the ongoing investigation into Cam Newton's recruitment to Auburn (and other places), the potential of having the BCS runner-up under scrutiny is the last thing college football needs.