Wally Judge to Rutgers

Mike Rice continues to rake in the talent at Rutgers as he has landed Kansas State transfer and former McDonald's all-american Wally Judge.

Judge, who averaged just 5.5 ppg and 3.8 rpg at KSU, left the team in late January after being forced to sit out by Frank Martin while dealing with personal issues. According to Jeff Borzello over at CBSSports, Dave Cox -- a current Rutgers assistant and a former member of the DC Assault AAU program that Judge was a part of -- played an instrumental role in getting Judge to New Jersey.

Its ironic that Judge, who came down to choosing between Maryland and Rutgers, made his decision on the same night that Mark Turgeon took over the head coaching gig at Maryland. Jeff Goodman tweeted out that he had heard Judge was hours away from committing to Maryland before Gary Williams retired.

Maybe Judge simply didn't want to play for Turgeon?

If that's the case, is that a bad omen for Turgeon's tenure?
Continue reading...

The Real March Madness: Day 9

Everyone loves the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Four straight days jam-packed with 12 hours of do-or-die college hoops is more than most people can handle.

But for junkies like us, the next 13 days are just as good, for it is when the true Madness takes place. Over the course of these two weeks, we whittle some 347 teams down to 30 conference champions (the Ivy doesn't have a tournament). Auto-bids will be won. Bubbles will be burst. Buzzers will be beaten. And most importantly, a 68 team bracket will be made.

For a comprehensive listing off all the conference tournaments, follow this link or click the "Complete Conference Tournament Schedules" page at the top of the screen. To become more acquainted with the teams that have already sealed up autobids, follow this link.

Here is what happened on Wednesday:

Two more auto-bids were handed out, some Big-12 bubbles got busted, and a Big East tournament game was marred by poor officiating


Game of the Day: St. John's 65, Rutgers 63

For the second day in a row, the Scarlet Knights were involved in a tightly-contested game that ended with an exciting-yet-controversial finish.



This game did not start to get interesting until the final two minutes. St. John's led for the majority of the second half, and was up by as many as ten points. But for the second day in a row, Rutgers faught back, and forced the game to be decided in the final minute. Instead of trying to break down the controversial ending to the game, click here to read more (Seriously folks, I have never seen anything like this). Dwight Hardy led the way for the Johnnies with 17 points and Sean Evans scored 13 point and nine rebounds coming off the bench.

They were good too:

- UT-San Antonio 97, Northwestern State 96

The No. 7-seed Roadrunner of UT-San Antonio rallied back from tweleve points with under five minutes to play to beat No. 2 Northwestern State in the quarterfinals of the Southland Conference tournament. Jeremie Hill scored the game-winning dunk with 2.5 seconds left after teammate Devin Gibson drove into the lane and fed the ball inside to him while unguarded, giving UTSA the lead for only the second time in the game.

- San Jose State 75, Hawaii 74

Adrian Oliver, the WAC player of the year, hit a pull-up jumper with five seconds left to lift No. 8 San Jose State over over No. 4 Hawaii in the first round of the WAC tournament. Oliver's jumper did end the game however. The Rainbow Warriors responded, as Jeremiah Ostrawski launched a desperation heave that was tipped-in at the buzzer by Bill Amis, but was reviewed by referees and was ruled no good.


Team of the Day: Northern Colorado Bears

The Bears deafeated reigning-champions Montana in the finals of the Big Sky Conference tournament 65-60. Devon Beitzel, the MVP of the regular season and the tournament, led the Bears with 27 points, 13 of which came in the final five minutes. Montana won last season's tournament championship thanks to an unforgettable second-half rally that saw the Grizzlies erase a 22-point deficit. Northern Colorado made sure that this year would be different. The Grizzlies tried their best to erase a seven-point deficit with under 50 seconds left, but Beitzel hit a long 3-pointer to seal the deal. This was the first tournament championship in school history. Northern Colorado has just four postseason wins since 1994, one of which came when it was a member of the Division II Northern Central Conference

They were good too:

- Marquette Golden Eagles

If there were any questions as to wether or not Marquette was on the bubble, they answered them last night with a gutsy win against West Virginia in the second round of the Big East tournament. The Golden Eagles got a tremendous performance from Junior Cadougan, who led the team with 15 points, and Darius Johnson-Odom provided late-game heroics, sinking two clutch 3-pointers in the final minutes of the game. The key to Marquette's victory was their defense. They held the Mountaineers to just 6-27 (27.2%) from the field in the second half after a first half which saw them make 14-24 (58.3%).


Player of the Day: Devin Gibson, UT-San Antonio

Gibson logged his second triple-double of the season as the Roadrunner's defeated the Demons of Northwestern State in the first round of the Southland Conference tournament. Gibson's final assist, the stat that gave him the triple-double was the most important stat of the day. He fed a wide-open Jeromie Hill down low who made the game-winning dunk with five seconds left. Gibson finished with a career-high 28 points, along with ten rebounds and ten assists. He also had three steals.

They were good too:
.
- Alec Burks, Colorado

The sophomore forward scored 25 of his 29 points in the second half to lead the Buffs to a must-needed win over Iowa State in the first round of the Big-12 Tournament. The unanimous pick for the Big-12 first team all-conference was 9-16 from the field and 11-14 from the charity stripe. He also grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds and dished out six assists.

- Malik Story, Nevada

Story hit all six of his 3-point attempts en route to scoring a career-high 34 points as the No. 6 Nevada Wolfpack beat the No. 7 Fresno State Bulldogs in the first round of the WAC tournament. Story was 11-14 from the field and made 11-15 from the charity stripe. He had not scored more than 15 points in six games, when he set a then career-high of 29 against San Jose State.


Bubble Banter

- Colorado kept their tournament hopes alive by withstanding a strong comeback from Iowa State. A win against No. 4 Kansas State tonight would do them wonders.

- Any shot that Baylor had is now certainly gone after they were trounced by Oklahoma in the first round of the Big-12 tournament, 84-67. The Bears may very well have locked up the title of "most dissapointing team of the year".

- Nebraska's outside chances were dashed due to end-of-game mismanagement against Oklahoma State. The 'Huskers needed at least one tournament win to pad their resume, and they didn't get it.

- Marquette cemented their tournament status with a huge win against West Virginia in the night-cap at Madison Square Garden.


Wednesday Results


Northeast Conference Tournament Finals

#1 Long Island 85 #3 Robert Morris 82 OT


Big Sky Conference Tournament Finals

#1 Northern Colorado 65, #2 Montana 60


Big East Conference Tournament Second Round

#9 UConn 79, #8 Georgetown 62
#5 St. John's 65, #13 Rutgers 63
#7 Cincinnati 87, #15 South Florida 61
#11 Marquette 67, #6 West Virginia 61


Big-12 Conference Tournament First Round

#9 Oklahoma State 53, #8 Nebraska 52
#5 Colorado 77, #12 Iowa State 75
#10 Oklahoma 84, #7 Baylor 67
#6 Missouri 88, #11 Texas Tech 84


Conference-USA Tournament First Round

#8 East Carolina 75, #9 UCF 60
#5 Southern Miss 63, #12 Tulane 47
#6 Marshall 97, #11 Houston 87
#10 Rice 58, #7 SMU 57


Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament Quarterfinals

#1 Bethune-Cookman 66, #9 South Carolina State 50
#2 Hampton 77, #10 Maryland-Eastern Shore 55
#6 Norfolk State 68, #11 Howard 53

Mountain West Conference Tournament First Round

#9 TCU 70, #8 Wyoming 61


Pac-10 Conference Tournament First Round

#9 Oregon State 69, #8 Stanford 67
#7 Oregon 76, #10 Arizona State 69


Southland Conference Tournament Quarterfinals

#7 Texas-San Antonio 97, #2 Northwestern State 96
#3 Sam Houston State 61, #6 Stephen F. Austin 45
#1 McNeese State 61, #8 Nicholls State 54
#4 Texas State 72, #5 Southeastern Louisiana 68


Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament Quarterfinals

#2 Jackson State 50, #7 Prairie View A&M 38
#1 Texas Southern 50, #8 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 45


Western Athletic Conference First Round

#8 San Jose State 75, #5 Hawaii 74
#6 Nevada 90, #7 Fresno State 80


Thursday Slate of Games


ACC Tournament
First Round (Greensboro, NC)

12:00PM - #9 Miami vs. #8 Virginia
2:30PM - #12 Wake Forest vs. #5 Boston College
7:00PM - #10 NC State vs. #7 Maryland
9:30PM - #11 Georgia Tech vs. #6 Virginia Tech


Big East Conference Tournament
Quarterfinals (New York City, NY)

12:00PM - #1 Pitt vs. #9 UConn
2:30PM - #4 Syracuse vs. #5 St. John's
7:00PM - #2 Notre Dame vs. #7 Cincinnati
9:30PM - #3 Louisville vs. #11 Marquette


Big Ten Tournament
First Round (Indianapolis, IN)

2:30PM - #8 Northwestern vs. #9 Minnesota
5:00PM - #7 Michigan State vs. #10 Iowa
7:30PM - #6 Penn State vs. #11 Indiana


Big-12 Conference Tournament
Quarterfinals (Kansas City, MO)

12:00PM - #1 Kansas vs. #9 Oklahoma State
2:30PM - #4 Kansas State vs. #5 Colorado
6:30PM - #2 Texas vs. #10 Oklahoma
9:00PM - #3 Texas A&M vs. #6 Missouri


Big West
Quarterfinals (Anaheim, CA)

12:00PM - #1 Long Beach State vs. #8 UC Irvine
2:30PM - #4 Pacific vs. #5 UC Santa Barbara
6:30PM - #2 Cal Poly vs. #7 UC Riverside
9:30PM - #3 Cal St. Northridge vs. #6 Cal St. Fullerton


Conference-USA Tournament
Quarterfinals (El Paso, TX)

12:00PM - #1 UAB vs. #8 East Carolina
2:30PM - #4 Memphis vs. #5 Southern Mississippi
6:30PM - #3 UTEP vs. #6 Marshall
9:00PM - #2 Tulsa vs. #10 Rice



Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournnament
First Round (Winston-Salem, NC)

6:00PM - #3 Coppin State vs. #6 Norfolk State
8:30PM - #4 Morgan State vs. #5 North Carolina A&T



Mountain West Conference Tournament
Quarterfinals (Las Vegas, NV)

3:00 pm: #1 BYU vs. #9 TCU
5:30 pm: #4 Colorado vs. #5 New Mexico
9:00 pm: #2 San Diego State 70 vs. #7 Utah
11:30 pm: #3 UNLV vs. #6 Air Force



Pac-10 Conference Tournament
First Round (Los Angeles, CA)

3:10PM - #4 USC vs. #5 Cal
5:40Pm - #1 Arizona vs. #9 Oregon State
9:10PM - #2 UCLA vs. #7 Oregon
11:40PM - #3 Washington vs. #6 Washington State



SEC
First Round (Atlanta, GA)

1:00PM - #W5 Auburn vs. #E4 Georgia
3:30PM - #E6 South Carolina vs. #W3 Ole Miss
7:30PM - #E5 Tennessee vs. #W4 Arkansas
10:00PM - #W6 LSU vs. #E3 Vanderbilt


Southland Conference Tournament
Semifinals (Katy, TX)

6:00PM - #3 Sam Houston State vs. #7 Texas-San Antonio
8:30PM - #1 McNeese State vs. #4 Texas State


Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament
Quarterfinals (Garland, TX)

12:30PM - #4 Alabama State vs. #5 Alabama A&M
8:00PM - #3 Mississippi Valley State vs. #6 Grambling State


WAC Tournament
Quarterfinals (Las Vegas, NV)

6:00PM - #4 Idaho vs. #8 San Jose State
8:30PM - #3 New Mexico State vs. #6 Nevada


Continue reading...

Refereeing in St. John's-Rutgers overshadows a great finish

NEW YORK - Yesterday, Gil Biruta picked up his fifth foul in overtime when he was called for a technical for swinging his elbows.

It was a tough call for Mike Rice to swallow, no doubt, but his response -- "That's a tough call. Big East referees are the best in the world. I'm going to trust that they were right. In overtime that's an unbelievable call." -- was professional, classy, and what we like to call taking the high road.

What are the odds that on Wednesday, just 24 hours after the call against Biruta, Rutgers would once again would be on the wrong end of a tough call late in the game. Only this time, the officials didn't get it right.

First, the video:



As you can see, with time still left on the clock, Justin Brownlee traveled with the basketball and stepped out of bounds before throwing the ball into the stands. The travel or the out of bounds call should have given Rutgers the ball with 1.6 seconds left on the clock.

Andy Katz spoke to the head of NCAA officiating, who told him that the officials decision not to referee the game until the final buzzer was "unacceptable".

Rice agreed. Kind of.

"Was there a mistake? I saw it on youtube. There was a mistake made," Rice said. "I'm sure they'll say it. But that's just the way it is."

"Circumstances ... it is what it is. Its not what happens, its how you respond to it."

Sure enough, the Big East did admit it. The conference released a statement saying "the Big East acknowledges that two separate officiating errors occurred at the conclusion of the St. John’s vs. Rutgers game. Both missed violations should have caused the game clock to stop and a change of possession to occur prior to the end of the game. Neither error is reviewable or correctable under NCAA playing rules."

And while Rice went out of his way to commend the officials, repeatedly saying those are great officials and that the Big East has the best crews in the country, its clear that he was holding back.

"Those are three great officials — I’ve had ‘em all throughout the year, impeccable reputation," Rice said. "There's going to be blood coming through my tongue."

For the Rutgers seniors, this is a difficult way to end their careers. Nothing was expected of this team, but they bought into what their new head coach was saying. They fought hard. They pulled off a couple of upsets. They won a game in the Big East tournament. And while their season and career comes to a disappointing close (they are under .500, so they are not eligible for a postseason tournament, according to Rice), this team is not exactly disappointed.

"I can't even be mad at how the game ended because of how hard we fought," James Beatty said.

Its a shame that the refereeing is what has taken center stage talking about this game, because it overshadows what was another terrific finish in the Big East Tournament.
Continue reading...

The Real March Madness: Day 8

Everyone loves the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Four straight days jam-packed with 12 hours of do-or-die college hoops is more than most people can handle.

But for junkies like us, the next 13 days are just as good, for it is when the true Madness takes place. Over the course of these two weeks, we whittle some 347 teams down to 30 conference champions (the Ivy doesn't have a tournament). Auto-bids will be won. Bubbles will be burst. Buzzers will be beaten. And most importantly, a 68 team bracket will be made.

For a comprehensive listing off all the conference tournaments, follow this link or click the "Complete Conference Tournament Schedules" page at the top of the screen. To become more acquainted with the teams that have already sealed up autobids, follow this link.

Here is what happened on Tuesday:

Upsets, close-finishes, comebacks, and more upsets.


Game of the Day: Arkansas-Little Rock 64, North Texas 63
The No. 5 Trojans of Arkansas-Little Rock rallied back from down six with under 90 seconds to go, and Solomon Bozeman hit a deep 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left to win the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the first time in school history. The game was back-and-forth for the first 37 minutes, but North Texas looked like they would pull away late. But Matt Mouzy hit a 3-pointer with 17.6 seconds left to make it 62-61. Mouzy then stole the in-bounds pass but missed the 3-point attempt, and the rebound was grabbed by North Texas' Tristan Thompson, who was immediately fouled. On Sunday, in the semifinals, Thompson hit a perfect 20-20 from the charity stripe, but with just nine seconds left in the conference title game, he missed the first of two shots. After making the second, North Texas led 63-61. Bozeman collected the in-bounds pass and well, I'll let the video explain the rest:



North Texas called a timeout and set-up for a final shot, but were unable to get a clean look. When the clock hit zeros, Arkansas-Little Rock had punched it's first ticket to the dance in 21 years. The Trojans went 7-9 in the Sun Belt regular season and lost to North Texas both times they met. Bozeman was named tournament MVP and averaged 22ppg during the four-game streak.

They were good too:

- Rutgers 76, Seton Hall 70 OT

This one of the more-entertaining games of the day. The two teams traded leads for much of the game, and neither team led by more than nine. As the game-clock wound down, you knew that the game was going to end in exciting fashion, and it did. For the last four minutes, neither team led by more than two points. After Mike Coburn sank two free throws to put the Scarlet Knights up three, Jordan Theodore took the in-bounds pass with nine seconds left and set up a crazy finish to end regulation:



In overtime, Rutgers made nine of their final twelve foul shots and earned their first Big East tournament win since 2005.

- La Salle 75, St. Bonaventure's 73 2OT

Steve Weingarten hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 3o seconds left in the second overtime to seal victory over St. Bonaventure's in the first round of the Atlantic-10 tournament. The No. 10 Explorers, who will face the No. 2 Temple Owls in the quarterfinals, erased a 14-point deficit in regulation then overcame a seven-point deficit in the first overtime. The Explorers had three players score in double-figures, led by Jerrell Williams who had 19 points. Ruben Guillandeaux had 18 points including the tying shot at the end of regulation.


Team of the Day: South Florida Bulls

The Bulls were playing in only their fourth ever Big East tournament game, and erased a 15-point halftime deficit to beat the No. 10 Villanova Wildcats in the first round of the Big East tournament.This was the first time in conference history that a No. 15-seed won a tournament game. South Florida played shut-down defense in the second half, limiting the Wildcats to just four field goals. The Bulls were led by Shaun Noriega, who had 22 points, including 18 points from behind the arc. Anthony Crater only had six points, but he scored the four most important points of the game.


.

They were good too:

- Butler Bulldogs

The bulldogs had been written off by most of the country after a mediocre non-conference record and a uncharacteristic three game conference losing streak. But like they have done in season past, the Bulldogs plowed the the Horizon League tournament and are once again back in the NCAA tournament. Butler lost both their regular season games against UW-Milwaukee, but were able to beat the Panthers when it truly mattered. The Bulldogs only trailed once, and except for a five minute scoring drought in the second half, were in complete control of the game. Matt Howard led the way with 18 points and Shelvin Mack chipped in with 14 points.



Player of the Day: Keith Benson, Oakland

The Summit League Player of the Year had a monster night as he led the No. 1 Golden Grizzles to their second straight Summit League championship. Benson scored 28 points on 10-17 shooting. Benson also pulled in 14 rebounds, dropped four dimes and turned back three shots. This was Benson's 19th double-double of the season.

They were good too:

- Jonathan Mitchell, Rutgers

The senior had 25 points and made 11 of 14 free throws in the Scarlet Knights first Big East tournament win since 2005. Mitchell sparked Rutgers late-game comeback with a clutch three-pointer, and made eight free throws in overtime to seal the victory. He also had three rebounds, three assists and one steal.



Tuesday Results


Horizon League Tournament Finals

#2 Butler 59, #1UW-Milwaukee 44


Summit League Tournament Finals

#1 Oakland 90, #2 Oral Roberts 76


Sun Belt Tournament Finals

#5W Arkansas-Little Rock 64, #4W North Texas 63


Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament First Round

#9 Dayton 78, #8 UMass 50
#12 St. Joseph's 71, #5 George Washington 59 OT
#10 La Salle 75, #7 St. Bonaventure 73 2OT
#6 Rhode Island 70, #11 St. Louis 61


Big East Conference Tournament First Round
#9 UConn 97, #16 DePaul 71
#13 Rutgers 76, #12 Seton Hall 70 OT
#15 South Florida 70, #10 Villanova 69
#11 Marquette 87, #14 Providence 66


Big Sky Conference Tournament Semifinals

#2 Montana 57, #3 Weber State 40
#1 Northern Colorado 73, #4 Northern Arizona 70


Mid-American Conference First Round

#5 Ohio 74, #12 Toledo 57
#6 Akron 67, #11 Eastern Michigan 53
#7 Bowling Green 74, #10 Northern Illinois 54
#8 Buffalo 64, #9 Central Michigan 50


Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament First Round

#10 Maryland-Eastern Shore 87, #7 Florida A&M 85 2OT
#9 South Carolina State 64, #8 Delaware State 59



Wednesday Slate of Games

Northeast Conference Tournament
Finals (at higher seed)

7:00PM - ESPN2 - #3 Robert Morris at #1 Long Island


Big Sky Conference Tournament
Finals (Greeley, CO)

11:00PM - ESPN2 - #1 Northern Colorado vs. #2 Montana


Big East Conference Tournament
Second Round (New York City, NY)

12:00PM - #8 Georgetown vs. #9 UConn
2:30PM - #5 St. John's vs. #13 Rutgers
7:00PM - #7 Cincinnati vs. #15 South Florida
9:30pm - #6 West Virginia vs. #11 Marquette


Big-12 Conference Tournament
First Round (Kansas City, MO)

12:30PM - #9 Oklahoma State vs. #8 Nebraska
3:00PM - #12 Iowa State vs. #5 Colorado
7:00PM - #10 Oklahoma vs. #7 Baylor
9:00PM - #11 Texas Tech vs. #6 Missouri


Conference-USA Tournament
First Round (El Paso, TX)

12:00PM - #8 East Carolina vs. #9 UCF
3:30PM - #5 Southern Miss vs. #12 Tulane
7:30PM - #6 Marshall vs. #11 Houston
10:00PM - #7 SMU vs. #10 Rice


Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournnament
First Round (Winston-Salem, NC)

3:00PM - #6 Norfolk State vs. #11 Howard
8:00PM - #4 Morgan State vs. #5 North Carolina A&T


Mountain West Conference Tournament
First Round (Las Vegas, NV)

7:30PM - #8 Wyoming vs. #9 TCU


Pac-10 Conference Tournament
First Round (Los Angeles, CA)

9:00PM - #8 Stanford vs. #9 Oregon State
11:30PM - #7 Oregon vs. #10 Arizona State


Southland Conference Tournament
Quarterfinals (Katy, TX)

1:00PM - #2 Northwestern State vs. #7 Texas-San Antonio
3:30PM - #3 Sam Houston State vs. #6 Stephen F. Austin
7:00PM - #1 McNeese State vs. #8 Nicholls State
9:30PM - #4 Texas State vs. #5 Southeastern Louisiana


Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament
Quarterfinals (Garland, TX)

1:30PM - #7 Prairie View A&M vs. #2 Jackson State
9:00PM - #8 Arkansas-Pine Bluff vs. #1 Texas Southern


WAC Tournament
First Round (Las Vegas, NV)

6:00PM - #5 Hawaii vs. #8 San Jose State
8:30PM - #6 Nevada vs. #7 Fresno State

Continue reading...

Mike Rice is a coach I want to play for

45 minutes of basketball and one post-game press conference is all I needed to see to know that Mike Rice is the type of guy I would want to play for.

He worked the sidelines, worked the refs, and coached up his players en route to a 76-70 overtime win against Seton Hall in the first round of the Big East Tournament Tuesday. When the game finally ended, Rice jogged over to the Rutgers band, gave high-fives to some of the musicians, then trotted back to the bench to give high-fives to the statisticians, clock operators and every other media member with in an arm's reach.


In his first post-season game as Rutgers head coach, his team put on a gritty performance against their Garden-State rivals, and overcame a Jeremy Hazell game-tying 3-pointer as time expired in regulation.

When his starting center Gilvydas Biruta fouled out late in regulation on a questionable call, Rice started barking at the refs, but never enough to lose his cool and hurt his team.

"I thought he (Biruta) had his elbows tucked, and if I watched the tape, he probably had one of the elbows out. I thought he had the elbows tucked. He had two guys on his face. That's a tough call. Big East referees are the best in the world" Rice said with a chuckle after the game.

Rutgers had rallied back from a 12-point deficit with under seven minutes to go, and had taken a three-point lead with just nine seconds left in regulation. But then Seton hall set up Jeremy Hazell, their go-to player, with an easy dribble hand-off on the final play and he tied the game on a three-pointer from the top of the key.

“When it happened, the toughness it takes to regain your composure it’s unbelievable, you can’t measure it to be honest with you, and I loved it that they had enough toughness to come back" Rice said at the press conference.

The Scarlet Knights had not won a Big East tournament game since 2006, and in his first try, Rice delivered.

"The toughness of this team at the beginning of the season through the end, " Rice said. "Whether it was down 10, down 8, continue to fight, continue too follow the formula through missed free throws, through a technical foul, through bad coaching, this team persevered and they had such a toughness."

For seniors like Robert Lumpkins, Jonathan Mitchell and Mike Coburn, this was more than just another win.

"I've never won a Big East tournament game so it was very exciting," Coburn said. "In the locker room we said it was a good job and we knew we had a good chance of winning, so it's not a crazy celebration because we've got to play tomorrow and you can't really get caught up in this game here when St. John's can turn around and just kick your butt if yo don't focus. "

At the press conference Rice was everything you would want from a head coach. He expressed happiness and relief. He praised his team and admired their resilience, but also knew their work was not done. He cracked jokes about not insulting the referees and chuckled when Mitchell got caught trying to rephrase Seton Hall didn't want it as much as Rutgers did.

In short, he did everything I would want my coach to do. After all, he got Rutgers a Big East tournament win, and those come few and far between.








Continue reading...

Rutgers beats Villanova on a four-point play

In what may end up being the wildest ending to a game this season, Rutgers beat Villanova 77-76 on Wednesday night thanks to a four-point play from Jonathan Mitchell with 0.8 seconds left on the clock.

After freshman James Bell buried a three to put the Wildcats up 75-70 with just 16 seconds left, James Beatty answered by banking in a deep three pointer with 11 ticks remaining. The Scarlet Knights fouled Corey Fisher, who hit 1-2 from the line, setting up this wild finish:



"I always want to take the last shot," Mitchell said after the game. "I always want the game on my shoulders. J.B. (James Beatty) did a great job kicking it back to me off the screen and I just let it fly. I got the whistle and the shot went in."

The call appears to be a bit ticky-tack, but from the reverse angle you can see that Fisher hit Mitchell on the arm as he raised up to shoot the ball.

"I don't think it was a mistake," Villanova head coach Jay Wright said. "I would say if it was. You're supposed to deny there. If he went and whacked him, I would say, but he wasn’t going to contest the shot, he was trying to deny the pass, the pass went over his hand, his hand was there, and to go through a hand and finish that play is a pretty tough play."

Wright deserves credit for not arguing the call, because Villanova has no one to blame but themselves for the loss. They were up 13 with five minutes left. They were up eight with less than two minutes left. They were up five with 16 seconds on the clock.

But a couple of turnovers in the span of 20 seconds with less than two minutes left turned a 70-62 Villanova lead into a 70-68 Villanova lead. Throw in a couple of missed foul shots down the stretch, and its not difficult to see why the Wildcats lost.


Rutgers, on the other hand, deserved this win. Mike Rice has a team that is out-talented just about every night in this league. But his kids play hard, they fight, and they've come so close to a couple of very good wins, losing by three to Pitt and then by two at St. John's.

"We kept fighting and improving, but in the Big East sometimes no one knows it because you keep getting the L's," Rutgers coach Mike Rice said. "So finally, to break through, to do this — it's special. But it's the seniors who won't let us quit. Who won't let us stop improving, it means a lot for them to have a game like that."

Continue reading...

"It took 3 years for Fred Hill to cook his steak of turmoil but the check for the dinner is coming due"

Do you know the name JR Inman?

If you don't, I don't blame you.

A former Rutgers Scarlett Knight, Inman averaged over 12 ppg and 7 rpg as a sophomore and a junior before being relegated to the bench as a senior.

And apparently, Inman was not a fan of the hiring of Fred Hill at Rutgers.

Take a look at this rant, which was apparently posted to Inman's facebook page. At times as hilarious as it is rambling, for the life of me I cannot think of a situation where a player has thrown a coaching staff under the bus like this.

But he has a point, doesn't he?

Rutgers has lost some talented kids over the last few seasons - Corey Chandler and Greg Echinique immediately come to mind - and if rumors are to be believed, Mike Rosario could be next.

With Jerry Wainwright out at DePaul, Fred Hill now has the hottest seat in the Big East.

Continue reading...

The Big East is balanced this season

It has been a long time since there was a good college basketball team in the NYC metro area.

Unless you consider Storrs, CT, in the NYC metro area.

This season was supposed to be different. Seton Hall had added transfers Herb Pope, Jamel Jackson, Jeff Robinson, and Keon Lawrence to a solid core. St. John's was bringing everyone back, including one of the most underrated players in the league in DJ Kennedy. Rutgers lost Corey Chandler, but with Mike Rosario returning alongside Gregory Echinique and Hamady Ndiaye, the Scarlett Knights were expected to be much more competitive in the league.

The non-conference season seemed promising. They combined to go 28-7 before the Big East season, which included wins over Temple, Siena, and Cornell, three teams that could very well be playing in the tournament.

Hell, it seemed like both the Pirates and the Johnnies had a good shot at making a run to the dance.

But a week into league play, these teams have yet to win a game, going 0-5. What's worse is that four of those five losses have come at home.

So what happened?

For starters, injuries have played a big role. St. John's is just getting Justin Burrell back after a sprained ankle held him out for a couple weeks, and still hasn't had Anthony Mason, Jr., who is battling hamstring problems. Rutgers lost Echinique for the season to an eye injury. And if you look closer, four of those five losses came against teams that look destined to be dancing. In each of those four games, the loser wasn't blown out as much as outlasted.

But the bigger issue may a bit more subtle. You see, winning is a skill; a learned trait. It takes experience, it takes leadership, and it takes smarts. Its the ability to understand time and score, knowing when to step on the gas and when to rein it in offensively and run some clock. Its knowing what is a good shot, and the ability to run your sets offensively and get those good shots.

After watching any (or all) of these games, do you believe that Seton Hall, St. John's, or Rutgers knows how to win a close game?

I don't.

Can the same be said for Marquette?

The Golden Eagles were written off by a lot of people before the season started, but after an impressive showing at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, it seemed like Buzz Williams team might be better than some of us thought.

But Marquette has had just as much trouble in close games. They are currently sitting at 9-5 on the season, losing those five games by a combined 17 points, three of which came on the final possession.

Two of those losses came in Marquette's first two Big East games, as Da'Sean Butler and Scottie Reynolds both hit game-winners in the final seconds.

What does this all mean?

Well, what we know for sure is that Marquette is much better than expected, Seton Hall has a ton of talent, and that St. John's is good (they beat Temple in Philly, and regardless of what Kansas did on Saturday, beating this Temple team in Philly is impressive) and will only get better when Mason returns.

Maybe this says more about the Big East conference as a whole than anything about a specific team.

Maybe this proves what we expected - that the Big East is incredibly balanced this season.

Maybe this shows us that the difference between finishing 12-6 and 6-12 in the league, the difference between making the tournament and heading to the NIT, isn't a matter of talent. Its a matter of leadership, of experience, of smarts.

Maybe the difference is simply having guys that know how to win these close games.
Continue reading...