August 2016 | Zagsblog
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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 / November 22.
  • NEW YORK — It’s still just Day 3 here at the US Open, so it’s best not to get too carried away thinking about the potentially bright future of American men’s tennis.

    Check back next week and see how many Yanks are playing during the second week of the year’s final Grand Slam.

    Remember, no American man has won a major title since Andy Roddick captured the Open back in 2003.

    All that said, it’s been an exciting first couple of days for the American men.

    As late afternoon turned to evening here Wednesday, Ryan Harrison, a 24-year-old qualifier from Austin, Texas, scored the biggest win of his career when he upset No. 5 Milos Raonic, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-5, 6-1 before a near capacity crowd on the intimate new Grandstand court. Harrison, who became the first qualifier to ever take out a top-5 seed at the Open, advanced to the third round against veteran Marcos Baghdatis.

    BY JACK LeGWIN AND ADAM ZAGORIA

    Team Rio’s Scottie Lewis and Bryan Antoine have picked up offers from Kansas, Washington and Miami, their Team Rio coach Brian Klatsky told SNY.tv.

    In 247 Sports’ new 2019 rankings, Antoine is ranked No.2 in the class, with Lewis coming in at No. 3. Both were watched by many schools this summer, including Kansas’ Bill Self, and Kentucky’s John Calipari.

    Lewis said that having high level coaches watching him kept him motivated.

    “As far as my work ethic is concerned, it definitely has,” Lewis said. “It means that all of the work that we have put in together, it means that we are on the right track. We are taking our training to the next level, and we are looking forward to seeing where that goes.”

    In this day and age, if you make a mistake on your Twitter, everybody and their mother is going to see it.

    Such was the case on Wednesday when Rutgers let loose a Twitter brag which said that Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton and Shabazz Napier — all of whom played at UConn while current Rutgers associate head coach Karl Hobbs was an assistant there — had combined to earn $1.1 billion in NBA earnings. (New Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell also played at UConn.)

    ESPN’s Dana O’Neil and Deadspin were quick to jump on it, with O’Neil pointing out that by the transitive theory, SMU could’ve claimed ties to Allen Iverson and Danny Manning when Larry Brown coached there, and that Tennessee could now claim ties to Kevin Durant because Rick Barnes coached him at Texas.

    Deng Gak and Matt Turner, the two most highly recruited Class of 2017 players at prestigious Blair (N.J.) Academy, have cut their lists and are planning to take visits.

    The 6-foot-10 Gak, who runs with the PSA Cardinals, is down to five schools in Miami, Duke, Indiana, Florida and Kansas and will visit all of them, Blair coach Joe Mantegna told SNY.tv. No dates are set up.

    “Deng is a late comer to the recruiting scene arriving in New Jersey as a junior,” Mantegna said. “He hasn’t even scratched the surface of what he will be as he transitions to a totally different culture and a very different style of basketball than he was used to previous. He has very little feel for the differences between these schools growing up in Australia, so the official visits will be a huge part of the process.”

    Gak is close with current Lakers and former Duke wing Luol Deng. Deng attended Blair and both Deng and Gak are of Dinka descent. Duke offered Gak last April. The Blue Devils have also offered PSA Cardinals 7-footer Mohamed Bamba and 6-foot point guard Quade Green.

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