This Illinois story gets more and more bizarre

[Wade for President]

University of Illinois basketball player Jamar Smith -- charged Tuesday with drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident -- apparently believed a teammate in the car had died, authorities said.

At first they were concerned with the players health.  Then they said Smith would sit out the rest of the year to try and regroup academically, medically, and physically.  Interesting how the University/basketball program, completely covered up the fact that these players were drunk. 

Couple this with a sub-par season, the much publicized loss of 5-star recruit Eric Gordon, all the Chief Illiniwek stuff, etc...and it's been quite a tough year for the folks down in Champaign.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/basketball/ncaa/02/20/bc.bkc.illinoisplayersi.ap/index.html

[ilovefreeway]

Each count is a class 4 felony (1-3 years in the pen each).  Although probation is most likely given he's 19 with a clean record

[NYWarrior]

a horrible story just keeps getting worse.....

[bartmiller#1]

I don't think they covered it up-- they said all along that the police were investigating and when that investigation concluded they'd comment.

Smith was told he wouldn't play for the rest of the season-- not because of his concussion, but because he needed to get himself together. 

Awful situation and a tough year for Illinois.  I don't think the program or Weber was stupid enough to try to cover this up.  They knew it was going to come out. 

[AlumKCof93]

Its a shame that the end result of the story is so predictable. Two athletes get into a late night one-car accident resulting in significant injuries.  Of course, alcohol is involved.  The part about Smith thought Carlwell was dead and drove home in despair is truly bizarre.

[MUCHI814]

Don't take this to the bank, I almost feel bad saying this with it being only speculation, but knowing several friends at U of I, I have heard that Smith has racked up several drinking tickets around bars in Champaign, they told me this even last year before all of this stuff went down.  I wonder how police and U of I deal with basketball players down there.