February 2012 | Page 9 of 28 | Zagsblog
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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.
  • NEWARK –– This is not Jordan Theodore’s first rodeo.

    Two years ago — the last of the Bobby Gonzalez Era — Theodore and his Seton Hall Pirates were on the bubble for an NCAA Tournament berth. They needed to beat Notre Dame in the Big East Tournament to have a shot at dancing.

    They lost and went to the NIT instead.

    Faced with another shot at moving off the bubble and towards the field of 68, Theodore played perhaps the best and most complete game of his life, scoring a career-high 29 points on 8-for-11 shooting in a 73-55 rout of No. 9 Georgetown at the Prudential Center. 

    By ADAM ZAGORIA

    NEW YORK — Eight years ago at this time, J.R. Smith had signed with North Carolina and was still planning on enrolling there that fall and playing for head coach Roy Williams.

    Having chosen the Tar Heels over Louisville, Pittsburgh, N.C. State and Duke, the 6-foot-5 swingman from Lakewood, N.J., was excited about his future.

    “He really liked Louisville but he always dreamed of playing at Carolina,” former St. Benedict’s coach Dan Hurley, now the coach at Wagner (23-4), told SNY.tv.

    “He had not talked a whole lot about the NBA going into the whole year. He was excited to go to Carolina.”

    In this interview with Five Star Basketball, Nerlens Noel talks about No. 4 Tilton’s 60-56 loss to No. 1 Brewster Monday night in front of 1,500 fans in Wolfeboro, N.H.,, as well as his recruiting plans.

    The 6-foot-10 Noel spent last weekend on an unofficial to Kentucky and said head coach John Calipari is pitching him on replacing Anthony Davis, the likely No. 1 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft.

    “Kentucky was good,” Noel said after scoring eight points in the loss. “It was my first time down there. I got a good feeling for the program. I sat down and talked to coach Cal and Coach Orlando [Antigua]. They told me how I’d fit into the system. We talked about blocking more shots. They just said I could come in there and do similar things to [what Davis is] doing right now and they could possibly help me reach the next level in the NBA.”


    By JOSH NEWMAN

    Special to ZAGSBLOG

    NEW YORK – Knicks fans want results and they want them yesterday. This is no secret, it’s been this way from the beginning of the franchise’s existence nearly 70 years ago at this point.

    So with Linsanity still running amok at Madison Square Garden, in comes free agent shooting guard J.R. Smith on Sunday, followed by Carmelo Anthony (pulled groin) and Baron Davis (herniated disk) back from injuries on Monday. Along with Landry Fields, Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler, this is what the core of the Knicks will be like going forward, in addition to bench minutes from Steve Novak, Iman Shumpert, Jared Jeffries and Josh Harrellson. This is the team and with that, fans want to see what all these pieces look like on the floor together.

    Nerlens Noel, the top uncommitted prospect in the Class of 2012, took an official visit to Kentucky this past weekend and Wildcats fans are dreaming that he will replace Anthony Davis in the lineup next fall.

    “I got there Friday morning and went to their practice for about an hour,” Noel wrote on his ESPN.com blog. “I really liked the way they practice there. I just like the momentum they have in their practice. The practices are short, but they get everything done that they need to get in. It’s really productive.

    “I went to the game the next day and the fans most definitely lived up to the hype. They were just real live and they chanted my name about eight times. It was so loud in there. 

    NEWARK — Every year, it seems, Jordan Theodore watches his friends and former teammates play in the NCAA Tournament.

    A year ago, he watched on TV as his former Gauchos teammates Darryl “Truck” Bryant of West Virginia and Kemba Walker of UConn both went dancing.

    Bryant lost in the second round to Kentucky, while Walker led the Huskies all the way past a national semifinal semifinal with Kentucky and to the NCAA championship.

    “It hurts every year being knocked out and then I’m watching my best friends play, you  know what I mean?” Theodore said last week.

    Big East coaches are going to have a tough call to make for Rookie of the Year honors.

    And it should come down to a pair of St. John’s freshman.

    Forward Moe Harkless is averaging 15.7 points — second-best among rookies in the Big East — and 8.7. rebounds, tops among rookies.

    His teammate, D’Angelo Harrison, meantime, is averaging 16.9 points, tops among Big East rookies and sixth overall in the Big East.

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