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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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Wednesday / December 25.
  • Givon Crump is trimming his list.

    Crump, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound small forward from Wolfeboro (NH) Brewster Academy ranked No. 26 among small forwards in the Class of 2009 by Rivals, is looking at Michigan, Oregon State, Rutgers, Wake Forest, Maryland, DePaul, South Florida, Cal and Southern Methodist.

    “I’m just planning out who I will be visiting with in September,” Crump told Beaverblitz.com. “Shortly after that I’ll make a commitment. I’m looking for a school to have a sincere interest in me and where I’ll have the opportunity to play and get a great education. I also want to be around good people.”

    With both his parents dead and genocide ongoing in his native Sudan, Teeng Akol and his surviving family members fled the wartorn African country when he was a child.

    “Yes, we have a long story,” Akol, a 6-foot-11, 240-pound power forward who committed to Oklahoma State Monday, said by phone from Florida. “I lost my parents, I lost both my parents. The living was getting worse. People killing, people starving. We decided to go to Egypt.

    “We went all of us, me, my aunt and my two sisters and my brother. As a matter of fact, they’re still in Egypt.”

    Akol’s close friend, 7-foot-2 John Riek, also left the genocide in the Sudan, crossing the boarder into Ethiopia. He recently committed to Cincinnati and Akol is optimistic that Riek will become academically eligible after taking the ACT next month.

    Kimani Young has been hired as part of Norm Roberts’ staff at St. John’s, according to a source close to the situation.

    Reached by phone, Young could not officially comment on the hire, but he did say: “What I could bring just is positive relationships in the city. I can bring an energy, a youthful energy and a hunger. I just want to continue that in any way I can if it turns that that’s where I’m at.”

    Young is the director of a New Heights grassroots program that features several talented juniors being recruited by a number of schools, including St. John’s. That group includes Blair Academy junior Hakeem Harris, Bishop Loughlin junior Jayvaughn Pinkston, St. Anthony forwards Devon Collier and Ashton Pankey and South Kent (Conn.) point guard Devon McMillan. New Heigh

    New Heights director Kimani Young will meet Wednesday with St. John’s head coach Norm Roberts and will decide by the end of the week whether to join the St. John’s staff, the Daily News reported.

    St. John’s has two open staff positions and Roberts has also offered Oswald Cross, the New York Panthers 17U head coach.

    “I think Oz and I can add a lot to the program, but I don’t think we are the final answer,” Young told the Daily News. “I love Norm and have a lot of respect for the school. I think this is a great opportunity. But the basketball program and the school are bigger than both of us. I do think we can bring a lot to the program.”

    Southern Cal has become the latest major program to offer a scholarship to Dix Hills (N.Y.) Half Hollow Hills West junior Tobias Harris.

    USC coach Tim Floyd called the 6-foot-8 Harris Monday night to offer him.

    “He told Tobias that he watched many of his AAU games this summer and that he loves the way he plays,” said Torrel Harris, Tobias’ dad. “Coach Floyd said that in the Pac 10, Tobias would be a match-up nightmare. He offered Tobias a scholarship to USC and said that he will be following his progress in high school.

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