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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 / December 11.
  • Chris Clarke-4

    Chris Clarke has committed to Tennessee.

    The 6-foot-5 guard from Virginia Beach (VA) Cape Henry Collegiate School  also considered UConn, Creighton and Virginia Tech.

    Clarke, ranked No. 41 in the class of 2015 by 247 Sports, brings a slashing presence to the Vols.

    “He’s an eletric eel,” longtime New York recruiting expert Tom Konchalski said of Clarke. “He’s a 6-5 version of Kenneth Faried. He must’ve seen a lot of Kenneth Faried in himself because [head coach] Donnie Tyndall coached Faried at Morehead State.

    “[Clarke] plays with the metabolism of a hummingbird and covers the court as well as any player. He’s involved in more plays on both sides of the ball than almost player in the country.

    The NBA season has begun.

    Tank you very much.

    Yes, it’s never too early to break out the Tanking Mottos for teams like the Philadelphia 76ers, the Los Angeles Lakers and maybe even the Knicks, who got drilled by the Chicago Bulls in their season opener last night by 24 points.

    FiveThirtyEight.com projects the Sixers to have the NBA’s worst record at 20-62. But have you seen their roster? Twenty wins might be optimistic.

    After that, FiveThirtyEight projects Kobe and the Lakers will win 24 games — and that was before Julius Randle broke his leg in the season-opener.

    The site then has Utah (28 wins), Milwaukee (29), Sacramento (29), the Knicks (31), Boston (32) and Orlando (32) bringing up the rear.

    BoatNEW YORK — Kemba Walker won his NCAA championship as the point guard at UConn in 2011.

    Shabazz Napier led the Huskies to the title in 2014.

    Now Ryan Boatright is next up.

    “Ain’t no getting around that,” Boatright, UConn’s lone senior, said Wednesday at the American Athletic Conference media day at the New York Athletic Club.

    “I know it and everybody else knows it, that it’s my turn to lead the team. My main thing is winning another championship and I know that it’s gonna take everybody on my team from me all the way down to the practice players to do that.”

    In the wake of the WCC transcript scandalKeith Thomas has been ruled academically ineligible to compete for the St. John’s men’s basketball team this season.

    The University said it had learned that Thomas does not meet the academic standards required by the NCAA for transfers.

    “Academic integrity is treated very seriously at St. John’s University and we are committed to maintaining high academic standards for all of our student-athletes,” said Director of Athletics Chris Monasch. “Our athletic compliance office recently became aware of information that triggered an additional review of Thomas’ academic credentials at Westchester Community College. Our assessment and decision are in accordance with University and NCAA policies.”

    NEW YORK — Larry Brown lost his best player when Emmanuel Mudiay opted to sign for $1.2 million in China instead of going to SMU.

    Now the Hall of Fame coach is worried that Mudiay’s decision will set a trend for more American ballplayers.

    “I think it will get worse,” Brown said Wednesday at American media day at the New York Athletic Club. “If he’s as good as I know he is and he’s the first, second or third pick in the draft, which I’m pretty confident he will be, I’m worried that a lot of kids will think about it.

    “They won’t think of [Jeremy] Tyler, they won’t think of [Brandon] Jennings, they won’t think of so many kids that have come out early and are not playing anymore. So we gotta address that.”

    Cal-BrownNEW YORK — Larry Brown says his friend John Calipari will eventually have to trim his rotation and abandon hopes of playing 10-12 players this season.

    “I know Cal, he’s going to want to win a national championship. He’s going to have to get down to eight or nine and he will,” the SMU coach and Naismith Hall of Famer said Wednesday at American media day at the New York Athletic Club.

    Calipari, whose team features nine McDonald’s All-Americans, is experimenting with a platoon system in which he plays 10-12 guys, giving them all exposure to NBA scouts.

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