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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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Sunday / December 22.
  • imagesKevin Willard is entering his sixth season as the head coach at Seton Hall and is still seeking his first NCAA Tournament appearance.

    During his five years in South Orange, Willard is 82-80, 30-60 in the Big East and has one NIT appearance on his résumé.

    This year is critical for Willard and he understands that, telling Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com that the Pirates have to do something special in order for this year to be considered a success.

    “I think we have to get to the NCAA Tournament,” Willard said. “I have high expectations for these guys. We’ve talked about what my expectations are for them. I want to see much more consistent basketball throughout the year and I want to see us achieve what we achieved during the early part of last year towards the end of this season.”

    LightfootMitch Lightfoot, a 6-foot-7, 200-pound 2016 forward from Gilbert (Ariz.) Christian High, enjoyed his official visit to St. John’s over the weekend and expects to make a college decision sometime following his trip to Arizona next weekend.

    “It went really well,” he said by phone Sunday evening. “I like those guys a lot. Coach [Chris] Mullin is an amazing basketball mind, a good dude. I really like the assistant coaches, they’re all great personalities. I really like Slice [Barry Rohrssen] and coach [Greg] St. Jean and all them, they’re good guys. They showed me a really good time.”

    Of Slice, he added, “He knows so much about basketball. He has all the connections in the world, it’s pretty cool.”

    Lightfoot visited Madison Square Garden for the WWE Network live special and got a kick out of that, too.

    MintzDavion Mintz, a 6-foot-3 1/2, 170-pound combo guard from Huntersville (N.C.) North Mecklenburg and the Charlotte Nets AAU program, committed to Creighton on Sunday.

    The 6-foot-4 Mintz also had considered Kansas State, Tulsa, Yale and Miami, and was scheduled to visit Kansas State next weekend. He is Creighton’s first commit in the Class of 2016.

    “I picked Creighton because of the hospitality of the players and the coaching staff,” he said by text. “Then the community and the fan support.


    CallooMaurice Calloo,
    a 2018 forward from Spire Institute (Ohio), and 6-foot Kajon Gordon-Stephens, a 2018 point guard also from Spire, both took unofficial visits to Kentucky on Sunday.

    Calloo already holds offers from Florida, Mississippi State and Kansas State.

    “Maurice is a 6-foot-8 wing who can score in numerous ways,” Spire coach Bobby Bossman told SNY.tv. “He’s a solid shooter, a very good ball-handler and has phenomenal court vision. He needs to really focus on his foot speed and body this year to help him get to the highest level. It’s going to be exciting to see where he is this time next year.

    4_947874Josh Jackson says he’s planning on visiting two schools in October, but did not mention any specific dates.

    “I’m definitely going to take two this month, but I’m not sure when,” the 6-foot-7 small forward told Scout.com at USA Junior National Team minicamp in Colorado Springs, Colo. “The two I’m going to visit are Arizona and Kansas.”

    Jackson previously took an unofficial to Arizona and has a connection with head coach Sean Miller from their time together with the USA U19 team.

    “It was real nice,” he said. “The campus was real nice. The weather was great. I love the hot weather, coming from Michigan where it snows all the time. Obviously I have a great relationship with coach Miller with him coaching me at U19. I think he’s a great coach and I just really like Arizona.”

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