November 2009 | Page 8 of 16 | Zagsblog
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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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Houston, Hurleys, Maryland, SNY Commitments, St. Anthony

**Click the Video Player at right for the video interview with Ashton Pankey**

NEW YORK — Ashton Pankey is headed to the ACC.

After taking official visits to Maryland two weeks ago and Houston this past weekend, Pankey announced his college choice Monday in the SNY television studio.

“I’ll be attending the University of Maryland,” said the 6-foot-9, 225-pound Pankey, a Bronx native.

“I felt comfortable with the coaches. Coach [Gary] Williams is a great coach. The players, I got along with them really well. And my mom enjoyed it, too, and she thinks it would be a good place for me to attend.”

Jayvaughn Pinkston, Louisville, Memphis, Seton Hall

Russ Smith, a 6-foot-2, 170-pound postgraduate point guard from Brooklyn who plays for South Kent (Conn.), officially committed to Louisville on Sunday.

“Yes,  Sunday night at about 9 o’clock,” Russ Smith Sr. said. “We had dinner with Coach [Rick] Pitino, Coach [Ralph] Willard and Coach [Steve] Masiello.”

Smith Sr. said his son chose Louisville over offers from Wake Forest, Arizona, Houston and Baylor.

Monmouth, St. Peter's

ESPN’s Ashley O’Connor attended the Metro Atlantic Conference meetings last summer in hopes of finding a pair of teams to fill a specific time slot for the network’s “24 Hours of College Basketball” event this Tuesday.

The network had Drexel and Niagara lined up for an 8 a.m. game and Clemson and Liberty set for a 10 o’clock tilt. But it needed two teams to fill another slot.

“They didn’t have anybody slated for the 6 a.m game,” St. Peter’s head coach John Dunne said Monday by phone. “When they were talking about it in the meeting, me and Pat Elliott, our AD, were making eye contact.”

After the meeting, Dunne got on the phone to Monmouth coach Dave Calloway to see if he was interested in playing that tilt. The two teams were scheduled to play a regular season game this Wednesday.

“He called me from the meeting and said if we move it to Tuesday we can play on ESPN,” Calloway said. “He said, ‘We have to play at 6 o’clock.’ 

“I said, ‘That’s OK.'”

“He said, ‘a.m.'” Calloway added.

Duke, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, N.C. State, Oregon, UConn

St. Anthony forward Ashton Pankey will announce his college choice on Monday afternoon in the SNY studio.

Check back later today on SNY.tv and ZAGSBLOG.com for his decision.

The 6-foot-9, 225-pound Pankey visited Houston this past weekend and will announce for either Houston or Maryland.

“Making my decision today .. It was tough but I’m ready ; should be in the SNY studio around 1:00,” Pankey wrote on his Twitter page.

Arizona, Duke, Georgetown, Kansas, Kentucky, Oak Hill Academy, Oklahoma, UConn

Oak Hill teammates Roscoe Smith and Doron Lamb may commit early but sign late, according to David Borges of the New Haven Register.

The 6-foot-8 Smith told me during a recent interview that he had decided where he wanted to go from among Georgetown, UConn and Duke and he then told Borges he had a frontrunner.

He’s not saying which school is his leader, but Smith has taken officials to Conn and Georgetown and an unofficial to Duke.

He broke down the pros of all three schools in a recent interview with me.

“I liked the history of Duke, the great players that came through Duke, Carlos Boozer, Grant Hill and Elton Brand,” he said.

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