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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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Thursday / November 21.
  • The Big East will not alter its men’s basketball tournament format for the second time in two years.

    League officials toyed with the idea of doing away with the double-bye system and having the top four teams play the bottom four teams on the tournament’s first day, Tuesday, and then giving the winners a day off before playing the quarterfinals on Thursday. The teams seeded 5-12 would have squared off on Wednesday.

    The semifinals would have remained on Friday night with the title game on Saturday night.

    “We’re not going to change it for next year,” a Big East source said. “After only one year there wasn’t support to make the change. It’s going to be the same bracket as last year.”

    Harrison Barnes, a 6-foot-6 wing who is the No. 2 player in the Class of 2010, has set the dates for the remainder of his visits.

    Barnes has already visited North Carolina and will also visit:

    Oct. 2 – Oklahoma

    Oct. 9 – UCLA

    Oct. 16 – Kansas

    Oct. 23 – Duke

    Nov. 6 – Iowa State (unofficial)

    Duke has long been considered the favorite for Barnes, but North Carolina has made up tremendous ground, especially after Barnes saw Michael Jordan at the Carolina Pro Alumni Game Sept. 4 during his visit.

    Stacey Poole made it official on ESPNU Thursday by making his college announcement.

    “I made my decision and I’m playing for the University of Kentucky,” said the 6-foot-5, 190-pound Poole out of the Jacksonville (Fla.) Providence School. He also considered South Carolina.

    “Coach [John] Calipari has history. He wins. He enjoys what he does and I just feel that he’s going to put me in the best situation as possible. If I go there and play anything can happen and I just have to go focus and just compete and I know Coach Cal will put me in the right situation.

    “Where I want to go, I know that will be the perfect situation for me.”

    I went to see U2 last night at Giants Stadium with three high school buddies and my wife, Jen. Tremendous show with a record 82,000 fans in the house. We were up in the 300s section but because of this gigantic sound system that looked like something out of a Steven Spielberg movie, you could see the video and hear the audio very well,  even from near the top of the stadium.

    Bono payed homage to Bruce Springsteen (on his 60th B-day), Michael Jackson and The Beatles, as seen here in this “He’s The One” ode to Bruce.

    Fresh off a Wednesday workout for some of the top schools in the nation at Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest, Brandon Knight is headed to UConn this weekend for his second official visit.

    “They’re going to Connecticut this weekend,” said Pine Crest coach Dave Beckerman, referring to Knight’s family.

    UConn head coach Jim Calhoun will be busy this week since he’s also visiting with Tobias Harris tonight (Thursday) in Harris’ Long Island home.

    The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Knight is the No. 1 prospect in the Class of 2010. He visited Kentucky last weekend, and Beckerman said he believed Knight was planning to go to Kansas Oct. 16 for “Late Night in the Phog.”

    Knight’s list includes Kentucky, UConn, Kansas, Syracuse, Miami and Florida.

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