November 2015 | Page 21 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.

KeglerMississippi State head coach Ben Howland continued his recruiting roll on Wednesday by landing Mario Kegler, a 6-foot-6 wing guard from Oak Hill Academy (VA) who is a Mississippi native.

Kegler also considered Indiana and Maryland after cutting Arizona State and Baylor from his list.

Howland has already lined up a loaded class of Schnider Herard, a 6-10 center who committed last week, along with point guards Lamar Peters and Tyson Carter and shooting guard Eli Wright, giving Mississippi State the No. 3 recruiting class in the nation according to Scout.com.

“Every time I went there I felt like I was at home,” Kegler told Scout. “I’m from Mississippi. I just wanted to stay home and play at Mississippi State next year.”

“[Howland] feels he is a pro, one and out,” Omhar Carter, Kegler’s guardian, told SNY.tv following Kegler’s official visit to campus for Maroon Madness. “He thinks that his size and skill would be a matchup nightmare for opponents.”

UnknownWill Brown chuckled last month when he heard that Kentucky coach John Calipari said of his team, “We stink” right now.

“I laughed a couple weeks ago when I saw that Cal said his team stinks. I laughed,” Brown, the Albany coach, said by phone on Wednesday morning. “He’s got a really difficult problem to figure out, let me tell you.”

Brown, whose Great Danes have been to three straight NCAA Tournaments, will open the 2015-16 college season at No. 2 Kentucky on Friday night.

NJIT, which won at Michigan as an independent last season and is now the newest member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, visits the Wildcats on Saturday. Both teams are playing Kentucky as part of an exempt event run by the Basketball Hall of Fame.

“They’re a little scary,” NJIT coach Jim Engles said. “It’s hard to put into perspective from where they were last year, but it looks like they’re as talented as they were last year” when they went 38-0 to start the season before losing in the national semifinals.

349771-330-0Kansas coach Bill Self sounds like he’s ready to sit back and watch Cheick Diallo’s attorney and the NCAA slug it out over the freshman big man’s eligibility.

One day after Diallo’s camp hired Alabama-based attorney Donald Jackson to handle the case, Self said he expects Diallo’s attorney to do “whatever it takes” to get the former Our Savior New American star eligible to play.

“We’re frustrated,” Self said, according to the KC Star. “We fought our butts off. So I’m frustrated. But the whole thing is, the NCAA knew that this was going to happen.

“… They’re going to fight for the kid. It comes to no surprise to me. We were all hopeful that it wouldn’t come to this. But I wouldn’t blame [them]; if I was a parent, I’d do the same thing.”

SkalThe 2015-16 college basketball season is set to begin this weekend and that means NBA teams will be watching many of the top pro prospects.

More than 60 NBA personnel are expected at the Champions Classic Tuesday in Chicago, sources told SNY.tv.

Defending national champion Duke plays Kentucky in the first game  of the doubleheader at the United Center and Michigan State meets Kansas in the other.

The first game will feature three of the top six projected picks in the 2016 NBA Draft according to DraftExpress.com.

Kentucky’s Skal Labissiere is the projected No. 1 pick, Duke’s Brandon Ingram is No. 3 and Kentucky’s Jamal Murray is No. 6. All three are freshmen.

Kansas freshman Cheick Diallo, who has yet to be cleared by the NCAA, is the projected No. 11 pick in 2016.

Kaleb Bishop, a 6-foot-8, 195-pound power forward from St. Anthony’s, committed to Fairleigh Dickinson on Tuesday.

He also considered Central Connecticut and Robert Morris, and is the first commit for FDU in 2016.

Bishop is one of five seniors for Naismith Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley who will sign a National Letter of Intent on Monday at the Jersey City (N.J.) school.

“What made me pick FDU was the coaches and the players are like family and they care about each other,” Bishop said. “They push each other all the time. With coach [Greg] Herenda’s experience, I believe in him and what he’s trying to do with this program.

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