John Wall

The new-look Washington Wizards have slowly been taking shape over the past two days at Verizon Center. No. 1 overall pick John Wall, fellow rookies Trevor Booker and Hamady N'Diaye, third-year center JaVale McGee and other players hoping to find an NBA home are preparing for the NBA summer league in Las Vegas, with the first game on Sunday. Fourth-year veteran carryovers Nick Young and Al Thornton worked on developing some chemistry with their new teammates, while leaving open the possibility of a cameo appearance in summer league.

Deron Williams scored 19 points and had 13 assists as the New Jersey Nets sent the visiting Washington Wizards to their fifth straight loss. Williams, who didn't play in Wednesday's loss to Portland because of a stomach virus, led five New Jersey players who scored in double figures. The Nets never trailed and built a 15-point lead in the first quarter. New Jersey's biggest advantage was 24 late in the fourth, as it won consecutive home games for the first time this season.

Jimmer, Rubio look good K.C. Johnson Chicago Tribune Every NBA season presents surprises, but the fact Jimmer Fredette is more than just a shooter has to rank up there for this crazy campaign. Fredette still makes rookie mistakes, but his decision-making process is better than projected and he isn't the statue on defense some had predicted. Another rookie, Ricky Rubio, also has surprised by being better than his considerable hype. Granted, he's a non-traditional rookie, but his ability to keep a live dribble and patiently wait for plays to develop belies his lack of NBA experience.

Et cetera Ex-Terp Langhorne stays with Mystics WNBA All-Star forward Crystal Langhorne (Maryland) re-signed with the Washington Mystics. Langhorne led the team with 18.2points and 7.6 rebounds per game last season. NFL: The Ravens hired Chris Hewitt on Thursday to be their assistant special teams coach and promoted Matt Weiss to defensive assistant. Hewitt, 37, a Cincinnati alumnus, spent the past eight years at Rutgers, including the past two as running backs coach.

John Wall (far left), DeMarcus Cousins (near left) and the rest of top-seeded Kentucky's fabulous freshmen are stunned by second seed West Virginia, 73-66, in the East Regional final. Joining the Mountaineers in the Final Four will be fifth seed Butler, which surprised second seed Kansas State, 63-56, in the West Regional final and will return home to play in the NCAA semifinals five miles from its Indianapolis campus. COVERAGE AND BRACKET, PGS 7, 10

Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall has electrified crowds this season. He won over LeBron James long ago. James has developed a strong relationship with the speedy Wall, who has attended the MVP's basketball camps. Earlier this week, Wall scored a season-high 25 points, including 12 of No. 4 Kentucky's final 15 in a victory over No. 14 Connecticut at New York's Madison Square Garden - one of James' favorite stages. So what does James like about Wall's game?

Two days after winning the Bob Cousy Award given to the nation's top point guard, Maryland senior Greivis Vasquez picked up three additional honors. On Saturday, Vasquez was named a second-team All-American by the NCAA, earned a spot on the State Farm Coaches All-America second team, and was one of 10 players chosen for the Wooden Award All-America team. Vasquez was joined on the All-America second team by Cole Aldrich (Kansas), James Anderson (Oklahoma State), DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky)

A person familiar with the situation says Kyle Korver is following Carlos Boozer from Utah to Chicago after agreeing to sign with the Bulls. The person spoke Friday on the condition of anonymity because the contract was not finalized The deal is reportedly for three years and about $15 million. Korver is a career 41 percent 3-point shooter who hit 59 of 110 last season, a NBA-best 53.6 percent, while averaging 7.2 points. He came off the bench in all 52 games he played in '09-10.

Deron Williams scored 19 points and had 13 assists as the New Jersey Nets sent the visiting Washington Wizards to their fifth straight loss. Williams, who didn't play in Wednesday's loss to Portland because of a stomach virus, led five New Jersey players who scored in double figures. The Nets never trailed and built a 15-point lead in the first quarter. New Jersey's biggest advantage was 24 late in the fourth, as it won consecutive home games for the first time this season.

Editor's note: Each week, InsideMdSports.com provides this blog with a Maryland recruiting feature that previously appeared as premium content on its site. The Terps have widened their search for a point guard in the 2013 class. Suitland (Md.) junior Roddy Peters received a phone call [last Friday] from Maryland assistant coach Dalonte Hill. “He just talked to me to see how my season is going and invited me to the [Florida Gulf Coast] game,” Peters said.

On one of the rare times Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce missed a shot Sunday, Andray Blatche corralled the rebound and fired a full-length pass down the court to Nick Young for a vicious one-handed jam. Admiring his work, Blatche stopped at half-court, looked over at the Washington Wizards bench and smiled as he struck his version of the Heisman Trophy pose. Blatche later joked that he's "a quarterback," showing a playful side that he had hid the past few games as fans at Verizon Center booed him. Blatche played through the distraction, just as Young was able to fight through a left hand injury.

Jimmer, Rubio look good K.C. Johnson Chicago Tribune Every NBA season presents surprises, but the fact Jimmer Fredette is more than just a shooter has to rank up there for this crazy campaign. Fredette still makes rookie mistakes, but his decision-making process is better than projected and he isn't the statue on defense some had predicted. Another rookie, Ricky Rubio, also has surprised by being better than his considerable hype. Granted, he's a non-traditional rookie, but his ability to keep a live dribble and patiently wait for plays to develop belies his lack of NBA experience.

Upon their arrival on Thursday the Washington Wizards held a team dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. The team-building exercise was intended to break up the monotony and division that naturally comes with being on a losing team. "When you do things like that, go out to eat, do different things together, it builds a bond, and a relationship to make you want to play with each other on the court, and play hard for each other," Rashard Lewis said a day later. Whatever happened over the course of eating prime cuts of beef was lost the moment the Wizards set foot on the floor Friday night against the Philadelphia 76ers, as they suffered perhaps their most embarrassing defeat of the season, 120-89, at Wells Fargo Center.

Before the Washington Wizards hosted the Boston Celtics on Sunday in the first game of a home-and-home set, coach Flip Saunders said he wanted to see John Wall play with more enthusiasm. Wall sulked through the Wizards' loss in Milwaukee on Friday and Saunders criticized his effort, claiming there would be consequences if he couldn't handle his emotions better. "I told him, if he doesn't play hard and he doesn't have a smile on his face, I'm going to take him out," Saunders said of Wall.

— John Wall was dribbling up the court at a frenetic pace, with defenders backpedaling helplessly and teammates gasping to catch up. Wall whirled the ball behind his back to juke Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague and open what appeared to be a clear lane to the basket. But as Wall elevated for a dunk, Hawks forward Josh Smith tracked him down, smashing his shot attempt and sending Wall crashing to the floor. Wall rolled on the ground, holding the back of his head and grimacing.

The new red, white and blue Washington Wizards opened the regular season Monday night against the New Jersey Nets — and the uniforms, logos and shiny court aren't all that fans should be interested in seeing at Verizon Center . John Wall had his first test against an elite point guard in All-Star Deron Williams, but the home opener was not a sellout, which is understandable considering the past three seasons of lottery failures for the...

Three games into his college coaching career, Isiah Thomas was already asking for mercy. Midway through the second half of Florida International's 81-49 loss at Tulsa on Sunday, Thomas motioned toward his counterpart as if to ask when he'd take his starters out. A few minutes later, he got vocal with his request, shouting a few words in the direction of Golden Hurricane coach Doug Wojcik . At that point, FIU (0-3) was down 63-25 with 8 minutes, 59 seconds to play after being outscored 27-5 to start the second half.

One game will be a rematch of one of the greatest NCAA championship games in history, a chance to relive Mario's Miracle. And the first game could be even more intriguing. Top-ranked Kansas will face Memphis on Tuesday night in St. Louis, bringing back memories of their 2008 showdown for the title and Mario Chalmers' last-second shot in regulation for the Jayhawks. The early game pits Arkansas and No. 20 Louisville, with coach John Pelphrey going up against mentor Rick Pitino with just six scholarship players.

Editor's note: Each week, InsideMdSports.com provides this blog with a Maryland recruiting feature that previously appeared as premium content on its site. The Terps have widened their search for a point guard in the 2013 class. Suitland (Md.) junior Roddy Peters received a phone call [last Friday] from Maryland assistant coach Dalonte Hill. “He just talked to me to see how my season is going and invited me to the [Florida Gulf Coast] game,” Peters said.

They could go with the mop-haired, trash-talking forward who left his homeland of the Czech Republic four years ago to play in a basketball-crazed nation and beamed with pride as fans serenaded him after his last game for his team. Or they could choose the shy big man from Lithuania who remains unsure about whether he will even play in the NBA next season as his agent attempts to negotiate a buyout agreement with his current team. They could go with the confident forward from Turkey who is good friends with John Wall.