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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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Sunday / December 22.
  • On top of searching for an athletic director, Rutgers must now find an offensive coordinator for its football team.

    John McNulty has left Rutgers to take a job coaching the receivers with the Arizona Cardinals.

    “We wish John and his family nothing but the best as they embark on a new challenge with the Arizona Cardinals,” Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said in a statement. “John was an integral part of the Rutgers football family and we will miss him.”

    Rutgers running backs coach Gary Brown also left recently to take the same job with the Cleveland Browns.

    The hiring of McNulty, 40, was part of a series of additions to the Super Bowl runner-up Cardinals, who named Bill Davis defensive coordinator and Russ Grimm and Mike Miller co-offensive coordinators.

    Lance Stephenson of Brooklyn Lincoln, Dexter Strickland of St. Patrick (N.J.) and Dominic Cheek of St. Anthony (N.J.) were named Wednesday to the McDonald’s All-American  Game April 1 in Miami. The game will be shown live on ESPN.

    Dante Taylor, a 6-9 forward originally from White Plains, N.Y. and now at Fort Washington (Md.) National Christian Academy who is signed to Pittsburgh, will also play in the game.

    The 6-foot-5 Villanova-bound Cheek is the second straight player from St. Anthony to make the game, following current Rutgers freshman Mike Rosario. Cheek will be joined by his future Villanova teammate Maalik Wayns, a point guard out of Philly Roman Catholic.

    While Cheek will also play in the Jordan Brand Classic April 18 game at Madison Square Garden, both Stephenson and Strickland were surprisingly left off the roster.

    “I think McDonald’s is more important than anything,” said the 6-5, 200-pound Stephenson, who on Sunday became the all-time leading scorer in New York State history and who will make an official visit this weekend to Kansas. “If I didn’t make the McDonald’s I’d be more mad, but the McDonald’s I’m happy to be in it.”

    The 6-3 North Carolina-bound Strickland, one of four future Tar Heels in the McDonald’s Game, said he was “surprised” that he wasn’t chosen for the Jordan Brand game, but “I just moved on from it.”

    “But I’ll have an opportunity to play in the McDonald’s All-American Game,” he said.

    Lance Stephenson told Jerry Meyer of Rivals that he would like to visit UCLA and Wake Forest before making a final decision, but no visit dates have been set.

    The 6-foot-5 Stephenson is practicing this week with the Lincoln Railsplitters and will head to Kansas this weekend for an official visit that will include watching Saturday’s game against Nebraska.

    Stephenson, who on Sunday night became New York State’s all-time leading scorer when Lincoln won its fifth straight Brooklyn Borough championship, is also considering Maryland, St. John’s and USC, and recently took an official to Maryland.

    Stephenson recently told me he had no immediate plans to visit any other schools.

    “As of right now, no,” he said. “The list that I gave everybody, I’ll make sure I go to all of them. But right now I’m just worrying about Kansas and my season.”

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