Iona lands St. John’s transfer Boubacar Diakite
By ADAM ZAGORIA Iona has landed a commitment
By ADAM ZAGORIA Charles Bassey, the 6-foot-10 power
(AGENCE FRANCE-PRESS) — Roger Federer said on Monday his motivation is sky-high as he bids for a possible return to the No 1 ranking if he reaches the final at the Stuttgart Cup.
The 36-year-old Swiss, second in the ATP standings behind 11-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal, has it all to play for this week at the hilltop Weissenhof club, where he lost a year ago in the first round to longtime friend and rival Tommy Haas.
After sitting out the clay season to fully rest and prepare for the grass and last playing match in Miami on March 24, the 20-time grand slam winner is quietly confident that all is falling into place as he mounts his quest for a ninth Wimbledon trophy next month.
“There are a lot of things at stake,” said the Swiss, who won his first match since March when he beat Mischa Zverev in three sets on Wednesday. “I expected Rafa to win the French – not taking anything away from him.
LONDON (AP) — French Open champion Rafael
By ADAM ZAGORIA
ST. CATHARINES, ONTARIO — From Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski to Kentucky’s John Calipari to Texas’ Shaka Smart, the men who have coached with USA Basketball have often been said to have a huge recruiting advantage over their competitors.
By virtue of coaching either the U.S. National Team (Coach K) — or a youth team such as the U19 or U18 side (Calipari and Smart) — these coaches get unprecedented access to some of the top high school players in the nation during the summer. Often these coaches are recruiting several of the players they coach in USA Basketball.
As a result, USA Basketball changed the rules two years ago to allow college coaches to attend international events such as the FIBA Americas U18 Championship here this week and next month’s FIBA U17 World Championship in Argentina — as well as the recent tryouts in Colorado Springs, CO — even though they don’t coincide with NCAA live periods.
Kansas coach Bill Self is now coaching the USA U18 team and is once again in a position to both win a gold medal — and coach both one of his future players and two players he’s recruiting in the Class of 2019.
It’s not lost on many of the other coaches here that Self’s starting five for the first three pool play games includes Kansas signee Quentin Grimes plus Matthew Hurt and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, two elite players Kansas is heavily recruiting.
By ADAM ZAGORIA ST. CATHARINES, ONTARIO -- Kentucky-bound
