Providence and Cincinnati are the top two teams in the mix for 6-foot-5 shooting guard Sean Kilpatrick of Notre Dame Prep.

“The two visits he now has scheduled are Cincinnati and Providence,” Notre Dame Prep coach Ryan Hurd said Monday. “I don’t anticipate any other visits at this time.”

Hurd said Kilpatrick will visit Cincinnati this coming weekend and Providence the weekend of Oct. 24. Read more…

Darnell Dodson, a 6-6, 210-pound small forward from Miami Dade College, has verbally committed to Memphis according to a source close to the situation.

Dodson, originally from Greenbelt (MD) Eleanor Roosevelt, initially committed to Pitt in 2006 and enrolled the following summer. He was later informed by the NCAA Clearinghouse that he had not qualified academically. He left Pitt and enrolled at Miami Dade, hoping to return to Pitt in 2009.

But Dodson was prohibited from returning to any Big East school because of a rule that states a non-qualifier out of high school who enrolls at a conference school cannot re-enroll at the original school or any other school in the conference after attending a two-year institution.

Known as a strong outside shooter, Dodson made an official visit over the weekend to Memphis, along with Brewster (N.H.) power forward Thomas Robinson and Putnam(Ok.) shooting guard Xavier Henry.

Both Robinson and Henry have said they will choose between Memphis and Kansas. Memphis has three scholarships remaining and is also involved with John Wall, Lance Stephenson and Dominic Cheek, among others.

Arsalan Kazemi knows where he will take his official visits. The question is, When will he take them?

Kazemi, a 6-foot-7 combo forward at The Patterson (N.C.) School originally from Iran, wants to visit Maryland, Seton Hall and Rice, but must have an SAT score before he can make any visits.

Kazemi took the SAT this past Saturday and doesn’t expect the test results until at least Oct. 18.

Maryland’s Midnight Madness is Oct. 17, meaning Kazemi couldn’t visit Maryland for that event if he doesn’t get his score back in time. Read more…

Two of the top recruits in the nation will decide between NCAA finalists Kansas and Memphis.

Thomas Robinson and Xavier Henry both took official visits this weekend to Memphis, and will decide between the Tigers and the Jayhawks.

Robinson, the No. 7 power forward in the Class of 2009, had previously visited Kansas Sept. 19-20 and was slated to visit Southern Cal Oct. 14, but said he won’t make that trip.

“I’m not taking any more visits,” the 6-foot-8 senior from Brewster (N.H.) Academy said Sunday night by phone. Read more…

Taran Buie’s weekend didn’t quite work out as planned.

The 6-foot-1 combo guard from Albany (NY) Bishop Maginn rolled his ankle Thursday night and never made his unofficial visit to Notre Dame.

“He sprained it the night before we were supposed to leave for Notre Dame,” said Jim Hart, Buie’s AAU coach with the Albany City Rocks. “He went to the doctor and had MRIs and X-rays at 1 p.m on Friday and they said it was at least the size of a tennis ball. He sprained it on both sides. He’s probably out six weeks. No is8 playoffs for him.” Read more…

Pete Thamel from The New York Times has two stories today on Brandon Jennings, and my first though on this is, Great job by Pete getting the paper to send him to Rome for the research. We should all be so lucky.

The first story asks whether Jennings, an elite point guard who opted to play professionally in Europe instead of going to Arizona when his academic status was called into question, is a trailblazer. Read more…

Rutgers failed to score a potential game-tying TD in the final two minutes and lost at West Virginia, 24-17.

QB Mike Teel misfired on three of his four throws on the drive, including a 4th-and-5 intended for Tiquan Underwood.

The loss dropped the Scarlet Knights to 1-4 (0-1 Big East) entering Saturday’s game at Cincinnati. After that, Rutgers returns home to face a UConn team that is unbeaten entering tonight’s tilt with North Carolina.

“I know one thing: We don’t know have any margin for error next week,” Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said, according to Keith Sargeant of the Home News Tribune. “We got another Big East football game. We have to get better.” Read more…

Freddie Riley, a 6-foot-6, 180-pound shooting guard from Chatham (VA) Hargrave Military Academy, committed to UMass Saturday after developing a strong relationship with first-year coach Derek Kellogg.

A native of Ocala, Fla., Riley also considered Baylor, South Florida and Marquette.

“I committed because of the relationship with the coach that I developed,” Riley said. “He was at all my games over the summer, all my AAU games, recruiting me and everything. Once he started calling me and everything, we developed a real good relationship. Read more…

Lance Stephenson and Dominic Cheek, who guarded one another in the Boost Mobile Elite 24 event in August, both plan on visiting Kansas for “Late Night in the Phog” Oct. 17.

Stephenson, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard at Brooklyn Lincoln, has made Kansas the first of his official visits, with several more still in the works.

“We’re going to Midnight Madness at Kansas Oct. 17,” said Hassani Stewart, Stephenson’s AAU coach with Raising Champions. “Right now Kansas is the only one we’re sure about.”

If Stephenson spends the weekend at Kansas, it is possible he would miss the 2nd Annual Jim Couch Reunion Game on Oct. 18 at John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx.

Stewart said Stephenson also hoped to visit Memphis, USC and UCLA, although none of those are set yet. Stephenson recently took an unofficial visit to St. John’s. Read more…

Payback is a bitch, huh?

Thirteen years to the day after O.J. Simpson was cleared of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, Simpson was found guilty of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room.

Simpson and co-defendant Clarence “C.J.” Stewart face sentencing for armed robbery and kidnapping Dec. 5.

Simpson said he was trying to recover his own memorabilia that had been stolen from his trophy room and was unaware that the other men with him were armed.

“I don’t like to use the word payback,” defense attorney Yale Galanter said. “I can tell you from the beginning my biggest concern … was whether or not the jury would be able to separate their very strong feelings about Mr. Simpson and judge him fairly and honestly.”

On a personal note, I remember being in a large common room at Columbia University when Simpson was declared not guilty of the murders in 1995….The reaction was pretty much split, with many of the white people in the room shocked and upset over the verdict, while many of the African-American people cheered and celebrated.

Thirteen years later, it appears O.J. finally got what he deserved.