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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.
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Articles, Kentucky, Maryland

The Barclays Center announced “multi-year agreements” to host Kentucky and Maryland going forward.

On Nov. 9, Kentucky and Maryland opened the college season at the new Barclays Center, with the Wildcats winning a close one, 72-69.

Next year, the Wildcats and their five McDonald’s All-Americans will face a young Providence team Dec. 1, while Maryland will also play a game TBD.

Kentucky’s 2013 recruiting class features McDonald’s and Jordan Brand All-Americans Andrew and Aaron Harrison, Dakari Johnson, Marcus Lee and  James Young. Those five will play in the Jordan Game April 13 at Barclays, too.

Articles, Kentucky, Roselle Catholic

Kentucky recruit Karl Towns Jr. and Syracuse-bound Tyler Roberson will square off Tuesday for the New Jersey Tournament of Champions title.

Despite battling foul trouble, the 7-foot-1 1/2 Towns Jr. went for 24 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots Friday night as St. Joe’s-Metuchen beat Atlantic City, 63-49, in the semifinals of the 25th Tournament of Champions at Monmouth University.

St. Joe’s, the No. 2 seed, will face off against Roberson and No. 1 seed Roselle Catholic in the final Tuesday at 8 p.m. at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton.

Articles, Louisville, Syracuse

NEW YORK — Forget all this talk about whether the ACC Tournament will or won’t come to Madison Square Garden somewhere down the (Tobacco) Road.

It is already here.

Syracuse and Louisville — two future ACC tenants — will play for the last Big East championship as we know it on Saturday night under the glare of the Garden lights.

And it only seems fitting that Jim Boeheim and Rick Pitino, two men born in New York State and inextricably linked not only to one another but to the fabric of Dave Gavitt’s conference, will contend for the title.

Articles

By JOSH NEWMAN
Special to ZAGSBLOG

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51-4sJTf7iQ]

NEW YORK – UMass and Temple are certainly not Syracuse and Georgetown, nor can those two rivalries even compare, but for longtime Atlantic-10 loyalists, UMass-Temple used to mean something.

When the Minutemen and Owls got together, especially in the mid-1990’s, it was Marcus Camby, Dana Dingle, Donta Bright and Carmelo Travieso. It was Lou Roe and Eddie Jones. And, most famously, or infamously if you choose to view it that way, it was ex-Temple head coach John Chaney interrupting a UMass-Temple postgame press conference in 1994, confronting then-UMass head coach John Calipari and telling him he was going to kill him while the two had to be separated.

Yes, UMass-Temple used to mean a whole lot to a lot of people. But now, it’s all over.

Articles, Georgetown, Syracuse

NEW YORK — It should have been the championship game.

The magnificent game played between Syracuse and Georgetown Friday night inside an electric Madison Square Garden should have been the championship, a fitting coda to the end of the Big East as we know it.

The last one before Syracuse and Louisville and Pitt and Notre Dame are replaced in the new Big East by the Butlers, Xaviers and Creightons.

“This game was like a final game, this should’ve been the championship game,” Syracuse legend Dwayne “Pearl” Washington told SNY.tv courtside after the Orange avenged two losses to the Hoyas this season and prevailed, 58-55 in OT, in the semifinals.

Articles, Georgetown

By ADAM ZAGORIA

NEW YORK — Jim Boeheim isn’t an NBA GM, but if he was he knows who he would pick in the upcoming draft.

Georgetown’s Otto Porter Jr.

“If I’m picking, I pick him first in the draft,” Boeheim told a small group of reporters in the hallway at Madison Square Garden “I don’t even look at anybody else. I pick him first in the draft. I think he’s the best. I think he’ll be a great pro.”

Articles

By JOSH NEWMAN
Special to ZAGSBLOG

Shaka SmartNEW YORK – A change in conference affiliation from the CAA to the Atlantic-10 this season hasn’t mattered all that much for Shaka Smart and Virginia Commonwealth.

The 35-year-old head coach has not let the program slip in the two years since a magical, surprising run to the 2011 Final Four.

No. 2 seed VCU, now 25-7 overall after an 82-79 win over 10th-seeded St. Joseph’s in an Atlantic-10 Tournament quarterfinal in front of a pro-Rams crowd at Barclays Center on Friday evening, is a contender. That goes not only for the rest of the weekend in Brooklyn, but starting next week in the NCAA Tournament.

“There’s no load on our shoulders, we came up here to win and we’re excited to advance,” Smart said. “This time of year, you can’t be worrying about pressure or nerves, you gotta go after it. I thought our guys did a good job of that tonight and we’ll have to do the same thing tomorrow regardless of who we play.”

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