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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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Friday / March 29.
  • Memphis head coach Josh Pastner has offered assistant coaching jobs to Willis Wilson, the former head coach at Rice University, and Glynn Cyprien, a longtime assistant at Kentucky, Arkansas, New Mexico State and Oklahoma State.

    Their hirings are pending approval of the University and Tennessee State Board of Regents.

    “Willis and Glynn are two great additions to our staff, and I’m looking forward to them coming on board,” said Pastner. “Both are energetic, hard workers, and they will give that extra effort to help this program be successful. That’s the kind of people I was looking for when I searched to find the right mix for this program.”

    NEW YORK – Despite a report indicating that Xavier Henry would visit Kentucky April 25-26, Henry himself said no visit date had been finalized.

    “No, I haven’t picked a date,” the 6-foot-6 Henry said Thursday at Jordan Brand Classic practice. “When we get home [to Oklahoma] we’ll  talk about everything. We’ll probably set a visit date for Kentucky and all that.”

    A published report had Carl Henry saying Xavier and C.J. would visit Kentucky the last weekend in April.

    Xavier said he would like to visit Kentucky and said it could happen then.

    NEW YORK – Daniel Orton will play for Kentucky next year, and he believes there’s no telling how far the ‘Cats can go.

    The 6-foot-10, 260-pound center from Oklahoma City (OK) Bishop McGuinness said Thursday at the Jordan Brand Classic practice that he would remain at Kentucky despite the recent coaching change.

    “I’m still at Kentucky, I’m still at Kentucky,” said Orton, the No. 4 center in the Class of 2009. “I’m going to stay here.”

    When asked if he ever considered leaving after John Calipari took over for the fired Billy Gillispie, Orton said, “There was that time that from when Coach G got fired, I was little frustrated with everything. There was a thought of having to go back through the recruiting process, which is a little stressful. But I just kind of dealt with it all.”

    In the end, he opted to stay with Calipari: “Coach Cal’s a great guy and he just seems like a great coach,” Orton said.

    In related news, Calipari announced that he had added former Kentucky stars Tony Delk and Scott Padgett to the staff, according to reports.

    NEW YORK – John Wall is not planning on entering the 2009 NBA Draft and says he will narrow his college list to “three or four” sometime next week.

    Both Wall and his adviser Brian Clifton denied a report on ESPN.com that said Wall might enter the draft this year because he is 19 and a year removed from his original high school graduating class.

    “No, you can count that out,” Wall a 6-foot-4 point guard ranked No. 1 in the Class of 2009 by Rivals, said Thursday at the Jordan Brand Classic practice at the L.A. Sports Club. “I promised by dad before he died  and I promised by mom that I was going to go to college. If it’s for for one year, two years, three years, four years, I’m going to go to college.”

    What if Wall was told he would be the No. 1 pick in the Draft?

    Dane Miller’s status for Saturday’s Jordan Brand Regional Game is up in the air due to a rotator cuff injury that he aggravated during Tuesday’s practice.

    “I haven’t been cleared yet from my doctor,” Miller said. “I was told I have a bruised rotator cuff.”

    The 6-foot-5, 205-pound Miller has signed to play at Rutgers and is expected to be a major contributor on the wing next year.

    “I think he’s going to give it a go,” Rush-Henrietta High School coach Chris Reed said Thursday by phone. “He’s going down to the game and then he’s going to see how he feels. It’s been a lingering injury. He aggravated it in the last game of the season and then he re-aggravated it at the practice.

    Here’s a sudden and somewhat shocking development in the ever changing recruiting world.

    Memphis head coach Josh Pastner has interest in both Lance Stephenson and Jarrid Famous, according to a source with knowledge.

    I got the news after I wrote this feature for this morning on Stephenson and how he was down to St. John’s and Kansas.

    Pastner, 31, has been on the job at Memphis for about a week since being officially named as the replacement for John Calipari, who left for Kentucky.

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