NEW YORK -

The two players were smiling and holding up the 1983 Big East championship trophy on the Garden floor, a reminder of St. John’s glory days.

The photograph was in black and white, but Roberts’ future is tinged with gray.

Read the full story here.

**And here’s the story on Seton Hall’s 68-56 loss to Notre Dame. Mike Brey says the Pirates still merit NCAA tournament consideration.

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Maurice Walker

The 6-foot-10, 280-pound Toronto native is currently playing at Wolfeboro  (N.H.) Brewster Academy and plans to cut his list with his father later this week.

“We plan on sitting down this week to hash out our top five and see if we can schedule our visits for the spring and get that portion of things wrapped up,” Craig Walker said Monday by phone.

Walker is ranked No. 12 among centers in the Class of 2010 and No. 118 overall by Rivals.

Craig Walker said the current list for his son includes Seton Hall, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Marquette and St. John’s. He added that South Florida, Oregon State and Memphis have also expressed interest.

“My thoughts are that Maurice  will probably stay in the East somewhere,” Craig said. “As parents, we’d rather he play in the East side of the country in the Big East. We know we can hop on a plane and be there in an hour.”

Craig said Seton Hall assistant coach Scott Adubato had come to Brewster three or four times.

“The guys from Seton Hall have shown a lot of interest,” he said. ”

“Seton Hall, the one thing that they’ve made very plain to us is that they are very interested.”

Pitt and Georgetown also appear to be high on the list.

“We’ve always been interested in Pitt. They’re playing really good basketball right now,” Craig said.

“Georgetown, we’ve been interested as well. They’ve show some interest. The coaches from Georgetown have gone up a couple times,” he added.

He added that Marquette and St. John’s “have shown interest” and that virtually every school in the Big East except for Louisville and Syracuse has made contact.

Craig also mentioned that Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson had reached out by phone.

“They recruited him a year ago. They have kind of thrown their hat back in the mix,” Craig said.

Maurice plays alongside five Division I commits, including C.J. Fair (Syracuse), Austin Carroll (Rutgers) and Will Barton (Memphis).

Craig said Barton had also talked to Maurice about having him join him at Memphis.

“Will is more than happy to pass him on to Memphis,” Craig said.

Brewster begins the NEPSAC playoffs March 3 and Craig said a few visits could be coming up soon.

“He’s got his school playoffs and national tournament coming up,” Craig said. “We’re gonna go through that and maybe in the next week or two see if we can visit some schools.”

(Photo courtesy Torontoobserver.ca)

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All he could do was flash a smile and slowly backpedal down the court.

After struggling to score 9 points on 2-for-7 shooting in the first half, Butler made 7 of 11 shots and scored 24 points in a second half in which the Mountaineers outscored St. John’s, 57-27. The Newark, N.J. native went a perfect 7-for-7 from behind the arc on the afternoon and finished with a season-best 33 points.

Read the full story here.

**No. 7 Hoyas stun No. 2 Villanova behind Austin Freeman’s 25

**Hayward’s 28 lifts Marquette over Providence.

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A former two-time Wisconsin state player of the year, Maymon left Marquette last month after averaging 4.0 points and 4.2 rebounds. He last played Dec. 12 in a 72-63 loss to Wisconsin.

The 6-foot-6 Maymon will have to sit out a year per NCAA transfer regulations and won’t be eligible until December 2010.

Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl formerly coached at UW-Milwaukee.

Tim Maymon, Jeronne’s father, told Madison.com that his son wasn’t happy with how he was being used at Marquette.

“They didn’t want to play the game right, so now we’re going to watch them lose every game. That’s just how it works,” he said.

“You don’t bring a kid in and not use him the way he’s supposed to be used. So this kid has left the state of Wisconsin as one of the premier players in the state. ”

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UNBEATENS KEEP ON WINNING: Six undefeated teams were in action Tuesday night, and all six won, including two from the Big East: No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Kentucky, No. 4 Purdue, No. 5 Syracuse and No. 6 West Virginia.

JOHNSON, BUTLER MAKING STATEMENTS: Syracuse’s Wesley Johnson and West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler will be in the conversation for Big East Player of the Year when all is said and done. Johnson put up 20 points and a career-best 19 rebounds Tuesday in Syracuse’s 80-73 victory over Seton Hall in Newark, N.J.

In Morgantown, West Va., Butler rebounded Jimmy Butler’s missed foul shot with 12 seconds left, dribbled up the court and drained a jumper just inside the 3-point line with 2 seconds left and two defenders –6-2 Darius Johnson-Odom and 6-6 Lazar Hayward — in his face to give West Virginia a 63-62 victory over Marquette. 

West Virginia coach Bob Huggins had called for an NBA screen play, but Butler called an audible at the line.

“I got the rebound and looked up,” Butler told the The Times West Virginian. “It was like, ‘Well, I guess we’re not running that.’”

SETON HALL MUST CLOSE: Seton Hall has lost three of its last four games, but easily could have won at least two. They held a 13-point lead on Temple, went into OT against West Virginia and held a 12-point first-half lead on Syracuse but failed to win all three games.

“Seton Hall is a really good team,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said, according to The Star-Ledger. “They coulda beaten us, they coulda beaten West Virginia, they coulda beaten Temple. They’ll get better.”

HAZELL ON FIRE: Seton Hall junior guard Jeremy Hazell has combined for 79 points in his last two games. He dropped a career-best 41 on West Virginia Saturday and went for 38 in Tuesday’s loss to Syracuse. Problem is his teammates have combined for 78 points in those two games.

LANCE RETURNS HOME: Lance Stephenson and Cincinnati host UConn Wednesday night on ESPN2 (7 p.m.). After that, Lance will play three of his next five games back home in the New York area. The Bearcats visit Rutgers on Saturday before returning home for two games with Pitt and Cal State Bakersfield. Stephenson then comes back to the New York area for tilts with Seton Hall at the Prudential Center (Jan. 9) and St. John’s at Madison Square Garden (Jan. 13). These games and this Big East season will go a long way in telling NBA scouts what they want to know about Lance.

LAMB LEADS OAK HILL INTO LES SCHWAB FINALS

Oak Hill (Va.) Academy senior guard Doron Lamb put up 23 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals to lead the Warriors to a 72-58 victory over Westview in the Les Schwab Invitiational semis in Hillsboro, Ore.

Pe’Shon Howard added 21 points and Roscoe Smith notched a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Unbeaten Oak Hill will meet Westchester (Calif.) in Wednesday night’s final. 

Westchester beat Jesuit 68-54 in the other semi behind 17 points from Jordin Mayes and 15 from Dwayne Polee.

(Photo courtesy Seton Hall Athletics)

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The Cougars will meet junior guard Austin Rivers (pictured courtesy MaxPreps) and Winter Park for the championship of the City of Palms Classic. The game will be shown at 9:30 p.m. on ESPNU.

Paterson CAtholic advanced with a wild 63-51 semifinal victory over Montverde Academy Tuesday night.

According to New-press.com, Montverde led 47-46 with 0.1 seconds left on the clock when its bench was given a technical foul for excessive on-court celebrating.

PC junior guard Myles Mack made 1 of 2 foul shots to force overtime and the Cougars outscored Monteverde 16-4 in the OT.

Mack finished with 21 points, Seton Hall-bound forward Fuquan Edwin scored 17 and junior forward Derrick Randall added 8 points and 12 boards.

“I’ve never seen anything like that to end a game,” PC coach Damon Wright told news-press.com.

Jamail Jones (Marquette) scored 14 points and James Bell (Villanova) tallied 13 for Montverde.

The Cougars will now get Winter Park after Rivers poured in 45 points in a 75-60 victory over Dan Hurley’s St. Benedict’s team. That total was one off the school record of 46 that Rivers scored last year.

Texas-bound guard Myck Kabongo had 15 for the Gray Bees and Temple-bound guard Aaron Brown added 11.

Now Rivers, who has committed to Florida but is also considering Duke, will get Paterson Catholic in the final.

“We came here to win it,” Rivers told The Orlando Sentinel. “Everyone talks about how good we did last year, but we want to win it this year.”

NIA PREP WINS BATTLE OF THE BAY

Newark’s NIA Prep won the Battle of the Bay prep school tournament in Tampa, Fla. held Dec. 18-20.

NIA and CJEOTEO, also of Jersey, beat four teams from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida to win the title.

Former Newark Science guard Rameel Johnson hit a buzzer-beater for NIA’s 90-89 victory in the final and was named finals MVP. Jamir Hanner scored 20 points in the final and was named tourney MVP. 

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Chris Chaney,

Chris has been a head coach for 18 years and has won 558 games. He has also won 3 National Prep School Championships and 3 National Coach of the Year Honors. He has coached 10 NBA draft picks and over 100 Division I players. He has also done coaching clinics all over the world and his 2005 40-0 National Championship team is considered the Best Pre-College team of All-Time. He has been featured on ESPN and is known as one the brightest minds in the game.
 
Chris was at the Legends Classic last weekend in Atlantic City, N.J., and has written observations on all four teams — Florida, Michigan State, Rutgers and UMass.

He also has comments on several of his former players now in the Big East: Jeremy Hazell of Seton Hall; Dwight Hardy of St. John’s; Darius Johnson-Odom of Marquette; and Vincent Council of Providence. …take it away, Chris.
Notes on the Tournament from each team:
 
Florida Gators - The Champions of the tournament by beating Michigan State (77-74) and Rutgers (73-58).  They have the chemistry that has been missing for the last couple of years. Any good coach knows you must have great chemistry to be great team. They seem like they enjoy playing together and it seems like everyone is on the same page. Billy Donavan does an excellent job switching up his presses and defenses. His 2-3 zone is working very well because of their length and ability to communciate and locate the shooters. Michigan State shot 2-10 from 3 point range and Rutgers was 3-16 with Mike Rosario 1-6. Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton will be up and down on shooting nights, but with Alex Tyus playing his real position and with role guys like Dan Werner, Chandler Parsons, Ray Shipman and Erik Murphy this will be a tough team. Macklin looks very strong and his length and inside presence is very big for this team. I really like this team and I can tell Donavan does as well. With some already big wins under there belt this team is no longer a sleeper!
 
Michigan State – Took a tough loss to Florida, but came back with a impressive win against UMass (106-68). You always find out a what a team is made of after they lose a game. And the way Michigan State came out to play UMass you would have thought they were playing the Final Four. After going to visit them earlier in the year nothing from them surprises me. They play hard man to man defense and they show there toughness in everything they do. Kalin Lucas is a flat out Stud. He “Gets It” and his leadership puts him over the top.  Raymar Morgan is a senoir that has been there and done it already and Durrell Summers is a big time athlete who just needs to take care of the ball. Chris Allen has found his stroke again and Delvon Roe seems to be getting better every day. His length and passion for the game is great to see as a coach. Korie Lucious is a very good backup point guard and there key will be the inside game at the center spot. Coach Tom Izzo is still trying to find out how to play it. Freshman Garrick Sherman and Derrix Nix all the choices right now. they are young but play hard. Also watch out for wing Austin Thornton who had a very solid tournament. The schedule is very touch , but Coach Izzo will have the guys prepared. congrats to Coach Izzo for his 341st win at Michigan State. He is now the all-Time leader!

Rutgers - Had a really good tournament falling in the Championship to Florida (73-58). Beat UMass (83-75) and shot the ball very well. Mike Rosario can flat out light it up if he gets open looks. He is a tough kid who just needs to develop more of a mid range game to take his game to another level. Coach Fred Hill has his guys playing very hard and has really added some good pieces to this group. I was really impressed with 6-11 senoir Hamady N’Diaye. He plays very hard, he is active, and he is very long and with other young big man Gregory Echenique, that will be a touch tandem. James Beatty and Dane Miller are very good additions and so is Florida transfer Jonathan Mitchell. Mike Coburn also shot the ball well. They do a very good job of getting the right people the right shots and if this team can become a really good defensive team they will be another good team in the always tough Big East!
 
UMass – Lost both games of the tournament, but hopefully got the needed experience. They have two very good wing guards in Ricky Harris and Anthony Gurley who can both get to the rim and finish. They have good length and guys who can play mutiple positions in Freshmen Terrell Vinson, Sampson Carter and Freddie Riley. Their bigs Hashim Bailey and Sean Carter both play hard, but need to finish better. Coach Kellogg knows he needs the young guys to grow up quickly, He knows he needs more toughness and leadership from the older players. All of these young guys came from really good programs and the plan is in place it will just take some time!
 
 
Big East Update on my former players:
 
I have 4 former Patterson School players on Big East rosters. All 4 of them have a lot in common. They were all unknowns in High school and they all will be Big East stars. All 4 of them played hard for me and the right way!
 
Jeremy Hazell - Seton Hall- played for me 2 years. Nobody knew who he was. But his work ethic and scoring ability just got better and better. He loves to win and last year was the 2nd leading scorer in the Big East!
 
Dwight Hardy – St. John’s- Another unknown who plain and simple got it done. This guy has a very high Basketball IQ and can flat out score the basketball. He played with Hazell at Patterson. Is off to a good start with the Red Storm!
 
Darius Johnson-Odom - Marquette- If you watched ESPN this weekend you finally know who this guy is. He play with me at Patterson with Courtney Fortson and Varez Ward. Can score in a variety of ways and was a Junior College All-American. Surprise No More!
 
Vincent Council - Providence- Had no offers last year early. Nobody thought we had a point guard last year. well we did! This guy knows how to play the game the right way and is a QB on the floor! He is going to help Providence win alot of games. Check out his assist to Turnover ratio!
 
Also one of my players fom last season David Nyrusak signed with West Virginia. David is now at Mountain State. He is 7-feet and very long and active on the inside. He is use to someone yelling at him all the time so playing for Coach Bob Huggins wont be a big adjustment.
 
Also Congrats to Wesley Johnson ( Syracuse) who spent sometime at Patterson. He is very talented and a great young man off the court. Also to Scoop Jardine and Rick Jackson( Syracuse), Brad Wanamaker (Pittsburgh), Justin Burrell (St. John’s). They played with DeJuan Blair and Malcolm Grant on a US All-Star team we took to France a couple of years ago. We won the Gold Medal beating Russia in the finals.

(Photo courtesy Legends Classic)

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Doron Lamb

The 6-foot-4 Lamb out of Oak Hill (Va.) Academy has visited UConn, Kansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma. He is the No. 3 shooting guard in the Class of 2010.

“He likes the ones he visited,” his father, Calvin Lamb, said Monday morning. “He’s still up in the air.”

Calvin said a visit to Arizona would depend on both the Oak Hill and Arizona schedules.

“We’re trying to set up an appointment,” he said. “We could get it done. It’s up to his coach [Steve Smith].”

Asked if Doron was close to committing before the Arizona visit, Calvin said:  “Not that I know of.  I think he’ll wait it out a little bit.”

BEAL TO FLORIDA

Bradley Beal, the No. 1 junior shooting guard and No. 7 prospect in the nation, is headed to Florida.

The 6-3, 170-pound Beal out of St. Louis Chaminade picked the Gators over Kansas, Missouri and and Illinois.

Beal led Chaminade to the 5A state championship as a sophomore last season.

“Really, it’s the whole coaching staff from Coach (Billy) Donovan to Coach (Rob) Lanier to Coach (Richard) Pitino and Coach (Larry) Shyatt that makes Florida so attractive,” Beal told GatorCountry.com. “They have a real passion for winning and I like the way they work hard together. They really wanted me and want me to be a key factor to the team in the future.

“I really like the way Coach Donovan brings out the best in you. I think he really wants you to succeed and I think he really cares about his players.”

FREE THROWS

Lisa Leslie, the mother of Raleigh (N.C.) Word of God senior forward C.J. Leslie, said no new visits had been set for her son…Bishop Loughlin senior forward JayVaughn Pinkston is still in a holding pattern regarding his college options. Pinkston was set to announce during the early signing period, but opted to hold off. He was considering Tennessee, Villanova, Marquette, St. John’s and Seton Hall.

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“He’s not going to commit today,” New Heights athletic director Kimani Young said.

“JayVaughn and his family have decided that he will not make his college choice decision today. He’s not 100 percent sure where he wants to go to school so rather than make a rush decision he’ll just wait unitl the spring.”

 The Daily News reported on its website Tuesdsay that Pinkston, a 6-foot-6 forward from Bishop Loughlin considered the top high school player in New York City, would announce for Tennessee Wednesday.

But Pinkston is not certain where he wants to play and will now wait until the spring. He is also considering Villanova, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Marquette.

“He’s going to go to  the best situation for him,” Young said.

Whether this decision impacts Tobias Harris at all remains to be seen.

The 6-8 Harris is slated to announce Thursday and Tennessee is considered one of the favorites to land him, along with Syracuse, West Virginia and Louisville.

Harris’ father, Torrel, said Monday that if Pinkston chose Tennessee it wouldn’t necessarily inhibit Tobias from going there as well.

Now that Pinkston isn’t announcing for Tennessee, it could open the door even wider for Harris to Tennessee. But we won’t know for sure until he makes his announcement.

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JayVaughn Pinkston, a 6-6 combo forward from Brooklyn Bishop Loughlin considered the top prospect in New York City, will announce at 3 p.m. Wednesday at his school.

The Daily News reported on its Website Tuesday that sources indicated Pinkston would announce for Tennessee, but New Heights athletic director Kimani Young said, “Nobody confirmed that.”

Pinkston is expected to announce from among Villanova, Tennessee, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Marquette.

If Pinkston picks Tennessee, it could well have an impact on what Tobias Harris says at his announcement Thursday on ESPNU since both play the same position.

“There’s no way they’re going to the same school,” said a Division 1 assistant coach recruiting one of the players.

Torrel Harris, Tobias’ dad, said it would be Tobias’ decision, but that the two players could potentially coexist on the same team.

“They’re two different players,” Torrel said. “JayVaughn is a power forward and Tobias, he can do it all. I think if he [Pinkston] did go there [Tennessee], they’ll both play a lot.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, the 6-8 Harris, a senior at Dix Hills (N.Y.) Half Hollow Hills West, had finished up his final visit — to Georgia Tech.

“We had a great visit,” Torrel said. “Coach [Paul] Hewitt is a great teacher, a lot of teaching. In the practices, his players go really hard. He’s got a great group of guys, high-character players on the team. They get a lot of guys to the NBA. A lot of one-and-dones, two-and-dones.

“We met with the president of the school, met with the academic advisors. Just watched a lot of practices and films.”

Torrel said the family would spend the next several days picking a school from among Syracuse, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Louisville, Maryland and Georgia Tech.

Conventional wisdom says Harris will pick from among Syracuse, Tennessee, Louisville and West Virginia.

If Pinkston chooses Tennessee Wednesday, we may know a little more about where Harris ends up.

“That’s not my decision,” Torrel said. “That’s Tobias’ decision. We haven’t talked about that.”

TERRENCE JONES LIKELY TO SIGN LATE

Linda Mashia-Jones, the mother of five-star forward Terrence Jones, said her son will likely wait until the spring to sign.

“It’s looking that way,” she said Tuesday. “I can’t say for sure unless he has a breakout tomorrow [Wednesday] and calls me and tells me he’s ready to make a decision.”

She added: “He’s still waiting. He still wants to wait.”

A 6-foot-8 forward from Portland (Ore.) Jefferson, Jones and his mother visited UCLA two weeks ago. He is considering UCLA, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington and Kentucky.

The early signing period runs Nov. 11-18.

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