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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.
  • SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Matt Coleman, the 6-foot-1, 174-pound point guard from Oak Hill (VA) Academy, announced for Texas over Duke on Monday at the Hoophall Classic.

    Coleman joins shooting guard Jase Febres and power forwards Royce Hamm and Jericho Simms in Coach Shaka Smart’s 2017 class.

    “It was about watching both teams play, and finding out where I was needed,” Coleman said on ESPNU. “Knowing Shaka’s the coach, he’s a players coach watching them play. Constantly, you’re just hearing, ‘They need a point guard, they need a point guard, things would be different if they had a point guard.’ The way they play up and down, I know the ball is going to be in my hands from day one.”

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Less than 12 hours after being spurned for the McDonald’s All-American Game, Alabama signee John Petty took it out on Naismith Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley and St. Anthony’s.

    The 6-foot-6 Petty dropped a triple-double of 18 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists en route to MVP honors as Jemison (AL) handed St. Anthony’s its second straight loss, 58-52, at the Hoophall Classic. The Friars had won 41 straight games dating to March 2015 before falling to archrival St. Patrick’s on Saturday at the Dan Finn Classic.

    “Yeah, I was kind of surprised, I feel like I deserved to be on there [the McDonald’s Game],” Petty told me. “But my philosophy is God always closes one door and then opens another one so I just prayed about it and stay humble.”

    Asked if he will use it as motivation going forward this season, Petty said, “Most definitely. I always come out with a chip on my shoulder and [now I will] get ready for college, I guess.”

    The basketball stars of tomorrow heard their names called Sunday night when the rosters for the prestigious 2017 McDonald’s All-American were announced.

    Of the participants, seven still haven’t decided where they will play basketball at the college level.

    But for those who have chosen their residence at the next level, typical blue-blood programs Duke, Kentucky, and UCLA dominated the field.

    The Wildcats hold commitments from four players on the East team: guard Quade Green, center Nick Richards, forwards P.J. Washington and Jarred Vanderbilt.

    Kentucky has signed 60 McDonald’s All-Americans since the team began in 1977.

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — One day before his team was to play at the Hoophall Classic, Kentucky-bound point guard Quade Green went into the Westtown (PA) School practice and delivered a message to Mohamed Bamba.

    “I walked right into their practice and said ‘BBN.’ I just gave him a smirk and just left,” Green recounted Sunday after putting up 30 points and 10 assists en route to MVP honors as Neumann Goretti held off Greensboro Day School (N.C.), 72-69.

    “[Bamba] just laughed.”

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