By BILLY DIAMOND
Special Contributor to ZAGSBLOG.com
 
WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. —  On the same night his former team set a franchise record for ineptitude, Isiah Thomas dropped his first game in the metropolitan area as a college coach.
Facing a raucous anti-Isiah crowd, Florida International dropped to 0-2 after falling, 99-70, Friday at Monmouth’s new Multipurpose Activity Center.
Thomas, the [...]

Isiah Thomas will make his college coaching debut with Florida International University on Monday night against defending NCAA champion North Carolina.
 
He’ll have a lot on his mind.
Mary Thomas, Isiah’s 86-year-old mother, suffered a heart attack Saturday night and was reportedly set to undergo heart surgery Monday morning.
“She told me to go to work,” Thomas told [...]

C.J. Leslie is still plotting out his official visits and my not sign until the late signing period in the spring.
“He probably won’t sign until the spring. I can’t say for 100 percent sure,” Lisa Leslie, C.J.’s mom, said Saturday in a phone interview.
The 6-foot-8, 205-pound Leslie out of Raleigh (N.C.) Word of God Academy [...]

Long Island wing J.J. Moore has cut his list to three Big East schools after a weekend official visit to Louisville.
“The list is three schools: Louisville, Pittsburgh and St. John’s,” said Gary Charles, Moore’s AAU coach with the New York Panthers. Moore made the trip with Charles and Moore’s mentor, Hunt Bresky.
Charles said Moore, ranked [...]

C.J. Leslie’s high school coach says Leslie has a list of about 11 schools and that there is no clear leader at this point.
“C.J. is still wide open with his recruitment. He doesn’t have a strong leader,” Raleigh (NC) Word of God coach Erasto Hatchett said Friday. “He’s still entertaining about 10 schools as of right [...]

Thanks to Chris Rivers and Kristen Wise of adidas, I just checked in via the Batphone with a few players from the adidas nations event in Dallas.
The U.S. 2010 team is undefeated at 3-0 with victories over USA 2011, Latin America and Africa.
Here are some quick updates on Brandon Knight, Marquis Teague and Cory Joseph.
**BRANDON [...]

Coached by Rafer Alston of the Nets, the New York Panthers won the U17 championship at the Hoop Group Summer Classic in Neptune, N.J. with an 84-63 victory over God’s Glory.
Sterling Gibbs of Seton Hall Prep, Deshaun Wiggins of Wings Academy, Winston Graham of Lee Academy and Ryan Rhoomes of Cardozo all played well [...]

PHILADELPHIA – The stars of the college basketball coaching world were out in force Friday at the Reebok All-American Camp at Philadelphia University.
Villanova’s Jay Wright, Kentucky’s John Calipari and Florida’s Billy Donovan were all in the stands trying to catch the eyes of some of the best high school players in the land.
But one coach [...]

PHILLY – Drove down here this morning and I’ve already eaten a Philly cheese steak at the Pour House with Dana O’Neill of ESPN.com and Brendan Quinn of Basketball Times. Quinn did the driving and did a spectacular job parallel parking in front of the restaurant, a la George Costanza in the hospital episode of [...]

Darryl Bryant, a West Virginia guard and Brooklyn native who starred at St. Raymond’s in The Bronx, has been suspended indefinitely.
Bryant was suspended because of his involvement in a traffic accident outside of Morgantown early Wednesday, after which he left the scene, according to the Charleston Gazette. He was charged with four misdemeanors, including leaving [...]