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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.
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Tuesday / October 8.
  • Rashad White, a 5-foot-11, 178-pound running back who rushed for more than 5,000 yards and 43 touchdowns at Teaneck High School and initially committed to Rutgers for 2008, said he is not academically qualified and will not attend Rutgers at all.

    “I didn’t qualify,” White, 18, said during a phone interview Friday night. “That’s why I had to go to Lackawanna College (in Scranton, Pa.).”

    White spent part of the summer at Lackawanna, a junior college, before leaving in late August, but said the Rutgers coaches had stopped communicating with him or returning his calls by that point.

    This is a big weekend for the St. John’s basketball program.

    Jordan Williams, a 6-9 power forward from Torrington (Conn.) High, will make his official visit to the Queens school. Omari Lawrence, a 6-4 guard from South Kent (Conn.) who has already verbally committed to the Johnnies, will also take his official to campus, no doubt working to persuade Williams to join him next year.

    Williams previously took an official to Maryland and came away raving about it. He promised St. John’s head coach Norm Roberts he would visit, and so he will. He also mentioned Providence, UMass and Marquette, but it remains unclear whether those schools will actually get official visits. The longer it goes, the better it is for St. John’s.

    If you live in New Jersey and you pick up The Star-Ledger every morning, it might be a little lighter from here on out.

    The paper announced that more than 200 non-union employees had signed up for buyouts, buyouts necessary to avoid a sale or a shutdown.

    Those people have until the end of business on Tuesday to rescind their decisions.

    We hear Tony Soprano’s favorite newspaper had 16 people in the sports department take buyouts, including everyone who covers Major League Baseball. Wonder who will be covering the Mets and the Yanks for the Ledger during the offseason and next spring.

    Talking about blowing a major chance.

    UConn freshman Nate Miles was expelled from the school Thursday after an administrative hearing investigated allegations that he sexually abused his former girlfriend.

    A 20-year-old native of Toledo, Ohio with immense basketball talent, Miles was accused of physically abusing a 19-year-old woman from Manchester and of pressuring her to have sex.

    Nike, Paragon Marketing and ESPN are working on a postseason eight-team national boys high school tournament in April in Washington, D.C., USA Today reported

    The tournament would include national powers that do not play state championships, such as Dan Hurley’s St. Benedict’s Prep team, which finished No. 2 in last season’s final USA TODAY Super 25 rankings and features Texas commit Tristan Thompson (pictured), Pitt commit Lamar Patterson and Rice-bound Tamir Jackson. Other teams being targeted include Oak Hill Academy, which has won six Super 25 titles; Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.); Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.), which was the national prep school runner-up last season and this year won’t include fifth-year players; and possibly the Washington and Baltimore Catholic League champions. The event would be held Final Four weekend (April 3-4) at Georgetown Prep.

    Jay Gomes has posted the New Jersey rosters for the Eddie Griffin Challenge which will take place October 26 at the Rutgers College Avenue Gymnasium (the Barn) on College Avenue in New Brunswick. The top players from New Jersey will meet their counterparts from Philly.

    The Game Times are:

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