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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 / December 19.
  • Only one reporter will be in the room when Andrew Wiggins announces his college choice on Tuesday shortly after noon Eastern Time.

    He doesn’t work for ESPN, Rivals, Scout or even SNY.

    His name is Grant Traylor, and he is the Huntington (W.V.) Prep beat writer for the Herald-Dispatch, which has a circulation of 23,000 on weekdays and 30,000 on Sunday.

    “I’m nobody,” Traylor, 29, told SNY.tv Monday by phone. “I’m just privileged to be in the room when he makes the announcement.”

    The 6-foot-7 Wiggins is the most hyped high school prospect since LeBron James and he is deciding between Florida State, Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina.

    By MATT SUGAM & ADAM ZAGORIA

    Eddie Jordan has added some much needed depth to Rutgers’ depleted backcourt as Iowa State shooting guard Kerwin Okoro has committed to the Scarlet Knights, a source told SNY.tv. The source requested anonymity  since Okoro’s transfer paperwork is not finalized yet.

    “I’m a Scarlet Knight……#RutgersNation,” Okoro tweeted.

    The Bronx native who played at St. Raymond’s has decided to come closer to home after a difficult year where he had two deaths in the family with his 28-year-old brother dying of colon cancer in February and his father passing away from a stroke in December. Because of that, the 6-foot-5 wing may be able to get a hardship waiver from the NCAA to play immediately rather then having to sit out for a year.

    “It was a decision I made to be close to my family,” Okoro told SNY.tv. “I thought about a couple of options but the Rutgers situation seemed like what was best for me.”

    If Andrew Wiggins does pick Kentucky on Tuesday, thereby giving coach John Calipari seven McDonald’s All-Americans on next year’s roster, it still wouldn’t be the greatest recruiting class in the history of college basketball.

    So says Tom Konchalski, who has been covering high school recruiting since the 1960s and has authored the High School Basketball Insider since 1979.

    According to Konchalski, UCLA scored the greatest recruiting class ever when it landed Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. out of New York’s Power Memorial Academy in 1965.

    “Yes,” Konchalski told SNY.tv. “I still think because the proof of the pudding is in the eating, the proof of the

    Nerlens Noel is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft next month, but he says he’s not thinking about that too much at this point.

    “I really don’t pay too much attention to that,” the 6-foot-10 Noel said Monday on ESPN’s “Mike & Mike.” “My main focus is just rehabbing and working hard down there in Birmingham, Ala….and just really staying focused on that.

    “I’m not too much into the high draft picks and stuff. That’s really my main focus, is getting back on the court.”

    Noel had ACL surgery in March after tearing it during a February game against Florida.

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