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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 4.
  • Jaylen BrownHere’s a few quick recruiting hits entering the weekend.

    **Jaylen Brown, the 6-foot-7 wing out of Marietta (GA) Wheeler, still plans to take an official visit to Michigan but has no date set. “We are definitely going to visit Michigan!” Mechalle Brown, Jaylen’s mother, told SNY.tv, reiterating comments she made to UMHoops.com. “We want to get there for a basketball game if possible, but it depends on Jaylen’s playoff schedule.” Brown is also considering Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, Georgia, Georgia Tech and North Carolina and will commit in the spring.

    **North Carolina head coach Roy Williams and assistant Steve Robinson will be at Kinston (N.C.) High on Friday to attend the Senior Night of Brandon Ingram, his father Tweeted. The 6-8 Ingram is also considering Duke, N.C. State, UCLA, Kansas and Kentucky.

    NITThe NIT announced it will use experimental rules in its postseason tournament this year, including a 30-second shot clock and a four-foot restricted-area arc.

    The rules will be in effect for all 31 games of the tournament.

    The shot clock in men’s basketball is now 35 seconds, where it has remained since the 1993-94 season, and the restricted-area arc extends 3 feet from the center of the basket.

    The shot clock is being reduced by five seconds in the 32-team NIT field to see what effect it will have on pace of play and scoring. The restricted-area arc is being extended a foot to determine whether that change reduces the number of collisions under the basket.

    NCAA Basketball: Providence at St. John'sSt. John’s season began with senior guard D’Angelo Harrison telling me it would be a “complete failure” if the Red Storm did not make the NCAA Tournament.

    Well, if the NCAA Tournament began this week, the Johnnies would be on the outside looking in, according to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi.

    That, by Harrison’s definition, would be a “complete failure.’

    The Johnnies are 14-8 and 3-6 in the Big East Conference entering Saturday’s tilt against Creighton at Madison Square Garden. They likely need to go at least 6-3 the rest of the way to finish at .500 in the league in order to secure an at-large bid. That, or win the Big East Tournament next month at the Garden on their home floor.

    Kobe

    BY ZACH SMART

    Once strictly a catch-and-stick guy, Elev8 Academy’s Kobie Eubanks new-found knack for putting the ball on the deck, creating off the dribble, and ambidextrous passing ability has rendered the well-built 6-foot-5 guard one of the nation’s most hotly-pursued recruits.

    Eubanks scored 15 points in under 13 minutes on Thursday, as Elev8 coasted to a wire-to-wire 85-48 throttling of Virginia Tech’s J.V. Elev8 overcame a lackluster start, hiking up the defensive pressure en route to the sloppy blowout.

    The post-grad said he was appreciative of Oregon head coach Dana Altman’s appearance and is considering all five potential destinations one at a time.

    FIBA U17 World Championships - DubaiJamal Murray of Orangeville Prep (Ontario) and Isaac Humphries of La Lumiere (IN) are among the young international stars who will headline the first-ever Basketball without Borders (BWB) Global Camp.

    The camp will be held February 13-15 at Baruch College in Manhattan as part of NBA All-Star 2015 in New York City, and Nike will be the official partner. NBA scouts can attend the event.

    The campers, ages 16-18 and coming from Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe, will train with select NBA and FIBA players and coaches including Danilo Gallinari (Denver Nuggets; Italy; BWB Europe 2003), Gorgui Dieng (Minnesota Timberwolves; Senegal; BWB Africa 2009), Steven Adams (Oklahoma City Thunder; New Zealand), and Tiago Splitter (San Antonio Spurs; Brazil).

    Tyus Battle

    Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has reached out to at least one elite recruit to make him aware of the self-imposed postseason ban that will impact this year’s team.

    Boeheim called Gary Battle, the father of 2016 Gill St. Bernard’s combo guard Tyus Battle, to tell him that Syracuse “was pulling themselves out of the postseason this year.”

    The ban will only impact the current players and won’t impact future recruits.

    “He asked me how Ty was doing and said Ty is his top recruit in 2016,” Gary Battle told SNY.tv. “We are not that concerned.”

    SKSean Kilpatrick left White Plains (N.Y.) High School as a star basketball player who averaged more than 28 points per game and had a bright future ahead of him.

    He will return to the city on Friday still hoping to achieve his ultimate dream of playing in the NBA.

    Kilpatrick, 25, is a member of the NBA D-League’s Delaware 87ers who are visiting the Westchester Knicks at the Westchester County Center.

    The game is expected to be a sellout, with many of Kilpatrick’s family and friends in attendance, and possibly even Thomas Roach, the Mayor of White Plains.

    “I’m just looking to play well,” Kilpatrick, who went undrafted last year out of Cincinnati despite being the second-leading scorer in program history behind Oscar Robertson, told SNY.tv by phone. “It’s a big homecoming for me. It would be good for the 87ers’ organization as well so I’m just trying to do well for my team and not only that, for my family as well.”

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