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.
As if Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick wasn’t loaded enough, now the Celtics appear to be on the verge of adding two more impact playersin brothers Julian and Chris Washburn, who are moving from Texas to New Jersey.
Julian (a 6-8 senior) and Chris (a 6-7 sophomore) are the sons of troubled former NBA player Chris Washburn.
“They have not enrolled yet in school but they did visit the school,” St. Pat’s coach Kevin Boyle told me the other day. “These kids are thinking about moving up to New Jersey. If that happens, then there’s probably a good chance that they enroll…I’m sure that we will know very shortly.”
If the brothers enroll, they will join a team that already includes wing Michael Gilchrist, the consensus No. 1 player in the Class of 2011, and point guard Kyrie Irving, the No. 9 floor general in the Class of 2010.
Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick guard Kyrie Irving will take his official visit to Duke the weekend of Sept. 25 and to Indiana the weekend of Oct. 3.
“I know we’re visiting Duke Sept. 25 and Indiana Oct. 3,” said Drederick Irving, Kyrie’s dad.
Drederick said the following in-home visits are set. He will get back to me with the exact schedule:
Sept. 9 – Duke
Sept. 14 – Indiana
Sept. 15 – Texas A&M
In-homes are also set with Kentucky, UConn and Georgia Tech. Drederick said they were in the process of setting one up with Seton Hall, “probably around the 16th.”
Long Island wing J.J. Moore has scheduled several in-home visits with Big East schools.
Coaches from Pittsburgh will visit Sept. 10, Providence comes Sept. 11 and Louisville and Marquette arrive on Sept. 12.
The 6-foot-5 Moore will be at South Kent (Conn.) during the visits, so the coaches will meet with his mother, Monique Ballard, New York Panthers coach Gary Charles and mentor Hunt Bresky.
RELEFORD SETS VISITS
Trevor Releford, a 5-11 point guard out of Bishop Miege in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, will visit Oklahoma the weekend of Sept. 12 and Alabama the weekend of Sept. 19, according to his AAU coach, L.J. Goolsby. Releford previously told me Alabama was his leader.
Looks like Thursday was a bad day all around for basketball coaches connected to the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
About 12 hours before Rick Pitino held a defiant press conference in which he took aim at the media and Karen Sypher, former Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie was arrested and charged with drunken driving.
Here’s the video, courtesy WLEX-18 in Lexington, Kentucky.
Police dispatcher Todd Sparrow said Lawrenceburg police arrested Gillispie and took him to the nearby Franklin County Regional Jail.
WLEX-TV in Lexington reported that Gillispie was pulled over in a white Mercedes with Texas tags around 2:45 a.m. after someone reported seeing the car driving erratically.