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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.
  • Rutgers junior guard Corey Chandler has been kicked off the team for a violation of team rules.

    “We wish Corey the best as he moves forward,” Rutgers head coach Fred Hill said in a statement. “We consider this a family matter and there will be no further comment.”

    Chandler, out of Newark East Side High School, averaged 7.0 points and 3.3 rebounds last season.

    His exit leaves Rutgers with just three scholarship guards in Mike Rosario, James Beatty and Mike Coburn.

    Chandler is the third player to leave in the last nine months, following Christian Morris (December) and Earl Pettis (May) both of whom transferred.

    In the wake of playing only five minutes in a blowout loss at Syracuse, the 6-foot-2 Chandler nearly transferred from Rutgers after last season. But he elected to stay after mending fences with Hill.

    **Read the D.C. Jefferson story here at SNY.tv**

    As expected, LB Ryan D’Imperio, C Ryan Blaszczyk and DB Devin McCourty were named captains of the 2009 Rutgers football team.

    The three players led stretches before Tuesday’s scrimmage, the first of the year.

    “We just found out last night,” D’Imperio said. “It’s something that I never really thought about. I just work as hard as I can and try leading and it’s a good feeling.

    “I couldn’t ask for a better group [of captains] to be with,” he added. “They’re great kids, somebody that I’ve been with all four years. And they’ve always been here. They’re hard working and they’re somebody that the whole team can trust.”

    QB UPDATE

    **I’m working on a story right now, but clearly D.C. Jefferson helped his stock the most. The 6-6, 245-pound redshirt freshmen went 7-for-10 for 127 yards and didn’t throw a pick. He led the offense to its only TD of the afternoon, a bouncy 1-yard run by freshman RB De’Antwan Williams.

    Former Lehigh and East Stroudsburg coach Sal Mentesana will join Fred Hill’s staff at Rutgers as an assistant, while Craig Carter will shift to recruiting coordinator.

    “Sal Mentesana possesses a wealth of experience and we are very excited to welcome him into the Rutgers basketball family,” Rutgers head coach Fred Hill said in a statement. “Sal and I have an established relationship and I’m confident that his veteran perspective will be of great benefit to our program.”

    Carter, who played at Rutgers from 1987-91 and later was an assistant, changes jobs.

    The Big East Conference has reached a four-year agreement with Florida Citrus Sports and the Champs Sports Bowl to send a team to the Orlando Fla., game beginning in the 2010 season.

    The Champs Sports Bowl will have the first selection from the Big East after the league’s BCS representative has been determined.  The Big East’s opponent for the game for 2010-13 is to be determined.  The payout to the Big East could reach $2.4 million.

    ”We are thrilled to be a partner with the Champs Sports Bowl, said Big East Commissioner John Marinatto. “I know our schools are very excited about the agreement.  Orlando is an outstanding destination for our teams and fans.  It’s going to be a great experience for everyone.  The Champs Sports Bowl is an outstanding addition to the Big East bowl lineup.”

    St. John’s will get a couple of high-profile players on campus this week.

    JayVaughn Pinkston, the top high school player in New York City in the Class of 2010, took an unofficial visit to the Queens campus Tuesday with New Heights AD Kimani Young.

    “It went well,” Young said. “He got to walk around campus a little bit, spend some time with the coaching staff. It was good.”

    The 6-foot-6 Pinkston, a senior forward at Bishop Loughlin, recently visited both Villanova and Tennessee.

    He plans to visit Marquette at the end of the month for its elite camp.

    The New Meadowlands Stadium hosted a press conference in Manhattan Tuesday to announce that Syracuse will play three football games at the new stadium beginning in 2012.


    Syracuse will face USC in 2012 and Notre Dame in 2014 and 2016 in the stadium that will be the new home to the Jets and Giants. The Orange will be the home team for all three games.

    Syracuse and Southern Cal initially scheduled a two-game series, including one at the Carrier Dome.

    The Orange and Irish are scheduled to play a four-game series, with two tilts in South Bend, Ind.

    “We designed New Meadowlands Stadium to accommodate a variety of games, sporting events and concerts,” said Mark Lamping, CEO of New Meadowlands Stadium Company. “We are thrilled to host Syracuse University, a school with rich and time-honored athletic tradition, and we likewise welcome the Orange to be a part of New Meadowlands history.”

    Talented Mississippi State freshman Renardo Sidney has been cleared academically by the NCAA Eligibility Center and on Monday enrolled for fall classes.

    Although he isn’t yet eligible to compete, the 6-foot-10, 260-pound forward/center out of Fairfax High School in Los Angeles is allowed to participate in individual and conditioning workouts.

    “We are happy to get Renardo academically admitted,” Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said. “But we know this is just the first step. Now, he has to get his amateurism status resolved.”

    Don Jackson, Sidney’s Montgomery, Ala.-based attorney, told the Associated Press that investigators have yet to offer any proof the family did anything wrong.

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