We will get to the Bernie Fine news and its implications for Jim Boeheim and the Syracuse basketball program in a post later this morning, but even without the news of his firing, it was a rough week for Big East teams. Perhaps no team had a worse week than St. John’s. Not only were they beaten soundly by an inferior Northeastern team, but they also were without head coach Steve Lavin for the second straight game and third this season while he recovers from prostate cancer surgery. While there is no doubt Lavin is doing the right thing by looking out for his health first and foremost, if this continues, it will be an unfortunate distraction for the team and tough to overcome on the recruiting trail. St. John’s is a very young team, and it needs his leadership during the games, no matter what he says about the quality of his assistants. Also — although it sounds crass even to suggest it — Lavin’s long-term health will be a point of interest for recruits, and his inability to coach during the games could open the door for some negative recruiting by other teams. Everyone in college basketball wants to see the vivacious Lavin back in good health and patrolling the sidelines, but that doesn’t mean opposing programs won’t try to lure away Red Storm recruits with promises of stability.
The Red Storm weren’t alone in the conference when it came to disappointing losses this weekend. Cincinnati, a team many predicted to break out this season, took another one on the chin Friday night, losing to former conference foe Marshall in overtime. To make matters worse, the Cincinnati Enquirer ran a piece this morning wondering where all the fans are. According to the paper, the Bearcats are averaging just over 5, 000 fans for home games, barely half of what the crowd looked like when Bob Huggins coached the team. Now it should be noted that the Bearcats’ opponents aren’t exactly household names, and it seems unlikely that the fans will want to sell the place out to see their team play the likes of Alabama State and Northwestern State. Even the greatest Cincinnati alumnus of them all, Oscar Robertson, is quoted criticizing the team’s soft early season schedule. Ultimately, no matter who they play, Mick Cronin‘s club will need to start winning games consistently to draw big crowds, and right now, that seems tougher than many initially expected.
Even though Connecticut‘s week was hardly much better than the other teams considering they blew a big second-half lead in a stunning loss to Central Florida, the news wasn’t all bad for the Huskies. Desperately in need of someone to spell starting point guard Shabazz Napier, UConn finally got talented freshman Ryan Boatright back and not a moment too soon. Playing in his first game after serving a six-game suspension for improper benefits, Boatwright played 33 minutes in the overtime win against Florida State, scoring 14 points and hitting three clutch free-throws with seven seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime. Coach Jim Calhoun finally sounded slightly happier with the way his team played and you can bet he is glad to have Boatright available. Napier is still one of the team’s key players and he is one of the better guards in the conference, but he is still just a sophomore and his performance against UCF showed it. Boatright will only help keep Napier fresh and healthy as the season goes on, what he adds on the offensive end will only be an added bonus.
No matter what Louisville does, they cannot seem to catch a break when it comes to keep their players healthy. They already lost talented freshman Wayne Blackshear and versatile role player Mike Marra. They have also been forced to deal with an ankle injury to star point guard Peyton Siva. Now the team lost junior forward Stephan Van Treese indefinitely after he re-injured his left knee in practice Saturday. Van Treese had literally JUST returned to the team following a left patellar strain and was finally working his way into the rotation. Now Rick Pitino will have to do without him again. The Cardinals’ frontcourt is already thin, and while Van Treese was hardly a star, he was a big body and a capable role player. I guess we will just have to see how Pitino and his squad handle this dose of adversity.
The Springfield News-Sun profiled DePaul coach Oliver Purnell on Saturday and the story centered around Purnell’s incredible optimism when it comes to reviving a moribund program. There are plenty of good quotes from people who know Purnell about the coach’s history and ability turning around struggling programs, but DePaul might be a completely different story. For one, they play in a ridiculously tough conference, and they also have to compete with dozens of teams for local talent. Chicago is a recruiting hotbed, but their best recruits almost always end up being recruited by not just Illinois, but Kansas, and Indiana, and Ohio State and a host of other elite programs that can promise a chance at the national championship now. Purnell was certainly an inspired choice for the gig, but it remains to be seen whether he can move enough mountains to make DePaul relevant again. Something they haven’t been since Eddy Curry spurned them for a shot to make a ton of undeserved money in the NBA.
The 24-hour hoops marathon was not very kind to some Big East teams, especially West Virginia, which broke a 36-game non-conference home winning streak when they lost to a very good Kent State team, 70-60. Point guard Truck Bryant, who the Mountaineers are hoping will help bridge the gap until some of the young players mature, turned the ball over six times to go with just one assist and he finished just 4-13 from the field. After the game, Bryant admitted he didn’t play very well. Meanwhile coach Bob Huggins readily admitted that his team struggled, especially his freshmen, and he challenged them to step it up. The Mountaineers played all six of their freshmen with mixed results and the team turned the ball over 17 times and missed a dozen free throws. These are the growing pains a young team will inevitably face, and the pain might be sharper when West Virginia starts their conference schedule. On the bright side, we might get a number of excellent Huggins rants out of this season. The anticipation is killing me!
Speaking of lack of experience, Rutgers was the second team to lose yesterday as they spotted Miami a ten-point lead at halftime and never really made it close at any point. Reserve forward Austin Carroll led the team with eleven points, but he was the only one playing with any passion, at least according to coach Mike Ricewho alluded to what we can only assume are memories of third grade when he said, “Austin is the only one I would like to walk to the bus with me.” The story also quotes Rice criticizing his freshman guards such as Myles Mack and Jerome Seagears, something he will likely do a lot simply because he doesn’t have the luxury of a veteran backcourt. After barely nipping Dartmouth in RU’s first game, Mike Rice’s team has the look of a squad that will struggle a lot this year. Rice is an excellent coach, and because of that they will play tough and competitively, but there is simply not enough veteran talent on the roster to succeed in the face of such a demanding schedule.
The Mikan Drill had yet another excellent in-depth post about the importance of Pittsburgh forward Nasir Robinson to his team’s zone offense. They used advanced stats to show Robinson was wildly more efficient than any of the other players Jamie Dixon tried in the middle of the zone offense, and also noted that when Robinson is not in the game the guards are more hesitant to attack the rim and prone to tossing up contested three-pointers. Ashton Gibbs may be the team’s best player, and Tray Woodall has gotten plenty of attention for his improved range and overall offensive skill set. But I am convinced Robinson is the team’s unsung hero and one of its most important players. He is versatile enough both offensively and defensively to play big or small, and he has an underrated offensive game to go with his rebounding prowess and defensive energy. Pitt is always considered one of the toughest teams in the country and this year is no exception, and that is primarily because of the presence of Robinson in the middle of that lineup.
Syracuse routed Albany last night as expected, but the game’s MVP might have been just as unexpected. As The Daily Orange rightly called out junior James Southerland for his 6-9 shooting performance in the first half that helped the Orange overcome a sluggish start. It was pats on the back and glowing quotes all around for Southerland in the story, but if he can become an offensive weapon too, that would make Jim Boeheim‘s team that much more dangerous. I can’t be too sure about this because I have never done it, but it must not be easy guarding an athletic 6’8” man who can shoot from long-range and also attack the rim.
Okay so this article was originally published more than two weeks ago, but its our first day so I get to call attention to it anyway. ESPN’s Jason King penned a column about the rise in junior college players playing key roles on good teams. He just so happens to use Marquette and their litany of JuCo players to illustrate his point. There was also an accompanying blog post that highlighted St. John’s Nurideen Lindsey and Cincinnati’s Cheikh Mbodj as two junior college transfers to watch in the Big East. The point is a salient one if slightly outdated. Teams like Marquette and Cincinnati and St. John’s and even South Florida and Seton Hall have been using junior college transfers to remain competitive for years, although it should be noted that this year’s crop seems to be exceptionally important to their teams’ success. Of course for all of their benefits, junior college players can still be a gamble and they also mean more recruiting because they have fewer possible years of eligibility. But if it helps a team win, I seriously doubt any Big East coach is worried about logging some extra frequent flier miles while recruiting.
Brian Otskey is the RTC correspondent for the Big East. You can find him on Twitter @botskey.
Reader’s Take I
Top Storylines
The Realignment Circus Continues: The latest blow to the Big East came just recently as West Virginia was accepted into the Big 12. That leaves the Big East with 13 basketball schools remaining and a handful of others (football schools) desperately trying to flee the sinking ship. Commissioner John Marinatto has said he is committed to holding Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia to the 27-month notice provision in the conference’s bylaws but one has to wonder if a financial settlement will be worked out in order to expedite the transition and move the conference into rebuilding mode. It’s going to be quite awkward if these three schools remain in the league until 2014. All of the current Big East members should eventually find a stable home in one form or another, but the days of Big East basketball as we know it will soon come to an end. Enjoy the 2011-12 season because it just might be the last year of this remarkable 16-team behemoth.
How Many Bids This Year?: After sending a record 11 teams to the NCAA Tournament last year, can the Big East reach that mark again? That seems unlikely but you never know how things will truly play out. I’d say there are ten contenders for NCAA bids and to make 11 you would need all of those teams plus one of the three New York City-area schools to have a wildly successful year and snatch a bid. The Big East is quite possibly the best conference in the land yet again but 11 NCAA teams is far-fetched. Eight or nine bids this season would seem to be much more realistic.
Can Connecticut Repeat?: The technical answer is yes but it will be extremely tough to do. There’s a reason only two teams have gone back-to-back in the last 20 years. College basketball is as deep as ever in terms of talent and quality teams, plus there’s someone missing from last year’s Connecticut team. Kemba Walker is now in the NBA and, despite Jim Calhoun’s impressive recruiting haul, there is a major leadership void to be filled. This team is stocked with talent but Walker was a one-of-a-kind leader who took complete control in Maui and parlayed that into a way of life for the rest of the season. Jeremy Lamb figures to take control but remember how young this group is. They’ll get better as the season progresses and may even win the Big East but when the chips are down in the NCAA Tournament, they won’t be able to call on Kemba and that’s why I feel they will not repeat.
Calhoun Won't Have His Mr. Everything Around This Season
Cautious Optimism at Georgetown, Villanova and West Virginia: These traditional powers lose a lot of talent and figure to be lodged in the middle of the conference. All three programs return key cogs but the departures of Austin Freeman, Chris Wright, Corey Fisher, Corey Stokes, Antonio Pena, Casey Mitchell, John Flowers and Joe Mazzulla leave more questions than answers. These teams all need someone to step up and become a deep shooting threat while maintaining a low post presence. Guards win in college basketball but you also have to be able to rebound and score inside occasionally. Hollis Thompson, Mouphtaou Yarou and Deniz Kilicli must become better all-around post men if their respective teams hope to make the NCAA Tournament. At 6’7”, 205 lbs., Thompson isn’t one to bang with the big guys but he’s going to have to score in the paint at times. Each team has a nice recruiting class coming in, but it’s up to the returning players to make the ultimate difference.
CBSSports.com’s Jeff Goodman and other college basketball analysts on Seth Davis’ show Courtside discussed whether or not anyone will be able to catch Mike Krzyzewski‘s 900-and-counting win total when the venerable Duke coach decides to hang it up. Monday, Goodman asked the active coach closest to Coach K, Jim Boeheim to ponder if he stood a chance. Boeheim gave himself no chance whatsoever and even stated that, “I think Mike will coach another ten years.” If that’s true (I for one, don’t think Krzyzewski will coach more than five more), Coach K will end up with somewhere between 1150 and 1200 wins, putting the record essentially out of reach barring an unprecedented career spanning six decades.
As for his best guess, Boeheim mentioned West Virginia’s Bob Huggins as the most likely active candidate for passing Coach K. Goodman did the math: “[Huggins] has 691 career victories. Let’s say he goes 12 more years (until he’s 71) and averages about 25 wins per year. […] That would put him just shy of 1,000 victories.” Barring a sudden retirement, Krzyzewski should pass the 1,000 win mark sometime in the next four years. Here are other coaches who could (somewhat feasibly) pass Coach K.
Active Coaches That Could Pass Coach K in Wins.
Update: John Gasaway of Basketball Prospectuspointed out a slight wrinkle with Boeheim’s guess that Huggins could pass Coach K: 71 of Huggins’ wins were at Walsh, which was not Division I and therefore would not count on his D-I record.
It’s finally here. It has been a little more than 7 months since Connecticut defeated Butler to give Jim Calhoun his third national championship. In the interim, we have been forced to talk about the NBA Draft, a ridiculous amount of conference realignment, an even more ridiculous amount of NCAA violations, and some recent exhibition games (we will get to the latter three in a bit). Tonight, the actual games start with three games on the docket: William & Mary at St. John’s (the first game of the season and also the first RTC Live of the year), Eastern Kentucky at Mississippi State, and Valparaiso at Arizona. We are hoping with the season starting we can get back to focusing on the sport we all love. Just remember your team is still undefeated right now.
Connecticut freshman Ryan Boatright continues to be in limbo with the NCAA during its ongoing investigation into his eligibility regarding a plane ticket purchased for him by Reggie Rose, his AAU coach who happens to be Derrick Rose‘s brother. According to a NCAA source, Boatright could miss between three and six games depending on the value of the ticket. [Ed. Note: How do they figure this out? Use the highest possible price like it was purchased day of or do they see what you could get on Priceline?] For his part, Reggie Rose is declining comment “out of the respect to the Boatright family” while a source close to him calls the entire thing a “witch hunt”. While the Huskies will miss Boatright in November because of their lack of depth at point guard given the relatively short length of the potential punishment we doubt that this will affect UConn in the long run unless the NCAA drags its feet in announcing the punishment because Boatright will have to sit out during that period too.
We have known it was coming for weeks, but on Sunday the SEC made it official–Missouri will join the SEC for the 2012-13 season. We have already discussed in depth the impact this and other moves will have on the landscape of college sports so we will spare you all the details and moralizing. For the SEC fans who may not be familiar with Missouri and its sports teams, Alabama Live has provided a nice primer on the school and its athletic department. Our personal favorite part is the ranking schools by number of major NCAA infractions.
Bob Huggins would probably like to forget West Virginia‘s last second 77-74 loss to Division II Northern Kentucky on Saturday night when Eshaunte Jones hit a three with one second left. As we have said before these games aren’t particularly helpful although some people will make a big deal out of Northern Kentucky winning its first exhibition game against a Division I opponent in 19 tries. The reality is that the Norse shot lights out going 13 of 25 from beyond the arc and shooting 54% from the field overall while the Mountaineers came out flat falling behind 42-29 at half after trailing by as many as 17 points in the first half. After the game Truck Bryant, who led the Mountaineers with 24 points, said, “I didn’t see this coming. I mean losing to a D-II school, not to take anything away from them, that’s embarrassing.” We are assuming that Huggins and Bryant will use this as motivation for the regular season opener against Oral Roberts on Friday night.
Chuck Klosterman put out a list of his 50 favorite college basketball players of all-time and it created a brief controversy on Twitter on Friday afternoon as people harangued him for his selections. As we mentioned at the time the list should not be taken as a top 50 list despite its title. Klosterman lays out his criteria at the top, which is fine since it is his list, but makes some questionable interpretations of those criteria when ranking players. Overall, we sort of like his list with its mixture of players that everybody remembers as being great along with a few that only serious basketball fans would know unless they had some special connection (fans of that school, etc) and have already admitted that it is much better than what we could probably do off the top of our head for indie rock bands, Klosterman’s area of expertise.
The Make or Break series will tell us what we need to know about each SEC team by looking at the three most important non-conference games on each team’s schedule. Depending on the outcome, these three games could make OR break that team’s season because of the strengths it shows or weaknesses it could expose. The next team in the series is the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Mississippi State is ready to forget about last season. The Bulldogs had their share of troubles. Point guard Dee Bost was suspended for the first nine games of the season. Renardo Sidney had missed all of the 2009-10 season and the first nine games last year due to eligibility reasons. Then Sidney marred the Bulldogs’ reputation by getting into a fight with a teammate in the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii. The team never appeared to get its chemistry down pat and limped to a 17-14 record and failing to make the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season.
Will Stansbury's Ongoing Gamble on Sidney Finally Pay Off?
But there are reasons to be more optimistic this year. Everyone is eligible to start the season. Sidney has lost over 20 pounds and is allegedly making strides to be a better teammate. The Bulldogs welcome transfer Arnett Moultrie to help him out down low. 2011-12 could be the year Rick Stansbury’s team turns things around and gets back to the NCAAs for the seventh time in 11 seasons.
The three key non-conference games that will make or break the Bulldogs schedule this season:
The Southeastern Conference announced Missouri as its newest member late Thursday night — and then it retracted that press release from its website ten minutes later. The Big 12 then officially invited West Virginia on Friday, and a news release from the conference did not mention Missouri as a member for the 2012-13 athletic season. So, what’s the deal? The Big 12 won’t claim Missouri, nor will the SEC. Looks like the Tigers are in limbo for now. Of course, don’t expect that to last long. Soon, we’ll surely hear the announcement that the SEC has added the Tigers as its 14th program. Right?
In this crazy world of realignment apocalypse, though, everything is an unknown. For now, at least, we know that WVU is a member of the Big 12 Conference starting next summer. And that means Louisville (for now) has been shut out of the league after a dispute that pitted it against the Mountaineers — a fracas that involved Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), a UL alum — who tried to block WVU from joining the league.
Bob Huggins Shouldn't Be Sad Anymore After the Big 12 Announcement
Sen. McConnell’s efforts apparently did not work as the Mountaineers have won the Big 12 sweepstakes. WVU’s president said the league is a “perfect fit” for his school, and it’s certainly a move that will help Big 12 hoops. With Missouri’s likely departure, as well as the addition of the lowly TCU program, the conference needed a team with the history and recent success to bolster its basketball profile. WVU will make an immediate impact in this league thanks to passionate fan base and an established head coach in Bob Huggins. The transition from the Big East to the Big 12 won’t be difficult, although all the chartered flights from Morgantown several hours west may be.
A countersuit filed by former Kansas State 1-and-done phenom Michael Beasley against an NBA agent suggests recruiting violations by Kansas State, according to an investigation by The Washington Post. The Post‘s story centers more around the DC Assault AAU program, but the Kansas City Star does a better job explaining the KSU ties. Beasley’s civil suit alleges that an acquaintance of DC Assault president Curtis Malone provided funds to his mother, Fatima Smith, to pay for six months of rent in Manhattan, Kansas, as well as relocation costs. And this same man faces other allegations in the lawsuit– notably, that the agent, Joel Bell, told Beasley’s mother that her rent and car payments would be handled.
KSU's Michael Beasley Makes Some Bold Allegations Against KSU in a Lawsuit
Former KSU assistant Dalonte Hill, known for his ties to the DC Assault team, told the Post he did not know of any payments received by Beasley’s mother. Current KSU coach Frank Martin told the Star he also knew nothing about the lawsuit or the Post‘s investigation. Keep in mind that Bob Huggins was the head coach at the time of Beasley’s recruitment, though Martin was still on staff as an assistant. This could mean trouble for Kansas State, but the NCAA must prove two things before it can slam the Wildcats with any penalties. First, did these alleged payments even occur? And second, did any member of the K-State program know anything about them?
ESPN.com had an interesting series of stories that went up today regarding various folks’ favorite college basketball arenas to visit and the toughest ones to play in. As always when you read blurbs of primary source information, it’s enlightening to see the reasoning behind their choices. For example, we never knew that NC State’s old home was such an ACC snake pit, but ESPN commentators Jay Bilas and Hubert Davis both independently cited Reynolds Coliseumas the toughest arena they ever played in. Davis even claimed that he never scored “on the opposite basket away from our bench in the first half” due to the flustered situation he found himself in all four years he visited Raleigh.
A number of media types also weighed in with their favorite places to experience a game, and several of the old faithfuls represent well here — Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium (3 votes), Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse (2 votes) and the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden (2 votes) — along with a few other tried-and-trues including Oklahoma State’s Gallagher-Iba Arena, Stanford’s Maples Pavilion, Penn’s Palestra, and UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion (1 vote each). But it was the list provided by Dana O’Neil (excellent usage of “sepia,” by the way) from her interviews of several head coaches back in July on the recruiting trail that really caught our eye. First, here’s her list:
Fifteen prominent coaches chose nine different arenas between them. Three of those are already retired to the dustbin of history, and three others are clearly a personal house of horrors to specific coaches. Not many people in this business will choose a place like Murray State Arena over somewhere like the Kohl Center or Breslin Arena, but Big Ten coach Bruce Weber did. The remaining joints are again places we’re all familiar with as incredibly difficult to walk out with a win, but we quickly noticed that there was something peculiar about the responses among O’Neil’s interviewees. Take a closer look — of the 15 coaches, only one of them gave an answer that includes a site where his team must regularly play games.
With the completion of the NBA Draft and the annual coaching and transfer carousels nearing their ends, RTC is rolling out a new series, RTC Summer Updates, to give you a crash course on each Division I conference during the summer months. Our Big East update comes from frequent RTC contributor Brian Otskey, co-author of Get to the Point.
Readers’ Take
Summer Storylines
Connecticut Revels In National Championship Glory: Connecticut’s storybook year continued on into the offseason as the Huskies were invited to the White House for an event with President Obama on May 16. The team presented the president with a #1 UConn jersey and posed for photographs after being lauded for their remarkable accomplishment. Connecticut made one of the most improbable runs ever en route to the third national championship in school history, all coming since 1999, going 23-0 outside of Big East regular season play. Nobody could have predicted the way last season unfolded and the NCAA Tournament as a whole was a microcosm of that. Connecticut’s national title made up for a lackluster performance by many of the record 11 Big East teams participating in the tournament. Only one other Big East team (Marquette) managed to make it to the second weekend’s Sweet 16. Life without Kemba Walker has begun in Storrs and while the Huskies will be among the 2011-12 Big East favorites, it’ll be very interesting to see who steps up and how the team performs without its warrior. Jeremy Lamb appears to be ready to take over but the way Shabazz Napier and Alex Oriakhi handle their larger roles will be the difference between a team contending for a Big East title and one that finishes fourth or fifth.
Kemba & Co. Celebrated in Style (H-C/B.Hansen)
The Ed Cooley Era Begins In Friartown: After Keno Davis stumbled to an 18-36 Big East record over three seasons in Providence, the Friars desperately needed someone to revive their moribund program. Providence has made only two NCAA Tournaments since its 1997 appearance and the last one was eight seasons ago in 2003-04. Enter Ed Cooley, a Providence-born 41-year-old with the fire in his belly needed to succeed in arguably the toughest job in the Big East Conference. Cooley will instill a system of discipline and fundamentals with a special attention to defense, three attributes of successful programs that were sorely lacking under Davis. Cooley’s Fairfield team ranked #22 in the nation in defensive efficiency last season and he improved the Stags’ record each and every year he was there. Providence, a small Catholic school with hardly any recruiting base along with limited facilities and resources, is an incredibly difficult job even before you have to go up against bigger schools like Syracuse, Louisville and Pittsburgh along with tradition-rich programs such as Georgetown, Villanova and Marquette. Cooley must spend his first season laying the foundation for longer term success. He won’t turn this program around overnight but more discipline on and off the court and hard work on the recruiting trail can turn Providence into a solid Big East competitor. We can’t think of many people better suited than Cooley to get the job done at Providence. While it will be a long and difficult process, brighter days are ahead for the Providence program with Ed Cooley at the helm.
Signs Of Life In The New York Area: New coach Steve Lavin and St. John’s brought the buzz back to the Big Apple last winter as the Red Storm earned its first NCAA bid in nine seasons. “Lavinwood” has moved east, but St. John’s now enters a year full of mixed feelings. Cautious optimism as well as uncertainty rules the day with nine new faces, part of the nation’s second-ranked recruiting class, making their way to Queens in 2011-12. Malik Stith is the only returnee of note after Dwayne Polee, II, decided to transfer closer to home at San Diego State. St. John’s may be the most unpredictable team in the Big East entering this season. The potential exists for a terrific year if Lavin can mold all this raw talent into a cohesive unit capable of playing with any team in the conference. However, issues with young players, commonly involving playing time and egos, are also very possible and it takes only one incident to destroy the locker room and wreck the season. The Johnnies have enough talent to make the NCAA Tournament again, but Lavin will have to totally adjust his approach to make that happen. With hardly any experience on the roster, he can’t simply roll the ball out and hope for the best. This season will be the biggest test of Lavin’s coaching career on the court, but he faced an even more difficult challenge last year, coaching the entire season with prostate cancer while keeping it a secret until this spring. Turning St. John’s around with that constantly in the back of his mind is an a commendable achievement and we obviously wish Coach Lavin the best of luck fighting this awful disease.
Across the Hudson River in New Jersey, Mike Rice and Rutgers appear to be building a program to be reckoned with down the road. The Scarlet Knights have been a dormant program for 20 years, never once enjoying a winning season in any of its 16 years as a Big East member. That may be about to change, although it appears unlikely that Rutgers will crack the .500 mark in league play this season. The fiery Rice reeled in a top 25 recruiting class and now must build on a season of close calls and what-ifs. Rutgers was competitive last year, but could only manage five Big East victories. It’ll take time for the new players to adjust to the collegiate level but bigger and better things should be expected from Rutgers in the years to come. Rutgers, a large state school, has the capability of becoming a pretty good program. All it needs is a commitment from the administration, facility upgrades and great recruiting. Rice is taking care of the latter, now it’s time for the Rutgers brass to provide him with the resources needed to build a top flight program. Rutgers needs major facility upgrades (a RAC renovation has been talked about for over a year), but fundraising has been a major problem. With New Jersey Governor Chris Christie trying to get the state’s financial house in order, there is going to be a lot of resistance to an ambitious project such as this one at the state’s flagship university.
