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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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Friday / December 27.
  • Jio Fontan expects to get his release from Fordham University by early next week and to be at a new school by January.

    The Paterson, N.J., native and former St. Anthony High School point guard informed the coaching staff  this week that he was leaving the program. The semester ends Dec. 21.

    “Speaking to [Fordham athletic director] Frank McLaughlin, he was very much a gentlemen when we spoke. He said he was going to strongly recommend Jio be granted his release,” said Jorge Fontan, Jio’s dad. “They’re supposed to have a board meeting and by Monday or Tuesday the latest we should have an answer.”

    Jorge added that Jio expects to be at another school by January. He will have to sit out a year per NCAA transfer regulations before suiting up somewhere else.

    “We’ll probably take two or three visits,” Jorge said. “He should be wherever he’s going in January.”

     

    If you didn’t get a chance to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Benefit Concert at Madison Square Garden Sunday night on HBO, I highly recommend you access it on HBO On Demand at your convenience.

    Noteable no-shows included Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin and The Who, but the assembled talent was still awesome. U2 was the house band one night and Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band another.

    Some of my favorites included the above performance of “Gimme Shelter” by Mick Jagger and Fergie, with U2 as the backing bank.

    Other favorites with links to the videos include:

    John Fogerty/Bruce Springsteen: Fortunate Son

    Springsteen/Tom Morello: Ghost of Tom Joad

    Smokey Robinson: The Tracks of My Tears

    Ozzy/Metallica: Iron Man/Paranoid

    Simon & Garfunkel: The Sounds of Silence

    Stevie Wonder/Jeff Beck: Superstitious

    Here’s the set list courtesy The New York Times:

    Chris Chaney, the former Patterson School coach who is touring the country visiting some of the top college programs, has graciously agreed to guest blog for ZAGSBLOG.

    Chris has been a head coach for 18 years and has won 558 games. He has also won 3 National Prep School Championships and 3 National Coach of the Year Honors. He has coached 10 NBA draft picks and over 100 Division I players. He has also done coaching clinics all over the world and his 2005 40-0 National Championship team is considered the Best Pre-College team of All-Time. He has been featured on ESPN and is known as one the brightest minds in the game.
     
    Chris was at the Legends Classic last weekend in Atlantic City, N.J., and has written observations on all four teams — Florida, Michigan State, Rutgers and UMass.

    He also has comments on several of his former players now in the Big East: Jeremy Hazell of Seton Hall; Dwight Hardy of St. John’s; Darius Johnson-Odom of Marquette; and Vincent Council of Providence. …take it away, Chris.

    Tiger Woods came out today with a full apology on his Website, admitting ‘sins’ and ‘transgressions.’

    Rachel Uchitel (left courtesy the New York Post), a 34-year-old club promoter, is one of three women with whom Tiger allegedly had affairs.

    The others are Jaimee Grubbs, a 23-year-old LA cocktail waitress,  and Kalika Moquin .

    “Tiger told Kalika that married life isn’t all it’s built up to be,” an unnamed source told Life & Style’s, according to the Daily News. “He said he wasn’t happy in his marriage or his home life and that there was just so much pressure on him.”

    Here’s the text of Tiger’s statement on his Website, along with a photo illustration courtesy the Daily News:

    It’s always cool to see guys you covered in high school excel in the college ranks.

    And on Tuesday night, two guys I covered in the preps, Rashad Bishop of Cincinnati (pictured) and Dexter Strickland of North Carolina, both had big nights.

    Bishop, a Paterson, N.J., native who played for Jimmy Ring at Paterson Kennedy and Dan Hurley at St. Benedict’s Prep, put up 14 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks as the No. 22 Bearcats routed Texas Southern, 94-57.

    “I thought our defense was good from the start. I think our offense was not together at first. We put it together and got some easy baskets,” Bishop said.

    On a team that features Deonta Vaughn, Yancy Gates and Lance Stephenson, Bishop has been the team’s best player on at least a couple of nights.

    NEW YORK — Amar’e Stoudemire spent part of his childhood in upstate New York.

    Could he return to New York next summer as a free agent to play with the Knicks?

    “New York’s not a bad city,” Stoudemire said Tuesday before the Suns met the Knicks at MSG. “I lived out here for several years of my childhood years growing up [in Newburgh, N.Y.] so it’s not a bad city at all. But you never know what may happen.”

    The Knicks have cleared salary-cap space to target a loaded free agent class that includes Stoudemire, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and others.

    But the Suns took the NBA’s best record (14-3) into Tuesday’s game, while the Knicks (3-14) have the league’s third-worst record. Would Stoudemire really want to trade addresses?

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