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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.

Point guard Bryon Allen of Upper Marlboro, Md. is looking at four schools for next year.

The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Allen is considering Siena, Oregon, Boston College and Providence.

“I’m signing in April,” Allen said Sunday by phone, referring to the NCAA late signing period.

Allen initially committed to West Virginia but lost his scholarship opportunity when Joe Mazzulla was granted a medical redshirt. Mazzulla will be back with the Mountaineers in 2010-11.

Allen spent two years at Oak Hill (Va.) Academy but is spending his senior season playing for Jere Quinn at St. Thomas More in Oakdale, Conn. Allen said he chose St. Thomas More because the New England schools play in a league with a shot clock.

NEW YORK — Tracy McGrady hasn’t played an NBA game in two months and is still recovering from microfracture knee surgery 12 months ago.

Ready or not, McGrady received a loud ovation just before he made his New York Knicks debut Saturday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Madison Square Garden.

McGrady, 30, was acquired from Sacramento in a three-team deal also involving Houston on Thursday, the NBA trading deadline.

“It feels good to be back playing basketball,” McGrady said as he settled into the Knicks’ locker room before the game. “I’ve missed the game. I’ve been away from it so long. It’s almost pretty much gonna feel foreign to me. But what better place to come back and start playing than Madison Square Garden in front of very passionate fans, bright lights, big stage? I embrace that.”

Seton Hall junior shooting guard Jeremy Hazell practiced with the team Friday in Morgantown, West. Va. and will start in Saturday’s Big East game against the Mountaineers.

“He’s been cleared. His hand will be heavily taped and padded,” Seton Hall spokesman Matt Sweeney said.

The second leading scorer in the Big East at 22.4 points per game, Hazell sustained a deep cut on his right (shooting) hand during the Pirates’ 59-50 win Wednesday at St. John’s Wednesday. He took eight stitches.

But senior point guard Eugene Harvey is “unlikely” to play with a bruised wrist.

“Eugene Harvey is now unlikely to play as his wrist is bothering him quite a bit.  [He] will be a game-time decision,” Sweeney said.

Harvey suffered a bone bruise to his right wrist in last Sunday’s win over DePaul.

WEST VIRGINIA OFFERS SLEDGE

West Virginia has offered a scholarship to Tavon Sledge, a 5-9, 160-pound junior combo guard at Dix Hills (N.Y.) Half Hollow Hills West.

Michael Gilchrist, the No. 1 junior in the nation and arguably the top high school prospect overall, says he is considering six colleges.

The 6-foot-7 Gilchrist of Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick lists Oregon, Villanova, Texas, Kentucky, Michigan and Georgia Tech, according to Alex Schwartz of the NBE Basketball Report.

“I like Villanova a lot,” Gilchrist said.

A native of Somerdale, N.J. , Gilchrist has been to Villanova several times and was at the Wachovia Center Monday night when UConn upset the No. 3 Wildcats, 84-75, on ESPN’s “Big Monday.”

Former St. Patrick star Corey Fisher, a Bronx, N.Y. native, is currently a junior on Jay Wright’s team.

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