It’s not too early to say that there’s something wrong with the Rutgers men’s basketball team. A Big East school should not be losing back-to-back games at home to middle-echelon teams like St. Bonaventure and Lehigh. It makes the current 3-2 record even more suspect when you consider that the wins were less than overwhelming against the likes of Marist, Robert Morris and even Delaware on the road. The first five games point out at a very early point in the season that the Scarlet Knights appear to be destined to another finish near the Big East’s basement. That’s unless head coach Fred Hill can figure out how to get guards Anthony Farmer, Corey Chanlder and Mike Coburn back on their games and how to integrate veterans J-R Inman and Jaron Griffin back into the rotation in qualitative fashion. Right now, the Scarlet Knights look to be a team struggling to find a team identity. It’s way too early to heavily count on talented freshman Mike Rosario and Greg Echnique to carry this team.
Archive for November, 2008
The Rutgers women’s basketball team has been penalized for it’s lost weekend in California. The Scarlet Knights have dropped from third to thirteenth in the new A-P Top-25. The bottom line is that, if you’re the third best team in the nation, then you shouldn’t suffer back-to-back double-digit losses, even if the games are on the road. But, to be honest, the defeats at Cal and Stanford show that R-U isn’t as good as last week’s lofty rankings. And, that’s bewildering to me because head coach C. Vivian Stringer has All-Big East players Kia Vaughn and Epiphany Prince returning for another season along with veteran starter Heather Zurich. And she has the top recruiting class in the nation, complete with five McDonald’s All-Americans. Despite that infusion of youth, Stringer still has enough veteran talent and leadership to do much better on the road than the Scarlet Knights showed in Cali. They’ve got to show a much better product Monday night at Temple in order for them to be considered as a serious national threat.
The unthinkable is just one win away. The Rutgers football team is on the verge of running the table en route to a fourth straight bowl berth. Left for dead last month, the Scarlet Knights won their fifth straight game Saturday afternoon, blitzing Army 30-3 at home. 6-5 R-U is over five-hundred for the first time this season. Senior quarterback MIke Teel continued his unbelievable turnaround, throwing for 359 yards, setting a school career record with 8,617, breaking the mark set by his predecessor Ryan Hart. Teel also broke Hart’s record for career total offense with 8,405. Meanwhile, junior wide-out Kenny Britt set a single-game career-high with 197 yards receiving. The defense also chipped in with sophomore cornerback Joe Lefeged recovering an Army fumble on the Black Knights’ first possession and took it in from 58 yards for the first score of the game. So, all that’s standing in the way of the Scarlet Knights’ trip to the post-season is Big East opponent Louisville, which comes to Rutgers Stadium for the 2008 finale on Thursday night, December 4th. The Cardinals continue their death spiral after losing to West Virginia on Saturday. So, R-U will be favored and poised to finish off a great comeback story. Who would have thunk that in mid-October?
Not even the Army…or, to be exact, the Army football team…will get in the way of the red-hot Rutgers Scarlet Knights. R-U, at 5-5 and on a four-game winning streak, is a 17-point favorite for Saturday’s home game against the 3-7 Black Knights. The Scarlet will be motivated by the fact that it needs to win this game and the regular season finale at home against Big East opponent Louisville on December 4th in order to nail down a bowl bid. R-U also will be playing with superior skill talent led by the resurgent quarterback Mike Teel, the future NFL wideout Kenny Britt and a steady and improving ground attack. Expect the Scarlet Knights to light up the scoreboard. Army should have some success rushing the football. The Black Knights are seventh in the nation in that category, gaining almost 260 yards on the ground per game. Fullback Collin Mooney is the nation’s eleventh leading rusher with 1,173 yard. But the Rutgers defense has been solid week-in and week-out since the 0-2 start and there’s no reason to believe that it will crack on Saturday at home. So, I’m going with R-U in a 41-7 blowout of Army…setting up the crucial game against Louisville. Of course, you can hear the Rutgers-Army game on WCTC beginning at 9:30 with Mike Pavlichko on “The Tailgate Party” live outside the West Gate of Rutgers Stadium.
The Rutgers women’s basketball team has moved up two spots to number-three in the new A-P Top-25. Connecticut remains a unanimous number-one…Oklahoma moves up to number-two…and Stanford and Maryland fall from second and third respectively. The Cardinal is down to number-eight after losing to Baylor; the Terrapins are down to number-eleven after losing to TCU. Rutgers looks to go 2-0 tonite against Princeton. Tip-off at the RAC is 7:30; air-time on Good TIme Oldies, 1450 WCTC for our pre-game show “Rutgers Gamenight” is 7:05.
Rutgers wide-out Kenny Britt and defensive back Jason McCourty have been named the Big East Offensive Player of the Week AND Defensive Player of the Week respectively for their performances in Saturday’s big win at South Florida. Britt had eight catches for 173 yards including a 93-yard touchdown. McCourty had two interceptions including a 30-yard return for a t-d.
By the way, Rutgers has been installed as a 17-point favorite for Saturday’s home game against Army.
The Rutgers football team laughed at its eight-point underdog status in Tampa…thoroughly thrashed South Florida 49-16 in a Big East game Saturday afternoon…won its fourth straight contest to get to the five-hundred mark for the first time this season…and most importantly, took a giant step toward its fourth straight bowl game bid…something unimagineable five weeks ago. How impressive was the win? It was a R-U record for largest margin of victory ever in a league road game. The outstanding performance was a total team effort. The defense forced six turnovers, throttling USF veteran quarterback Matt Grothe all day long. Senior cornerback Jason McCourty picked off two of his passes, returning one of them for a 30-yard touchdown. As bad as Grothe was, R-U quarterback Mike Teel was as good, if not better. Teel threw for 294 yards and three touchdowns…one of them a 93-yarder to wide-out Kenny Britt, the second longest in school history. Britt had eight catches for 173 yards…his fifth 100-yard-plus game in the last six…to become the school’s leader in career receiving yards. Running back Joe Martinek had 98 rushing yards and two tds. It all adds up to a Rutgers team that has scored 138 points in its last three games after only 117 in the first seven. Now, the Scarlet Knights are two home wins away for a bowl berth—Army next Saturday, then Louisville on December 4th. Both teams are bad; Rutgers no longer is. In fact, the Scarlet Knights are one of the hottest teams in the nation over the last month, matching a school-record for most Big East wins in a row…four. Kudos to head coach Greg Schiano, his coaching staff, Mike Teel and the entire team for an improbable comeback in the middle of the season.
It’s been a fun three-game winning streak for Rutgers football fans who watched their Scarlet Knights come back from the dead…or a 1-5 start to the season. But, unfortunately, the dream of a winning season and a bowl bid will come to an end Saturday afternoon at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa where R-U will lose to the USF Bulls. Here’s why—USF has plenty of motivation on top of the home field advantage which is pretty much why they’re an eight-point forward. First of all, USF still is stinging from a home loss to the Scarlet Knights two years ago. Second of all, USF still is REALLY stinging from last year’s loss at Rutgers when the Bulls were number-two in the nation. Thirdly, they’re 6-3 overall and driving toward what they hope will be a solid bowl berth. Individually, USF is led on offense by junior quarterback Matt Grothe who is on the verge of two school rushing records…most career touchdowns and most rushing attempts. On defense, the Bulls are led by All-American defensive end George Selvie, who ranks second in the Big East in tackles for losses…and fourth in sacks per game. So, on top of the various motivating factors, I feel Grothe will do enough on offense to counteract a solid Rutgers defense and Selvie will do enough on defense to win contain Mike Teel and Company. I pick USF in a great matchup 24-21. Of course, you can hear this game on Good Time Oldies, 1450 WCTC beginning at 10:30 with our 90-minute pre-game show “Rutgers Gameday.”
The Rutgers men’s basketball team opens its 2008-2009 season tonite at the RAC, playing Marist for the first time ever. With head coach Fred Hill bringing in one of the best Scarlet Knight recruiting classes in recent memory, including the likes of McDonald’s All-American Mike Rosario and St. Benedict’s Prep stud Greg Echinque, I see R-U posting a better record than in Hill’s first two seasons…but not by much, mainly because of the fact that the Big East just continues to be a monster league. So, for a 31-game regular season, I predict that Rutgers will go 15-16…a four-game improvement over last season. But, in order to get to that, Hill needs to get better play from J-R Inman and Jaron Griffin, who remain suspended at this moment, and Corey Chandler, who evidently is in the doghouse. It all begins tonite with a win over Marist but then a tough game on Sunday at Delaware…not because the Blue Hens are that good but because the Scarlet Knights always struggle as a road team. And until Hill figures that out, it will be tough for Rutgers to make a big improvement when it comes to Big East play. But I get ahead of myself. IF R-U can get past Delaware, they could run the table in November and finish the month at 6-0 before another tough road game at Rider to open up December. Remember, you can hear tonite’s expected home win over Marist right here on Good Time Oldies, 1450 WCTC beginning at 7:30 with our pre-game show “Rutgers Gamenight.”
Later this afternoon, I’ll post my prediction for tomorrow’s crucial Rutgers football game at USF.
The Rutgers women’s basketball team tips off the 2008-2009 season Friday afternoon at the RAC against St. Joseph’s and it looks like another solid season for head coach Vivian Stringer and the Scarlet Knights who are ranked fifth in the Associated Press pre-season Top-25. I’m going with a prediction of a 22-6 regular season record against a very tough schedule. R-U is strong up the middle with veteran strength in senior center Kia Vaughn and junior guard Epiphany Prince…not to mention senior Heather Zurich at one of the forward spots. And you have arguably the nation’s top recruiting class, complete with five McDonald’s All-Americans, joining the mix. So look for the Knights to open up at home with a win over the Atlantic-10’s Hawks followed by another RAC victory on Tuesday over Princeton before next weekend’s tough Cali road trip at California and Stanford. Don’t forget, you can hear Friday’s season opener against St. Joseph’s right here on Good Time Oldies, 1450 WCTC beginning at 4:35 with our pre-game show “Rutgers Gameday.”
Tomorrow morning, I’ll preview the Rutgers men’s basketball opener…then tomorrow afternoon, I’ll ring in with my prediction and breakdown of Saturday’s crucial R-U football game at USF.
