Fullscreen capture 8172011 103705 AMThe avalanche of voicemails and texts began minutes after the article was published.

Friends who Teddy Dupay hadn't spoken to in months called the former Florida guard on Tuesday to inform him of his bizarre connection to a Yahoo! Sports investigation into major violations committed by the University of Miami athletics program.

In a memorable passage midway through the lengthy story, Miami booster Nevin Shapiro said he used the alias "Teddy Dupay" to purchase the South Beach hotel rooms where he would host parties for Miami football players and prostitutes. Shapiro said he chose Dupay's name because he believed the 5-foot-9 ex-Florida guard's stature and physical features were similar to his own.

"It was screwing up my Android I was getting so many text messages," Dupay said Wednesday by phone. "My first instinct was, 'Oh no, not again' because it attached my name to a very negative situation, but I've realized I can't control what people think."

Whereas almost every other athlete and

Frank Haith

Amid the torrent of criticism in the wake of Missouri's surprising decision to pluck Frank Haith from Miami this past spring, Tigers supporters adopted the slogan "Faith in Haith" to express their allegiance to their new coach.

That faith will surely be tested now.

If Miami's once-proud football program is now essentially scorched earth in the wake of Tuesday's devastatingly thorough Yahoo! Sports investigative report, then Haith is one of many others picking shrapnel out of his chest.

Miami booster Nevin Shapiro alleged that Haith had knowledge of a $10,000 payment the booster made to secure the commitment of DeQuan Jones, a highly touted Class of 2008 forward whose career has been unremarkable thus far in Coral Gables. Haith and other members of the Miami staff also allegedly partied with Shapiro at strips clubs, made dozens of calls to his cell phone and appeared in photos with the booster, two of which actually were published with the story itself.

Haith and the University of

Amir Garrett IIAt a time when many athletes are encouraged to pick the sport they intend to specialize in before they even enter high school, St. John's signee Amir Garrett still isn't ready to give up on either basketball or baseball just yet.

Garrett signed a contract with the Cincinnati Reds on Monday that includes a $1 million signing bonus over five years, but the hard-throwing 6-foot-6 left-hander will only play professional baseball during the summer. That will allow him to spend the rest of the year playing basketball at St. John's and working toward his college degree.

Many have advised Garrett to focus on one sport or the other to maximize his pro potential in either of them, but both Garrett and his father believe it's wiser to keep his options open for now.

How can he give up on basketball when he's a consensus top 100 prospect headed to a Big East school despite playing the sport competitively for the first time in ninth grade? And how can he give up on baseball when he's still able to

Fullscreen capture 8162011 123832 PMEven though the SEC decided to scrap its two-division format for basketball beginning next season, it's clear TV executives still believe the conference's strength lies in the teams who formerly made up the SEC East.

Kentucky, Florida, Vanderbilt and Georgia will make a combined 12 appearances on ESPN's Super Tuesday next season compared to just four appearances from teams previously in the SEC West. Additionally, ESPN announced earlier this month that the Wildcats and Commodores will meet in the lone GameDay telecast awarded to the conference next season.

The choices from ESPN reflect the projected strength of Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Florida next season as well as the dominance of SEC East schools in recent years. Five of the six SEC East teams made the NCAA tournament last season, whereas SEC West champ Alabama's 12-4 conference record only sent the Tide to the NIT.

If there are any schools with reason to complain about not receiving enough exposure, it's probably Alabama and

Although Iowa State has won its first two exhibition games by an average of 50 points during its tour of Italy, it's likely the Cyclones are encountering greater challenges away from the basketball court.

That's because many of the players appear to be unfamiliar with even the most basic Italian words and phrases.

Check out the fun video Iowa State's media relations department shot of the Cyclones butchering the Italian language prior to leaving for the trip. No phrase was too simple to mispronounce, not even "Arrivederci," the well-known Italian word for goodbye.

The competition in Italy has proven to be a far easier adjustment than the language for Iowa State, which must incorporate eight players who have never worn a Cyclones jersey in a game before including several key transfers.

Penn State transfer Chris Babb led the way with a team-high 16 points and six steals in Iowa State's 96-55 rout over Oleggio Basket on Thursday. And highly touted Minnesota transfer Royce White tallied

In case anyone needed a reminder that college hoops means more to the state of Kentucky than most of the rest of the nation, Monday night's festivities at Rupp Arena surely provided it.

A roaring sellout crowd of 23,509 packed every seat from the floor to the rafters to watch the John Calipari-coached Dominican national team defeat a team of ex-Kentucky stars 106-88 in a mid-August exhibition game.

They cheered every bucket from an ex-Wildcat so passionately that John Wall admitted he experienced "nothing close" to Rupp's atmosphere in the NBA last year. They booed onetime rivals Edgar Sosa, Francisco Garcia and Al Horford so vociferously during pregame introductions that the bemused ex-Florida big man gave an impromptu gator chomp in response. They even launched into a "We Want Vargas" chant in the second half in hopes Calipari would put Dominican-born Kentucky backup center Eloy Vargas into the game.

"We all think this is normal," Calipari told reporters afterward. "This is not

pearlhouse

The house Bruce Pearl once told NCAA investigators he didn't recognize is now on the market.

The former Tennessee coach told the Knoxville News Sentinel that he's selling his 10,200-square-foot mansion in the swanky Knoxville suburb of Gettysvue for an initial asking price of $2.69 million. That's the same house where Pearl broke NCAA rules by hosting two recruits at a barbecue two years ago, a minor violation that became serious enough to cost him his job when he lied to investigators about it.

Very few of us can afford to purchase the structure where Tennessee's rapidly improving basketball program began to unravel, but those who have deep pockets and a fondness for sticky Tennessee summers can bid on more than just a historic home. Here's how broker Debbie Elliott-Sexton describes the five-bedroom, 6 1/2-bathroom stone and brick home in an advertisement announcing that it's on the market:

"Truly a home built for entertaining!" she wrote. "Outdoor, open-air pool house with kitchen

Fullscreen capture 8152011 84554 PM

Hoping to correct one of the NCAA rulebook's great injustices, the Big East has proposed a rule change that could go into effect as soon as next August.

No, the conference isn't pushing for more consistent penalties for programs guilty of major violations or a later early entry decision date for potential NBA draft prospects. The Big East simply wants to ensure its student-athletes no longer have to endure post-workout dry mouth as a result of eating complimentary bagels with no spread.

Proposal No. 2011-78 would permit institutions to offer spreads such as "butter, peanut butter, jelly and cream cheese" with bagels they already may provide to student-athletes at any time. It's by far the most inane of the 91 potential rule changes the NCAA legislative council will have to consider next January.

Believe it or not, current NCAA legislation enacted in 2009 only allows schools to provide bagels, fruits and nuts to student-athletes, which means that a complimentary butter or jam packet