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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 / April 19.
  • In a story that is getting wilder and wilder by the day, The Star-Ledger reported late Monday night that former troubled NBA star Chris Washburn turned Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick into the New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association for holding illegal preseason practices and that the NJSIAA used a retired former state trooper to videotape those practices and to follow players home after school to verify their addresses.

    The Controversies Committee of the NJSIAA has recommended that defending Tournament of Champions winner St. Patrick be suspended from the upcoming state tournament and that head coach Kevin Boyle face a three-game suspension. The program would also be placed on probation for two years.

    Steve Timko, the executive director of the NJSIAA, told me in a phone interview that he could not comment on the case but that the hearing before the NJSIAA Executive Committee had been pushed to Friday from Wednesday because of the looming snow storm.

    “The meeting is not tomorrow [Wednesday]. It’s on Friday at 11 a.m.,” Timko said by phone.

    Here are a couple of quick, but interesting recruiting notes for Tuesday morning…

    **Louisville Coach Rick Pitino was on hand Monday night to watch Mount Vernon junior point guard Jabarie Hinds in his team’s final regular season game. Hinds dropped 13 points in a 77-67 loss.

    The top six schools showing interest in Hinds are Louisville, Virginia, Wake Forest, St. John’s, UNLV and Seton Hall, coach Bob Cimmino said.

    As I wrote Monday, Cimmino and Hinds will meet in July to cut the list and focus on certain schools.


    Ever since the Janet Jackson ‘wardrobe malfunction’ incident in 2004, Super Bowl officials have gone “old school” for their halftime acts.

    And we applaud them for it.

    Despite their, ahem, advanced age, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend put on a tremendous show at halftime of Sunday’s Super Bowl. They sounded, and looked, great.

    Beginning in 2005, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Prince, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band and now The Who have rocked the halftime show.

    Prior to that, Aerosmith (2001) and U2 (’02) played the break.

    From Detroit Pistons guard Ben Gordon to Rutgers players Jonathan Mitchell and Mike Coburn to West Virginia sophomore Kevin Jones, Mount Vernon High School coach Bob Cimmino has turned out one star after another.

    The next in that line is junior point guard Jabarie Hinds.

    The 6-foot, 166-pound Hinds is ranked No. 18 among point guards in the Class of 2011 and No. 77 overall.

    He’s averaging 25 points, 4.5 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals for a team that is 12-5 and plays its final regular season game Monday.

    “He’ll be a point guard that understands the flow of the game. He’ll get the ball to the players he’s supposed to get it to. He can score when he needs to score and he loves to play defense,” Cimmino said when asked to describe what Hinds will contribute at the next level.

    It’s still early but Cimmino says half a dozen schools are working the hardest on landing Hinds.

    Kyrie Irving and Michael Gilchrist combined for 46 points Saturday night as Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick hammered Woodland Hills (Calif.) Taft, 91-64, in the Nike Extravaganza in Santa Ana, Calif.

    The Celtics won despite a huge controversy swirling around the program.

    St. Patrick will be declared ineligible for the upcoming New Jersey state tournament at a New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association hearing this week because it allegedly held illegal preseason practices, according to a source with direct knowledge.

    The NJSIAA said there is a “99 percent” chance the hearing will be moved to Friday from Wednesday because of the impending snowstorm.

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