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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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    • Articles

    andrew-wiggins1.jpg?w=600&h=425By JOSH NEWMAN

    The Canadian National Team blew a 7-point fourth quarter lead and fell in controversial fashion to Venezuela Friday night in a FIBA Americas semifinal, 79-78, in Mexico City.

    Venezuela is through to the 2016 Rio Olympics, while Canada will have to go through the World Qualifying Tournament next summer to get to Rio.

    “It’s very disappointing, obviously. Our dreams have been put on hold,” said Head Coach Jay Triano.

    “They out-hustled us, they out-worked us,” team captain Cory Joseph said. “I didn’t lead my team today. I’m disappointed. It happens.”

    With that said, did Canada lose its best chance at Olympic qualification on Friday night?

    Next summer’s World Olympic Qualifying Tournament will feature 18 teams, five of which are coming from EuroBasket. The top three teams from the event, which runs July 5-11 at a site that is TBD, will be through to the Olympics.

    As a point of reference, of the six teams to qualify for the Olympics through World Qualifying between 2008 and 2012, five of them came out of Europe.

    Tennis

    Sep 11, 2015; New York, NY, USA; Roger Federer of Switzerland hits to Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland on day twelve of the 2015 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

    Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

    NEW YORK — The dream final is on in the US Open.

    No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic and No. 2 Roger Federer each won their semifinals in straight sets on Friday and will meet for the championship on Sunday afternoon. It will be the sixth meeting in a final this year between the top two players in the world.

    Federer won the most recent encounter, beating Djokovic 7-6 (1), 6-3 to take the title in Cincinnati last month. It will also be a rematch of the Wimbledon final, where Djokovic won in four sets.

    “He’s had a tremendous year,” Federer said of Djokovic after handling Stan Wawrinka, 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 in 1 hour, 31 minutes to improve to 17-3 all-time against his Swiss countryman. “There’s a lot on the line always when we play each other, particularly in the finals. He could get his third [Major] of the year. I could get my first in some time.

    “He’s been really tough to beat, plus he’s tough mentally. He doesn’t give you anything. I like that challenge and I’ll be realdy for it.”

    Federer, who leads the all-time rivalry with Djokovic 21-20, will appear in a US Open final for the first time since 2009. He is seeking his sixth US Open crown and 18th Major.

    Djokovic is seeking his 10th Grand Slam title and second Open title.

    “This could be a pick ’em match, no question,” John McEnroe said on ESPN. “You are talking about two of five or six of the greatest players who ever lived, and they have taken their opponents out of it completely mentally.”

    Tennis

    Sep 11, 2015; New York, NY, USA; Serena Williams of the USA reacts after a winner against Roberta Vinci of Italy on day twelve of the 2015 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

    Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

    NEW YORK — There will be no historic Grand Slam for Serena Williams after all.

    Roberti Vinci made sure of that after calmly hitting a forehand half volley winner on the first of three match points against the great Serena.

    The 32-year-old unseeded Italian stunned Williams — and the tennis world — by knocking off the three-time defending champion 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals of the US Open.

    Williams was seeking to become the first person since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win the Grand Slam.

    Vinci entered the tournament facing odds of 300-1 to win it, and Serena had been 43-1 against unseeded opponents at the Open in her career.

    “I’m sorry, for the American people, for Serena, for the Grand Slam,” Vinci said on court. “Sorry guys.”

    Articles

    Josh JacksonAfter missing out on landing any 2015 McDonald’s All-Americans for his startup Las Vegas Dealers semipro team, Cerruti Brown confirmed Thursday that he will now target Class of 2016 stars, including Josh Jackson.

    “The game plan is No. 1 is to show that we have a stable league that has great competion with players that played at the highest level of Division 1 basketball,” Brown, the organizer of the fledgling eight-team league, told SNY.tv Thursday by phone.

    “With that when we go into the homes and talk to certain members of the Class of 2016, once they see that we are stable and viable, then the selling point becomes more easier to sell the high school player.”

    Articles, Recruiting

    Road TripFollowing a busy week in which college coaches criss-crossed the country to visit with their priority recruits, many of of those recruits will hit the road for official visits.

    Here’s a rundown that will be updated over the weekend. For more detail on any player, click the embedded link near their name:

    **Following home and school visits this week with St. John’s, Creighton, Providence and Minnesota, Brooklyn Thomas Jefferson guard Shamorie Ponds begins his official visit to Providence on Friday.

     

    **Bryce Aiken, a 5-11 point guard from Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick’s, is on Harvard’s campus ahead of officials to Seton Hall, Miami, USC and Michigan.

     

    **Following home and school visits this week with Kentucky, UConn, Maryland, Duke and Providence, 6-10 Wilbraham & Monson forward Wenyen Gabriel is on an official to Maryland, which is coming off the verbal pledge of point guard Kevin Huerter this past week. For more, listen to Gabriel’s coach Mike Mannix on The 4 Quarters Podcast.

    Kentucky, Recruiting

    It’s been quite an eventful few days for Wenyen Gabriel,the 6-foot-10, 195-pound forward from Wilbraham & Monson.

    In the past two days, he’s had school and home visits with Kentucky coach John Calipari, UConn’s Kevin Ollie, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Maryland’s Mark Turgeon and Providence’s Ed Cooley.

    On Friday, he takes off first thing in the morning for an official visit to Maryland, which is red hot coming off the commitment this past week of point guard Kevin Huerter.

    Gabriel met Thursday morning with Calipari, who was headed to Springfield, Mass., for his Hall of Fame induction on Friday. 

    Kentucky

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    Pat Riley, Dr. J and Larry Brown will introduce Kentucky coach John Calipari into the Naismith Hall of Fame on Friday.

    Riley starred at Kentucky, Dr. J starred at UMass and Calipari coached under Brown at Kansas.

    It should come as no surprise that Memphis has no representative honoring Calipari. No doubt fueled by this thought-provoking column from Geoff Caulkins, Memphis President David Rudd announced that the school itself would not be honoring Cal at all this year.

     

    Here’s the official release from Kentucky athletics:

    cal-brownKentucky Wildcats John Calipari and Louie Dampier will be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday night at the Symphony Hall in Springfield, Mass. The Wildcats are two of 11 basketball legends in the Class of 2015 and the ninth and 10th UK representatives, respectively, to join basketball’s fraternity of legends.

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