Rutgers Draws Cincinnati in First Round of the Big East Tournament
by ibleedscarlet on Mar 8, 2010 9:56 PM EST
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March Madness begins in the Big East on Tuesday at MSG
Rutgers takes center stage in the Big East Tournament on Day 1 as they head the nightcap against #11 Cincinnati. Rutgers, the #14 seed is coming off back-to-back losses, the first at home to rival Seton Hall and the second an embarrassing loss on Saturday to #18 Pittsburgh.
Rutgers actually catches a favorable draw in the first round missing UConn and Seton Hall (teams that dominated the Knights) and drawing a struggling Bearcats team that has lost 3 straight and 7 of their last 9 games. Rutgers and UC met in early January in the first conference game for the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers took a five point halftime lead but Mike Rosario went cold in the second half (0-7), and the Bearcats battled back for a 65-58 victory.
The game will feature the two favorites for the Big East Rookie of the Year award in RU's Dane Miller and UC's Lance Stephenson. The award will be announced early in the day, and no doubt each will try to one-up each other in the battle of the conference's best freshmen.
This year's first round games will be televised on the ESPN family of networks (ESPNU and ESPN2), and the Rutgers game will be the 2nd game of the evening session (tip is scheduled for 9:00, but it'll be more like 9:30). Though I've heard many complaints that having all 16 Big East teams in the tournament is irrationale, I like it. Every team gets a fair and equal chance to make the NCAA tournament. Win and your in. Lose and go home, or wait for Selection Sunday to seal your fate. Every game is as important as the next and you'll see the players in the 12 vs. 13 games playing just as hard as thoughs in the Championship Game.
For a college basketball fan this is the best 2 weeks in sports. Buckle your seatbelts and get ready for some March Madness.
And without further adieu, my first round predictions:
#14 Rutgers over #11 Cincinnati: Miller and Stephenson play to a draw, but Rosario lights it up at MSG.
#9 USF over #16 Depaul: USF is playing for an NCAA bid, no way Dominique Jones let them lose to the Blue Demons.
#12 UConn over #13 St. John's: Has there ever been a scarier #12 seed in the history of conference tournaments?
#10 Seton Hall over #15 Providence: They just met over the weekend with SHU winning in Providence. The result will be the same at MSG and will end the Friars season with 11 straight losses.
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Leonard's Rally at the Alley brings out NFL and RU Stars
by ibleedscarlet on Mar 8, 2010 8:49 PM EST
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Brian Leonard+Charity+Bowling= Me getting to use this awesome Kingpin Video...Enjoy
With all the stories about athletes these days brandishing guns, abusing substances, and being involved in scandalous assaults and affairs, it's a breath of fresh air to hear about Brian Leonard's Rally at the Alley last week.. The benefit at Chelsea Piers in New York City was to support the Embrace Kids Foundation.
The Embrace Kids Foundation assists children with cancer and blood disorders in the New Jersey and New York City area by providing individualized tutoring, emergency financial assistance, counseling and social services and inspirational and holiday events. Embrace Kids is based out of New Brunswick, NJ, home of Rutgers University.
The event was a huge success as Leonard's friends from his days at Rutgers and those from his pro days showed up to support the kids. Included among the many were Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano, as well as NFL stars Cedric Benson (Bengals), Anthony Fasano (Dolphins), and RU standouts Gary Gibson, Shaun O'Hara, and Ray Rice.
It's no secret that Brian is my favorite Scarlet Knight of all-time (with Ray Rice #1b), and it's story's like this that make Leonard great.
In an unrelated (and unconfirmed) note, Brian bowled a perfect game without throwing a single ball as the pins fell each time he approached the lane out of fear.
Brian Leonard: the man, the myth, the legend.
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Hamady Makes History
by ibleedscarlet on Mar 8, 2010 8:18 PM EST
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The four year journey through college could come to an end as soon as tomorrow for Rutgers senior center Hamady Ndiaye. What the future will hold for him remains unsure, whether it's the NBA or an opportunity abroad. But what remains certain is that Ndiaye will be transfixed in the Rutgers record book, and in Rutgers lore for years to come.
Today, Ndiaye was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year. "H" is the first player in the history of the Rutgers program to earn that honor, which is bestowed by the coaches of the Big East, a fact that has not been lost on him:
"Believe it or not, I am almost at a loss for words," said Ndiaye. "To be selected as Defensive Player of the Year by the BIG EAST coaches is very humbling. I would like to thank Rutgers, my coaches and my teammates for helping to make it possible."--Scarletknights.com
Ndiaye led the Big East in blocks this season with 140, becoming the first Rutgers player to ever lead the league in that category. His 4.52 blocks per game ranks third nationally, and he stands just 2 blocks away from the all-time blocks record at Rutgers (Ndiaye sits at 353 blocks, 2 short of Roy Hinson's mark).
When Gregory Echenique went down for the season with an eye injury early in the season, it was Ndiaye he stepped up and became the leader of this Scarlet Knights team. The man from Senegal brought the intensity every night, and wore his emotions on his sleeve, whether they be jubilation or disappointment. Almost as impressive as his defensive performance was his emergence as an offensive threat. Hamady averaged 9.5 points per game in his senior season and ranked second in the league in field goal percentage.
Hamady, a native of Senegal, who traveled to Rutgers from prep school in California has improved tremendously over the past 4 years. With his size and defensive ability, there is talk of Ndiaye becoming an NBA draft pick or undrafted free agent.
No matter where his basketball career takes him, "H" will always be remembered at Rutgers for giving some heart to a lifeless team. Congratulations Hamady.
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McCourty Impresses at Combine
by ibleedscarlet on Mar 2, 2010 8:57 PM EST
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4.48 don't mean nothing if you don't have game speed....
With a good performance today at the NFL Combine, former Rutgers cornerback Devin McCourty may have just vaulted himself into the first round of the NFL Draft. With fellow Scarlet Knight Anthony Davis considered a lock to be a first round pick, McCourty's selection in the top 32 would mark the first time that Rutgers had two players drafted in the first round.
McCourty looked to be in great physical shape at the combine, and looked to have put on some muscle since the college season ended.
McCourty was a top performer in the 40 yard dash, broad jump, 3-cone drill, and the 20 yard shuttle. Here's how he fared:
40 yard dash: 4.48 (t-5)
Broad jump: 10'6" (t-5)
3-cone drill: 6.70 (t-2)
20 yard shuttle: 4.07
In most mock drafts, McCourty is considered a late first round/early second round prospect. Hopefully his solid performance at the Combine, as well as his game film from last year will show the NFL Scouts that McCourty is more than just a cover corner. He's a guy that can do it all, including on special teams and against the run.
It would be a great statement for not only Davis and McCourty to go in the first round, but for the Rutgers program overall. Not many college teams will be able to say that they produced two first rounders in 2010, but RU might be one of them. If you would have told me that 5 years ago I would have punched you right in the babymaker. Just another huge stride for Greg Schiano and this program.
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Second Half Rally Lifts Scarlet Knights to 13th Place
by ibleedscarlet on Feb 28, 2010 8:45 PM EST
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The scene may have been different, but Saturday's game against Depaul played out in the same manner as the first game that these two teams played on February 16th. A turnover-plagued first half, poor shooting from their best scorers, and a seemingly insurmountable (well insurmountable in terms of the way RU was playing) 11 point halftime deficit were staring Rutgers right in the face. And Rutgers responded. Again.
“We were fortune in a way, being down 11 at half, which is exactly what we were down at DePaul. We could go at least go into our memory banks. We knew we had the capability of coming back. Our zone was outstanding. Our press was outstanding.”--Coach Fred Hill Jr
via ScarletKnights.com
Keyed by a huge second half by Mike Rosario (24 points, 19 in the second half), Rutgers ran away from the Blue Demons in the second stanza on their way to a 71-62 victory. After a terrible first half in which the Knights trailed by as many as 14 points and seemed to be sleep-walking their way to another Big East defeat, the Scarlet Knights responded with a 12-0 run to open the second half and never trailed again on their way to their 5th conference win of the season. Give head coach Fred Hill Jr. credit for making some good halftime adjustments, in particular his decision to go to the press which confused and confounded the Blue Demons into 9 second half turnovers which led to easy buckets for the Scarlet Knights.
Rosario's huge second half keyed the Rutgers comeback, but it was forward Jonathan Mitchell's 10 point first half that kept Rutgers in the game when it looked like they were going to get blown out of the building. Mitchell finished the game 7-16 from the floor for 18 points and also added 7 rebounds for the Knights. Mitchell shot particularly well from 2-point range, but was ineffective again from behind the three point arc (0-7). Mitchell has been a pleasant surprise for Rutgers this season, but if there is one knock on him it's that he's settling for too many three pointers, instead of using his size and athleticism to get easy looks inside. Mitchell is an abysmal 4-28 from downtown over his last four games, dropping his overall percentage to 35.3% on the year.
Dane Miller reached double-figures for the 7th straight game contributing 10 points as well as 4 rebounds in the victory. Miller has been superb of late, but was not as crisp in this game turning the ball over 5 times. Miller needs to play within himself and let the guards do their job of pushing the tempo up the floor.
Though it wasn't pretty, Rutgers got the job done against an underwhelming Depaul team, and has reached the 5 conference win mark for the first time since 2005-2006 season. With the win, Rutgers leaps over Providence and St. John's into 13th place in the conference. With only 2 games remaining in the regular season, it seems unlikely that RU will be able to improve their position anymore (they currently sit 2 games behind the logjam at 12th place). There are many scenarios that could play out over the next week, but it does not look like RU's opponent in the first round of the BET will be decided until the final day of the regular season. Of the potential first round opponents, I'd love to see RU take on either South Florida or Seton Hall and would like to avoid UConn if possible.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, Rutgers still has games remaining at home against SHU, and on the road against #16 Pittsburgh. Seton Hall is in the logjam of teams at 7-9 in the conference and desperately needs a win after a heart-breaking loss today to Marquette in OT. The second round of the Garden State rivalry comes this Thursday at 7:00 PM from the RAC and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
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RU Returns Home to Face Depaul
by ibleedscarlet on Feb 27, 2010 12:23 PM EST
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For the first time in over a month, the Rutgers basketball is on a losing streak. Tuesday's lackluster performance against Seton Hall marked the second consecutive loss for the Scarlet Knights, and dropped the team to .500 overall on the season. Rutgers used balance scoring in the second half to make a run at Seton Hall, but the abundance of turnovers and porous defense in the first half was too large of a hole for the Knights to climb out of.
Rutgers returns home to face Depaul on Saturday afternoon in the Big East Pillow Fight of the Week. Depaul is currently last in the Big East (8-19, 1-14), while Rutgers sits in 15th place (14-14, 4-11) with less than two weeks left before the start of the Big East tournament. Today's game gives them an opportunity to improve their seeding come tournament time at MSG, and could serve as a confidence/momentum building game heading into Thursday's rematch with Seton Hall at the RAC. Today's game will tip at 4:00 and will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.
Depaul should be a familiar foe for Rutgers since they met less than two weeks ago on February 16th at Depaul. In that game Rutgers buried themselves in a big first half hole, trailing by 17 at one point, but rallied back to to knock off the Blue Demons 68-64. In that game, Rutgers main offensive weapons Mike Rosario and Jonathan Mitchell were a combined 4-21 for 15 points, and were bailed out by big games from Hamady Ndiaye (15 pts., 13 rebs) and Dane Miller (14 pts., 8 rebs). For Rutgers to win today, they'll need a better effort from Rosario and Mitchell, and will also need Mike Coburn and James Beatty to be more careful with the ball as they combined for 9 turnovers in the last meeting.
Rutgers will need to find an answer for Depaul big man Mac Koshwal who is averaging 23.0 points per game over his last three games, and torched the Knights the first time around for 24 points. Rutgers played good perimeter defense in the last meeting with Depaul, limiting the Blue Demons to 2-10 shooting from behind the arc. They'll need to pay careful attention to Depaul's leading scorer WIll Walker who has never met a 3-point shot he didn't like, and can score in bunches if he gets hot.
I don't think a win here will save Fred Hill's job, but a loss could certainly help bring about the end of the FHJ era. This is a game that Rutgers should win, and a home loss against the worst team in the conference (and perhaps worst among all of the power conferences) would not sit well with the fans. Unfortunately I don't see this being a sell-out (or even half-full) and the Knights won't draw much energy from the fans. That being said, Depaul is really that bad, and RU should win going away. I see a big game from Jonathan Mitchell propelling the Knights to conference victory #5.
Rutgers 76 Depaul 60
Don't forget Big East fans, #4 Syracuse and #8 Villanova play in a big one tonight at the Carrier Dome. The game will go a long way towards determining seeding for the BET and determining the regular season conference champion. So after you've watched the 2 worst teams in the Big East battle it out in Piscataway, switch over to ESPN at 9 to watch the two best battle it out at Syracuse.
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Former RU Stars McCourty, Davis Headed for NFL Combine
by ibleedscarlet on Feb 25, 2010 12:33 PM EST
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With the start of the NFL Combine yesterday, and the beginning of the hands-on events on Saturday, I figured it would be a good time to check-in and see what the prevailing thoughts are surrounding the two Rutgers players that were invited to the event: OL Anthony Davis and CB Devin McCourty.
Here is NFL.com's analysis of McCourty:
While I agree with most of the analysis of McCouty, I disagree about his need to be more productive in run support. McCourty was among the top tacklers for Rutgers last season (and until very late in the season, was actually #1), and many of his tackles were directly attributed to his penchant for finding the ball carrier and making the initial stop. I've heard varying reports regarding McCourty's draft position (anywhere from 1st round-5th round), and he has a lot to gain at the combine (especially since he is competing in so many events). If he can put some good numbers together, McCourty should sky-rocket up the draft boards.
Here is NFL.com's analysis of Anthony Davis:
Overview
Davis is a prototypical left tackle in that he is a good foot athlete and has bulk as well as long arms that allow him to get a fit and control opponents as he steers them on by the pocket. He is not a natural knee bender and will let his pads get too far forward as he extends to sustain his blocks. He can slide and shuffle with an edge rusher and has the body control and foot agility to react and adjust to counter moves. He has shown a tendency to gain too much weight and will need to be monitored. He has strong hands and upper body and can swallow opponents up on the run block but does not finish his blocks off as much as he could. He will need some time to develop but could end up as a starting left tackle in a couple of years.
Strengths
I pretty much agree with the analysis here. Davis has had weight issues in college, and his one game suspension, and demotion to 2nd team during the past summer could turn some teams off. But Davis has the natural size and gifts that should enable him to become a solid 10 year starter on the offensive line. And remeber, he's only really a "senior" so his upside and potential is enormous.
In my personal opinion, the NFL combine is pointless. These guys have been playing for years, and the coaches and scouts have those tapes and be making their decisions off of how they perform in game environments, as opposed to how they perform in a controlled environment. When do you ever see a RB work to get straight to top speed and run in a straight line down the field. Never. They need to have the vision/patience to find the hole, and the elusiveness to avoid the first few tacklers to get into the open field.
My opinion aside, the Combine gives McCourty and Davis a chance to increase their buzz. Davis is looking to solidify himself as a Top 5 overall pick, while McCourty is hoping to make the leap to the first round. Davis and McCourty have come from different paths to get to this point, but both have the opportunity to see solid playing time and make an impact in their rookie seasons in the NFL. No matter what happens, they'll do Rutgers University proud as Rutgers and Coach Schiano will have 2 more players that they can call "Knights in the NFL".
Update: SI's Don Banks just released his lastest mock draft and has both McCourty and Davis in the first round. Rutgers has never had two players selected in the first round before.
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Miles Apart
by ibleedscarlet on Feb 23, 2010 8:07 PM EST
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If you were planning on catching the end of a close game don't bother. I'm going to watch something that will actually entertain me: Porn The Olympics The Office marathon on TBS (prove me wrong Rutgers, prove me wrong). Seton Hall scored the first basket of the game, and never trailed in the first half, using multiple runs to take a 44-29 halftime lead over the Scarlet Knights. I don't know which was worse, the first-half dump that they laid against Depaul this week, or the half that they just "played".
Bad shots, blown lay-ups, turnovers, and porous defense highlighted the half for RU, as the home team embarrassed Rutgers in just about every way possible. Seton Hall has been able to do whatever they want offensively against the Scarlet Knight's defense, with just a single turnover in the first half (compared with Rutgers 12). This is a selfish, me-first team (with Mike Rosario the main culprit, in my opinion, he should be benched) with a bunch of chuckers that loves to takes bad shots, and pass up the good looks for awful passes.
This first half just goes to show the difference right now in these two programs. Seton Hall is on the upswing while Rutgers is remaining stagnant. Yes, they may end up with more wins than last year, but this is a terrible brand of basketball.
Though Rutgers and Seton Hall may be only 23 miles apart on paper, the gap between the basketball programs is much larger.
.
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