By ALEX KLINE
Angelo Chol’s decision to attend Arizona could have a direct impact on New Egypt (N.J.) big man Desmond Hubert.
The 6-foot-9 Hubert is down to North Carolina and Maryland.
Had Chol picked the Tar Heels instead of the Wildcats during his Thursday press conference at San Diego Herbert Hoover High, Hubert might have headed to Maryland by default.
Angelo Chol is headed to the desert.
The 6-foot-9, 210-pound Chol out of San Diego Hoover announced for Arizona over Kansas and North Carolina Thursday at 12:45 local time at his high school.
The native of the Sudan joins point guard Josiah Turner of Quality Education (N.C.), shooting guard Nick Johnson of Findlay Prep (Nev.) and power forward Sidiki Johnson of Oak Hill (Va.) in Sean Miller’s 2011 haul.
St. John’s is riding a three-game winning streak and Red Storm fans are giddy about the program’s first potential NCAA tournament appearance since 2002.
But here comes first-place Pittsburgh and the likely return of leading scorer Ashton Gibbs. The teams will square off at high noon on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
“For over a decade now, they’ve been the dominant team in the Big East and this year in particular as impressive as any team in the country in methodically dismantling opponents, with their defense, their physicality, the ability to impose the preferred style of play or will on teams over the course of a game,” St. John’s coach Steve Lavin said Thursday.
NEW YORK — As new reports came out Wednesday that the Denver Nuggets have re-engaged the Nets in trade talks for Carmelo Anthony, Knicks president Donnie Walsh said he’s still actively seeking to improve his team as the Feb. 24 trade deadline approaches.
“I like the team that we have right now, I like the position we’re in as far as our cap, but I do think there are some things that we could use on this team that would help us,” Walsh said Wednesday before the Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 102-90, at MSG.
“So that’s why I’m out there. Otherwise, I’d be saying, ‘We’re OK.’ And I haven’t said that, that we can’t get better, because we can.”
// St. Patrick and St. Anthony,
Former DePaul commit Walter Pitchford has verbally committed to Florida for this fall after visiting the campus this past weekend.
“He just felt it was a good fit, their style of play,” Walter Pitchford Sr. said by phone. “On his visit he had a great visit. He felt it was a good fit for them.”
The 6-foot-9, 210-pound Pitchford is a postgrad at Summit Christian Academy in East Lansing, Mich., and a native of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Pitchford joins 6-3 shooting guard Bradley Beal of St. Louis Chaminade in Florida’s 2011 recruiting class.
After getting his release from DePaul last July Pitchford considered Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Arizona State and Minnesota.
// In the latest edition of
