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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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Saturday / December 21.
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    • Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Memphis, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Syracuse, Texas, Texas A&M, UConn, UNLV, Villanova

    I spoke with Grassroots Canada coach Ro Russell today after he returned home from Las Vegas.

    He says Cory Joseph, the No. 3 point guard in the Class of 2010 out of Henderson (NV) Findlay Prep, has “cut” his list to 16 schools.

    Asked how long the list was before he cut it, Russell said, “About 30.”

    So here’s Joseph’s list, in no particular order: Villanova, UConn, Kansas, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Cal, Mississippi State, Memphis, Syracuse, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Minnesota, UNLV, Texas A&M and Ohio State.

    Boston College, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Kentucky, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, Siena, Tennessee, Tobias Harris, UConn, Xavier

    Bruce Pearl lost a top commitment recently when 2010 point guard Josh Selby decommitted from Tennessee while Pearl was coaching Team USA to a gold medal in the Maccabiah Games in Israel.

    Rumors flew that coaches from other programs were whispering into Selby’s ear and taking advantage of Pearl’s absence.

    Selby is now being recruited by everyone from Kentucky to Kansas to UConn to Maryland.

    “I think as coaches, we want to ethically make sure that if a guy’s got a commitment, leave him alone,” Pearl told ESPN’s Andy Katz on Monday in Orlando in a segment that appeared on ESPNU. “Now, student-athletes have a right to do what’s in their best interests.

    New York Mets

    This was supposed to be the day that the Mets moved past the Tony Bernazard fiasco and marched boldly forward without him.

    Mets GM Omar Minaya should have just gone into his press conference at Citi Field and made a brief statement.

    Something to the effect of: We have investigated the reports of Tony Bernazard’s improper behavior in the minor leagues and after conducting that investigation I decided it would be best for the organization to let Tony go.

    Something short and sweet like that would’ve enabled the Mets to move past this embarrassing chapter in their increasingly tumultuous history.

    Instead, Minaya rambled along and decided to question the credibility of Daily News reporter Adam Rubin, who covers the Mets for the paper and broke the Bernazard stories.

    It looks like Minaya wanted to exact revenge on Rubin for bringing to light the embarrassing stories about his friend Bernazard.

    “You got to understand this: Adam for the past couple of years has lobbied for a player development position. He has lobbied myself, he has lobbied Tony,” Minaya said.

    Arizona, Jayvaughn Pinkston, Rutgers, St. John's, Tennessee, Villanova

    New Heights and Team NJABC announced that the inaugural Summer in the City basketball tournament will be condensed into a one day live NCAA sanctioned event this Friday at St John’s University.

    The tournament will focus on quality competition in the 17-under and 16-under divisions and will include programs like New Heights, Team NJ ABC, Playaz, Metro Hawks, Team Philly, Juice, Panthers, Team Phenom, LI Lightning and many more great teams. The games will begin at 10 am and the schedule will be posted on several web sites including www.teamnjabc.com. Please contact Kimani Young at 718 974 7110 for further information.

    Speaking of New Heights, Jayvaughn Pinkston is getting some major looks after his stellar play in Las Vegas, where he scored 19 points in an upset of Grassroots Canada.

    Duke, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Kyrie Irving, Maryland, Memphis, Tennessee

    If you’ve been following the stories coming out of Las Vegas this week, you know that the biggest one of them all had to do with point guard Josh Selby and his recruitment.

    The 6-foot-1 Selby recently de-committed from Tennessee, and did so while UT head coach Bruce Pearl was coaching Team USA in the Maccabiah Games in Israel.

    Word on the street is that Kentucky may now have the inside edge to land Selby, and his mother, Maeshon Witherspoon, fed that perception by giving this quote to Jody Demling of the Louisville Courier Journal.

    “Anybody with a basketball brain and knows what [Kentucky coach John] Calipari has done — you have to consider Kentucky,” she said. “It doesn’t mean it’s a done deal, but you have to consider Kentucky.”

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