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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.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino says Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse is the most “overpowering” arena in college basketball.

“The only place I have found that to me was overpowering was Kansas,” Pitino said Thursday on the Big East con call. “Now, I have not taken a team to Duke. There really is not any place I’ve entered where it’s, ‘God, that’s just incredible, what an advantage that is.'”

He added, “There are some overpowering places, in terms of the amount of people, like Rupp Arena’s overpowering.”

Just ask Baylor about Kansas.

NEW YORK — Steve Nash could be the Knicks point guard after he becomes a free agent this summer, but by then his old coach could be long gone.

“Of course, it’s no secret,” Nash said of his passion for New York City after he put up 26 points and 11 assists in the Phoenix Suns’ 91-88 victory over the Knicks at MSG.

“[New York] is the basketball capital of the world. I live here in the summer, I have a lot of friends here and my former coach and teammate play here, so it’s a homecoming in some ways for me and it’s always fun to play here.”

Devonta Pollard, a 6-foot-7 small forward from Porterville (Miss.) Kemper County, will visit Texas this weekend, according to his AAU coach, Jeff Andrews of the Southern Phenoms.

Texas hosts Kansas Saturday afternoon in a key Big 12 battle.

“He’s planning on taking a visit to Texas this weekend,” Andrews said by phone.

The Rivals No. 2 small forward in the Class of 2012, Pollard is also considering Kentucky, Mississippi State, Alabama, Marquette and Georgetown, Andrews said.

Nurideen Lindsey is on the move. Again.

The former St. John’s point guard will now transfer to Rider instead of Arkansas and hopes to obtain a waiver in order to suit up for the fall of the 2012-13 season.

“He’s definitely coming,” a source close to the Rider program told SNY.tv.

Rider cannot publicly comment on Lindsey until he enrolls on Monday.

The story was first reported by Alex Kline of The Recruit Scoop.

Lindsey had initially announced via Twitter he would head to Arkansas, but the source said he “may have gotten cold feet about going that far.”

Does hometown UNLV have a real shot at landing Shabazz Muhammad?

If you listen to what his Bishop Gorman teammate, Demetris Morant, told FiveStarBasketball.com, the answer is yes.

“I think Shabazz is really considering going [there] because he feels that they’re a great team and everyone else sees that, too,” the UNLV-bound Morant, a 6-foot-8 power forward, told Five Star in the above video. “And they’re ranked in the nation.

“At first he wasn’t thinking about going there because he thought they wouldn’t be that good and he wouldn’t be looked at by [NBA] scouts. So he was mostly considering Kentucky, but now UNLV is in the top three.”

Kentucky coach John Calipari was front and center Sunday to watch Nerlens Noel against Brewster Academy at the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass.

Kentucky is one of five schools working the hardest on the 6-foot-10 junior center from The Tilton (N.H.) School.

“Nerlens hasn’t provided any formal list,” Tilton coach Marcus O’Neil told SNY.tv by text. “Kentucky, Syracuse, UConn, Georgetown and Louisville have been in pursuit.”

O’Neil added that Florida, Kansas, Providence and others are also involved.

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