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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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Tuesday / December 10.
  • quadri-mooreBy JOHN PAVIA

    Special to ZAGSBLOG

    Cincinnati commit Quadri Moore and his Linden team have won the New Jersey Group 4 state championship with a 66-53 victory over Trenton and will now move on to the Tournament of Champions.

    The 6-foot-9 Moore had 22 points, 21 rebounds and five blocks as his team out-rebounded Trenton 51-35. Moore had an impressive 12 offensive rebounds which led to second-chance points and more offensive possessions for his team.

    Junior guard Otis Livingston also added in 20 points and five rebounds to help pace the team along with Moore.

    AckermanVal Ackerman proudly stood on a podium on the Madison Square Garden floor late Saturday night handing out Big East Tournament championship trophies to Providence coach Ed Cooley and every member of his team.

    The Friars’ surprise victory in the Big East Tournament culminated a successful week for Ackerman in her first year as Commissioner of the revamped Big East.

    The tournament was exciting, culminating in a tense and taut game between a member of the Big East old guard (Providence) and a representative of the new Big East (Creighton). It somehow seemed appropriate that Dave Gavitt’s old school won its first Big East Tournament championship since 1994 and will go to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004.

    And later Sunday, the Big East is expected to get four teams in the Big Dance — with Villanova and Xavier likely to join Providence and Creighton. If that happens, the Big East will get a higher percentage (40 percent) of teams into the NCAA Tournament than the ACC, which is expected to get 5 of its 15 teams in (33 percent).

    Bryce Cotton 2By JOSH NEWMAN
    Special to ZAGSBLOG

    NEW YORK — Selection Sunday and the unveiling of the field of 68 is going to be a nervous time for a lot of teams across the country.

    Providence will not be one of them.

    Big East Tournament MOP Bryce Cotton saw to that personally. After two sub-par games to open his final Big East Tournament, the high-scoring senior guard tallied 16 of his game-high 23 in the second half to pace the Friars to their first Big East crown in 20 years, 65-58 over Creighton, in front of a raucous crowd of 15,290 at Madison Square Garden.

    McBucketsNEW YORK — In a battle of the two top players in the new-look Big East, Bryce Cotton got the better of Doug McDermott.

    Dougie McBuckets didn’t cut down the nets in the first Big East championship in the post-Syracuse/UConn/Louisville world.

    Instead it was Cotton who wore the Madison Square Garden net around his neck into the post-game presser.

    But as disappointed as McDermott was, he still believes his Creighton team has greatness left this season and that a Final Four is within their grasp.

    JaQuan LyleJaQuan Lyle is down to three schools and still plans on announcing on Wednesday.

    Kansas is no longer in the mix for the 6-foot-5 Huntington (W.V.) Prep guard, who is home on spring break in Evansville, Ind., huddling with his family on a decision.

    That leaves Oregon, Oklahoma State and Memphis.

    Sources told SNY.tv that Kansas was no longer recruiting Lyle, and he confirmed by text he is down to three schools.

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