June 2014 | Page 21 of 24 | 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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Wednesday / April 24.
  • The Canadian Senior Men’s National Team will travel to Europe this summer for a series of 11 exhibition games, but it remains unclear if rising Canadian stars Andrew Wiggins, Tyler Ennis or Nik Stauskas will young the team.

    All three are projected first-round picks in the June 26 NBA Draft, with Wiggins projected as a top-three pick, and they could be busy  with their new NBA teams during the European tour which runs July 24-Aug. 12.

    “We are waiting so that we can build a relationship with the team that drafts these players and make sure that we are doing what is best for everyone involved,” Canadian coach Jay Triano told SNY.tv.

    DuPree McBrayer, a 6-foot-4 guard out of The Patrick School in Elizabeth, N.J., has several upcoming college visits and is also on the brink of choosing a prep school for the 2014-15 school year.

    McBrayer, whose stock has exploded with his play at The Patrick School and with New Heights in recent months, will begin his college tour by tripping to Providence beginning Friday, his mentor, JR Rembert, told SNY.tv by phone.

    McBrayer will also visit Seton Hall June 13, Drexel June 18 and Minnesota June 23. They also hope to visit Rhode Island, Creighton and possibly St. John’s, Rembert said.

    Ty Jerome, the 6-2 Iona Prep point guard, will also go on the Rhode Island visit, Rembert said.

    John CalipariKentucky coach John Calipari, who has been linked to various NBA openings, including the Los Angeles Lakers’ job, has signed a new seven-year contract extension that runs through the 2020-21 season.

    Calipari will earn $6.5 million next season and the annual salary will escalate annually, eventually reaching $8 million beginning in 2018-19. He also has incentives based on APR scores. There is no buyout in the contract, a source told SNY.tv.

    “Basketball has long been the marquee sport at the University of Kentucky,” Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart said. “It’s a sport that the traditions of this university and this state have been founded on. They were developed and sort of started from the get-go by Adolph Rupp and through many good people since. What Cal has done is returned us to those glory days of Final Fours and championship efforts, great players, and all along he’s helped young people understand the responsibility of going to class, of the commitment to each other and to a program that has as rich of a tradition as this one does. It has long been our goal over the last three to five years that Cal enjoy this as his final stop in coaching and that he has an opportunity to finish his career at the University of Kentucky and hopefully set standards and win championships that will be remembered for many, many years to come.”

    Diamond Stone and Malik NewmanBy JOSH NEWMAN
    Special to ZAGSBLOG

    In looking to capitalize on the momentum of winning a national title in April, University of Connecticut head coach Kevin Ollie will have a big visitor in Storrs this weekend, both literally and figuratively.

    Sources told SNY.tv on Thursday afternoon that the Huskies will host 6-foot-10 Class of 2015 star Diamond Stone for an unofficial visit this weekend.

    Scout.com’s Evan Daniels first reported that the 6-foot-10, 255-pound Stone, the new No. 1 player in the Class of 2015 according to Scout.com, would visit with 6-foot-3 Mississippi native Malik Newman, the No. 1 player in the class according to Rivals.com

    By MATT JESSEN-HOWARD

    Special to ZAGSBLOG

    Nick Noskowiak, a 6-foot-2 point guard from 2015 Sun Prairie (WI)/Playground Elite, committed to Marquette during the spring of his sophomore year, before Marquette even had a player committed from the 2014 class.

    At the time, Buzz Williams was the head coach of the Golden Eagles. He had been recruiting the true point guard for a long time, and Williams’s staff and Nowkowiak had built what seemed to be an unbreakable bond.

    “The reason why I committed to Marquette in the first place was because of Buzz,” Noskowiak told SNY.tv in an exclusive interview at EYBL Session 4. “I really like a lot of other things about Marquette, but he was the main reason.”

    LigginsEAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Former Kentucky guard DeAndre Liggins was one of 31 players here at the Nets facility this week hoping to earn an invite to their summer league team in Orlando next month.

    Thirty-one players, thirty-one dreams.

    “We’re able to scout them, either in college or in Europe, so now you bring them for three days to reaffirm what you believe or prove things that you didn’t believe,” Nets GM Billy King said. “Now we’ll take some of these guys to Summer League with us. Then you get more of a chance to evaluate them beyond.”

    King wouldn’t say how many players might make the summer league roster, but the 6-foot-6 Liggins appeared to be one of the more NBA-ready players at the free-agent mini-camp. He will also attend the Golden State Warriors mini-camp June 23.

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