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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.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A year ago, Marvin Bagley III had to sit on the bench at the prestigious Hoophall Classic.

As a sophomore last season, the 6-foot-11 Bagley left Hillcrest Prep (AZ) in November, enrolled at Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon in January, was ruled ineligible to play after the state determined the transfer was athletically motivated, then lost the appeal.

A year later, Bagley was on the court and played a key role as Sierra Canyon stunned La Lumiere (IN), the No. 1 team in the nation, 76-74, before a packed house on Monday evening. After a slow start, he finished with 21 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks.

“I started off slow, a slow start, but eventually the game came to me,” Bagley said. “My teammates did very well. They got going and we eventually got going as a team and that’s what put us over the top at the end.”

VILLANOVA, Pa. — Jay Wright and the Villanova Wildcats are the defending national champions, and the current No. 1 team in the country.

But they’re still learning.

“I think we learned a great lesson last year,” Wright said about Villanova achieving their No. 1 ranking. “We learned a lesson again when we went to Butler. You keep learning from it, that’s what we take from it.”

After scooping up their 47th straight victory at the Pavilion Monday night in a 76-46 rout of Seton Hall, the Wildcats improved to 18-1 on the season. For a senior laden team whose been to the pinnacle of success in the world of college basketball, the idea that the group can learn much more may seem foreign.

For a team coached by the likes of Wright, it’s nothing out of the ordinary.

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