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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.
  • I’ve heard from various industry sources that Memphis head coach Josh Pastner is trying to  hire Miami-Dade College coach Matt Eisele to help fill out his staff.

    “I talked to one of [Eisele’s] assistants this week and he alluded to the fact that it’s going to happen,” a junior college source said.

    Memphis spokesman Lamar Chance said Saturday no one had yet been officially hired and that Pastner had been out on the road recruiting since Thursday. Eisele was not immediately available for comment.

    Carl Henry reiterated Saturday that his sons are in a holding pattern and won’t make any college decisions until after the Jordan Brand Classic in New York April 18.

    Xavier Henry, a 6-6 shooting guard, recently got his release from Memphis and could wind up at Kansas, Kentucky or back at Memphis. C.J. Henry, Xavier’s older brother and a Memphis walk-on, would have to obtain an NCAA waiver to transfer from Memphis and play immediately at Kansas or Kentucky.

    Xavier is in Portland [at the Nike Hoop Summit]. C.J. is in Memphis [at school],” Carl said Saturday morning by phone. “We haven’t gotten together.”

    Carl, who played ball at Kansas, told Tulsa TV station KOTV that “it would be the dream to have them play at Kansas, but if they choose something different, they choose it, not me.”

    Lance Stephenson will take an official visit to St. John’s beginning Friday night, according to sources at St. John’s. An official visit can last 48 hours so Stephenson would leave the Queens campus Sunday.

    The 6-foot-5 Stephenson has taken officials to Kansas and Maryland, but not St. John’s. He has been to campus several times unofficially.

    Additionally, Kansas coach Bill Self will visit with Stephenson Friday afternoon at his Coney Island home, according to another source.

    “They’re getting closer to making a decision,” a third source said of the Stephenson family. “They [the coaches] are all making their last minute pitches and I think this is St John’s last chance to beat the other couple [schools, including Maryland]. This is their best opportunity right now. This is their last chance right now.”

    UConn coach Jim Calhoun put to rest any thoughts of retiring.

    Calhoun, 66, said he would return for at least one more season.

    “It is my full intention to return for the 2009-10 season,” Calhoun said in a statement. “I look forward to coaching next season and to continuing as the head coach at Connecticut into the future. In many ways, the journey of this past season has made me realize how much I love coaching this game, how much I love my kids and how much I enjoy being at Connecticut.”

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