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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.
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    • Big East

    NEW YORK – Hasheem Thabeet and DeJuan Blair became entangled during a play last month when Blair flipped Thabeet to the ground in a game won by the Panthers in Hartford, Conn.

    Now the 7-foot-3 Thabeet and the 6-7 Blair will forever be intertwined after the Big East coaches named them Co-Players of the Year.

    “It’s great, man,” said Thabeet, a junior whose team lost both games to Pitt this season and hopes for a rematch in the Big East semifinals on Friday. “He’s a tough kid. Going against each other twice, it was a great battle. Their team got to win. He’s always out there ready to do something for his team and me sharing this award with him is just great.”

    Said Blair: “I want to thank my teammates. If they hadn’t gotten me the ball I wouldn’t have played the way I did. I wouldn’t be standing here right now.

    “It’s an honor to be named the Co-Big East Player of the Year. It’s a great honor.”

    Big East, Cincinnati, Providence

    Entering the Big East Tournament, DePaul hadn’t won a basketball game since just after Christmas.

    The Blue Demons went through the entire Big East regular season without winning a single game, finishing a dismal 0-18 and at the bottom of the 16-team mega-conference.

    Yet No. 16 DePaul stunned No. 9 Cincinnati 67-57  in Tuesday’s first-round game at Madison Square Garden and will face No. 8 Providence on Wednesday at noon.

    “This is a new season, the Big East Tournament so that’s what we thought about,” said DePaul guard Dar Tucker, who finished with 17 points and eight rebounds. “It’s a brand new start so that’s what we thought. We’re just going to come out and play the first game.”

    Baylor, Florida, John Wall, Memphis, North Carolina, St. Patrick

    John Wall, the No. 1 prospect in the nation according to Rivals, told Jerry Meyer that Memphis is now the “leader” for his services.

    The 6-foot-4, 184-pound Wall has paid official visits to Kansas and Memphis and this past weekend he visited Baylor. He still plans to trip to Miami officially and  may still take unofficials to Duke and N.C. State.

    With 6-10 big man DeMarcus Cousins of Mobile (Ala.) LeFlore High committing to Memphis over the weekend, that could help the Tigers land Wall, who has said he would like to play with a dominant big man.

    Siena

    The Siena Saints are dancing again.

    A year after stunning Vanderbilt in the NCAA Tournament, Siena will return to the Big Dance thanks to Kenny Hasbrouck.

    The senior guard overcame a nagging calf injury and a poor first half to score 19 points in leading defending MAAC champion Siena to a 77-70 win over Niagara in Albany, N.Y.

    “Siena could win a game or two [in the NCAAs] and get to the Sweet 16, and this may sound self-serving, but all that will do is show us how good we are and how good our league is,” Niagara coach Joe Mihalich told The New York Times.

    Hurleys, Paterson Catholic, St. Anthony, St. Patrick, Villanova

    (Photo courtesy Jersey Journal)

    Paterson Catholic went into Jersey City and made history Monday night.

    Behind 21 points from sophomore guard Myles Mack, 19 from junior forward Fuquan Edwin and some clutch play from  junior guard Jayon James, the No. 3-seeded Cougars knocked off defending national champion and No. 2 St. Anthony 60-55 in the Non-Public North B boys basketball semifinals at Golden Door Charter School.

    Paterson Catholic (26-4), which hadn’t beaten St. Anthony since Marquis Webb was a freshman in 2000, will face St. Patrick (26-3) Wednesday night in the sectional final at Rutgers. The Cougars lone state crown came when Tim Thomas was a sophomore in 1994.

    “It means a lot to be one of two [PC] teams to beat St. Anthony,” Mack told Keith Idec of the Bergen Record. “It hasn’t happened in a long time. We feel great about this, but we’ve still got business to handle.”

    St. Patrick, No. 5 in the RivalsHigh 100, beat No. 64 Paterson Catholic 64-57 in the quarterfinals at the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, S.C. in December and now the teams will meet again with a state championship on the line.

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