October 2016 | Page 15 of 22 | 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.
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    • Maryland, Rutgers

    The Big Ten held its annual Media Day in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. And in March, the conference will hold its postseason tournament at the Verizon Center.

    A year from now, the conference will move its festivities to New York, with the Big Ten Tournament set for Madison Square Garden in 2018 — a week ahead of the Big East Tournament there.

    And the move Eastward gets a big thumbs up from Maryland coach Mark Turgeon and Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell.

    “We’re excited about having Media Day here in D.C. and excited about having the tournament,” Turgeon said. “Jim Delaney kept his word. He told me when we were joining the league that he would get us into D.C. So we’re grateful for that, and I know our fans are excited about that too.”

    A year from now, the Big Ten tourney will be in Rutgers’ back yard in New York.

    Indiana, Maryland, NBA Draft, Purdue

    Michigan State  coach Tom Izzo joked at Big Ten Media Day that he’s not a big fan of the new rules that allowed players to test the NBA Draft waters and still return to campus.

    “Yeah, it made me feel awful,” Izzo cracked. “Mine left and the others stayed.”

    While Michigan State lost freshman Deyonta Davis and senior Denzel Valentine to the NBA Draft, three other Big Ten players tested the waters and opted to return to campus.

    Indiana’s Thomas Bryant, Maryland’s Melo Trimble and Purdue’s Caleb Swanigan all chose to come back and are now part of a deep group of NBA prospects in the Big Ten.

    According to DraftExpress.com, the Big Ten has seven players projected to go in the 2017 NBA Draft: Indiana’s OG Anunoby at No. 11; Bryant at No. 20; Michigan State freshman Miles Bridges at 20; Wisconsin’s Nigel Hayes, the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, at 36; Ohio State’s Keita Bates-Diop at 46; Illinois’ Malcolm Hill at 48; and Trimble at 56. Swanigan is currently projected to go undrafted.

    Louisville, Recruiting

    Louisville coach Rick Pitino had a home visit in Buffalo, N.Y., on Wednesday with Alex Nwora, the head coach at Erie (N.Y.) Community College and the father of Vermont Academy and NY Rens small forward Jordan Nwora.

    Nwora is set to take an official visit to Louisville beginning Friday.

    “He loves his skillset, his IQ and his size,” Alex said Thursday by phone. “He said Jordan can play the 1-4 in his system. He said he has good leadership on the court and is a great kid that has NBA potential. He said for sure he’s a pro.

    “He promised that he will play major minutes as a freshman and has a chance to play against the best every game. He wants him to come and do what he does, which is score the ball.”

    Kentucky, Recruiting

    NEW YORK – Kentucky assistant Tony Barbee was the latest high-profile coach to pass through the historic hallways of Archbishop Molloy High School on Wednesday.

    Barbee came to watch 7-foot-1 Class of 2018 big man Moses Brown and 2019 point guard Cole Anthony, the son of former NBA point guard Greg Anthony.

    “[Barbee] didn’t offer them,” Molloy assistant John Magna said Thursday by phone. “He said he’d be back in contact with them. He was on the phone with Cal [Kentucky coach John Calipari] the whole time.”

    Louisville coach Rick Pitino, Maryland’s Mark Turgeon, Florida’s Mike White, St. John’s Chris Mullin and Kansas’ Norm Roberts are just some of the coaches who have recently come through the school that produced Kenny Smith, Kenny Anderson and Russ Smith.

    St. John's, Uncategorized

    By ADAM ZAGORIA & DENNIS CHAMBERS

    NEW YORK — Chris Mullin has been keeping an eye on the social protests going on around the sports world and plans to sit down with his players soon to discuss potential options for the St. John’s basketball team.

    From Colin Kaepernick to Carmelo Anthony to players in the WNBA, protesting social injustice has become a major issue in pro sports over the last few weeks. And with college basketball season now underway, it is becoming an important topic at the university level, too. Virginia players already posted a photo on social media of the team kneeling in protest of social injustice.

    “Probably within the next week or so as a team, we’ll have a nice sit down, just a team meeting, little town meeting type thing, and get everyone’s feelings and just really use it as a teaching tool,” Mullin, a Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, said Tuesday at Big East Media Day at Madison Square Garden.

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