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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.
  • LOUISVILLE — Perhaps no player competing in the NCAA Tournament stands more to gain in the next two weeks than Kentucky freshman point guard Marquis Teague.

    Currently ranked No. 41 among the Top 100 Prospects by DraftExpress.com, Teague could really boost his draft stock if he continues playing like he did last weekend and helps lead the Wildcats to the Final Four and potentially an NCAA championship.

    On Saturday in Louisville, Teague had his best game as a Wildcat, scoring 24 points on 10-for-14 shooting to go with seven assists and two turnovers.

    “I think he has to [come out] if he keeps playing that,” one veteran NBA scout told SNY.tv. “I mean, he’s going to shoot up the charts.”

    Bobby Hurley wants to be a Division I head coach eventually, but for now he has chosen to bypass the offer to take over at Wagner College and follow his younger brother to Rhode Island instead.

    “I was offered the job [at Wagner],” Hurley told SNY.tv in his first interview since his brother, Dan, accepted the Rhode Island job Tuesday.

    “It was obviously a very difficult decision,” added Hurley, the No. 7 pick in the 1993 NBA Draft. “I believe in the players that are in the program [at Wagner] and the kids that we have in the program. The people who I’ve worked with have been great over the last two years. It’s been a great two years for me.”

    Bob Hurley has coached at St. Anthony for 40 years and won 27 State titles and 12 New Jersey Tournament of Champions crowns.

    After Tuesday night’s 66-62 victory over Plainfield in the TOC final, Hurley has now led seven teams to undefeated seasons, according to Jim Hague, St. Anthony historian and journalist at the Hudson Reporter.

    In four of the previous six unbeaten seasons, the Friars won a USA Today mythical national championship.

    But this year, for the third time, St. Anthony won’t win the mythical national title.

    That’s because Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., completed its season 44-0 and is ranked No. 1 in both the USA Today and ESPN polls. Findlay Prep (29-1) is currently No. 2 in both rankings and St. Anthony is No. 3 in both.

    “I hate to blow your bubble on this one but I really don’t care,” Hurley told SNY.tv in a recent interview. “All I’m interested in is The Star-Ledger poll in New Jersey given out to the No. 1 team in the state at the end of the year. If you do really well in the Ledger poll then you’ve had a really good year.

    Toronto GM Bryan Colangelo believes former Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni won’t have any trouble getting a job soon, but told the New York Post it won’t be with the Raptors.

    “We’re locked down with our coaching with [Dwane] Casey,” Colangelo told the Post. “We’re in the first year of what I hope will be a long-term relationship.”

    Still, Colangelo said D’Antoni, who resigned last Wednesday after three-plus hectic seasons, could land a job soon, possibly in Washington or Portland after the season.

    “Oh, I anticipate he gets a job in the near-term future, if it’s not next year,” he said. “If he wants to coach, I’m sure he’ll get an opportunity.”


    NEW YORK
    — The way Amar’e Stoudemire tells it, his new coach gave the Knicks an ultimatum.

    Play harder, play with more energy on both ends of the court — or else.

    So far, not only have the Knicks responded to interim head coach Mike Woodson’s demands, but they are having a good time doing it.

    And their newfound enthusiasm and commitment to defense couldn’t come at a better time, what with Wednesday’s critical game against the first-place Philadelphia 76ers looming.

    “We know what we gotta do to win,” Stoudemire said after putting up 22 points and 12 boards as the Knicks beat the Toronto Raptors, 106-97, to improve to a perfect 4-0 under Woodson. “Coach Woodson put that ultimatum on us for us to go out there and play hard and we know how great we are from a personnel standpoint and it’s a matter of playing that way.

    By JOSH NEWMAN

    Special to ZAGSBLOG

    EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. —  When you look at Kyle Anderson, the stats are pretty outrageous, but none crazier than this.

    The 6-foot-9 UCLA signee has lost just once in the last three seasons at the highest level of high school basketball in New Jersey. That came in the 2010 Non-Public North B final against St. Anthony when Anderson was still at Paterson Catholic before the former North Jersey basketball powerhouse shut down after that school year.

    That March night at Rutgers was the last defeat he would taste and as Bob Hurley joked in the media room at the IZOD Center on Tuesday evening after St. Anthony’s latest Tournament of Champions win, Anderson couldn’t beat them, so he joined them. 

    Dan Hurley has agreed to become the new head coach at Rhode Island and will part ways with Wagner College after just two years at the Staten Island school, as first reported by SNY.tv and CBSSports.com Tuesday morning.

    After visiting Rhode Island Saturday, Hurley made the decision Monday night upon talking it over with his wife, Andrea, and their two sons, Danny (12) and Andrew (10).

    Hurley, 39, will sign a six-year deal worth approximately $4 million. He will be officially introduced at a press conference Wednesday.

    “We are thrilled to name Dan Hurley as our new head men’s basketball coach,” Rhode Island athletic director Thorr Bjorn said.  “Dan is a proven winner at every level and I am looking forward to partnering with him to build on the solid foundation we have in place.  Our goals are to compete for  – and win  – Atlantic 10 Championships and advance to play in NCAA Tournaments.”

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