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.
Lance to Visit St. John’s Thursday (Updated); Henry to Skip Kansas Visit
Fresh off an in-home visit last week with St. John’s head coach Norm Roberts, Lance Stephenson is expected to visit St. John’s Thursday for the 2008 Red Storm Tip-Off, according to sources close to the situation. It is not an official visit.
The event will run from 5:45-8 at Taffner Field House and will serve as St. John’s Midnight Madness event. It is open to students and the media, but not the general public. There will be a free student BBQ and the men’s and women’s teams will be introduced. Both Roberts and women’s coach Kim Barnes-Arrico will speak to the fans, and both teams will then scrimmage.
Other recruits will also attend, as well as members of the current recruiting class, including South Kent standout Omari Lawrence.
As for the 6-5 Stephenson, ZAGSBLOG broke the news earlier this week that Roberts and assistant Fred Quartlebaumhad an in-home with the Stephensons last Thursday. He won’t decide until the spring, but St. John’s appears to have as strong a shot as anybody.
Having already locked up a recruiting class of Malik Stith and Omari Lawrence, Roberts has one scholarship remaining for the Class of 2009.
St. John’s is focusing onStephenson, James Padgett and Jordan Williams. If the Johnnies were to land commitments from two of these players, they would need someone to leave the team in order to free up a scholarship.
Coach Roberts had an in-home visit with the 6-foot-8 Williams on Wednesday and Williams had previously said St. John’s had shown the most interest in him. He recently had an in-home visit with Coach Gary Williams of Maryland, and plans to visit there officially.
“I can tell you that I am going to take an official visit there [Maryland],” Williams told TerrapinTimes.com. “I am thinking about coming down for their Maryland Madness, since it sounds like that is also Homecoming Weekend and a lot will be going on. Right now, that is the tentative plan, but it’s possible I could visit before then. This process is just beginning in terms of home and official visits, and I am not ready to say anyone is leading at this point. But Maryland is definitely going to be in the mix.”
As for the 6-7 Padgett, he had an in-home with Coach Roberts on Monday. The latest on him is that he will NOT take an official visit this weekend to Pitt, where Rice guard Durand Scott will be. Pitt just got a commitment from power forward J.J. Richardson of Pitt, meaning it could be out of the Padgett Sweepstakes.
Lincoln coach Dwayne “Tiny” Morton said coaches from Maryland and Villanova visited Padgett at school Thursday, and Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State will come in next week.
HENRY TO SKIP KANSAS VISIT
Elsewhere, Xavier Henry will not attend tonight’s “Late Night in the Phog” event at Kansas, preferring instead to visit his brother, CJ Henry, at Memphis.
Elite prospects John Wall, Daniel Orton and Thomas Robinson will still visit Kansas.
For more, read Gary Bedore’s update on KUSports.com.
Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle.
A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.
Fresh off an in-home visit last week with St. John’s head coach Norm Roberts, Lance Stephenson is expected to visit St. John’s Thursday for the 2008 Red Storm Tip-Off, according to sources close to the situation. It is not an official visit.
The event will run from 5:45-8 at Taffner Field House and will serve as St. John’s Midnight Madness event. It is open to students and the media, but not the general public. There will be a free student BBQ and the men’s and women’s teams will be introduced. Both Roberts and women’s coach Kim Barnes-Arrico will speak to the fans, and both teams will then scrimmage.
Other recruits will also attend, as well as members of the current recruiting class, including South Kent standout Omari Lawrence.
As for the 6-5 Stephenson, ZAGSBLOG broke the news earlier this week that Roberts and assistant Fred Quartlebaum had an in-home with the Stephensons last Thursday. He won’t decide until the spring, but St. John’s appears to have as strong a shot as anybody.
Having already locked up a recruiting class of Malik Stith and Omari Lawrence, Roberts has one scholarship remaining for the Class of 2009.
St. John’s is focusing on Stephenson, James Padgett and Jordan Williams. If the Johnnies were to land commitments from two of these players, they would need someone to leave the team in order to free up a scholarship.
Coach Roberts had an in-home visit with the 6-foot-8 Williams on Wednesday and Williams had previously said St. John’s had shown the most interest in him. He recently had an in-home visit with Coach Gary Williams of Maryland, and plans to visit there officially.
“I can tell you that I am going to take an official visit there [Maryland],” Williams told TerrapinTimes.com. “I am thinking about coming down for their Maryland Madness, since it sounds like that is also Homecoming Weekend and a lot will be going on. Right now, that is the tentative plan, but it’s possible I could visit before then. This process is just beginning in terms of home and official visits, and I am not ready to say anyone is leading at this point. But Maryland is definitely going to be in the mix.”
As for the 6-7 Padgett, he had an in-home with Coach Roberts on Monday. The latest on him is that he will NOT take an official visit this weekend to Pitt, where Rice guard Durand Scott will be. Pitt just got a commitment from power forward J.J. Richardson of Pitt, meaning it could be out of the Padgett Sweepstakes.
Lincoln coach Dwayne “Tiny” Morton said coaches from Maryland and Villanova visited Padgett at school Thursday, and Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State will come in next week.
HENRY TO SKIP KANSAS VISIT
Elsewhere, Xavier Henry will not attend tonight’s “Late Night in the Phog” event at Kansas, preferring instead to visit his brother, CJ Henry, at Memphis.
Elite prospects John Wall, Daniel Orton and Thomas Robinson will still visit Kansas.
For more, read Gary Bedore’s update on KUSports.com.
