ZAGSBLOG

14-Year-Old Commits to Rutgers

Maiscei Grier is just 14 years old and has yet to play a single varsity basketball game.

Yet the son of Passaic legend Marshall Grier has already given an oral commitment to Rutgers upon receiving a scholarship offer. The 5-foot-8, 125-pound freshman guard would not be eligible to play his first college game until the fall of 2011.

“I always wanted to go to college back East,” Grier said by phone from his home in Las Vegas. “I’m from there. I’ve known (Rutgers) Coach (Fred) Hill almost all my life and I feel I would be real comfortable being in his hands.”

Read the full story here.

Morris Twins to Kansas

Marcus and Markieff Morris will head to Kansas instead of Villanova.

The twins, who initially committed to Memphis but later backed out, play out of APEX Academies in Pennsauken, N.J. and become the second and third New Jersey players to commit to Kansas coach Bill Self in the past two weeks. St. Patrick forward Quintrell Thomas picked KU over Rutgers and UNLV last week.

"It was the playing time and winning tradition," the 6-8 1/2, 220-pound Marcus told Gary Bedore of KUSports.com. "Tradition and winning a championship. It was a very tough decision. Villanova is a good school and it's home, too."

Marcus described Kansas as his "dream" school.

"Since I was 10 years old it was my dream school," he said. "When you are young, watching games, you just look at the crowd. I always liked Kansas."

The twins visited KU for "Late Night in the Phog" the weekend of Oct. 12 and came away impressed, especially after eating dinner at Coach Self's house. Self was happy to get the commitments.

"He was very excited," Marcus said. "He was happy to get it all over with."

Kansas now has commitments from Thomas, the twins, 6-3 G Travis Releford of Kansas City and 6-4 G Mario Little of Chicago.

Rutgers Women's Media Day

Just a few hours after William Shatner cracked wise about Don Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball team on "Boston Legal," Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer did not say a single word about the radio DJ during her Media Day press conference at the Rutgers Athletic Center.

Why worry about the past when so much is at stake in the future? One year after winning their first Big East championship and reaching the NCAA title game, the Scarlet Knights are ranked No. 3 in the preseason ESPN/USA Today poll and face a mountain of expectations – from within and without.

Here are five pressing questions facing Stringer and her team as they prepare for their first exhibition Nov. 8 against China and the regular season opener Nov. 11 against Stanford on ESPN.

Read the full column here.

Ebanks Sticking With IU; School Lands One Recruit, Others Wavering

Devin Ebanks will remain committed to Indiana and fellow New Yorker Terrell Holloway will join him.

But Kevin Jones of Mount Vernon High may reconsider going there because of the recent resignation of IU assistant Rob Senderoff in the wake of recruiting violations.

The status of Lance Stephenson, the 6-5 star guard out of Lincoln High in Brooklyn, also remains uncertain.

"(Ebanks) is still staying committed right now," said Jere Quinn of St. Thomas More, who coaches Ebanks. "Nothing's changed right now."

Read the full story here.

Mookie Rises to the Top

Darryl Watkins has finally made it.

The former Paterson Catholic star no longer has to dream about the NBA. Beginning tonight, he'll be playing in the league.

When the Sacramento Kings tip off the 2007-08 basketball season tonight in New Orleans, their 15-man roster will include two players with ties to New Jersey: the 6-foot-11 Watkins, who competed as a center at Syracuse, and 6-3 guard Quincy Douby, who played against Watkins while at Rutgers.

Read the full story here.

Recruiting Nuggets: Morris Twins, Tyreke Evans

Here are some quick recruiting nuggets from the night's conversations and research...

**According to a source close to the situation, the Morris Twins will announce on Thursday, choosing between Kansas and Villanova. The source said he had no idea which way Marcus and Markieff would go. Kansas recently picked up a commitment from St. Patrick forward Quintrell Thomas, a story broken here at ZAGSBLOG, but Thomas said he wanted the twins to join him at KU. They did attend 'Nova's Midnight Madness last weekend, along with numerous other recruits, including Tyreke Evans.

**Speaking of Evans, we hear Memphis coach John Calipari and Worldwide Wes were recently in Philly to check out the Evans situation as well as other issues. Memphis appears to be coming on strong in the Evans Sweepstakes, and the theory goes that anyone Worldwide Wes is involved with has a better-than-even chance of ending up under Coach Cal.

Rutgers Media Day Column

Here's my colum that will appear in tomorrow's editions...

When the Big East coaches convened last week at Madison Square Garden, Rutgers was picked to finish 15^th in the 16-team league. South Florida was the only school chosen to finish below the Scarlet Knights. The Knights are coming off a 10-19 season, have just three legitimate frontcourt players and only 10 scholarship players. On top of all that, Rutgers will meet the winners of the last three NCAA championships before the calendar turns to 2008. So here are five pressing questions as Rutgers tips its season with Saturday’s exhibition against Northwood University at the RAC, followed by the season opener Nov. 9 against Tennessee Tech.

Fall Ball Semis Set

Tommie Patterson has done it again. The man who was unceremoniously removed from his job as head basketball coach at Eastside High School led the Ghosts to a quarterfinal upset of St. Raymond's Monday night in the Fall Ball at Kennedy.

Antoine Alexander had 11 points and Karon Abraham, who transferred from Manchester, added 10 as the No. 6 Ghosts beat No. 3 St. Ray's, 35-33, to set up a semifinal showdown Wednesday with Paterson Catholic. The No. 2 Cougars knocked off No. 7 Kennedy, 72-40, behind 18 points from Fuquan Edwin and 11 apiece from Jayon James, Jermaine Peart and Myles Mack.

In the other semi, No. 1 Rice will meet No. 4 St. Patrick. Rice beat No. 8 Don Bosco, 66-52, behind 25 points from UConn-bound PG Kemba Walker. Paris Bennett, Jermel Jenkins and Kansas-bound F Quintrell Thomas had 10 apiece as the Celtics beat Bloomfield Tech, 51-33.

The semis tip at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Kennedy, with the final 20 minutes after the completion of the last game.

Morris Twins Close ?

Sources close to the situation say Marcus and Markieff Morris, the 6-8 twins from APEX Academies in Pennsauken, NJ, were huddling Monday night with family members and coach Dan Brinkley to talk about a college decision. The twins are expected to choose between Kansas and Villanova.

They were on campus at Villanova Friday night for Midnight Madness, along with numerous other big-time recruits: Tyreke Evans of American Christian (Pa.); Dexter Strickland and Shaquille Stokes of St. Patrick (NJ); Greg Echenique of St. Benedict's (NJ); and others.

The twins combined for 34 points last Saturday as the Philly seniors beat New Jersey in the Eddie Griffin Challenge in Philly.

They previously visited Kansas and came away excited about the trip. Quintrell  Thomas, the 6-8 forward from St. Patrick who recently committed to Kansas, told Rick Plumlee of The Wichita Eagle he hopes the twins join him at Kansas.

"If you want to play at a Kansas, you have to be willing to compete against the best," he said. "Besides, I can see all three of us getting minutes -- starting minutes -- as freshmen. I hope they come to Kansas."

Clifton Mourns Ex-Football Star

More than a week after a former Clifton High School football player was involved in a car accident in the Dominican Republic and presumed dead, his family, friends and teammates gathered Monday to mourn his loss.

Louis Feliciano, 19, a running back/defensive back with last year's North 1, Group 4 champion Clifton team, was riding in a car on Oct. 19 with his father, Luis, in Santo Domingo when the auto went careening into the Caribbean Sea.

Louis Feliciano's body has not been recovered.

Read the full story here. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Feliciano family and the Clifton football family.