It almost goes unsaid -- but universally understood -- that if you commit a hard foul in basketball, you don't undercut an opponent's feet. That long held edict was violated on Saturday, leaving a player with temporary paralysis, a severe concussion and a diagnosis that ended his season and ensured he will never again play alongside his brother, a highly-touted recruit who is headed to Indiana.

According to the Indianapolis Star and Kokomo Perspective, Alex Etherington was injured when he elevated for a dunk on a breakaway just two minutes into Hamilton Heights (Ind.) High's game against Peru (Ind.) High. After Etherington went up for the slam he was pushed from behind by a Peru player, losing his balance as a result and crashing dangerously to the floor, as you can see in the video above.

Immediately after hitting the ground, Etherington was found to be unconscious and was transported out of the gym on a stretcher and taken first to a hospital in Peru, then on to another medical

Just a year ago, Sandra Bullock was reveling in Oscar glory for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy in 'The Blind Side'. While the recent success of the film adaption of Michael Oher's life may make his high school adoption of the Tuohy family as his own seem like yesterday, it's instructive to keep in mind that the most famous chapter in Oher's amateur evolution occurred back in 2003-05, when the now-NFL star graduated from high school. That was a good six years ago, enough time for every character in that film to move on in their lives.

As everyone already knows, Oher now starts at offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens. Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy still live in Memphis, with Sean Tuohy serving as a color commentator for the Memphis Grizzlies. Their daughter, Collins Tuohy, graduated from Ole Miss and, at age 24, has been branded a "philanthropic superstar" by at least one Memphis blog.

Meanwhile, Sean Tuohy Jr. -- or S.J., in 'The Blind Side' movie adaptation -- is following in the

Tragedy struck Western Michigan on Thursday when Fennville (Mich.) High basketball star Wes Leonard hit a game-winning shot in a 57-55, overtime victory over Bridgman (Mich.) High, then collapsed on the court while celebrating the victory and was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly thereafter.

According to the Associated Press, Leonard, who you can see making the game-winning shot above, was celebrating his game-winning layup with the rest of his teammates when he collapsed to the ground. Paramedics tried CPR on the star at the site and in the ambulance, but he was pronounced dead upon reaching nearby Holland Hospital.

Fennville was scheduled to play a opening round state playoff on Monday at Lawrence (Mich.) High, but had the game moved to Hope College's DeVos Fieldhouse to accomodate more fans. According to the Detroit News, the Fennville team met with Leonard's family before deciding to continue playing in the postseason.

On Friday, Ottawa County medical examiner David Start's

In the world of Philadelphia hoops, nothing tops the annual Big 5 tournament ... yet. Next year, fans of prep hoops in the City of Brotherly Love are hoping that will change, thanks to the resumption of a public-private face-off that could prove to be among the nation's best cross-league grudge matches.

According to Ted Silary of the Philadelphia Daily News, PIAA District 12 Chairman Robert Coleman frantically tried to organize a Philadelphia City Title game this year, which would have pitted the winner of the city's Public League and Catholic League titles. While Coleman's best efforts couldn't get a game set up for the 2010-11 season, he has confirmed that one will almost certainly occur in 2012.

Such a meeting would be the first since 1980, when Overbrook (Penn.) High topped Roman Catholic (Penn.) High. If a game had been played this year, it would have pitted two teams with an astounding 54-consecutive league victories: Public League champ Imhotep Charter, pictured above, and

There was once a time when catching your high school basketball state tournament required getting in your car and driving to far-flung corners where unused college arenas would host the semifinal and final rounds. Not anymore. With the help of any variety of different PBS, public access and local broadcasters, nearly every state's basketball finals will be shown on television somewhere, with many also streamed live on the web.

This year, broadcasting those games to a larger, national audience is taking a huge step forward, with ESPN gaining the online streaming rights to the boys and girls state championship games in Illinois, Indiana and Tennessee, as well as the boys semifinals in Illinois and Indiana. The games will be broadcast on the network's ESPN3 online streaming channel, used primarily to show college football and basketball and European soccer. The network streamed high school football finals in Illinois and Oregon's Class 6A football title game, with the Illinois

Just when you thought state athletic associations couldn't get any more bureaucratic, along comes one of the oddest disqualifications yet from the state of California.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Granada Hills (Calif.) High wrestler Dillon Freeman, a top contender to win his division at the 2011 City championships, was barred from competing at the tournament because he forgot to bring his school's picture ID card. The California Interscholastic Federation City Section said that only wrestlers who presented a valid school ID card would be admitted to the event, so Freeman was turned away despite presenting his valid driver's license.

Granada Hills' athletic director did make a valiant final effort to get Freeman in the event, emailing the student's ID to a smartphone, a procedure which City Section administrator John Aguirre approved. Yet, just when some level of sanity had seemed to prevail, opposing coaches protested Freeman's inclusion at the championships because the ID

The names Griffey and Larkin tend to conjure images of deep homers and slick catches. Now, at one Orlando school, they're becoming synonymous with success on the hardwood court.

Dr. Phillips (Fla.) High's girls basketball team won the Florida High School Athletic Association state title behind the skillful orchestration of a 5-foot-5 freshman point guard. Her name? Taryn Griffey. Yes, she is the daughter of Ken Griffey Jr.

Meanwhile, the Dr. Phillips boys basketball team will play for a shot at a Class 6A state title of its own on Friday, thanks to the heroics of a DePaul-bound senior point guard. His name? Shane Larkin. Yes, he is the son of longtime Reds shortstop Barry Larkin.

Together, the two sires of legendary baseball players have raised the profile of their school's basketball programs above all other sports at Dr. Phillips, save the football program ... which happens to be the reigning Florida Class 6A state runner-up. In fact, the two stars have helped push Dr. Phillips'

At the end of the day, referees are just like the rest of us: They make mistakes, and sometimes those errors alter games or even seasons. While there is no doubt those errors are unintentional, they can still have a profound effect on the course of events as large as a state's basketball playoffs.

That became evident last week, when a bizarre finish between two top-ranked girls basketball teams in Arizona was thrown into doubt after one team finished the game with six defending players instead of five, an indiscretion that somehow went unseen by the game officials.

According to the East Valley Tribune, Mountain View (Ariz.) High held off Hamilton (Ariz.) High, 50-49, in a Class 5A Division I quarterfinal on Friday, advancing to the state semifinals as a result. Yet Hamilton is contesting that final result after referees failed to call a technical foul against Mountain View, pictured above, when the Toros sent six defenders onto the floor for the final inbounds play, a sequence that