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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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Monday / December 9.
  • WEST POINT, N.Y. — When Ron Baker first signed with the Knicks this summer, he was hoping to pair up with his former Wichita State teammate Cleanthony Early, the team’s second-round draft pick in 2014.

    “We played two years together at Wichita State,” Baker told me Thursday at Knicks training camp at West Point. “At first we thought we both were going to be here.”

    But after Early was shot in the right leg during an attack in Queens last December, the Knicks did not bring him into training camp this year and he is currently out of the NBA.

    “We were a little disapppointed that he’s not here,” Baker said. “I saw him a couple weeks ago playing pickup in the city but I’m not sure on his status.”

    Following a home visit Wednesday with Arizona head coach Sean Miller and assistant Book Richardson, Nick Richards will take an official visit to the Pac-12 school the weekend of Oct. 7, sources said.

    The Arizona visit will mark the second official for the St. Patrick’s (N.J.) big man after he takes his first to Kentucky this coming weekend.

    “Yeah, Book keeps it real with me,” Richards, a native of Jamaica who has only been playing organized ball for about four years, told me last month of the Arizona assistant from New York. “He’s probably the only coach out of all of them that keeps it the most real with me.”

    Gary Trent Jr., the 6-foot-5 shooting guard now at Napa (CA) Prolific Prep, has long been linked to Duke and after seeing pictures of his home visit with the entire Duke staff on Wednesday night, it’s not hard to see why.

    Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, associate head coach Jeff Capel and assistants Nate James and Jon Scheyer all met with the Michigan native, who took his first official visit to UCLA this past weekend.

    Trent Jr. recently cut his list to include Arizona, Duke, Michigan State, UCLA and Kentucky. After visiting UCLA, he hits Arizona Oct. 14, Duke Oct. 21 and MIchigan State Oct. 25.

    Wabissa Bede, the 6-foot-1 point guard from Cushing (MA) Academy and the Mass Rivals AAU program, committed to Virginia Tech, giving coach Buzz Williams a point guard of the future.

    Ranked the No. 16 point guard in the Class of 2017 by 247Sports.com, Bede also considered Butler, LaSalle, Minnesota and UMass.

    “I love coach [Buzz] Williams,” he told Scout.com before his official visit this weekend. “[He] reminds me of Vin [Mass Rivals coach Vin Pastore]. He’s tough with a soft heart. He believes in me a lot and I can play at that level and produce there. Also they’ve been recruiting me a lot this summer.”

    Jamir Moultrie, a Class of 2017 point guard out of District Heights (MD) Bishop McNamara, is focusing on three schools and is targeting a decision next month, his father said.

    The 6-foot-1, 175-pound Moultrie is focusing on Georgia, La Salle and Monmouth, where he took an official visit this past weekend, and could decide soon after his Oct. 14 official visit to Georgia.

    “That’s their homecoming weekend so we’ll go down and visit for that and hopefully not too long after that we’ll make a decision,” Jeran Moultrie said by phone. “Things kind of boil down right now to La Salle, Monmouth and Georgia.”

    Moultrie visited Monmouth officially this past weekend. The Hawks are in the market for a point guard after St. Anthony’s senior R.J. Cole surprised many by picking Howard over Monmouth.

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