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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

http://web.sny.tv/media/video.jsp?content_id=48809783

You know all those sexy Steve Masiello vs. Kentucky storylines we in the media dreamed up for this week?

Yeah, go ahead and forget about those.

Hampton put a stop to that enticing theme by taking down Masiello and Manhattan, 74-64, in the first NCAA Tournament play-in game Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio.

The No. 16 Pirates (17-17), who entered the Big Dance with a losing record after winning the MEAC Tournament title, gets overall No. 1 seed Kentucky on Thursday in a Midwest Region game in Louisville. The Wildcats are 34-0 and chasing a perfect 40-0 season. A No. 16 seed has never beaten a 1 seed.

“Just an off night for us,” Masiello said. “I thought we came out. I thought we let our offense dictate our defense a little bit. We didn’t really play typical Manhattan basketball, I thought. But give Hampton the credit for that. But I couldn’t be more proud of a group of seniors who, if you would have told me four years ago they would bring us to three MAAC championships, back-to-back NCAA appearances off a team that was 6-25, I would have signed up for and taken it in a minute. They’ve totally changed our culture and put Manhattan back on the map where it belongs as one of the better mid- major programs. And that’s a credit to these players, the seniors and what they’ve done. I’m extremely proud of that. It was a terrific year for us. We came up a little short on Dayton and now we’ve got to go back and build on it.”

Guard Quinton Chievous went for 15 points and 13 rebounds but left the game after rolling his ankle with less than three minutes left and had to be helped off the court. Guard Reginald Johnson added 15 points for Hampton and guard Brian Darden hit two clutch foul shots with under a minute to go and added 11 points.

Articles

Govan

Jordan Brand revealed the rosters for the Regional Game as part of the 14th annual Jordan Brand Classic.

The game will take place Friday, April 17th at Barclay’s Center and is slated to tip-off at 5:30 pm.

The game will feature top talent from throughout the Northeast region with many of the top ballers from the New York City area.

For more information and tickets, visit www.jordanbrandclassic.com or follow @JordanClassic.

The game will feature three Syracuse recruits and two each from UConn, Notre Dame and Temple.

For the rosters for the Jordan Brand Classic National Game, click here.

HOME TEAM

Levan Alston, 6-3, 175 SG, Haverford School (TEMPLE)

Desure Buie, 6-0, 160 PG, Wings Academy (HOFSTRA)

Elijah Burns, 6-7, 210 PF, Blair Academy (NOTRE DAME)

Bryant Crawford, 6-2, 180 PG, Gonzaga College High School (WAKE FOREST)

Americans in Europe, Articles, Hurleys

Bobby HurleyNEW YORK — Bobby Hurley says the 2014-15 incarnation of Kentucky is deeper than his early 1990s Duke teams, but that the Wildcats don’t have anyone “close” to Christian Laettner and Grant Hill.

How would the 1991 or ’92 NCAA champion Duke teams do against this 34-0 Kentucky team?

“It’s really hard to project with a different era and a different time, guys stayed a lot longer,” Hurley told me yesterday on “The 4 Quarters Podcast” on SNY.tv. “My team was an older team, a veteran team. Laettner was one of the most clutch and versatile players ever to play at the college level and Grant Hill was a one-of-a-kind player. I don’t think Kentucky has anyone close to those two guys but collectively they are definitely a deeper team and I know that it would be hard for us to generate the offense against this team.”

Recruiting

Jaylen BrownJaylen Brown will likely make his long-awaited visit to Michigan on Thursday and Friday, a source with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed to SNY.tv after it was reported by Sam Webb of Scout.com.

As previously reported by SNY.tv, the 6-foot-7 wing out of Marietta (GA) Wheeler has family connections to Michigan.

“I’ve got a lot of family up there and so it’s gonna be a little reunion while I’m there,” Brown wrote in his USA Today blog. “A lot of them went to Michigan and Michigan State so I’m really excited to see the campus and see my people.

Articles, Coaching moves

20150312_Sun_UNLV__MW_SanDiego_LE10_t653This is the time of year when the Coaching Carousel turns fast and furious, and we will be posting updates here as news warrants.

Among Monday’s highlights:

**UNLV coach Dave Rice will get at least another year after his status seemed uncertain heading into Monday.

“Coach Rice and Coach [Todd] Simon both reached out to reassure me that he’s got multiple years on his contract as per the UNLV AD,” Mark Poyser, father of 2015 commit Jalen Poyser, told SNY.tv. “They are both committed to Jalen Poyser.”

Rice finished seventh in the Mountain West this year with an 18-15 record and is 89-47 overall at UNLV. He has made two NCAA Tournament appearances without winning a game.

Articles

NCAA Basketball: Champions Classic-Michigan State vs DukeThe 2014-15 USBWA Men’s All-America Team features a true five-man lineup of first-teamers, led by two seniors who pushed their teams to conference tournament championships: Wisconsin forward Frank Kaminsky and Notre Dame guard Jerian Grant. Joining Kaminsky in the front court is junior forward Willie Cauley-Stein of unbeaten and top-ranked Kentucky and Duke freshman center Jahlil Okafor. Grant’s backcourt mate is another freshman, Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell.

Based on regular-season performance, the entire USBWA membership of nearly 1,000 selects the nation’s top five players on each of two teams regardless of position.

Overall, the Atlantic Coast Conference leads all selections with three, including Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon, who was named to the second team. The Big Ten and SEC each boast two All-America selections. Joining Brodgon on that second team are Bobby Portis from Arkansas, Seth Tuttle from Northern Iowa, Kyle Wiltjer from Gonzaga and Delon Wright from Utah. Portis, Tuttle, Wiltjer and Wright are all USBWA District Players of the Year.

Cauley-Stein, a 7-0 junior from Olathe, Kan., contributes to Kentucky’s potent and balanced attack with 9.3 points per game to go with 6.4 rebounds. He is the USBWA’s District IV Player of the Year and was a first-team All-SEC selection in leading the Wildcats to the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

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