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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.
  • NEW YORK — It is almost axiomatic in college basketball that a deep NCAA Tournament run can help fuel a player’s NBA Draft stock.

    And so Archie Goodwin understandably believes that his stock was hurt last year when Kentucky failed to make the NCAA Tournament — and then lost in the first round of the NIT to Robert Morris.

    “If we would’ve won more, then I would’ve been a top pick,” Goodwin, who went No. 29 in last year’s draft, told SNY.tv prior to the Knicks’ 98-96 OT victory over the Phoenix Suns Monday at Madison Square Garden.

    “It was just a matter of us losing a lot of games that we should’ve won. I mean, we went to the NIT, so us losing there and then just a lot of games we should’ve won during the year, if we win those games then I feel like I’m easily one of those top picks. But losing has a big thing to do with it.”

    St. John’s may be without leading scorer D’Angelo Harrison tonight when it faces another must win in the Big East at DePaul.

    “D’Angelo has a minor concussion and will be a game-time decision [Tuesday],” St. John’s coach Steve Lavin said, referring to the injury Harrison sustained in Saturday’s loss to Villanova. “The team doctors are comfortable with him traveling and will do more tests to determine if he will be cleared to play.”

    Harrison is averaging a team-best 18.7 points per game for the Johnnies, who are 9-6, 0-3 in the Big East.

    After losses at Xavier, at Georgetown and to Villanova, St. John’s has a chance to put some wins on the board with upcoming games at DePaul and then home to Providence and Seton Hall.

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    By JACK LeGWIN

    Special to ZAGSBLOG

    MONTVERDE, Fla. –Antonio Blakeney is playing the best basketball of his young career at the best time.

    Blakeney is averaging 24.2 points per game, most recently scoring 25 points against the No. 1 team in the Nation, Montverde Academy. He has led Orlando (Fla.) Oak Ridge up against elite talent all year long up to this point, and has drawn attention from some of the best schools all across the country.

    Blakeney says that no specific school has shown more interest than any others.

    “Everybody has been contacting me recently,” Blakeney told SNY.tv after the loss at Montverde. “No school really more than any others. I’ve got a good relationship with Florida, Kansas North Carolina, Florida State, Missouri, everybody really.”

    Kansas freshman guard Wayne Selden appears to have turned a corner recently, and that could prove a huge plus for the Jayhawks down the stretch of the college basketball season.

    After averaging 22 points in his first two conference games, the 6-foot-5 Selden was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Monday.

    Selden helped the Jayhawks start 2-0 in conference play as Kansas won at Oklahoma (90-83) and defeated Kansas State (86-60).

    The Roxbury, Mass., guard opened the week with a career-best 24 points, including five 3-pointers, in the win in Norman.  The five 3-pointers were the most in a game by a Jayhawk this season.  Selden then added 20 points and four boards versus the Wildcats, connecting on 7-of-10 shots from the field.

    Chris McCulloughOne of the reasons Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim isn’t in any hurry to retire is because he knows he has talented players coming in.

    One of those players is 6-foot-10 forward Chris McCullough, who figures to be a perfect fit in the 2-3 zone when he arrives next fall.

    “I’m excited about the future,” Boeheim told SNY.tv last March. “We’ve got one of our better recruiting classes coming. We’ve got commitments from underclassmen that I think are very, very good players.”

    In what can’t be considered a surprise to anyone who follows basketball, several NBA agents who have met with Dante Exum in Australia believe he will enter the 2014 Draft.

    “I would be shocked if he doesn’t enter the draft,” one agent who recently met with Exum’s family, told Yahoo Sports. “He knows he’s a lottery pick, and knows several teams have him very high on their boards. His family knows that this is an opportunity that may not come again.”

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