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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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    • Breaking News, Villanova

    NEW YORK — Jay Wright was talking to a recruit recently when he told the kid, “Give me a negative about Villanova.”

    Keep in mind, this is the same Villanova that won the national championship in April by taking out Kansas, Oklahoma and North Carolina en route to the NCAA title.

    “There are no negatives about Villanova,” the recruit told Wright. “I love the school, I love the program, I just know that you guys try to win college basketball games and you don’t want guys to go to the NBA.”

    “Wow,” Wright told the recruit. “I appreciate your honesty so much.”

    Breaking News, Villanova

    For the third straight year, Villanova has been selected unanimously to capture the Big East regular-season crown in the Big East Preseason Coaches’ Poll.

    The reigning NCAA champion Wildcats received all nine possible first-place votes from the league’s head coaches and a total of 81 points in the poll.  Coaches do not place their own teams on their ballots.

    Meantime, junior guard Josh Hart was named the Big East Preseason Player of the Year.

    Hart and the Wildcats have been the outright regular-season champion in each of the past three seasons, compiling a 16-2 record each year.  For 2016-17, coach Jay Wright’s club will be aiming for an unprecedented fourth consecutive title.  Last year, the team was the Big East Tournament runner-up before marching on to win the NCAA Tournament title and capturing the eighth national championship in Big East men’s basketball history.  For the second straight season, Villanova set a school record for victories, finishing with a 35-5 record.

    Breaking News, Recruiting

    While many of the top players in the Class of 2017 may not sign until the spring, Quade Green plans to sign in November.

    The 6-foot-1 point guard from Neumann-Goretti (PA) High School told Scout.com he plans to sign “early.”

    Green will visit Kentucky this week (Oct. 14) for “Big Blue Madness” and will also visit Syracuse (Oct. 21) for “Orange Madness.” Green is slated to be at Villanova’s Midnight Madness event on Oct. 28.

    He told Scout. he also plans to visit Arizona and Duke. Andrew Slater of 247Sports.com reported Green will visit Duke Oct. 22 for “Countdown to Craziness.”

    Breaking News, Kentucky

    The University of Kentucky is known for their “one-and-done” culture. Recruit elite talent, go for broke the first year, repeat. John Calipari continues to do what works for him.

    At the open practice held in Lexington, and televised on ESPNU, Calipari trotted out his hot new recruiting class that tops ESPN’s rankings for this past cycle. Right from the jump the highly touted freshman – De’Aaron Fox, Bam Adebayo, and Malik Monk – made their presence known.

    Those three freshman are all projected top 20 selections in the 2017 NBA Draft, according to DraftExpress.com. Adebayo is slated to go the earliest of the bunch at pick 10, followed by Fox at 12, and Monk just escaping lottery projection at pick 18.

    “Kentucky is a team that is going to struggle to consistently make perimeter jump shots especially when teams play zone against them,” one NBA scout in attendance said. “Malik Monk is an NBA athlete who has a nice mid-range jump shot off the dribble.  Fox has exceptional quickness and speed. Bam has an NBA body and is a powerful two footed jumper. [Derek] Willis is their best perimeter shooter. [Wenyen] Gabriel and [Sacha] Killeya-Jones both have upside and should be draftable prospects in a couple years.”

    Copyright 2016 Zagsblog. Partner of iOne Digital / Cassius Network
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