Villanova head coach Jay Wright met Tuesday with JayVaughn Pinkston and now the Wildcats have separated themselves in his recruitment.

The 6-foot-6 Pinkston, a senior forward at Bishop Loughlin, is the top player in New York City and the No. 67-ranked player in the Class of 2010 according to Rivals.

“It was a great home visit today,” said Kimani Young, the New Heights athletic director and an adviser to Pinkston.

“[Coach Wright] talked about how Jay would fit in and what they’re doing. He talked about the success he’s had with guys from New York City, Allan Ray, Curtis Sumpter, Jason Fraser, and now with Corey Fisher and Antonio Pena.

“He talked about how at a place like Villanova it’s important how well they do academically. A kid like Curtis Sumpter was a future NBA first round pick and then had two torn ACLs. Now he’s an average player overseas but he has his Masters degree and has a  future in the finance world. You can’t say that would’ve happened at other schools. (more…)

The NBA Draft just got a little deeper.

Stephen Curry of Davidson, the North Carolina duo of Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington and UConn big man Ater Majok all declared Thursday for the draft. Curry, Lawson and Ellington are juniors, while Majok has yet to play a game at UConn.

“When I came here I thought it was going to be for four years with my teammates and my class, graduating and things like that. That’s hard to walk away from before I have to,” Curry said at his press conference.  “It took a very positive, beneficial next step for me, an opportunity for me, to give that up. It’s going to be hard to walk away from it.” (more…)

NEW YORK – Playing before a national television audience and at Madison Square Garden for the first time in his life, Stephen Curry was in the perfect position to once again wow America with his shooting prowess.

Unfortunately for Curry, many of his long-range bombs were clanking off the rim as time wound down against West Virginia in the Jimmy V Classic.

“I was pretty frustrated,” Curry said. “Those are shots I usually make. It didn’t help that it was when they were coming back in the game.”

Read the full story here.

In the 2nd game, No. 6 Texas downed No. 15 Villanova behind 26 points from AJ Abrams. Read about it here.

In Newark, Seton Hall got 25 points apiece from Eugene Harvey and Jeremy Hazell to down Cal Baptist,
92-80. Harvey scored his 1,000th career point as the Pirates improved to 7-1.

Here’s a quick update live from the Jimmy V Classic at MSG. It looks like West Virginia could be playing without two guards tonight against No. 23 Davidson. Jonnie West (left foot) is out for the year and Alex Ruoff (back spasms) did not start. Joe Mazzulla started despite a shoulder contusion along with Da’Sean Butler, Devin EBanks, John Flowers and Wellington Smith.

Pat Riley and Bob Knight are both in the house….

Here’s my story from earlier today on the return to the Garden of locals Butler, Ebanks, Kevin Jones, Darryl “Truck” Bryant and Wellington Smith.

Stephen Curry played his last game in front of LeBron James and will play his next at Madison Square Garden.

While New York fans continue to dream of LeBron playing regularly on the Garden floor beginning in 2010, they can come see Curry much sooner.

Curry and No. 22 Davidson (6-1) will take on West Virginia (6-1) Tuesday night in the first game of the Jimmy V Classic. No. 17 Villanova (8-0) and No. 8 Texas (6-1) will match up in the second game of the doubleheader.

Read the full story here.

(Photo courtesy Davidson athletics)