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Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
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Saturday / November 23.

Got an email today from Ed Finn to say that the annual Dan Finn Classic pairings had been set for Jan. 17, 2009 at the Jersey City Armory. Among the players exacted on display will be Sterling Gibbs of Seton Hall Prep; Fuquan Edwin and Myles Mack of Paterson Catholic; Tamir Jackson and Tristan Thompson of St. Benedict’s; Tyrone Johnson and Isaiah Epps of Plainfield; and Dominic Cheek of St. Anthony. Looks like a great event as usual:

12 p.m. – Seton Hall Prep vs. St. Peter’s Prep

1:30 – Colt’s Neck vs. Shabazz

3 – Jersey City Police vs. Jersey City Firemen

4:30 – Paterson Catholic vs. Trenton Catholic Academy

6:15 – Linden vs. St. Benedict’s

8 – Plainfield vs. St. Anthony

James Padgett, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound power forward from Brooklyn Lincoln High School, gave a verbal commitment Friday afternoon to Maryland head coach Gary Williams.

“It came down to Pitt and Maryland, and Pitt signed two big men in the Class of 2009 so Maryland was left,” Padgett said.

Padgett took unofficial visits to a number of schools, including St. John’s, and also had in-home visits with St. John’s and Seton Hall within the last two weeks.

“I always wanted to be out of New York, experience something new,” he said.

NEWARK, N.J. — Kansas head coach Bill Self and assistant Joe Dooley made the most of their time in New Jersey.

Self spoke to a capacity crowd at the Garden State Coaches Clinic Friday afternoon at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark. Other guest speakers included West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, Texas coach Rick Barnes and the human basketball brain that is Hubie Brown.

“We were fortunate enough to get one player from St. Patrick (Quintrell Thomas) and one from St. Anthony (Tyshawn Taylor),” Self told a crowd of some 500 or 600 coaches, referring to two of his talented freshmen. “They’ve both turned out to be pretty good. Hopefully, we’ll get one from St. Benedict’s and Coach (Dan) Hurley will help us out.”

Markus Kennedy, a 6-foot-8 junior center from Philly, has left St. Patrick of Elizabeth and will attend Apex Academies in Cherry Hill, N.J.

“I think the reason that he left St. Pat’s was just so he could be closer to home,” said Matt Pauls, Kennedy’s travel coach with Team NJABC 2010. “Second of all, leaving a great program like St. Pat’s under a great coach like Kevin Boyle is never an easy decision. In the end, it ended up being much more of a lifestyle decision than anything else and it was not an easy decision by his family. He really is much closer to home.”

Kennedy is the second high-profile player to leave St. Patrick in recent weeks, following 5-10 PG Shaquille Stokes, now at Brooklyn Lincoln, alongside Lance Stephenson.

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