Leading off today: The potent St. Michael Academy basketball team has a new home: Nazareth. With SMA slated to close next month after 136 years due to declining enrollment, coach Apache Paschall will bring six seniors and eight other players to East Flatbush and launch a girls team there, The New York Daily News reported last night.

   Paschall said he received offers to relocate to St. Barnabas in the Bronx and Bishop Loughlin in Brooklyn. He said academics and location factored into selecting Nazareth, which dropped its team earlier this decade. Parents signed off on the decision Wednesday night.

   "We're happy to accommodate them," Nazareth principal Barbara Gil told the newspaper. "We had been wanting to develop a program for the last few years. This seemed like an ideal fit for us and for the team."

   While SMA is located in Manhattan, picking Nazareth puts the program into the Brooklyn/Queens Diocese lineup head-to-head with defending Federation Class AA champion Christ the King as well as The Mary Louis Academy and Bishop Ford.

   Paschall told The New York Post he is unsure if Nazareth will be allowed to move immediately to the league's Division I. It could also create critical mass for a larger re-alignment. "I think it could be the beginning of the super league,” Paschall said. “You pull in St. Peter’s and maybe Moore Catholic and now we might be talking about the best league in the country."

   Zanotta up to 13 HRs: Guilderland's Matt Zanotta hit his 13th home run of the season in a 14-1 baseball victory yesterday over Mohonasen.

   Zanotta's dream season began to fall into place with three homers April 7, also against Mohonasen. He dialed eight a staggering 11 times in April. On the final day of the month he hit a grand slam, two solo homers and a triple to drive in nine runs and beat Averill Park 18-4.

   "I've had people at games, or on their way to the game, say that they don't want to miss an at-bat from Matt," Guilderland coach Doug LaValley told The Times Union. "He is totally locked in right now. Every swing is beautiful."

   Zanotta, who bats left-handed, drove in 38 runs in just 43 April at-bats. His slugging percentage was a preposterous 1.488.

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   "I can do something if they give me something. I'm not going to force it," Zanotta said.

   Upon further review: The report earlier in the week that first-team all-state basketball player Kadeem Jack, a Rice senior, would attend prep school in Connecticut in the fall might just be premature.

   The 6-foot-8 forward now indicates he might use one of his two remaining official visits to check out North Carolina. The Tar Heels learned this week that marginally productive 6-10 twins Travis and David Wear will transfer at the end of the semester, and they also lose Deon Thompson to graduation and Ed Davis to the NBA.

   Jack, who averaged 16.9 points last season, had offers from Arizona, Arkansas, UConn, Miami and St. John’s when he indicated last week that he would prep at South Kent for a year. Zagsblog.com reports that news inspired North Carolina, Memphis and Texas to step up interest, with UNC perhaps a step ahead of the pack.

   “Kadeem has contacted them," Departing Rice coach Maurice Hicks said. "I think there could be a visit coming up in the near future.”

   Whoops: Skidmore College officials told employees this week to stay away from The Saratogian web site after university computers were infected with a virus, The Post-Star reported. Brien G. Muller, IT help desk manager at the school, said the problem appears to be a "malevolent advertisement" on the site.

   Saratoga Springs City Hall IT officials sent a similar advisory to employees.

   Steve Shoemaker, web editor at The Saratogian, confirmed Thursday that corporate owner Journal Register Company is aware of the problem and addressing the issue. The paper delivered a warning to its users on Thursday via Twitter.