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BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES (6/30/2010)

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Once again there are plenty of comings and going in the Big East…but most of the news today centers around the announcement of two incoming transfers to the programs at Seton Hall and Marquette. SHU adds a player likely available this season for one year and MU adds a former prep All-American that will have to sit out one seasona and have three years of eligibility left.

Elsewhere, Rutgers continues to bring in talent for unofficial visits and one NYC star guard is in the midst of a trio of Big East trips this week. 2010 prospect Chris Hill hopes to be fully eligibile by the end of summer for the fall and is in the midst of his own trio of Big East visits. New Depaul coach Oliver Purnell seems to be doing what it takes to make progress in the local talent base of Chicago. Highly touted 2011 big man Anthony Davis narrows his list and Louisville adds three coaches to their staff, one of which will be tasked with landing players of Davis’ stature as they battle in-state rival UK on the recruiting front. Also a story below on incoming UConn guard Shabazz Napier and his road to becoming a 2010 recruit for the Huskies.

Read on below for all of the latest News & Notes around the Big East basketball conference. Sports fans should also visit StubHub.com - The Safe Way to Buy & Sell Tickets Online for tickets to any NCAA event or NBA, MLB, NHL game or UFC, WWE or concert tickets at an arena near you this spring.

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Seton Hall picks up an unique addition for the 2010-2011 season as SHU Picks up Ole Miss Transfer Eniel Polynice for this Season (FoxSports.com). According to Jeff Goodman the versatile 6-foot-5 guard, who has graduated, is expected to be able to play his final season this year for the Pirates. Polynice averaged 10.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists as a freshman, but his production declined over the past two years due to the emergence of Chris Warren and Terrico White. In the 2009-2010 season he played in 33 games with 25 starts for the 24-11 Rebels who played in the NIT. Polynice averaged 8.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and a team-high 3.9 assists in 24.9 minutes per game.
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In other transfer news, Marquette picks up a big one as Former Horlick Standout Jamil Wilson is Transferring to Marquette (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) after playing his freshman season with Oregon. Wilson, a 6-foot-6 small forward, played in 26 games last season for the Ducks, starting 14 of them, and averaged 4.7 points and 3.2 rebounds in 16.9 minutes a game. When Ernie Kent was fired and ultimately replaced by Dana Altman, Wilson decided to seek his release and it was granted from the University.

Wilson will arrive on the MU campus this summer and have three years of eligibility remaining after sitting out 2010-11 due to NCAA transfer rules, per gomarquette.com.

With the addition of Wilson to the current roster and a six-player incoming recruiting class, the Golden Eagles would be one over the NCAA scholarship limit of 13 players. The indication NBE has received is that Devonte ‘DJ’ Newbill of Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion HS is unlikely to enroll at MU this fall. If Newbill is given a release from his scholarship he is unable to attend another Big East school since he signed a LOI this past spring with Marquette. Official word, however, has not come on how the roster spot for Wilson will be created.
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Mike Rice continues to be busy on the recruiting trail as another day brings another group of high-profile visitors to Rutgers for unofficial visits. ‘Roc’ Christmas and Jermaine Sanders Visit RU (ZagsBlog.com) and highlight a group that also included Greg Lewis, a 6-foot-9 center from Baltimore St. Frances, Kevin Smith, a 6-foot-1 point guard from Baltimore and currently attending Huntington Prep and Aaron Brown, a 6-foot-5 wing from Pennwood (PA) High School.

Rakeem Christmas of Academy of the New Church in Bryn Athyn (PA) had cut his list to Georgetown, Florida, Florida International, Texas and Oklahoma previously. Adam Zagoria reports that new RU associate head coach David Cox has helped get Rutgers involved as he had been helping recruit the highly regarded 6-foot-8 center to Georgetown the previous two years while on the staff there.

Jermaine Sanders took the visit to Rutgers a day after previously visiting Seton Hall and will continue a tour of Big East schools by tripping over to Villanova today (Wednesday).
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In other recruiting news, Chris Hill is making progress towards qualifying for 2010 and was wrapping up an official visit to Seton Hall today. Jeff Borzello talked to the 6-foot-8 wing last night and got his preliminary thoughts on his SHU visit and more as Chris Hill Plans More Visits in the next several days.
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With one win in the last two regular seasons in Big East conference play, there is no doubt DePaul has a long ladder to climb to respectability in the brutal Big East. New coach Oliver Purnell seems to be making all the right efforts locally to tap into the very talented talent base that is loaded in the coming years. DePaul’s Purnell Looks to be On Yop of Recruiting Situation (Daily Herald) and has sunk roots into Chicago’s fertile recruiting soil. Already with a 2011 commitment from Crete-Monee guard Jamie Crockett, a member of the talent-laden Mac Irvin Fire AAU program, Joe Henricksen, the Aurora-based publisher of the City/Suburban Hoops Report, tells Lindsey Willhite of the Daily Herald that the Blue Demons are pursuing nationally ranked De La Salle power forward Mike Shaw, East Aurora point guard Ryan Boatright, Julian shooting guard Phillip Greene and Brehm Prep guard Bruce Barron with their last remaining open 2011 scholarship, although it doesn’t particularly mean they are limiting themsleves to just one more commitment, according to the story, in the ’11 class.

One potential scholarship opening could come from 6-foot-10 forward Walter Pitchford, who signed with DePaul last November but hasn’t made plans to show up for summer school as he has requested a release from the scholarship to attend another school, a request that has yet to be granted.
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The big recruiting news of the last couple days hs been that Class Of 2011 Chicago Perspectives Star Anthony Davis Of Mean Streets Narrows His List Down (ChicagoHoops.com) to three schools just ahead of the July evaluation period. The three lucky finalists in the race for the 6-foot-10 big man are Syracuse, Kentucky and Ohio State.
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One notable exception from Davis’ list of finalists is Louisville as Davis was taking a recent visit to the school and longtime pal Wayne Blackshear, a UL-commit, had been working on Davis to join the highly regarded 2011 Cardinals’ recruiting class. With the recent loss of coveted point guard target Marquis Teague to Kentucky and the liklihood that former UL commit Michael Chandler could join Teague as a UK commit in the near future, the news that Davis has UL’s in-state rival on his final list of three and not the Cards continues to stoke the fire of a heated rivalry that has existed between the schools for many years and is now brewing between the coaches. It looks as though Rick Pitino is Fighting Back (ESPN.com) by adding former Nike employee Tim Fuller to his coaching staff this week. Hiring Fuller Shows Pitino Wants the Best in Louisville (Louisville Courier-Journal) on the court and Fuller has been brought in to go after the elite recruits available. Fuller was one of Thee Coaches Added to Louisville Staff (Courier-Journal) as Mark Lieberman and former University of Louisville center David Padgett were also added to positions within the program.
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The Hartford Courant has a nice piece on incoming Connecticut freshman Shabazz Napier: Shabazz Napier’s Road to UConn.

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