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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.
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Indiana, Maryland, Penn State, Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. Joe's, Villanova

NEPTUNE, N.J. — Ronald Roberts is a 6-foot-7 rising senior small forward from St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City who is long and athletic and compares himself to Rudy Gay.

Marcus Toney-El, the former Seton Hall star, is coaching Roberts this summer with the Playaz Basketball Club.

“Ronald plays hard, he’s athletic,” Toney-El said. “Obviously, he could jump, dunk the basketball, block shots. He’s been working on his ball-handling, been working on about 15-18 foot shot so his game is definitely developing. Assuming he doesn’t grow anymore, he has to play the three.”

Americans in Europe, Lance Stephenson, Memphis

Latavious Williams is the latest American player to head overseas to play hoops.

The 6-foot-8, 205-pound native of Starkville, Miss. had committed to play for Memphis head coach Josh Pastner, but will pursue a pro career instead.

“It was a difficult decision,” Williams said in an official press release that appeared on Rivals.com. “But after consulting with a number of people, and taking my family situation into consideration, playing overseas is the best move for me.

“It will not be an easy transition, but I have surrounded myself with a core of very competent people who I trust and who have my best interests at heart, so I am confident that things will work out very well.”

Fordham, Rutgers, Rutgers Football, St. Anthony

There is good news for fans of Fordham basketball.

Jio Fontan, a 19-year-old point guard out of St. Anthony in Jersey City, has decided to return to campus for his sophomore year and play with the Rams.

“When he came home from New Zealand he felt he had great momentum from how the tournament went and he felt it was best not to sit out a year. He wanted to reconsider the Fordham situation. He’s excited and so is his family and Fordham University,” a source close to the family said.

Duke, Indiana, Kentucky, Kyrie Irving, Seton Hall, St. Patrick, Texas A&M, Villanova, Virginia

I just got off the phone with Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick coach Kevin Boyle and he said about half a dozen schools are showing the most interest in senior point guard Kyrie Irving, one of the special talents in the Class of 2010.

Boyle listed Duke, Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia, Seton Hall, Texas A&M and Georgia Tech.

“Those are the ones Kyrie speaks to me most about. They’re all working really hard to get him,” Boyle said

“It’s clear with all those schools that he would have an excellent chance to go in and compete for a starting job right away.

Kentucky and Texas A&M both have family connections. Kentucky assistant Rod Strickland is Irving’s Godfather and A&M assistant Scott Spinelli played at BU with Drederick Irving, Kyrie’s father.

Still, Kyrie has said the family connections won’t be the deciding factor in his recruitment.

Duke, Old Knicks, UConn, USA Basketball

The UConn program got a major boost when Ater Majok, a 6-foot-10 native of Sudan told Connecticut reporters he would play for the team beginning in the second semester this year.

“Education comes first, so I’m going to get my education,” Majok told Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant. “The decision is for me to get my law degree. It was tough, all the pressure and stuff. Now, it’s not about that. It’s time for me to get to work on school and the team.”

Majok, who dropped 30 points in a Greater Hartford Pro-Am game on Sunday, tested the NBA Draft waters but never hired an agent and ultimately pulled his name out. There had been some speculation that he might play overseas, but now he joins a UConn team that also returns Kemba Walker and Jerome Dyson in the backcourt and Stanley Robinson at the three.

Georgetown, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio State, Syracuse, UConn

NEPTUNE, N.J. – As he ran up and down the court here last week at the Hoop Group Summer Classic, 6-foot-8, 281-pound DaJuan Coleman literally looked like a man among boys.

“[He looked] like everyone would want him on their team,” one Division 1 head coach said. “Like a man child.”

Yet Coleman is only a 15-year-old rising sophomore at Dewitt (NY) Jamesville-Dewitt High School.

He was one of just two players in his class invited to last week’s LeBron James Skills Academy, and he ranks as the consensus No. 1 player in the Class of 2012.

“I grew about [five] inches in seventh grade, from about 6-2 to about 6-7,” Coleman said. “My doctor said I still got four more inches to go.

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