Rutgers Scarlet Knights (2-16, 11-20) at Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-10, 17-13)
Big East Conference Tournament
Tuesday, Mar. 10 at 7:00 PM EST

Preview

The third game of the 2009 Big East Tournament features No. 15 Rutgers at No. 10 Notre Dame.

The Scarlet Knights are coming off their second conference win of the season, a 45-42 victory over South Florida. Their other Big East win came against No. 16 DePaul.

The Fighting Irish had a terrible seven game slide in January and February, but have since gone 5-3. They have shown glimpses of their potential at various times this season, such as their 33-point win over Louisville.

Notre Dame draws its strength from their front court, namely last year's Big East Player of the Year, Luke Harangody. He has improved his stats across the board this season, and has grabbed 21 double-doubles so far. Harangody is currently averaging a double-double as well.

The Scarlet Knights' talent lies within freshman Mike Rosario. He has continued to develop this season. If Rutgers can pick up some supporting talent, they have a very good chance of being successful in years to come.

Unfortunately, though, we are discussing this season.

These two played each other once this season, and Notre Dame walked away with the five-point win.

The Scarlet Knights will not go down without a fight.

They have not all season, but the question facing them now is will their efforts be enough to move to the second round?

By The Numbers

Stat Leaders

Prediction

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The Syracuse Orange completed a season series sweep Tuesday night with another blowout win 70-40 over the Rutgers Scarlett Knights. The Orange didn't wake-up until the second half when they outscored Rutgers 51-20.

Syracuse found themselves trailing 19-20 at the half after apparently forgetting that they had a game tonight.

Paul Harris led the Orange with 18 points and nine rebounds, but it was his thundering dunks early in the second half that sparked the team. On one play Harris went above the rim to slam down an alley-oop from Jonny Flynn. If that wasn't spectacular enough Harris decided he didn't need Flynn and threw and caught the ball himself for a dunk that sent the crowd of 21,233 into a frenzy.

Andy Rautins came off the bench to score 11 points on three-of-four shooting from three point range. Jonny Flynn scored only seven points, but dished out a game high ten assists.

Shockingly enough, the Orange's starting back court comprised of Flynn and SG Eric Devendorf combined for only 10 points, yet they won by 30.

Carrier Dome favorite Kristof Ongenaet had his third solid game in a row and scored a season high 10 points to go with six rebounds. Kristof is the only Orange senior and played his last game in the Dome as it was senior night.

Rutgers was led by former McDonald's All-American PG Mike Rosario, who finished with 16 points and five rebounds.

The Knights actually pulled out to a nine point lead in the first half with a score of 14-5, but a win over Syracuse just wasn't in the cards for them.

With the loss Rutgers falls to 10-20, 1-16 Big East.  Rutgers only conference victory this season came against 0-16 DePaul at home.

Syracuse finished the game shooting 54.9 percent from the field, and Rutgers finished a cool 25.4 percent.

With the win Syracuse improves to 22-8, 10-7 Big East and has won their last three conference games by a combined 84 points. They seem to be peaking at the right time and have won their last four out-of-five games with the sole loss coming to no.11 Villanova 86-89.

Thanks to a Cincinnati loss to South Florida, 59-70, the Orange are tied for sixth place in The Big East and will have a first round bye in the up-coming conference tournament.

Up next for the Orange is a Saturday afternoon season finale against no.13 ranked Marquette (23-6, 12-4 Big East) on their home floor.

Tip-off is at 2 p.m. and the Golden Eagles will be without PG Dominic James who broke his foot against UConn. Marquette still has to play No. 3 Pittsburgh before they face the Orange on Saturday and have already dropped consecutive games to UConn and Louisville. 

Rutgers Scarlet Knights (1-13, 10-17) at Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-8, 15-11)

Wednesday, Feb. 24—7:00 PM EST on ESPNU

Preview

Both Notre Dame and Rutgers have been a disappointment this season, but in different ways. Rutgers was expected to at least be competitive this season, while Notre Dame was expected to be one of the better teams in the Big East.

After losing seven games in a row, though, it became clear that something was seriously wrong with the Fighting Irish. They stopped their skid with a 33-point victory over Louisville, and have since gone 2-1 (most recently defeating Providence 103-84).

Rutgers has one conference win this season, over Big East winless DePaul. It's not exactly one to be too proud of, but a win is a win, especially in the Big East.

They've managed to keep it close a few times this season, losing to Seton Hall by three and five, to Pitt by eight, and to Georgetown, Providence, and Villanova by ten. But in the end, they came up short every time.

Notre Dame sits in tenth in the Big East and is eying the eighth spot—the first spot where they would get a one-round bye in the Big East Tournament. They are currently only one game behind Syracuse (who currently occupies that slot), so look for them to be very competitive during the end of conference play as they try and make their way to that spot.

The Irish should have no problem taking down Rutgers, especially behind Luke Harangody, the only question facing them is by how much?

By The Numbers

Prediction

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West Virginia Mountaineers (7-6, 18-8) at Rutgers Scarlet Knights (1-12, 10-16)

Sunday, Feb. 22—3:00 PM EST on The Big East Network Local

Preview

West Virginia is a bubble team, Rutgers is not. If that statement surprises anyone, you should probably stop reading now...

The Mountaineers have won their last two games—defeating Villanova by 21 and Notre Dame by 11. While the six Big East losses that they have may seem like a lot on paper, they have only lost to ranked conference opponents—all of whom currently are or have been in the top ten this season.

Rutgers sits in 15th in the Big East, with only one conference win over Big East winless DePaul. They have managed to keep up with some teams only to fall short at the end, while they have been completely blown out by others.

The question now is whether the Mountaineers will be able to continue to make their case for an at-large bid, or whether the Scarlet Knights will be able to pull off their second Big East win of the season.

By The Numbers

Prediction

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Rutgers Scarlet Knights (1-11, 10-15) at Villanova Wildcats (8-4, 20-5)

Thursday, Feb. 19—9 p.m. EST on ESPN/ESPN2

Preview

Villanova (8-4, 20-5) is coming off its first loss in seven games—a 93-72 loss to West Virginia. During that stretch, they scored 100 points in back-to-back games for the first time in the history of their program, and in their six wins they outscored opponents by an average of 13 points.

Rutgers (1-11, 10-15) has been an absolute disappointment this season. They have one win in conference play (over the winless DePaul Blue Demons) and currently sit in 15th in the Big East.

Their star is freshman guard Mike Rosario, but it has become clear that the team needs more than one player in order to be successful.

Villanova is doing everything they can to keep themselves competitive for the regular season title, and to try and break into the top four of the Big East so they can have the coveted double-bye in the conference tournament.

There are four teams ahead of them (all with only two Big East losses). The only way they can break into the top four is by winning convincingly for the rest of the season—they only face one ranked team (Syracuse) in their last six games.

By The Numbers

Stats Leaders

Prediction

To see Ryan's final analysis and prediction, please head over to CBBPlace.com!

See thousands of free College Basketball Picks Against the Spread this season.

All statistics for this article have come from StatSheet.com.

If you are a frequenter of the Rutgers Message Boards, the New Jersey sports blogs, and the New Jersey newspapers, you know that when it comes to Rutgers basketball, there are those that want RU Men's basketball coach Fred Hill Jr. fired, and those that feel he deserves more time to build his program.

As this season progresses, the faction that wants him fired are screaming a little bit louder and its number of members have grown.  Some that may have been "on the fence" are now leaning toward the call for Hill's dismissal. 

The latest wooden log added to this fire (so to speak) was RU's latest loss; the 14th of the season, the 10th in Big East play, and the second consecutive loss to arch rival; Seton Hall.  While it's embarrassing enough to lose 10 of 11 league games, the program and its fans have great difficulty with going zero for the season against The Hall.

The positives about Hill are that he has brought the best talent to Rutgers in the past 15 years, and continues to have great success recruiting locally.  Despite losing the overwhelming majority of his first two-and-a-half seasons of games, no major recruit has de-committed from RU nor has the program lost any major transfers, despite more than sufficient reason to do so. 

Somehow, the kids are buying into what this man is saying and promising.

However, the negatives are: mind-boggling in-game decisions that have RU fans questioning Hill's knowledge of the game, and most obviously, the consistency of losing that the basketball team has done under Hill's watch.

It's frustrating for the Rutgers fan to hear about growth and development, as programs  that were recently in the same position as Rutgers, have risen to the middle and top of the Big East.  It was a few short years ago that Rutgers beat SHU in the opening round of the Big East tournament. 

It was a few short years ago that Rutgers routinely beat Villanova and West Virginia.  And finally, it was a few years ago that St John's hit rock bottom with major scandals and embarrassing NCAA sanctions.

However, St John's sits today with three league wins (two more than RU), an above .500 overall season's record, and a legitamate shot at post-season play.  RU meanwhile, sits in second to last place.  Even lowly South Florida is ahead of them!  It's certainly tough to take.

Looking at the overall situation, Rutgers has to hope and pray Hill gets it done.  He has to be the man to do it.  Rutgers simply will not pay a big name coach to take over this team.  In fact, I'm not even sure a big name coach would want to coach at RU. 

Rutgers has many obstacles in its path towards Big East Basketball competence.  Obviously, it competes in a monstrous 16 team league.  Louisville, UConn, Pitt, Villanova and Syracuse have top flight coaches that will always have their teams at the top of the league.  That means RU will have all it can handle just to get to the middle of the pack in this league. 

Rutgers plays its home games at the RAC; once a vaunted home court, but now, an out-dated, high school gym in which one cannot really imagine "big-time hoops" taking place.  The university recruits NJ and New York; home to top basketball players, also the recruiting ground of the very teams it hopes to replace at the top of the league.

So what is the school to do?  If Rutgers is serious about Big East basketball, and will not consider dropping down to a league like the A10 or the Patriot League, it needs to either step up and pay a big time coach to bring the program to the top, or put all its faith in Hill. 

Whether the school and the state have the money to pay an experienced and successful coach or the state is as poor as it claims to be, it seems to be that RU won't pony up what it takes to pay a top-level coach.

Therefore, it seems that RU will always be hoping that the hot assistant will pan out.  The school went that route in 2001 when it hired Gary Waters; the former head coach of Kent State, who took his Golden Flashes to the NCAAs, and led his team to an improbable win over Indiana in an opening round game. 

At that time, Waters was as hot as any head coaching candidate in the country.  However, his lack of NY/NJ recruiting relationships and determination with regards to recruiting of high school players, badly rounded out recruiting classes, and mismatched players that never seemed to fit his "system", led to his demise.

Enter Fred Hill Jr.,  son of RU's successful and legendary head baseball coach, it seemed RU made a superb hire.  Here was a man with the one thing Waters lacked; NJ roots and local connections.  His connections and relationships allowed him to land kids such as Corey Chandler, a Rivals.com four-star rated recruit, and RU's first McDonald's All-American; Michael Rosario. 

As Rutgers fans learn more and more about Hill, his lack of head coaching experience is what is holding him back now.  One can only hope for the sake of Hill and Rutgers University that Hill learns on the job in a similar fashion to RU's football coach Greg Schiano. 

Firing Hill doesn't really make sense now.  What would you do?  Hire a temporary fix like Kansas State did with Bob Huggins?  Get the one and done recruit, hope to find your way into national prominence and then fade to oblivion when the Bob-Huggins-type leaves for greener pastures? 

Or, do you look for an assistant that seems to be leading a mid-major in the right direction?  Do you start over, yet again? 

At the very least, this is Hill's dream job and he actually wants to be here.  Those are two things we cannot be sure any other coach feels about the State University of New Jersey.  We must be the two things we don't want to be: patient, and hopeful. 

In one of the most highly anticipated games of the season two national powers met last night at the “RAC” on Rutgers campus.

This game was between No. 3 St. Benedict’s (NJ) and No. 5 St. Patrick (NJ) each team boasts numerous D-1 players across their rosters. Some of these talented players include Dexter Strickland (2009/UNC/St. Patrick), Michael Gilchrist (2011/St. Patrick), Kyle Irving (2010/St. Patrick) and Paris Bennet (2009/GM/St. Patrick) from St. Patrick, NJ. The standout players from St. Benedict’s, NJ are Tristan Thompson (2010/Texas/St. Benedict’s), Myck Kabongo (2011/Texas/St. Benedict’s), Tamir Jackson (2009/Rice/St. Benedict’s) and Lamar Patterson (2009/Pitt/St. Benedict’s).

The game ended up drawing in some of the area’s top college coaches and staff, coaches in attendance included Rutgers head coach Fred Hill, Seton Hall head coach Bobby Gonzalez and staff, UConn assistant Andre LaFleur, St. John’s assistant Fred Quartlebaum and Penn assistant Mike Martin.

At the beginning of the game it looked like this one would live up to the hype with each team going back and forth at each other in the first quarter with St. Patrick holding a slim 21-17 lead over St. Benedict’s. Kyle Irving had 10 points in the opening period for St. Patrick and Tristan Thompson led St. Benedict’s with nine points.

St. Patrick blew a close game wide open in the second quarter outscoring St. Benedict’s 24-8 in the period. They went into the half with a 45-25 lead and never looked back from then on cruising to a blowout victory 88-62.

It seemed like after the first quarter when St. Benedict’s was getting the ball inside to Thompson and scoring buckets they went away from that. It also seemed like they just didn’t come to play last night and were disinterested in the game.

This was a big-time statement game for St. Patrick, NJ who is predicted to win the Tournament of Champions of New Jersey. They showed everyone in the state that when there at full strength they are a team to be wrecking with when it comes playoff time.

The leading scorers for St. Patrick, NJ were senior Dexter Strickland 21 points and junior Kyle Irving 21 points. Super sophomore Michael Gilchrist chipped in eight points.

The leading scorers for St. Benedict’s, NJ were junior Tristan Thompson 13, sophomore Myck Kabongo 13 points and senior Tamir Jackson added 10 points.

Each of these teams has big-time match-ups coming up in the next week. St. Benedict’s takes on undefeated and No. 1 team in the country Mater Dei (CA) at the Nike Extravaganza this Saturday February 7^th at 12:00 a.m. eastern time on ESPNU. St. Patrick faces NYC powerhouse Lincoln on Friday February 13^th at 7:00 p.m. eastern time on ESPN2.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights (1-8, 10-12) at Georgetown Hoyas (3-6, 12-8)

Tuesday, Feb. 3—7:00 PM EST

Preview

The Hoyas (3-6, 12-8) have slipped out of the Top 25 for the first time this season after suffering their fifth loss in a row against Marquette on Saturday. There was speculation before the game that DaJuan Summers would be out—this proved to be false as the Hoyas' star was good for 22 points (including 4-4 from beyond the arc) and seven rebounds.

Georgetown's problems are far worse than merely injuries—there have been unconfirmed reports of locker room scuffles, and the team has been playing well below expectations.

Rutgers (1-8, 10-12) is coming off their first Big East win of the season, which came over DePaul on Saturday (who are now the only remaining Big East team that is winless in conference play). They have had a very tough recent schedule and some close calls (including a three point loss to Seton Hall, a five-point loss to Marquette, and a six point loss to Pitt), so their first win is sure to give them some much-needed confidence.

In their last 10 meetings, the Hoyas have gone 8-2 against the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers gave the Hoyas a lot of trouble last season in New Brunswick, but Georgetown ended up winning the contest 58-46. The question now is will Rutgers be able to play similarly to last season and win over a sliding Georgetown team, or will the Hoyas be able to get out of their slump and win one for the home crowd?

By The Numbers

Prediction

Current Line: Georgetown -16.0

Rutgers ATS: 9-7, 6-5 when underdog.
Georgetown ATS: 6-9, 5-6 when favored.

The Hoyas have been playing anything but good basketball recently. They've lost to a lot of teams that they shouldn't have—they gave Seton Hall their first Big East win of the season! Georgetown has had a spread this large three times this season, and in those games they have gone 2-1 ATS. But those two wins against the spread came over Drexel and Florida International—not exactly programs known for their basketball dominance.

Rutgers, on the other hand, has at least been competitive in their losing efforts. They've missed out on some of their single-digit spreads, but they did stay within the spread against UNC, Pitt, and Marquette (they fell short in their 31-point blowout to UConn)—some of their tougher opponents.

With the way Georgetown has been playing, I'm not confident that they can put the Scarlet Knights away by mid-teens.

Ryan's Pick: Rutgers +16.0

*This article is also featured on CBBPlace.com*

*All statistics for this article have come from StatSheet.com*

DePaul Blue Demons (8-13) at Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-12)

Saturday, Jan. 31—8:00 PM EST

Preview

There can be only one.

The two remaining Big East winless teams face off Saturday for a battle for the bottom slot. Rutgers (0-8, 9-12) is coming off a very close game—a three-point loss to Seton Hall (which was picked correctly against the spread). DePaul (0-8, 8-13), on the other hand, is coming off a 22-point blowout against Connecticut.

Both teams have fallen short multiple times this season, although Rutgers has looked stronger than DePaul. The Scarlet Knights' defeats include opponents such as UNC (non-conference, but important to mention), Pitt, Connecticut, and Louisville. The Blue Demons have succumbed to South Florida twice (the only Big East team with an overall losing record at the start of conference play), Providence, and Cincinnati.

Stats:

Prediction:

Current Line: Rutgers -2.5

DePaul ATS: 4-11, 3-8 when underdog
Rutgers ATS: 8-7, 2-2 when favored

While momentum is hard to determine for two teams who have rattled off the consecutive losses these two have, the edge goes to Rutgers because of the opponents they have faced and how they've looked against them.

Ryan's Pick: Rutgers -2.5

*All statistics for this article have come from StatSheet.com*

*This article is also featured on CBBPlace.com*

Rutgers Scarlet Knights @ Seton Hall Pirates
Thursday, Jan. 29—9:00 PM EST

Preview

Seton Hall (1-6, 10-9) is coming off their first Big East win of the season after upsetting Georgetown last Saturday. This is the second time this season Seton Hall has upset a ranked team, the first coming in November when they upset a then-ranked USC team.

Rutgers (0-7, 9-11) is one of the two winless in conference play Big East teams remaining. They have had a very tough schedule recently, but they have fallen short against their weaker opponents (they lost to St. John's by 11, Cincinnati by 12). The good news is that after they face Seton Hall, they take on the other winless Big East team (DePaul) before traveling to DC to take on Georgetown and then facing Seton Hall for the rematch of Thursday's game.

The Pirates have a favorable schedule coming up—they face Rutgers twice in their next three games, and in the middle take on St. John's. They could very well be in the middle of the Big East pack after this stretch if they can muster up wins in all three games.

The key to Seton Hall's success is Jeremy Hazell—the Pirates sophomore guard averaging 22.7 points per game and is shooting .341 from beyond the arc.

Stats

Prediction

Current Line: Seton Hall -8.0

Rutgers ATS: 7-7, 5-5 when underdog
Seton Hall ATS: 7-5, 2-2 when favored

The Pirates are averaging almost 11 more points per game than the Scarlet Knights, but are also allowing almost nine more points than Rutgers averages offensively. The Scarlet Knights have scored 59 points in each of their last three games while losing by 12, 19, and 11 points in each of the games. Had Rutgers actually scored in the last three minutes of the St. John's game, though, it would have been much closer.

Mike Rosario, the Scarlet Knight's freshman guard, should continue to find his stride. As he becomes more comfortable at the college level, Rutgers should begin to find some success.

Pick: Rutgers +8.0

*All statistics for this article have come from StatSheet.com*

*This article is also featured on CFBPlace.com—and soon to be featured on CBBPlace.com*