Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson is saying that the school is not discussing a move to the Big East conference ... hdespite reports saying that they are.

''No, absolutely not,'' Johnson said. ''I have had no meetings with the Big East.''

"We have no expansion plans and are speaking to no schools about expansion," Big East spokesman John) Paquette said.

However, that doesn't mean that he's not interested in leaving Conference USA. There are some rumblings that Memphis does want to move up into a BCS conference and believe they've set up their program to be an attractive addition somewhere.

The pros for staying in Conference USA is, well, domination in basketball and a shorter travel schedule. The cons are everything else (competition, mo' money, mo' exposure, etc). They'd also rejoin Louisville and Cincinnati as conference brethren.

The rumblings also have East Carolina also thinking about bolting C-USA for the Big East.

The North Carolina Tar Heels are having quite the off-season. Sure, Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough is coming back ... but no one knows what he's coming back too. Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green have all declared for the NBA Draft (they all have the option of coming back to school by the June 16th deadline).

Now comes word that forward Alex Stepheson is leaving school and will transfer somewhere closer to home.

"My family is dealing with some health challenges at this time and as a result I have made the decision to transfer to be closer to home," Stepheson said in a statement released by the school.

"I am extremely, extremely disappointed but I feel so great about Alex that I understand his decision to transfer," UNC Roy Williams said in the release. "... He is a wonderful kid. I thoroughly enjoyed coaching him and know that he would have contributed so much more in the next two years. Nevertheless, I have tremendous respect for Alex and know that he will always be part of our Carolina Basketball family. I'll miss him, but he will always be important to me."

Home, for Stepheson, is the Los Angeles area. Stepheson was UNC's top reserve big man last season and brought much needed toughness on the floor. He turned into one of the team's premiere shotblockers and rebounders.

The fact that Stepheson is transferring is par for the course of UNC's elite 2006 recruiting class. Brandan Wright turned pro after his freshman season; Lawson and Ellington have declared for the draft; and now Stepheson is transferring. The only players left from that class are Deon Thompson and Will Graves.

It was a salacious story last month. Two players from Portland State were put into a Mexican prison after being accused of beating a man while down in Cabo San Lucas for spring break. Portland State immediately suspended Scott Morrison and Jeremiah Dominguez pending the outcome of the investigation and possible charges.

Then the story disappeared from national attention. Well, it turned out that only days after their arrest, they were quietly released. An investigation yielded no evidence that the two were involved in the incidents and no charges were filed.

The person who was injured, a Michigan resident who was down there on an internship, still maintain it was Morrison who broke his jaw. He and his family are still seeking to have charges brought (if they can find anyone who can corroborate his story) and are looking into a civil action.

In the meantime, Portland State has reinstated the players.

To the shock of no one, O.J. Mayo claims that he is clean and that he has received absolutely no money or goods from anyone seeking to influence him.

Mayo also said he paid his own way when he went shopping and ate with Guillory.

"I understand compliance and I understand the rules," Mayo said. "Any meal, I wouldn't pay for everybody but I would at least pay my end. When I went to go shop every once in a while, [Guillory] might have taken me to the store in his vehicle, but he didn't pay for any clothes for me."
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Mayo said he didn't feel betrayed by Johnson but that he was "mad at the fact that he said I accepted some money. I never have received money from Rodney, Louis, BDA or anything. All I got was a monthly $450 check from USC or I have friends and family that send me money."

It's that last bit, though, that leaves the wiggle room: "...friends and family that send me money." The question becomes, where did they get the money?

Two friends from New York, Shawn James and Kojo Mensah. Both basketball players. James went to Northeastern, Mensah to Siena. When Northeastern Coach Ron Everhart was hired by Duquesne, James followed. Then Mensah decided he wanted to transfer out of Siena. To no one's shock Duquesne was the destination.

Now Shawn James has declared for the NBA Draft and Mensah once more followed. After James hired an agent, Mensah did as well -- the same one. Neither is expected to be drafted, though James has shot-blocking proficiency as a 6'10" inside player that could get him some free agent interest. Mensah, though, is a 6'1" guard that has some talent but not NBA talent.

Duquesne Coach Ron Everhart at tried to be diplomatic about it, but took a veiled shot.

Everhart could only put on a limited happy face. Losing two of the more talented players on his squad hurts. It's hard enough trying to build Duquesne into a consistent team in the A-10. The Dukes may be getting a more players and more talent than they've had in years, but it's still a setback.

Dan Dakich led the Indiana Hoosiers to a 3-4 record after taking over for Kelvin Sampson late last season. He was promptly replaced by Tom Crean ... and shown the door.

Dakich won't leave empty handed, however, as the school will pay him the settlement of $185,000.

Indiana University has reached a settlement with former interim coach Dan Dakich, paying him the $185,000 he was scheduled to earn next school year.

IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre confirmed the deal, saying Dakich was owed a base salary of $110,000 with a supplemental bonus of $75,000.

This is a nice slap-on-the-rear for Dakich for taking one for the team. It started with his players skipping out on practice and ended with him dismissing two players. While the season ended horribly for the Hoosiers faithful, you can't pin any of it on Dakich. He was thrown into a tough situation and tried to do his best in a lame duck role.

Dallas/Ft. Worth television WFAA is reporting that Kansas University forward Darrell Arthur had grades changed while at South Oak Cliff High School.

But transcripts obtained by News 8 raise questions about whether he was actually making the grade in the classroom during his junior season, specifically in math.

His transcripts show he received no grades at all his fall semester. His final grade was changed to a 70 in September of 2005 with no explanation of why.

If in fact Arthur had failed math that fall, he would not have been eligible to play basketball, and many of his team's victories in that championship season might have to be forfeited according to University Interscholastic League standards.

According to the report, math teacher Winford Ashemore notified the principal and basketball coach that Arthur was not only failing miserably, but not even giving an effort to try. When told that Arthur would receive a failing grade, he was abruptly dropped from Ashemore's class and given a grade of 70 ... which was passing.

It is also reported that the principal signed off on another changed grade in the spring of 2003.

This is fantastic. Bob Knight is at a speaking engagement in Nashville, Tennessee and gets a call on his cell phone. In front of the crowd he starts to have a conversation with Craig Angelos, the Athletic Director at Florida Atlantic University. Knight recommended the hiring of Bob Hipsher -- presently an assistant at South Florida -- as the guy to fill FAU's head coach vacancy.

Obligatory warning, it's Bob Knight speaking off-the-cuff so the language is a touch colorful.

Apparently Knight's advice wasn't taken, as it is being widely rumored that Mike Jarvis will get the job.

All that talk about the Atlantic Coast Conference expanding to an 18-game basketball season was quickly quieted during the conference's spring meetings. The ACC won't expand to an 18-game hoops season or 9-game football season because of ... what else ... TV contracts.

The conference's TV contracts are in place through the end of the 2010-11 academic year. Any serious tinkering with the ACC's schedules will come when the TV deals expire, so that the conference can maximize the financial payoff of its changes.

The conference feels that they don't want to give away extra games for free.

After all, they know that the ACC is still damn good TV. Five of the top ten college hoops games on ESPN involved at least one ACC team. The second North Carolina-Duke game was ESPN's highest rated game -- ever. As for football, Clemson-Florida State was the World Wide Leader's top rated college game ... while Boston College-Virginia Tech was ESPN's highest rated Thursday game -- ever.

Sure Kelvin Sampson may be heading to the NBA and Milwaukee as an assistant coach, but you know he wants to be head coach. Maybe in the pros or more likely back in the college ranks where he has excelled. Of course, to do that, he has to withstand the NCAA scrutiny for his second go-round of NCAA phone violations.

Well, it appears that he hired plenty of lawyers to write his response to the NCAA allegations and cover letter (Word documents) ahead of the June hearing. The response by Sampson -- probably not surprisingly -- is that it's not his fault.