Kavon Stewart and Reggie Cameron were two of the rising stars on a Paterson Catholic team that went undefeated through much of the high school season and peaked at No. 3 in the nation.

With Paterson Catholic closing this month, both players have elected to attend Hudson Catholic beginning next year, where they will play for Nick Mariniello, one of the top coaches in the Garden State.

“That’s where I’m going,” the 5-10 Stewart, pictured above, told ZAGSBLOG contributor Alex Kline.

Asked if the 6-4 Cameron was coming with him, Stewart said, “Yes.”

Mariniello said Stewart was currently playing with Hudson Catholic in various summer events and will be attending in the fall. (more…)

NEW YORK – If you’re holding on to your high school basketball rosters from last season, they won’t be much use once all the dust clears for next year.

After a couple of days at the Rumble in the Bronx at Fordham University, this much is clear: there is a lot of movement on the prep scene.

**Vaughn Gray, a 6-foot-5 off guard, is transferring to Newark (N.J.) St. Benedict’s Prep from Don Bosco Prep and will play for first-year coach Roshown McLeod.

“Yes, he’s going to St. Benedict’s,” said June Gray, his mother. “It was pretty much Vaughn’s decision. We wanted him to have more development and play more on a national level.” (more…)

St. Anthony will feature an all-Paterson Catholic backcourt next season.

Myles Mack, a rising senior point guard ranked No. 21 at his position in the Class of 2011, has chosen to attend St. Anthony in Jersey City for his senior season. Mack, who averaged 14.8 points and 2.8 steals last year, spent the past three seasons at Paterson Catholic, which is set to close its doors in June.

He will team will rising junior guard Kyle Anderson, another former PC player who previously announced his decision to play for Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley.

“[Mack's] mother did call me and I think at this point he’s leaning toward going to St. Anthony,” Hurley said Sunday evening. (more…)

Myles Mack is the No. 114 ranked basketball prospect by Rivals.com for the Class of 2011 with scholarships offers from various Big East, ACC and SEC schools.

But before he picks a college, Mack will have to pick another high school. His current one, Paterson (N.J.) Catholic, announced Wednesday it is closing at the end of school year because of financial troubles.

Mack politely declined to comment when reached by text. His father Wayne, however, had plenty to say.

“I’m very shocked,” he said. “My wife called and told me and I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me?’

“We didn’t know at all. We didn’t know anything. We thought everything was fine and then all of a sudden — boom.”

Read the full story at Rivals High.

(Photo courtesy Star-Ledger)

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UNION, N.J. — Two schools in hot pursuit of Cory Joseph squared off on ESPN’s “Big Monday,” with UConn knocking off No. 3 Villanova, 84-75, at the Wachovia Center.

Joseph, a 6-foot-3 senior guard from Findlay (Nev.) Prep ranked No. 3 among point guards in 2010, was not at the game but he is considering both UConn and Villanova, along with Texas, Minnesota and UNLV.

“[I'm just gonna commit] whenever I feel 100 percent. . . . I am not sure if I am gonna pick out of the [full list of] five. I have no set time,” Joseph told Alex Schwartz of Rivals.com while playing this past weekend at the Primetime Shootout in Trenton, N.J.

Also at the Primetime was Joseph’s friend and fellow Canadian, Myck Kabongo, a junior guard at St. Benedict’s Prep. (more…)

There is the travel cross country, often just for a single game. There is increased media coverage, including magazines and Web sites devoted entirely to their sport. And don’t forget about the frequent appearances on TV, both locally and nationally.

High school basketball has been mimicking the pro game for years, but the latest example may be a bit more troubling than a concern about too-much, too-soon.

Top-level players not only are transferring schools, but they are doing it during the season. And since there is not a national governing body to oversee the moves – not to mention determine eligibility – there often is turmoil on both ends of the moves, especially when a player goes back to a public school after time at a high-profile institution.

Read the full story here.

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Shaquille Thomas was once part of a rising tide of young talent at Paterson (N.J.) Catholic.

Along with Fuquan Edwin, Jayon James and Jermaine Peart, Thomas was a member of a quartet that was supposed to have “Next.”

The group was supposed to challenge St. Anthony and St. Patrick for supremacy in the New Jersey Non-Public B bracket…and ultimately the state.

But a funny thing happened on the way to inevitability.

Shaq’s uncle, Tim Thomas, now with the Dallas Mavericks, pulled the 6-foot-6 Thomas out of Paterson Catholic in 2008 and that set in motion a chain of events that has led Shaq where he is now. (more…)

LaQuinton Ross, the No. 9 small small forward in the Class of 2011, has transferred to Burlington (N.J.) Life Center from Jackson (Miss.) Murrah High School.

Ross enrolled in classes Monday and will be eligible to play alongside Syracuse commit Dion Waiters Friday.

“We’re going to confirm that he does go to Burlington Life Center. We’re not giving any comments right now,” said Mark Rowe of the NBA Hoops AAU program.

Rowe said they wanted to give Ross a few weeks to acclimate to life in New Jersey before he did any interviews.

The 6-foot-9 Ross lists a slew of major D-1 offers on his Rivals.com page, including Baylor, Kentucky, Memphis, Mississippi State, Syracuse, Florida, N.C. State, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Life Center will be at Baruch College Monday in Jason Curry’s Big Apple Basketball Invitational.

The curious case of Enes Kanter gets more curious every day.

Kanter, a 6-foot-10 Turkish citizen born in Zurich, Switzerland, is now at his third American school in the span of two months.

Kanter has surfaced at Simi Valley (Calif.) Stoneridge Prep after brief stops at Findlay (Nev.) Prep and Beckley (West Va.) Mountain State.

“He legitimately wants to be here and go to college and Stoneridge is the only option,” said an industry source with knowledge of Kanter’s situation. “He would like to get eligibility by passing the [standardized] test. He might not even play at Stoneridge.

“He could enroll in college in the spring semester.” (more…)

Michael Gilchrist, the consensus No. 1 player in the Class of 2011, is making an unofficial visit to Villanova this weekend.

The 6-foot-7 Somerdale, N.J., native, who plays for Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick, also visited Villanova’s campus last year.

“What we are hoping to get out of this visit is more of the academic side,” Cindy Richardson, Gilchrist’s mother, told Keith Pompey of the Philly Inquirer earlier this week. “We already know what Michael is going to do for that program. . . . So we want to know what Villanova is going to do for Michael.

“We are going to find out how they are going to support Michael from a basketball standpoint and academic standpoint.” (more…)