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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.
  • By NICK MEDLINE

    Special to ZAGSBLOG

    RIVERSIDE, Ill.— Before turning 16, Michael Porter earned offers from Kansas, Missouri, Washington, Wichita State, Baylor, SMU, Indiana and several other schools.

    The 2017 Columbia (MO) small forward, though, has one glaring problem: Very few players his age can match him.

    Playing up one age level — with the loaded 16U MoKan Elite squad — he still dominated in the Riverside (IL) tournament this weekend. Porter and fellow top 2017 player Jeremiah Tilmon throttled local teams.

    “I think I played pretty well,” he told SNY.tv. “The competition isn’t up to where ours is. We have to keep executing and not playing down to the competition.”

    lance_stephenson_2011_03_04Lance Stephenson has left the Indiana Pacers, the only NBA team he has ever known, and agreed to a three-year, $27.4-million deal with the Charlotte Hornets, his agent confirmed to SNY.tv by phone Wednesday morning.

    “It’s basically a done deal,” Alberto Ebanks said.

    The Pacers initially offered the 23-year-old former Brooklyn Lincoln star a five-year deal worth $44 million but Stephenson balked, and the Dallas Mavericks had a two-year deal worth $20 million on the table before they signed Chandler Parsons.

    Stephenson will make $1.36 million more in Year 1 with Charlotte than he would’ve in Indiana, $787,000 more in Year 2 and $619,000 more in Year 3.

    But Ebanks said the major advantage of the Charlotte deal is that it gets Stephenson — who led the NBA with five triple-doubles last year — to free agency two years quicker than the Pacers’ offer would have.

    SAndersWith his embattled Prime Prep Academy facing closure by Texas state officials, Deion Sanders has vowed to “fight.”

    “My former Co-Founder DL Wallace was a Crook and Heartless and we are still suffering from his Devilish ways,” Sanders, the school’s co-founder, said on Twitter. “TEA [Texas Education Agency] informed Prime Prep they would revoke the charter pending appeal for the Food Program that Wallace hustled the state out of $45,000. We will appeal immediately.

    “I feel bad for this nonsense of yesterday affecting today and the potential of tomorrow for our students and NEW administration. We will fight this like we have all the other battles that we’ve faced.”

    BlakeneyBy NICK MEDLINE

    Special to ZAGSBLOG

    Kentucky and North Carolina offered Antonio Blakeney within a 24-hour span after his performance at the LeBron James Skills Academy.

    “Coach Cal told me I played well,” the 6-foot-3 Blakeney, who will be on display at the Peach Jam beginning Thursday with E1T1, told SNY.tv. “He liked the way I came up with the ball, and how I can score the ball.”

    North Carolina coach Roy Williams also chimed in with an offer for the Orlando shooting guard, who holds a reported 20 offers including Louisville, Florida, Missouri and Oregon.

    Ranked No. 16 by Rivals.com in the class of 2015, Blakeney earned high praise for his scoring ability. And during a crucial opener to the July live period, he did enough to earn one of the most coveted offers in the nation.

    ZiggyPope John’s Matt Zignorski has committed to Fordham.

    The 6-foot-3 2015 point guard also had offers from Bucknell, Princeton, American, Monmouth, Penn and Boston University.

    “I think he made a tremendous decision,” his high school coach, Jason Hasson, told SNY.tv. “He’s a great student and a great player who continues to get better every day.

    “The A-10 is competitive conference and with his ability to score and run a team. He’s going to be a valuable player in that league.”

    PHILADELPHIA — Growing up in Norwalk, Conn., Steve Enoch couldn’t help but become a fan of UConn basketball.

    Now the Huskies are riding high after winning their fourth NCAA championship since 1999 under new coach Kevin Ollie.

    “Growing up I’ve always wanted to play at UConn and my family wanted me to,” the 6-foot-10 Enoch told SNY.tv last week at the Reebok Classic Breakout. “And they’ve all been fans of UConn. Now that I have [a scholarship offer] I gotta take it slow because I really have to study their program.”

    Enoch has burst onto the national recruiting scene in recent weeks and now holds offers from UConn, Memphis, Arizona State, Kansas State, Fairfield, Sacred Heart, VCU, Oregon, Boston College, Providence, Rhode Island and Drexel.

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