April 2012 | Page 24 of 25 | Zagsblog
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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 26.
  • While Shabazz Muhammad, Tony Parker and Nerlens Noel are planning on letting the world know their college plans April 11, Anthony Bennett’s announcement could potentially drag out a bit longer.

    The 6-foot-7 Bennett is currently at the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland, Ore., and discusses playing with the World Team in the above video from OregonLive.com.

    Bennett has yet to schedule any visits, according to Mike George of CIA Bounce.

    Bennett, who on Saturday helped Findlay Prep win the ESPN National High School Invitational over Montverde (Fla.) Academy, is considering Kentucky, Florida, UNLV, Oregon and Washington.

    NEW ORLEANS — After the ping pong balls do their magical dance during the NBA Draft lottery on May 30, one franchise and its fan base are going to be delighted and a whole group of others will be disappointed.

    Kentucky freshman Anthony Davis — who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four following Kentucky’s 67-59 victory over Kansas Monday night — will inevitably be the first NCAA champion taken at No. 1 since Kansas’s Danny Manning in 1988.

    And he could become an NBA Hall of Famer down the line.

    The other players in the draft? Not so much.

    “The most disappointed NBA team this year will be the team with the No. 2 pick,” ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla told SNY.tv.

    NEW ORLEANS –John Calipari could take his first national championship ring and head back to the NBA, perhaps to the Knicks, and nobody would blame him.

    He’s accomplished the ultimate goal in college basketball and now that 800-pound gorilla is off his back for good.

    “I can get on with it and I don’t have to hear the drama,” Calipari said after his loaded Kentucky team beat back Kansas, 67-59, to win his first title at the Mercedes-Benz SuperDome. “I can just coach now. I don’t have to worry. If you want to hear the truth, it’s almost like, done, let me move on.”

    NEW ORLEANS — This was just before “One Shining Moment” played in the Mercedes-Benz SuperDome and Doron Lamb was standing up on a platform on the basketball court yelling over and over, “We’re going to the White House, we’re going to the White House.”

    Like all his Kentucky teammates, the Queens, N.Y., native was wearing a baseball hat that read “No-1 Greater,” a T-shirt that said  “National Champs” and a huge smile that summed it all up.

    “It means a lot to me,” Lamb said after scoring a game-high 22 points, including back-to-back 3-point daggers in the second half, of Kentucky’s 67-59 victory on the biggest stage of them all.

    “I worked hard to get here. Coach Cal told me I was going to have a big game today. Had a great shoot-around. I made a lot of shots today to help my team win.”

    Madison Square Garden and Cablevision fired back today in response to Frank Isola’s story in today’s Daily News suggesting the Knicks may have withheld injury news on Jeremy Lin until after the deadline for purchasing playoff tickets.

    Here’s their release:

    Cablevision Systems Corporation statement: “Today’s story in the New York Daily News is just another in a long list of articles and cover stories designed to provoke Cablevision and The Madison

    NEW ORLEANS — Jimmy Carr may be the only basketball fan in America rooting for a tie in Monday night’s NCAA championship game.

    More specifically, Carr says the angel of his late son, Brayden, is hoping Kansas and Kentucky tie and both teams walk away as equals.

    “A little angel is watching over their season,” Carr told SNY.tv by text. “He is rooting for a tie tonight.”

    NEW ORLEANS — Nerlens Noel, the top uncommitted prospect in the Class of 2012, will announce his college decision April 11 on ESPN.

    That is the same date on which Shabazz Muhammad and Tony Parker will announce.

    The 6-foot-10 Noel confirmed the date in a phone interview with SNY.tv after he informed the media at the All-American Championship game. Noel had six points, six rebounds and three blocks as the East beat the West, 84-72, at the University of New Orleans.

    “It’s time to end this and make a decision,” he told reporters there, according to Jody Demling.

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