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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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Thursday / March 28.
  • By The Associated Press

    ODESSA, Texas — A West Texas student who led his high school basketball team to the state playoffs last season was actually a 22-year-old man, police said Tuesday.

    Police say the basketball star was really Guerdwich Montimere, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Haiti who school officials say was recognized last month by Florida coaches as having been a star high school player in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a few years ago.

    Ector County school district officials said the man posed as 16-year-old Jerry Joseph and enrolled at Permian High School in Odessa for the 2009-2010 academic year. He also presented himself as homeless to the school’s basketball coach, Danny Wright, who took the boy in last summer, the coach said.

    The UConn athletic department is paying out big bucks to defend itself against the recruiting violations first reported by Yahoo! Sports a year ago.

    According to the Hartford Courant, UConn’s legal bills have already exceeded $700,000, and that may just be the beginning.

    The Courant reported that UConn will pay$375,000 to Overland Park, Kansas law firm Bond Schoeneck & King PLLC, in addition to the $338,000 the firm already received from the university.

    There is no taxpayer money or student tuition monies involved,” Mike Enright, a spokesman for the UConn athletic department, told the Courant. ” All of these bills are being paid through self-generated funds by the athletic department.”

    Mike Poole, a 6-foot-5, 175-pound wing from St. Benedict’s Prep, has been offered a scholarship by new Rutgers head coach Mike Rice and will visit the campus Wednesday and Thursday.

    Rice will also host Notre Dame Prep players Cleveland Melvin and Antoine Myers this week.

    “[Poole] will take an unofficial to Rutgers [Wednesday] and then he will be visiting Boston College and Seton Hall,” said Nate Blue, Poole’s mentor.

    Blue said no official visit was necessary because “we know what Rutgers has to offer.”

    Rutgers coach Mike Rice will welcome 6-foot-8 forward Cleveland Melvin and 6-3 point guard Antoine Myers to campus Wednesday and Thursday and Melvin plans to make a college decision shortly thereafter.

    “After my Rutgers visit,” Melvin said Monday night during a phone interview.

    A Baltimore native who plays at Notre Dame Prep, Melvin is also considering Marshall, DePaul and Seton Hall.

    “They are even,” said Melvin, who initially committed to UConn before changing his mind.

    Melvin said Rutgers assistant Jimmy Martelli, who was officially named to the staff Tuesday, called him last week and expressed interest.

    Ronald Roberts nearly had his heart broken when he parted ways with St. John’s.

    Now he’s found a new home and he couldn’t be happier.

    “Yeah, I just committed to St. Joe’s,” the 6-foot-7-205-pound Roberts said Monday night. “I called Coach [Phil] Martelli just a little while ago.”

    A combo forward who averaged 19 points, 13 rebounds and 3.5 blocks at Jersey City (N.J.) St. Peter’s Prep, Roberts also visited Virginia and was supposed to visit Georgia Tech in two weeks.

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