March 2013 | Page 10 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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Saturday / November 23.

PHILADELPHIA — The way Albany coach Will Brown figures it, Duke is still ticked off from losing as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament last year.

Here it is a year after Duke’s loss to No. 15 Lehigh, and the Blue Devils are once again a 2 seed playing a 15. This time it’s the Great Danes.

“Well, Lehigh didn’t do us any favors, that’s for sure,” Brown said here after a few dozen fans watched Albany, surprising champs of the America East Conference, practice at the Wells Fargo Center.

“The tough thing is the team we’re trying to beat is a team that got upset one year ago,” Brown added. “So I think Duke will be


PHILADELPHIA
— With Duke assistant Chris Collins reportedly set to interview for the Northwestern job next week, Coach K said Collins will eventually be a “great” head coach.

“He’ll be great‑‑ all three of those guys would be great,” Coach K said here before the No. 2 Blue Devils meet No. 15 Albany on Friday.

Coach K was referring to his three assistants, Collins, Jeff Capel and Steve Wojciechowski.

“Well, I could lose any of my guys at any time,” Coach K said. “I feel I have the best staff in America, pro or college, because two of them have been with me for seven years in the Olympics and world championships in Wojo and Chris, and I have three head coaches on my staff in Chris, Wojo and Capel, and there’s nobody who has that.”


Dwayne MorganDwayne Morgan
 of Baltimore (Md.) St. Frances is one of the top small forwards in the Class of 2014 and is set to announce his college choice March 27. He will be contributing periodically to ZAGSBLOG during his junior season. Here’s his second entry:

Wassup, world?

Dwayne Morgan checking in and I will be doing a second blog focusing on my commitment date March 27 and the end of my junior year.

This past weekend our team went into the Alhambra Catholic Invitational and won first place in the consolation bracket after losing our first game to Benedictine Prep.

By DAN KELLY

Special to ZAGSBLOG

NEW YORK – The Saint Louis Billikens lack sex appeal.

They don’t have a high flying, alley-oop, tip-jam specialist hunting around the rim. They don’t run like crazy and launch a billion threes on offense. They don’t apply 40 minutes of chaos-inducing full-court pressure on defense.

But the 4th-seeded Billikens are dangerous and they begin what could be a deep tourney run against New Mexico State today at 2:10 p.m. in San Jose.

Last week the Billikens followed up their regular season Atlantic 10 Championship with a run to the A-10 tourney championship, which included a win over Butler in the semifinal and a win over VCU in the final.

NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony confesses he was concerned about his right knee  as he sat out the last three games and six of the last eight for the Knicks.

“I was worried because I didn’t really know what was the cause of it, what was going on,” Anthony said after draining a 3-pointer on his first attempt of the game and putting up 21 points and eight rebounds as the Knicks beat the Orlando Magic, 106-94, for their second straight win.

“I knew for sure that it wasn’t no ligament damage or anything like that, so I just wished that we could’ve got to the bottom of it quicker.”

NEW YORK — Moe Harkless is only 19 years old.

Tobias Harris is 20.

Yet the two young New Yorkers are starting and playing prominent roles on a rebuilding Orlando Magic squad that lost to the Knicks, 106-94, Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.

Harris, a Long Island native who spent one year at Tennessee before entering the NBA Draft, went for 14 points on 7-for-10 shooting, and Harkless, a Queens native who was one-and-done at St. John’s, added 11 points and six rebounds.

Queens native Kyle O’Quinn (22) posted a double-double of 12 points and 14 boards off the bench, and fellow Queens native Doron Lamb (21) added six points.

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