March 2012 | Page 18 of 28 | 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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Articles, Seton Hall

Kevin Willard’s current team is not going dancing, but his former team is.

Seton Hall on Sunday was left out of the NCAA Tournament field of 68 and will host Stony Brook in an NIT game Tuesday at Walsh Gym instead.

Iona, where Willard coached for three years until 2010, was a surprise selection and will compete in a play-in game Tuesday night against BYU in Dayton, Ohio.

“Oh, I’m ecstatic [about Iona],” Willard said Sunday on a conference call. “The way that program was four years ago or five years and for them to get an at-large bid, I couldn’t be happier. I still have four kids on that team that I recruited. I’m happy for everybody that made the tournament, especially Iona, for obvious reasons.

Big East

Nine Big East teams are going dancing.

The nine selections from the Big East mark the second-highest haul from one conference in the tournament’s history, trailing only the Big East’s 11 teams that reached last year’s field. That group produced the conference’s sixth NCAA champion in UConn.

Syracuse, which won the Big East  regular-season title and enters the tournament with a 31-2 record following a loss to Cincinnati in the Big East Championship semifinals. The Orange, who earned the No. 1 seed in the East Region, will face No. 16-seeded UNC-Asheville Thursday at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Articles, Iona

Of all the stories in this year’s NCAA Tournament, few can rival that of Lamont “Momo” Jones.

One year ago, Jones helped Arizona make a run to the Elite Eight before the Wildcats were felled by Kemba Walker and eventual national champion UConn.

Now, exactly one year later, Jones is headed back to the Big Dance, but he’s going as a member of the surprising Iona Gaels.

“You know, it’s March,” Jones, a native of Harlem, N.Y., said on a conference call following the surprising announcement that Iona (25-7) had made the NCAA Tournament and would compete in a West Region play-in game against BYU (25-8) Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio.

Articles, Harvard

Zena Edosomwan, a 6-foot-8 forward from Harvard-Westlake in Calif., has verbally pledged to Harvard and will enroll there in 2013 following a year at Northfield Mount Hermon.

“I picked Harvard because it is a great school and my relationship with Coach [Tommy] Amaker and Coach Yanni [Hufnagel],” he said by text.

Edosomwan picked Harvard over offers from UCLA, Texas, USC, Cal and Washington.

“I will bring toughness, defense, versatility and a winning attitude,” he said.

Articles, Old Knicks


NEW YORK — In a surprising ending to the Knicks’ latest defeat, embattled Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni benched stars Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire for the entire fourth quarter of their 106-94 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The coach himself was the target of “Fire D’Antoni” chants during the embarrassing loss.

“Right now we’re not having fun,” said Stoudemire, who finished with nine points and five rebounds. “We’re just going through the motions right now.”

Anthony scored a team-high 22 points, but was booed by fans during pre-game introductions and at times during the game. He only scored eight points in the second half, when New York was outscored, 55-45, in their fifth straight loss.

Articles, Old Knicks

NEW YORK — For the record, Linsanity officially ended shortly after 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time Sunday when a Knicks spokesman announced that Jeremy Lin would hold his post-game press conference in the locker room — not in the large media room inside Madison Square Garden.

On a day when Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire both sat out the fourth quarter of an embarrassing 106-94 loss to the Philadlephia 76ers, the Lin news was a footnote.

He was still surrounded by a small army of reporters and cameras in the locker room, but the shift of his post-game pressers was important, nonetheless.

Articles, Big East, Louisville

NEW YORK — Rick Pitino concedes he almost walked away from coaching after Louisville was upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year by Morehead State.

“I thought about it but I wanted to finish out my contract,” Pitino said after winning his second Big East tournament title and 10th conference tournament title overall, 50-44, over Cincinnati at Madison Square Garden.

His contract runs through the 2016-17 season, meaning the kid from Bayville will be around to watch the Big East transform into something completely new and different in the coming years.

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