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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.
  • NixRozelle Nix, a 7-footer from Pensacola (FL) State, is down to Pittsburgh, South Carolina and Loyola Marymount and will sign early, Pensacola assistant Joey Murdock confirmed to SNY.tv.

    Brad Winton of JUCORecruiting first reported the news.

    Nix has already visited South Carolina and Loyola and visits Pitt Oct. 24-25.

    “He will make his decision out of those three in the early signing period,” Murdock said.

    Louisville coach Rick Pitino has chimed in on the recent decommitment of shooting guard Antonio Blakeney, which has been linked to the fact that Louisville is an adidas program and Blakeney plays for a Nike AAU team.

    “I don’t like not being able to recruit” a kid because of their shoe affiliation, Pitino said, according to Jeff Greer of the Louisville Courier-Journal. “We need to get shoe companies out of their lives”

    Pitino isn’t permitted to comment on recruitable student-athletes so he was ostensibly speaking generally.

    “I’m not talking about a specific case that just happened to us,” he said. “I’m saying in the last five years” things have changed.

    Pitino recruited Blakeney at the Nike-sponsored Peach Jam, among other events, watching him several times there, as did other high-major coaches.

    Henry Ellenson, the 6-foot-10 Rice Lake (WI) power forward, has committed to Marquette following his recent visit to the Big East school, according to ESPN’s Reggie Rankin.

    Ranked the No. 4 power forward in the Class of 2015 by the 247Sports Composite ranking, Ellenson is the highest-ranked prep player to commit to Marquette since Doc Rivers, according to Mark Miller.

    “I felt Marquette was a place where I could make an immediate impact,” he told Rankin. “I feel that I will have an opportunity to play multiple positions and show my versatility. Also, I was the most comfortable with the coaching staff and a chance to play with my brother was something that was always big to me.”

    Wally Ellenson, a junior guard and Henry’s older brother, is on the Marquette roster after transferring from Minnesota.

    Here’s your look-ahead to the weekend’s recruiting visits and other news. This list will be updated throughout the weekend:

    Missouri, Kansas, Texas A&M and Kentucky all have big recruiting weekends on tap.

    **Mizzou hosts Georgia in SEC football action on Saturday and will have a trio of bigtime recruits on campus for official visits in Isaiah Briscoe, Antonio Blakeney and Thomas Bryant.

    They will also have Miles Bridges, Curtis Jones, Jayson Tatum, Tyler Cook, Michael Porter and Jontay Porter on unofficials.

    The 6-foot-3 Briscoe has recently visited UConn, Kentucky and Seton Hall and is slated to visit St.

    Caleb Swanigan, the 6-foot-8 power forward out of Fort Wayne (IN) Homestead, will visit Kentucky this weekend.

    Kentucky’s NBA combine will be televised Friday on ESPNU from 3-5 EST, and all 30 NBA teams are invited.

    Swanigan and his guardian, Roosevelt Barnes, will arrive Friday night and attend Saturday’s practice, Barnes told SNY.tv.

    Swanigan has no other visits planned, but Barnes said they “definitely” plan to get to Chicago State for a game at some point.

    Tyus BattleEDISON, N.J. — Tyus Battle, one of the most sought after players in the Class of 2016, plans to cut his list sometime before his high school season starts in December at Gladstone (N.J.) Gill St. Bernard’s.

    The 6-foot-6 Battle will trim his list to about 10 schools, he and his father told SNY.tv Tuesday.

    “I’m going to cut my list down to 10 or 12 before the season starts this year, so that should be a lot of fun,” Battle told SNY.tv.

    Among the schools that would seem to stand a good chance of making the cut are Kentucky, Duke, Syracuse, Michigan, Ohio State, UConn, Florida and Louisville.

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