September 2013 | Page 9 of 27 | 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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Monday / April 29.
  • Jeff Newberry of New Mexico Junior College is one of the top junior college point guards in the nation. In his latest Player Blog for ZAGSBLOG, the 6-foot-2 Newberry unveils his college choice after narrowing his list to three — Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and UConn — in his last blog.

    The wait is finally over.

    I have chosen to continue my collegiate career after this last year of Junior College at Oklahoma State University.

    I couldn’t be more happy and confident in my decision. Coach [Travis] Ford is a great coach and I can’t wait to get on campus in Stillwater next Fall but first I have to take care of my business in Hobbs, N.M.

    Carlton Bragg, one of the top prospects in the Class of 2015, will visit Kentucky unofficially on Friday.

    Bragg is a 6-foot-8 2015 power forward from Cleveland Villa Angela St. Joseph.

    “We’re actually going to the John Lucas basketball camp that same weekend [in Louisville] so John [Calipari] and Orlando [Antigua] asked us if we could just pop over for an hour, just to look around and peep our head in and stuff like that,” Bragg’s mentor, Michael Graves, told SNY.tv.

    “We’re going to stop at Kentucky, stop in, look around a little bit.

    Kentucky is one of many schools pursuing Bragg. He also planned to attend today’s Ohio State football game.

    NEW YORK — As of Wednesday night and into early Thursday morning, it appeared that Brooklyn Lincoln guard Isaiah Whitehead might stay home and play for his hometown team — St. John’s.

    Ranked No. 12 nationally by Scout.com, Whitehead would have been  St. John’s first commit in the Class of 2014 and the program’s first McDonald’s All-American to remain at the school since Omar Cook in 2000.

    “After we went to St. John’s [Wednesday], we sat there and we spoke to them,” Whitehead’s mother, Ericka Rambert, said Thursday at Lincoln. “Up until [Wednesday] night St. John’s was heavy on his mind. He was like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to give up on the city.’ Everybody was treating him, ‘Oh, stay home for New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City.

    “But like he said, they recruited him, then they stopped. He was like in awe with them, like ‘Do they really want me?”

    Whitehead ultimately picked Seton Hall in part because they promised to make him the face of the program and give him immediate playing time as a freshman.

    At St. John’s, Whitehead would have entered a crowded backcourt in 2014 that currently includes incoming freshman point guard Rysheed Jordan, along with juniors D’Angelo Harrison and Phil Greene, among others.

    Robert Johnson is off the board.

    The 6-foot-3, 185-pound combo guard from Chesterfield (Va.) Benedictine School said on Friday that he will attend Indiana, choosing the Hoosiers over North Carolina, Virginia and Florida State.

    “After all the visits, at the end of the day, I felt strongest about Indiana,” Johnson said, according to Jeff Rabjohns of Rivals.

    Ranked No. 42 in the Rivals150 for the Class of 2014, Johnson says he wants to transition to point guard from shooting guard as he moves forward.

    “If I want an opportunity to play this game after college, that’s something I’ll probably have to do,” Johnson told SNY.tv this summer.

    The news comes one day after Indiana missed out on Brooklyn Lincoln two guard Isaiah Whitehead, who chose Seton Hall over the Hoosiers, St. John’s, Minnesota and Pitt.

    BLAIRSTOWN, N.J. — Richard Pitino wants to pump the brakes on his dad’s suggestion that Louisville and Minnesota should meet in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

    “He’s going to have to be an executive at ESPN to decide,” the Minnesota coach told SNY.tv of his father, Louisville coach Rick Pitino, during a recent recruiting trip to Blair Academy.

    “I think he just won the national championship but he doesn’t make those decisions. ESPN does.”

    Speaking at his recent Hall of Fame induction, Rick Pitino said he’d like to see the matchup happen.

    BuzzHACKENSACK, N.J. — Buzz Williams was one of several coaches on hand Friday for the Brayden Carr Coaches’ Clinic at Fairleigh Dickinson University, but he chose to honor Brayden in his own special way.

    The Marquette coach made up his own shirt with pictures of Brayden on it and wore it during his portion of the clinic.

    “We didn’t know he had it on when he took his sweat top off today and when we saw it it was really touching,” Jimmy Carr told SNY.tv. “My wife and I really appreciate all Buzz is doing. He was great, he spent a lot of time with a lot of people. And that shirt meant the world to us, the extra thought that he gave into the clinic.”

    Said Williams: “It was my way of honoring their family.”

    Steve Clifford of the Charlotte Bobcats, Nets assistant Lawrence Frank, former NBA coach John Lucas, ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg and Arizona coach Sean Miller also spoke at the clinic.

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