Craig Robinson and Maya Soetoro-ng (Getty Images)

Oregon State coach Craig Robinson probably won't speak on a bigger stage anytime soon than the Democratic National Convention, so the president's brother-in-law didn't waste the chance to put in a plug for the Beavers.

Robinson, who delivered a speech with Barack Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro-ng, Tuesday night, introduced himself as "Michelle Obama's big brother, father of four and head coach of Oregon State University's men's basketball team." Then he cleverly snuck in a quick recruiting pitch, joking, "Any 7-footers out there, give me a call."

Soetoro-ng and Robinson spoke glowingly of their respective siblings, but the Oregon State coach couldn't resist slipping one last basketball reference in during the final 30 seconds of his speech. In praising the first lady's efforts to promote good nutrition in schools, Robinson said, "I'm proud of her work to give our children a healthier start in life. And let's face it, Maya, I could use the recruits."

The irony of Robinson's self-deprecating humor is recruiting hasn't been his problem at Oregon State. Guard Jared Cunningham became Oregon State's first NBA draft pick in 14 years last June and guard Roberto Nelson and forward Devon Collier both have pro potential, yet the talent influx hasn't translated into an NCAA tournament bid yet.

Oregon State, which went winless in the Pac-10 the year before Robinson took over, has been competitive during his four-year tenure but has yet to finish above .500 in league play. Even last year, when the Beavers won 21 games and beat Texas in December, they still underachieved in the Pac-12, finishing a pedestrian 7-11.

Perhaps Collier and Nelson will spearhead Oregon State's NCAA tournament push this winter. If not, maybe Robinson's unconventional recruiting pitch will attract some new talent to Corvallis.

Ricardo Ledo (Getty Images)

Only days away from the NCAA's final decision regarding his eligibility to play next season, elite freshman Ricardo Ledo attempted to assuage Providence fans' concerns.

Ledo told GoLocalProv.com he intends to remain at Providence even if he fails to qualify academically for this season and has to remain in school a full year without being able to practice or play.

"Even if that happens," Ledo said, "I'm going to go to school here this year and play here next year."

Those are welcome words for Providence, but it's a lot easier for the 6-foot-6 shooting guard to say them than to live up to them. After all, Ledo is a consensus five-star recruit who would be unlikely to remain in school more than a couple years and would undoubtedly have opportunities to play professionally overseas for a year.

What Providence has to hope is that the NCAA either fully clears Ledo to play or at the very least grants him the right to practice with the team.

The Providence Journal reported Ledo has moved into his dormitory and is taking classes as of Tuesday, which suggests the NCAA has initially ruled him a partial qualifier pending an appeal by the school. A partial qualifier can attend classes but can neither practice nor play for a full year.  

Dez Wells is headed to Maryland

It won't be much longer before second-year coach Mark Turgeon has Maryland nationally relevant again.

Turgeon accelerated Maryland's rebuilding process Monday morning when he landed a commitment from Dez Wells, the standout sophomore expelled from Xavier last month amid allegations of sexual assault. Wells, who will not be charged with a crime, also visited Memphis, Oregon and Kentucky in the past week.

"The last couple of weeks have been the toughest time in my life for my family and I," Wells wrote via Twitter on Monday morning. "I've learned that it is a major responsibility that comes with being a student athlete at all times. I'm thankful that God has blessed me with a second opportunity to continue my education."

The remaining question now that Wells has made his decision is whether he'll have to sit out a full year or not.

Maryland will pursue a waiver to allow him to play next season, but it seems unlikely the NCAA would grant it. Even though Xavier may have acted rashly in kicking Wells out of school when the evidence was insufficient for him to even be charged with a crime, it would be a tough precedent for the NCAA to set enabling a transfer expelled from his previous school to play right away.

Regardless of when Wells first dons a Maryland jersey, he'll be an impact addition for the Terps.

The NCAA is investigating Kyle Anderson (left) and Shabazz Muhammad (right) (AP)It's a testament to the chaotic state of the UCLA basketball program at the moment that it qualified as mildly good news when the school released a statement Monday insisting only two of its top incoming freshmen are still awaiting clearance by the NCAA.

Freshman big man Tony Parker has been ruled eligible to play next season after initially being the subject of an inquiry, ESPN Los Angeles reported Monday night. Elite freshmen Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson remain in limbo as the NCAA looks into whether they received extra benefits that would jeopardize their amateur status.

Part of the issue for Muhammad is his family's relationship to financial advisers Benjamin Lincoln and Ken Kavanagh. CBSSports.com reported earlier this year that Lincoln and Kavanagh paid for two of Muhammad's unofficial visits and helped fund his AAU team.

The inquiry into Anderson's recruitment appears to center around his relationship with agent Thad Foucher, CBSSports.com reported Sunday. Foucher works for the Wasserman Group, whose founder Casey Wasserman is a UCLA alum and an important donor to the school.

Having both Muhammad and Anderson eligible next season is critical both to UCLA's chances of contending nationally and for coach Ben Howland's hopes of retaining his job.

Howland has come under fire as a result of missing the NCAA tournament two of the past three seasons and failing to get past the round of 32 any of the past four years. A decorated recruiting class ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation gives Howland the opportunity to win over his critics and re-entrench himself in his position, but that will become increasingly difficult if neither of his two top freshman are eligible.

Maurice Jones (Getty Images)When USC lost the majority of its rotation to season-ending injuries last season, Maurice Jones played almost 40 minutes a game in a valiant but ultimately futile attempt to keep the shorthanded Trojans competitive.

It will be the exact opposite situation next season, however, with USC's full complement of players returning and Jones unable to play.

At the same time as its top-ranked football team played its season opener against Hawaii, USC quietly announced that Jones is academically ineligible to play and will miss the entire 2012-13 basketball season. The 5-foot-7 junior is expected to return to the Trojans for the 2013-14 season.

"Maurice Jones has been nothing short of magnificent for us for two years," USC coach Kevin O'Neill said in a release issued by the school. "Mo has been a great guy and great player and we want him to graduate from USC. I support him 100 percent in all that he does."

The absence of Jones adds to an already bad weekend for USC basketball.

The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that former Trojan standout Davon Jefferson received about $3,700 in cash during the 2007-08 season from a key figure in an ongoing corruption scandal at the Los Angeles County assessor's office. The NCAA already penalized USC for extra benefits fellow one-and-done O.J. Mayo received that same season.

Dion Waiters (Getty Images)

Even though Dion Waiters defends multiple positions, finishes well at the rim and scores in transition, none of those are the areas the ex-Syracuse guard excelled in most.

Waiters was college basketball's most prolific retweeter, enthusiastically acknowledging the tweets of anyone from TV viewers praising his game, to girls throwing themselves at him, to fans anointing him their favorite player.

The generosity of Waiters with his fans apparently extends beyond the realm of Twitter based on the heartwarming story Clay, N.Y., resident Andrea Mackey shared with the Syracuse Post-Standard on Friday.

When Waiters returned to Syracuse on Saturday for an autograph signing at a local mall, Mackey took daughter Mikaila Ryan to see him because the Cleveland Cavaliers first-round draft pick was her favorite player. Mikaila made her mom promise not to speak to Waiters during the autograph signing, so Mackey wrote a note instead.

The note revealed Mikaila's devotion to Waiters, her sparkling GPA at Gillette Road Middle School and the fact that she played basketball for her school. It also included the family's telephone number.

Before Mackey left the autograph signing, she handed Waiters the note, asked how long he'd be in town and half-jokingly told him she was making tacos for dinner that night and that he should come by. Much to her surprise, Mackey received a text from Waiters soon afterward asking directions to her house.

Billy Gillispie (Getty Images)

When Billy Gillispie coached at Kentucky from 2007 to 2009, he earned a reputation for being unusually hard on his players.

Gillispie once got so fed up with Josh Harrellson during halftime of a loss at Vanderbilt that he banished the Kentucky big man to a bathroom stall. Worse yet, Gillispie demanded after the game that Harrellson make the 200-mile drive back to Lexington in the team's equipment van.

Stories like that are why ESPN.com's report of a player mutiny against Gillispie at Texas Tech can't come as a huge surprise. This was one of the risks the Red Raiders took when they hired a man who won big in-state at UTEP and Texas A&M but has a prickly demeanor that tends to wear thin in a hurry.

According to the ESPN.com report, Texas Tech players expressed concerns during a meeting with athletic director Kirby Hocutt this week about the way Gillispie has treated them. The players initially spoke individually with members of Texas Tech's compliance department about the number of hours they were being asked to practice before meeting as a group with Hocutt.

A Texas Tech spokesman told ESPN.com the safety of student-athletes is something the school takes "extremely seriously" and officials are "looking into concerns within the leadership of our men's basketball program." The spokesman also added that he was informed early Friday morning that Gillispie was hospitalized in Lubbock but had no further details on his condition.

The rebellion of the Texas Tech players adds to what has already been a turbulent tenure for Gillispie since the Red Raiders hired him in spring 2011.

Geron Johnson (Rivals.com)Josh Pastner famously doesn't drink, smoke or swear, but the Memphis coach certainly is prone to gambling once in a while.

In April, Pastner signed well-traveled guard Geron Johnson, a former top 100 recruit who has been dismissed from multiple junior colleges because of repeated run-ins with the law. Memphis announced Thursday that Johnson has been admitted to the university and is academically eligible to play this season.

That Johnson apparently will don a Memphis uniform next season is somewhat surprising because many coaches in Pastner's position would have cut ties with the guard given his his history of legal trouble.

Johnson was arrested for attempted burglary during high school and did not meet the NCAA's minimum academic standards upon graduation. Chipola College in Florida was Johnson's next stop, but he was dismissed from the team and spent some time in jail after multiple marijuana arrests.

Johnson also didn't last long at Garden City Community College in Kansas.  On Feb. 23, soon after he committed to Memphis, Johnson was dismissed from school following a series of incidents that month that began with a citation for for theft of property for stealing another student's cell phone.

In an interview with Yahoo! Sports on Friday, former Garden City coach Kris Baumann defended Johnson, noting that the guard was a good teammate during his year there and that the mistakes he made were mostly a result of immaturity.  Baumann also pointed out that Pastner and his staff were diligent about looking into Johnson's background via conversations with his family, former coaches and teammates.

"If you talk to people who have been around him his whole life, they'll tell you he's a good kid who has made some mistakes," Baumann said.

"When I was at Garden City, I met with our president and dean of students, and it was a situation where they told me he had to be dismissed. It was all just really petty stuff that was blown out of proportion because of who he was and being in a small town. If I had the chance to coach him again, there's no question I'd coach him again."