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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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Thursday / October 3.
  • JaKarrBy JOSH NEWMAN

    NEW YORK – If JaKarr Sampson had stayed at St. John’s, the Red Storm would be even more dangerous than they already are at 7-1 and ranked 24th in the nation.

    The Philadelphia 76ers rookie knows this, but even after going undrafted in the 2014 NBA Draft, the 6-foot-9, 214-pound small forward has no regrets about his decision to leave Queens with two years of eligibility left.

    “I really don’t think about that because I just felt like it was my time to leave at that moment,” Sampson said before the Sixers took on the Nets on Friday night at Barclays Center. “I don’t regret it at all, I just felt like it was my time to leave. I’m proud of everything they’re doing right now, but I really don’t think about that.”

    Cal UNCIn the wake of the season-ending ACL injury to junior forward Alex Poythress, Kentucky coach John Calipari may opt to discontinue his now famous platoon system.

    “And some of this is going to be just throwing – at some point, ‘All right, let’s try this lineup, see how they work'” Calipari said Friday. “I’ve got to be willing to do it.”

    Alternatively, as beat writer Jerry Tipton pointed out, Calipari could opt to shift the platoons to move Trey Lyles up and add Derek Willis.

    By CHIP MILLER

    Terrence Phillips, the 5-foot-11 2015 Oak Hill Academy (VA) point guard, tells SNY.tv he has trimmed his list to two, despite not currently holding an official offer from either.

    “Right now it’s down to two schools, Missouri and Loyola Marymount,” Phillips told SNY.tv. “So those are the two schools that I am really looking at and the two schools that are really looking at me”

    Kentucky junior forward Alex Poythress suffered a torn ACL on Thursday.

    The 6-foot-8 junior from Clarksville, TN is averaging 5.5 points and 3.8 rebounds in 20 minutes a game while shooting a team-best 86 percent from the line for the No. 1-ranked Wildcats (10-0).

    “When you’re coaching other people’s children and these children have high aspirations and unlimited potential – not only to do things for themselves but for other people – I can’t begin to tell you the feeling when someone gets hurt,” head coach John Calipari said. “My own son, Brad, tore his ACL last year. All I can tell you is I was physically sick when it happened to him. I feel exactly the same way now that it’s happened to Alex.”

    A date for surgery has not been set yet. The normal timetable following ACL reconstructive surgery is six to eight months, putting Poythress back sometime next summer.

    If all goes according to plan, Ben Simmons and Ivan Rabb could both hear NBA Commissioner Adam Silver call their names early in the 2016 NBA Draft.

    The 6-foot-10 Simmons is projected as the No. 2 pick in that year’s draft by DraftExpress.com, while the 6-10 Rabb is pegged at No. 7.

    Basketball fans will get a peak into the future when the two big men square off Friday night when Rabb and Oakland (CA) Bishop O’Dowd (2-0) visit Simmons and Montervde (FL) Academy (6-0). The game will be shown at 6:30 p.m on ESPN2.

    “I think you have two guys that have an excellent chance not only to be pro players, but to be good pro players,” Montverde coach Kevin Boyle told SNY.tv.

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