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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 ALAN AVITAL

    NEW YORK — Just hours after landing on New York soil, St. John’s recruit D’Angelo Harrison – fueled with adrenaline – poured in a game-high 23 points to lead Real Scout to an exciting 84-78 semifinal victory over the  Playaz Saturday afternoon in front of a jam-packed crowd at the iS8/Nike Spring Classic

    “D’Angelo arrived here late last night and paid his own money to get out here,” said Real Scout head coach Nate Blue. “He didn’t come out here to win one game. He came out here to win a championship with his future teammates.”

    With the victory, Real Scout advanced to Sunday’s championship game against the Sean Bell All Stars, a 73-56 victor over New Heights (Artie)  in the day’s second semifinal.

    By  ALAN AVITAL

    NEW YORK — With Arizona transfer Lamont “Momo” Jones headed East — potentially to St. John’s, Seton Hall or UConn — incoming point guard Josiah Turner figures to have a major role in his freshman season at Arizona.

    Turner came East this weekend for the iS8/Nike Spring Classic and dished out eight assists as the Sean Bell All Stars beat New Heights, 73-56, in the semifinals.

    Sean Bell will face Real Scout in Sunday’s championship game.

    You have to hand it to Linda Gonzalez.

    She sure has an interesting strategy for getting her brother, Bobby, another college basketball coaching gig.

    Apparently that grand strategy involves A) indirectly implicating her brother in NCAA recruiting violations; and B) ripping nearly every major college basketball writer in the nation.

    Because, you know, that’s the best way to go about getting back into a business from which you’ve been blackballed.

    NEWARK — Tyler Ennis admits he considered bolting St. Benedict’s Prep.

    His former head coach, the onetime St. Anthony and Duke standout Roshown McLeod, had been dismissed in early April, and virtually the entire St. Benedict’s team soon followed him out of the building.

    By late April, Ennis and rising sophomore Jack Dwyer were the only players remaining on the team.

    “After Coach McLeod left and they didn’t have a head coach and school was done [for spring break], I was thinking of looking at other places,” Ennis said in an interview earlier this week.

    NEW YORK — UConn and Rutgers are both large state universities in the Northeast.

    Before UConn became a national power in men’s and women’s basketball, it was a wasteland.

    Then Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma took over in the mid-1980s and set about turning things around.

    Between them, they have won 10 NCAA championships at Connecticut, including the men’s victory over Butler last month in Houston, the third for Calhoun since 1999.

    Meantime, the Rutgers women’s team has been to two Final Fours under C. Vivian Stringer, but the men’s program hasn’t qualified for the NCAA Tournament since 1991.

    St. John’s coach Steve Lavin reached out to the Momo Jones camp for the first time Thursday evening, according to the person advising Jones on his recruitment.

    The school is interested in the Arizona transfer and Jones, a Harlem native, could well wind up there, but nothing is done yet.

    Asked about published reports that Jones-to-St. John’s was a done deal, the recruiting adviser said, “That’s not accurate. I don’t understand how this thing’s out there. That’s not accurate.”

    N.C. State transfer Ryan Harrow says he has yet to decide on his future destination, but his mother said he will announce “next week.”

    “I haven’t made any decisions yet,” he said Thursday by text. “My mother and I have to talk and make the right decision.”

    Harrow is considering Kentucky, Texas, Georgia, Louisville and St. John’s. He recently returned from a trip to four of the five schools, but missed out on St. John’s because his mother had to return home for a business engagement in Raleigh, N.C.

    “UGA was the last visit,” Fern Matthews said by text. “We spoke to St. John’s coaches by telephone.”

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