Among the newsier revelations from George Dohrmann's new book "Play Their Hearts Out" are a pair of NCAA violations allegedly committed by UCLA and Ohio State in their pursuit of Class of 2009 guard Roberto Nelson.

Neither are anything that will have NCAA investigators frantically booking flights to Westwood and Columbus, but both are significant enough to be noteworthy.

Nelson is one of the handful of young Southern California prospects Dohrmann followed from the time they entered grass roots basketball in middle school until they were ready to select a college. The Santa Barbara High star ultimately selected Oregon State and sat out as a freshman last year as a result of academics, but Dohrmann reported that UCLA coach Ben Howland pursued Nelson doggedly for a while as he waited to see if his grades would improve.

In certain months, coaches are allowed to call a recruit or his family only once. In one of these months, and after a UCLA coach had already spoken to Roberto, Howland

It remains to be seen whether Long Beach State can regain the conference title from defending champ UC Santa Barbara next season, but the 49ers definitely have Big West bragging rights in at least one respect.

So far they have the new season's funniest promotional video.

All-conference wing Larry Anderson opens the video by telling viewers, "Me and my teammates have been working hard this offseason. We even come to practice when we're sick, so we have to keep them away from every body else." In the next scene, we see a game of 2-on-2 in which one player on each team is inside a plastic bubble, a la the famous Bubble Boy episode from Seinfeld.

With Anderson, point guard Casper Ware and forward T.J. Robinson back for another season, Long Beach State figures to be the top challenger to UC Santa Barbara next season in what could be an improved Big West. Hopefully that trio will treat us to another video or two as the season progresses.

The most critical question in the wake of UConn putting itself on a two-year probation on Friday is whether the university's self-imposed sanctions are tough enough to stave off future punishment from the suddenly no-nonsense NCAA.

To my untrained eye, the answer is almost certainly no.

Instead of banning itself from the postseason, prohibiting its coaches from recruiting off campus or docking head coach Jim Calhoun's pay, UConn is gambling that slapping itself on the wrist will be sufficient punishment for the eight major violations the NCAA uncovered in late May. The only meaningful penalty the Huskies imposed on themselves was reducing the number of available scholarships from 13 to 12 for the next two academic years.

UConn's response to the notice of allegations the NCAA sent in May is one of the final steps in a process that began with a Yahoo! Sports report in March 2009 detailing violations committed in the recruitment of former player Nate Miles. Among the infractions the NCAA

Since coming from nowhere to win the SEC championship and advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2009, the LSU Tigers haven't produced many good memories for their fans.

They flirted with a winless SEC season last year on their way to a dismal 11-20 record. They graduated leading scorer Tasmin Mitchell and lost second-leading scorer Bo Spencer for the season for academic reasons. And they haven't recruited well enough to generate too much enthusiasm for the program's future.

That all changed Thursday when Rivals.com's Neal McCready reported that promising four-star Class of 2011 power forward Johnny O'Bryant has selected LSU. O'Bryant so far will only say that he has decided between LSU, Maryland and Ole Miss and will announce his decision publicly next week.

Assuming O'Bryant does indeed commit to LSU next week, the impact would be similar to what Jabari Brown selecting Oregon on Thursday does for the Ducks. It would remind fans that no matter how bad things get this

As the rare highly coveted high school big man from the state of New Mexico, Alex Kirk had an intriguing decision to make around this time last year.

Either he could go play at a well-known out-of-state school like Arizona, Connecticut or Maryland, or he could stay closer to home at a revitalized New Mexico program that has gradually proven it can compete with the nation's elite teams.

That the 6-foot-10 freshman chose New Mexico is a testament to the job Lobos coach Steve Alford has done leading his program to shares of back-to-back Mountain West titles. Kirk joined me recently to discuss why he chose New Mexico, how difficult it was to turn down some of the other programs that recruited him and what impact he hopes to make as one of the Mountain West's most decorated freshmen.

JE: You're from Los Alamos. Did you grow up going to the Pit and rooting for New Mexico?

AK: I grew up going to the Pit, but for a few years there it was to go to the girl's games because they were better

In the span of just over an hour on Thursday afternoon, the future of two of the Pacific Northwest's marquee college basketball programs became a little brighter.

First five-star shooting guard Jabari Brown selected Oregon live on ESPNU, ensuring new coach Dana Altman has something to soften the blow of what's sure to be a trying first season in Eugene. Then highly touted point guard Tony Wroten donned a Washington cap in a press conference at his high school, making him the heir apparent to junior Isaiah Thomas.

Brown's decision comes as a bigger surprise because of the tumultuous offseason Oregon has endured. Not only did the Ducks lose a flurry of transfers after firing former coach Ernie Kent, they also could face sanctions as a result of an NCAA investigation into whether former center Michael Dunigan received extra benefits during his two years in Eugene.

That apparently didn't faze Brown, who chose Oregon over Pac-10 rivals Washington and Arizona State. Brown, Rivals.com's No.

Just because BYU and Utah are both leaving the Mountain West for different leagues next year doesn't mean one of the nation's longest-running basketball rivalries has to die this season.

The schools announced Thursday that they have agreed on a four-year home-and-home series in men’s basketball guaranteeing an annual matchup on the second Saturday of December. Utah will host the first game in Salt Lake City on Dec. 10, 2011.

"We are pleased to announce the Deseret First Duel rivalry games will continue with Utah," BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe said in a statement. "The BYU-Utah rivalry is one of the best in the country and is very important to the fans of both schools."

It's a shame that the departure of BYU and Utah is tearing apart the Mountain West just when it was at the cusp of earning national respect in hoops, but the preservation of this rivalry is at least a welcome consolation prize. The Cougars and Utes have met 250 times in men's basketball since 1909, with the overall

Unlike other top Canadian prospects who have enrolled at U.S. schools to prepare themselves for college basketball, recent Gonzaga commit Kevin Pangos has elected to remain in his native country. As a result, Pangos has flown somewhat under the radar in this country despite being named the top point guard at the U-17 World Championships this summer.

To shed some light on the 6-foot-1 senior who has drawn comparisons to countryman Steve Nash, I spoke this morning to Roy Rana, who coached Pangos on Canada's U-17 national team. Rana offered his thoughts on why Pangos chose Gonzaga, his ability to make an instant impact in college and another longtime NBA point guard whose game might be more similar to Pangos' than Nash.

JE: You had a chance to coach Kevin with Canada's U-17 team for several years. What stood out most about him as a player and person?

RR: He's a phenomenal basketball talent who I think as a point guard is going to be a major impact player, but I think more