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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.
  • Derryck Thornton, a 6-foot-2 2016 point guard out of Findlay Prep, has cut his list to 10 schools, he told Scout.com.

    Thornton is considering Duke, Kentucky, Michigan, Louisville, Arizona, California, USC, Miami, UNLV and NC State.

    “I feel like I’m really focusing on the 10 schools I narrowed it down to,” Thornton told Scout. “I can really see myself playing at one of the these schools.”

    Thornton and 2016 Gill St. Bernard’s guard Tyus Battle have talked about possibly playing together in college if it works out for both.

    St. John’s is looking into Keith Thomas’s transcript in the wake of the Westchester Community College transcript scandal, multiple sources close to the situation told SNY.tv.

    “We are looking into it,” one school source said.

    If it turns out WCC changed Thomas’s transcripts, he could be ruled a non- or partial-qualifier by the NCAA. If he’s deemed a partial qualifier, he would remain on scholarship but won’t be permitted to play. He currently has two years of eligibility and could end up having just one if he loses a year.

    A Mount Vernon, N.Y., native, the 6-foot-8 Thomas averaged 15.3 points and 15.7 rebounds last season at WCC. He chose the Johnnies over Loyola-Chicago and Fordham in May.

    St. John’s is counting on Thomas to provide frontcourt scoring and rebounding after the losses of several key frontcourt players, including JaKarr Sampson, who made the Philadelphia 76ers roster, and Orlando Sanchez, who will play for the Knicks’ D-League team in Westchester.

    John Calipari is still experimenting with a platoon system in which he plans to give up to 12 guys regular minutes this season.

    But one clear advantage he believes his No. 1-ranked Kentucky team will have is this: opponents will have to adjust to the platoon more than his own players will.

    “The good news is that other guy we start playing against is going to have to figure out what these 10 guys or 12 are, and how one unit plays versus how another unit plays, what are they doing in pick’n rolls, what are they doing on post-ups, this group plays one way, this group plays the other way,” Calipari said after Kentucky’s Blue-White Scrimmage Monday night in which freshman guard Devin Booker went for 22 points and freshman big man Karl-Anthony Towns of St. Joe’s-Metuchen in New Jersey went for 20 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks. “The issues I’m going to have, the other coach is going to have, too.”

    Calipari has already addressed that the challenge for this team will be ignoring the outside “clutter,” or outside influences like media, friends and family who are questioning how many minutes each player gets. He’s already turned it, smartly, into an us vs. them situation.

    By JACK LeGWIN

    One of the tallest basketball players in recent memory, Tacko Fall, has committed to Central Florida.

    At 7-foot-5, Fall played for Each 1 Teach 1 Elite on the EYBL Circuit, averaging 2.9 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.

    Fall is the fourth player to commit to the Knights, along with Chad Brown, Chance McSpadden and Tank Efianayi. 

    Skal Labissiere made an interesting announcement via Twitter Monday night.

    The 6-foot-10 power forward from the Memphis area Tweeted that he would be playing this year for a new prep team.

    “Happy to announce that I will be playing my senior year with RYD Prep! #ReachYourDream #letsgetit #blessed.”

    Reach Your Dream Prep, which is run by Labissiere’s guardian Gerald Hamilton, has yet to play any games and its website offers few details about a basketball program. Labissiere will still attend Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis. He initially attempted to play at that school but was ruled ineligible due to state transfer rules.

    Ivan RabbIvan Rabb, the 6-foot-10 2015 big man from Oakland (CA) Bishop O’Dowd and the Oakland Soldiers, watched Kentucky’s Blue-White Scrimmage Monday night as part of his official visit, according to Ben Roberts of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

    Rabb will also “most likely” take an official to Kansas Nov. 7, his high school coach Lou Richie confirmed to SNY.tv after it was reported by Roberts.

    Rabb is down to Arizona, California, Kansas, Kentucky and UCLA, but hasn’t scheduled visits to the West Coast schools yet.

    Stephen Zimmerman, Rabb’s Soldiers teammate, also watched the Kentucky scrimmage on the SEC Network, his mother Tweeted.

    The 7-foot Zimmerman has already visited Kentucky.

    Derrick JonesDerrick Jones, a 6-foot-7 wing forward from Radnor (PA) Archbishop Carroll, has cut his list to five schools, his father told SNY.tv.

    “Derrick has cut his list down to five schools: UNLV, Auburn, UConn, Kentucky and Kansas are his top five,” Derrick Jones Sr. said.

    “He cut Louisville, Florida, North Carolina and Arizona.” Those schools were initially on his list of nine.

    Derrick Sr. said Kansas and Kentucky have reached out to his son “this week.’

    He added that Auburn “should be coming to see Derrick next week at his school” and he should be “taking some official visits after Nov. 9.”

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