September 2010 | Zagsblog
Recent Posts
About ZagsBlog
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.
Follow Zags on Twitter
Couldn't connect with Twitter
Contact Zags
Connect with Zags:
Friday / March 29.
  • Angel Nunez, a 6-foot-8, 190-pound wing from Harlem who attends Fitchburg (Mass.) Notre Dame Prep, has given a verbal commitment to Louisville.

    “I just liked the program,” he said by phone. “They had good success for a while now. Coach [Rick] Pitino is a tough coach. He’s going to push me to work hard, push me to the next level. I liked what Francisco [Garcia] did and what Pitino did for Francisco.”

    Garcia, a role model and close family friend of Nunez’s, played at Louisville and is now with the Sacramento Kings.

    Nunez said he actually committed a week ago, but made it official today after Louisville assistants Steve Masiello and Tim Fuller visited the gym along with coaches from several other schools, including Marquette and West Virginia.

    The seemingly inevitable has become reality.

    Austin Rivers, the No. 1 prospect in the Class of 2011 out of Winter Park (Fla.) High, verbally committed to Duke, choosing the Blue Devils over North Carolina and Kansas.

    Duke assistant Chris Collins and Kansas assistant Danny Manning attended Rivers’ workout Wednesday and he made the decision afterward.

    “I made the decision late last night,” the 6-foot-5, 197-pound Rivers said by phone. “I just thought about it and this is where I see myself playing. Duke here I come. I’m ready to go and play for the Blue Devils.”

    GREENBURGH, N.Y. — As the Knicks prepare to play exhibition games in Italy and France, the most intriguing player on their roster is a 7-foot-1 Russian.

    Timofey Mozgov, a 24-year-old from St. Petersburg, Russia, has the potential to give the Knicks something they have sorely lacked in recent years: an athletic, mobile force patrolling the paint.

    “He’s definitely mobile,” Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire said Wednesday after practice before the team departed for Europe.

    “He’s great around the basket. He can shoot the ball from the outside. He’s crafty. He’s a great rebounder. Once he gets acclimated to playing against other NBA players, he’s going to get better.”

    The Big East Conference is considering adding Texas Christian University as its ninth football team, a source with knowledge confirmed Thursday.

    The Star-Telegram of Fort Worth, Texas reported on Wednesday that TCU officials have met with their Big East counterparts “within the past 30 days to discuss the logistics of a move by TCU in either the 2011 or 2012 seasons, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.”

    The New York Post first reported the development Tuesday.

    Big East officials do not deny the reports, the source with knowledge said.

    A couple of big commitments went down on Wednesday…

    Ky Madden, a 6-foot-5 point guard from Arkansas East Poinsett County, chose Arkansas over Ole Miss and Baylor.

    Madden joins two Arkansas natives, 6-10 power forward Hunter Mickelson and 6-7 power forward Aaron Ross — his teammates on the Arkansas Wings — in a terrific recruiting class for head coach John Pelphrey. The class also includes 6-3 St. Louis point guard B.J. Young.

    “I feel like I can’t go wrong, I’m an in-state guy,” Madden told 103.9 the Game. “Us together, I think we can turn Arkansas around. … I didn’t feel like I could leave the state.”

    Tim Thomas was waived Tuesday by the Dallas Mavericks, but says he isn’t retiring from the NBA and hopes to be back for the 2011-12 season.

    “I’m definitely planning on being back next year,” Thomas, a Paterson, N.J. native who spent one year at Villanova, said Wednesday by phone.

    “The situation is that my wife [Tricia] has a few things that she has to take care of. Just the timing was bad. I don’t want people to think she’s on her deathbed or anything like that. She had some things to take care of and she just wanted me to be home [in Los Angeles] when she had to go through them.”

    } });
    X