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Saturday / December 14.
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    • Breaking News, Duke

    NEW YORK — Don Showalter has coached Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles and Marques Bolden with various USA Basketball youth teams.

    The 6-foot-8 Tatum and the 6-10 Giles each won three gold medals with USA Basketball, while the 6-11 Bolden played in the Hoop Summit last April that is associated with USA Basketball.

    So Showalter knows all about the vast reservoirs of talent the three injured Duke freshmen forwards possess.

    And he knows that Duke, which will likely lose its No. 1 ranking to Kentucky on Monday, figures to be a completely different team once the freshmen hit the court.

    “Duke could be scary good provided they can share the ball and play unselfish,” Showalter, an eight-time USA Basketball gold medalist head coach, told ZAGSBLOG. “Those three are lottery picks.”

    Breaking News, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky

    NEW YORK –– Thanks to a game-winning pullup jumper by Frank Mason III with 1.8 seconds remaining, No. 7 Kansas handed top-ranked Duke its first loss of the season.

    Kansas, which was coming off a loss to Indiana Friday night in the Armed Forces Classic in Honolulu, edged Duke, 77-75, in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden.

    “I just took advantage of the separation I created and I just shot the ball,” Mason III said. “It felt good when it left my hand and I just thank God that it went in.”

    After Duke’s Frank Jackson hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 75 with 20 seconds remaining, Mason III drove from midcourt, pulled up from 12 feet and drained the game-winner.

    Duke, Kansas

    NEW YORK — Poor Duke.

    They won’t have injured freshmen forwards Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles and Marques Bolden for Tuesday’s game against No. 3 Kansas in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden.

    But the No. 1 Blue Devils (2-0) can still roll out a half dozen McDonald’s All-Americans for the game, which follows the matchup between No. 2 Kentucky and No. 12 Michigan State.

    “I don’t know how many McDonald’s All-American’s they have on their team,” Kansas coach Bill Self said Sunday night. “They got three sitting out. They still got [Grayson] Allen, they still got [Luke] Kennard. I think Amile [Jefferson] was a McDonald’s All-American and Frank Jackson was a McDonald’s All-American. [Chase] Jeter was a McDonald’s All-American. They’re still going to have plenty of guys that are capable of playing very well.”

    Don’t forget Matt Jones, coach. He was a McDonald’s All-American, too.

    Tatum and Bolden were McDonald’s All-Americans in 2016, while the injured Giles was not. So all told, Duke has eight on its roster, six of whom will play against Kansas.

    Duke, Recruiting

    Gary Trent Jr., the 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Prolific Prep (CA), committed to Duke over Michigan State and UCLA on Thursday on ESPNU.

    “In the fall of 2017, I will be attending Duke University,” he said. “The thing about Duke University, the brotherhood behind it, Coach K, there’s so many things about it that are top-tier, there’s no way you could turn it down.

    “Just from how the practices are run to how they play together. Everything about it was just top of the line and I just loved everything about it.”

    Prolific Prep coach Billy McKnight said Trent Jr. is on track to be in the NBA soon.

    “Gary gets a lot of credit for his scoring ability and for good reason,” he said. “He’s a fantastic shooter from deep and can score from all three levels. What’s really impressed me is his ability to read the floor and make the right play. His unselfishness and passing ability to create for others really stands out. His father (Gary Trent Sr) and previous coaches have done a great job of teaching him how to play.

    Duke

    Wendell Carter Jr., who this summer won a gold medal with the USA U17 team and was named to the All-Star Five Team at the U17 World Championship in Spain, now plans to sign during the early signing period instead of in the spring.

    The 6-foot-10 Carter Jr. out of Atlanta (GA) Pace Academy is considering Duke, Harvard, Georgia and Georgia Tech, and took his final visit to Georgia Tech this past weekend.

    “I’m going to be signing early,” he told Rivals.com. “I’m just going to put it up on Twitter. I’m going to make a video and put it up on Twitter. I’m not sure when exactly it will be.”

    The early signing period runs Nov. 9-16.

    Duke remains the favorite for Carter Jr., who continues to talk with fellow Class of 2017 star Gary Trent Jr. about playing together in college. Trent Jr. has visited Duke, UCLA and Michigan State and recently said in his USA Today blog that both he and Carter Jr. “loved” their Duke visit — which they took together.

    Copyright 2016 Zagsblog. Partner of iOne Digital / Cassius Network
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