November 2010 | Page 16 of 20 | 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.

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. — Michael Gilchrist will sign a National Letter of Intent this week to play for Kentucky coach John Calipari beginning in 2011.

But for the next year, Kevin Boyle of St. Patrick remains Gilchrist’s coach.

And Boyle is expecting continued growth from his 6-foot-7 star who averaged 16.4 points and 11.5 rebounds as a junior.

“Probably Mike’s best attribute is that he’s extremely coachable,” Boyle said. “He has a really great work ethic. Has a great motor, plays every possession.

Now that Quinn Cook (Duke) and Myck Kabongo (Texas) are off the board, the next point guard in line may be Nigerian Maurice Aniefiok.

The 6-foot-5 Aniefiok arrived in the U.S. this fall and is a senior at Huntington (West Va.) Prep under head coach Rob Fulford.

“He’s really good,” one Division 1 assistant coach said.

West Virginia may have the inside track for Aniefiok. The Mountaineers are the only school to offer him, Fulford said. And Aniefiok visited West Virginia in mid-October for Mountaineer Madness.

NEW YORK — When the Washington Wizards selected John Wall with the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, much of the talk centered around how the former Kentucky star would coexist with Gilbert Arenas.

After Arenas missed the first three games of the season with an ankle injury, the duo played their first regular season game together Friday night and the Wizards lost to the Knicks, 112-91, at Madison Square Garden.

The Wizards combined for 23 turnovers against 13 assists in the game, with Wall notching a game-high nine turns and seven assists to go with 13 points on 4 of 11 shooting.

Seton Hall basketball players Keon Lawrence, Aaron Geramipoor and Anali Okoloji sat out the team’s 97-55 exhibition victory Friday night over Division 3 William Paterson at Walsh Gym.

“It was a coach’s decision not to play them,” Seton Hall spokesman Matt Sweeney said.

Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard was not immediately available for comment.

Geramipoor, a freshman forward, has mononucleosis. Okoloji, a freshman forward, missed three weeks with a stress fracture but Willard said earlier this week at media day that he would be ready to go.

NEW YORK — With a slew of reporters surrounding him before the Knicks’ 112-91 victory over the Washington Wizards Friday, team president Donnie Walsh took the high road regarding Isiah Thomas‘ incendiary comments in Friday’s ESPNNewYork.com story.

Walsh repeatedly said he had “nothing to say” and maintained he only read “a couple pieces of it.”

Asked to characterize his relationship with Thomas, Walsh said, “I don’t consider him not a friend.”

Walsh, 69, is in the final year of his contract with the Knicks and Thomas, Walsh’s predecessor with the Knicks and the current head coach at FIU, is not hiding his desire to once again run the franchise.

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