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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 26.
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    • Articles, UConn

    NEW YORK — Kemba Walker is long gone from the UConn Huskies and the UConn Huskies are long gone from the Big East Conference.

    But on a warm November night inside an electric Madison Square Garden, Shabazz Napier evoked memories of Walker’s March Madness run a few years back.

    With a split crowd going wild, Napier, generously listed at 6 feet, 1 inch, went off for 27 points on 10-for-14 shooting as No. 18 UConn beat Indiana, 59-58, to capture the 2K Sports Classic.

    In winning two games in two nights at the Garden, the Huskies now have two more wins here this month than the building’s main tenant: the New York Knicks.

    Napier was named MVP of the event after scoring 8 of UConn’s last 11 points.

    Recruiting

    Kansas assistant Jerrance Howard met with JaQuan Lyle Thursday at Huntington (W.V.) Prep and by all accounts the visit went well.

    The 6-foot-5 Lyle holds a Kansas offer and he could visit the campus sometime over the Christmas break.

    Now that Kansas is out of the Tyus Jones Sweepstakes, they are re-focusing on Lyle, who is expected to sign in the spring. Kansas feels it needs a big-body combo guard to complete its recruiting class, giving them a potential top-five class to go along with Findlay Prep wing Kelly Oubre and Chicago Curie power forward Cliff Alexander.

    Lyle and Alexander talked about a possible package deal, and it appears that could still happen with the Jayhawks.

    Pittsburgh

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79SJel86T0g&w=560&h=315]

    Shaq is headed to play for Jamie Dixon at Pittsburgh.

    No, not that Shaq.

    Shaquille Doorson, a 6-foot-11, 265-pound center from Holland and the Canarias Basketball Academy, signed an NLI to play for the ACC school. He will have four years of eligibility remaining.

    “This was always the goal for me and the reason why I came to CBA,” he said in a statement. “My dream has come true, to know I’ll be playing in the ACC under a great coach and at a great program in a power house conference. I can only thank Rob Orellana and his coaching staff for pushing me every day to make this dream become a reality.”

    Articles, Indiana, NBA Draft

    NEW YORK — During the first half of Indiana’s 102-84 blowout of Washington Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, one Hoosiers fan seated behind the Indiana basket yelled out a message for freshman forward Noah Vonleh.

    “Hey, Noah, stay one more year,” the fan implored. “Noah, one more year.”

    The way the 6-foot-10, 240-pound Vonleh has shot out of the gate in his freshman season, you can understand why the Hoosier faithful are already concerned that he might be one-and-done.

    Vonleh finished with 18 points and 9 rebounds in just 24 minutes in the rout of Washington in the 2K Sports Classic, one rebound shy of what would have been his fifth straight double-double for the Hoosiers (5-0).

    UConn

    Sam Cassell, Jr. and Daniel Hamilton have signed agreements to attend UConn beginning with the 2014-15 academic year, the school announced.

    Cassell Jr. reportedly signed a National Letter of Intent, while Hamilton opted not to sign an NLI in part because of what his brother, Isaac, went through at UTEP. He signed financial aid papers.

    Cassell, a 6-4, 195-pound guard out of Baltimore, is the son of 15-year NBA player Sam Cassell, who is currently and assistant coach with the Washington Wizards. The elder Cassell was teammates with Ollie on the 2002-03 Milwaukee Bucks.

    Articles, Duke, Recruiting

    Duke’s dynamic duo just turned into a terrific trio.

    Justise Winslow announced Thursday afternoon at Houston St. John’s that he will play college basketball at Duke, joining his friends Jahlil Okafor and Tyus Jones in a blockbuster class for coach Mike Krzyzewski, who is familiar with all three players through his role with USA Basketball. The 6-foot-10 Okafor out of Chicago Whitney Young and the 6-2 Jones out of Apple Valley (MN) committed last week.

    “Next year I will be attending Duke University to play for Coach K,” Winslow said.

    The 6-foot-5 Winslow, ranked No. 14 in the Class of 2014 by ESPN.com and the reigning Texas Gatorade Player of the Year, also considered Arizona, UCLA, Florida and Texas A&M.

    “He’s a multi-dimensonal player and his greatest asset is his versatility,” longtime New York recruiting expert Tom Konchalski told SNY.tv. “He’s very strong, he’s very athletic and he really stuffs the stat sheet. Down at the EYBL Finals at the Peach Jam he would have games with 19 or 21 points and he would have eight or nine or 10 rebounds, four or five assists and two or three steals.

    Articles, Seton Hall

    Kevin Willard and Seton Hall will learn a lot about themselves over the coming weekend.

    The Pirates (3-1) face Oklahoma (3-0) Friday night in the Coaches vs. Cancer at Barclays Center, and if they win they will likely get No. 1 Michigan State on Saturday night.

    Picked to finish eighth in the Big East, Seton Hall is coming off an 82-66 home win over Monmouth on Monday and also posted home victories over Niagara (83-72) and Kent State (78-76).  The loss came in double-overtime at Mercer in the third game of the year (77-74).

    “If you look at Seton Hall last year, they had offensive talent but they weren’t the most efficient basketball team,” TNT analyst Greg Anthony said Thursday. “They are going to be better this year…they are going to be interesting to watch moving forward. They had a lot of expectations going into last year and things didn’t go very well. I think this is a bounce-back year. They have a chance to be one of the three or four best teams in the Big East moving forward.”

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