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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 / December 13.
  • Kentucky coach John Calipari will have a new-look staff next season.

    Now the question remains whether Calipari himself will stick around.

    Calipari has been linked to various NBA openings and sat near the Cavaliers bench during Game 5 of the Celtics-Cavs series in Cleveland.

    He has also been mentioned in association with the Chicago Bulls job, possibly in some sort of package deal involving LeBron James.

    “I think that any time you’ve got a coach of his quality, there’s going to be conversations about [other jobs],” Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart said Thursday, according to the Louisville Courier Journal. “I’m very confident he’s going to be our coach next year.”

    David Cox is the new Associate Head Coach at Rutgers.

    Cox moves to Rutgers from Big East rival Georgetown and will serve as Mike Rice’s No. 2.

    Rice previously missed out on Arizona assistant coach Book Richardson and Pittsburgh assistant Brandin Knight.

    Rice previously named Jimmy Martelli to his staff. Jimmy Carr, an assistant under former coach Fred Hill, was also present during the recent recruiting visit of St. Benedict’s guard Mike Poole.

    Rice was looking for a strong African-American role model and met with Cox earlier this week.

    NEW YORK — When Seton Hall’s Jeff Robinson announced he was testing the NBA waters, it raised more than a few eyebrows around the college basketball landscape.

    After all, if anyone from Seton Hall’s program should be testing the waters, the thinking went, it was Herb Pope or Jeremy Hazell.

    The 6-foot-6 Robinson, a former Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick standout who transferred from Memphis during the middle of his sophomore season, averaged 12.2 points and 5.8 rebounds for the Pirates last year and was hardly a breakout superstar.

    He was nowhere to be found on the draft boards at DraftExpress.com or NBADraft.net.

    Yet if you listen to what new Pirates coach Kevin Willard has to say, Robinson could be poised for a breakout season next year.

    Mike Poole spent Wednesday on an unofficial visit to Rutgers and hopes to make a college decision relatively soon.

    “It was nice,” the 6-foot-6, 184-pound wing from Queens and St. Benedict’s Prep said. “I got to see the campus for the first time. I’ve been up there a lot but never got to see the whole campus.”

    Poole said he had a nice talk with new head coach Mike Rice as well as assistant coaches Jimmy Martelli and Jimmy Carr.

    “I got to speak to Coach [Rice], Coach Martelli and Coach Carr,” he said. “They told me they would love to have me. He needs players and I’m one of his top recruits.”

    Poole averaged 10.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists while shooting 49.7 percent this past season at St. Benedict’s, which finished 20-1 on the season under former coach Dan Hurley.

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