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BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES (1/22/2010)

Thursday night in the Big East saw Seton Hall keep their season alive with a chance to kickstart their expected revival into high gear as the held off Louisville in an 80-77 win. The Cards have now dropped three in a row and will begin the soul searching on how to get better defensively.

Seton Hall’s Keon Lawrence has been officially charged from his part in a Novemeber wrong-way parkway crash that injured another driver. Also, the Pirates have bad news regarding a 2010 fall recruit that signed a letter of intent and big Melvyn Oliver has yet to contribute for SHU in Big East play.

Without head coach Jim Calhoun, UConn will look to stay focused when No. 1 Texas visits Storrs this weekend. Jay Wright has built a sustainable program at ‘Nova, one that Fred Hill got a good look at when Wright was starting the process. Now Hill’s program looks to be in disarray and the price for RU to move on is a pretty penny and millions and millions more of those pretty pennies!

Lance Stephenson’s injury might have helped Mick Cronin find the right backcourt combination. Also this weekend marks the beginning of the Primetime Shootout events in Morgantown and there are recruiting updated on Quincy Miller and Durand Johnson, who will be participating. More recruiting notes on Justin Coleman, 6’10 sleeper Gorgui Dieng and Angel Nunez.

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Read on below for all of today’s Big East News & Notes…

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Seton Hall (2-4) 80, Louisville 77 (3-3)

Bobby Gonzalez and Rick Pitino both new the importance of last night’s game for their respective teams. The Pirates were nearing the end of a seven game conference opening stretch featuring teams expecting to be in the top-half of the conference standings. On the other hand, the Cards were looking to avoid a three-game losing streak with tougher games ahead on their schedule. Both teams but forth a big effort and in the end it was Seton Hall Holding off Louisville for a Key Win, 80-77, in Thursday’s lone Big East match-up.

Seton Hall got an efficient, all-around performance from junior guar Jremy Hazell who scored a game-high 25 points as Seton Hall Defeats a Slow-Footed Louisville Basketball Team (Louisville Courier-Journal), as described by coach Pitino.

“Right now we’re just a weak defensive team,” Pitino told reporters following the game. “We have slow feet, our press is good, but when we get down there to guard we’re always rotating because we’re getting beat.”

Louisville trailed by as many as 13 points, 72-59, with under five minutes left in the game and mounted a furious rally as Free Throw Woes Almost Cause a SHU Collapse (Star-Ledger) and some questionable decision-making down the stretch helped the Cards get to within three points with 1:22 and a Jerry Smith three-pointer cut the lead to two before UL ran out of time.

“We didn’t do a great job in special situations at the end of the game and it got a little shaky,” said Gonzalez. “Even though I wasn’t happy it happened, I thought it was pretty good for us because we pulled it out and it was a great win for us.”

Seton Hall returns to action Sunday afternoon when they host Pittsburgh at the ‘Rock.’

After losing back to back road games and three overall, Louisville will host Cincinnati on Sunday at noon.
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Speaking of Seton Hall, it looks like the legal process for junior guard Keon Lawrence from his involvement in a wrong-way crash last November which injured another driver is not completely behind him. According to the Star-Ledger, Lawrence turned himself in yesterday to authorities after Lawrence is Charged With Assault-by-Auto from the Parkway Crash. Lawrence started and scored 10 points in 25 minutes in last night’s win.

Acording to the Star-Ledger, Lawrence, 22, turned himself in to New Jersey State Police Thursday and bail was set at $25,000 in Sayreville Borough Municipal Court. Lawrence, represented by his attorney, Clifford Minor, posted bail and was released pending a future court date.

The assault-by-auto charge was defined by New Jersey State Police as a “third-degree crime involving serious bodily injury while operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol.”
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With John Garcia’s injury problems (knee, back) and Herb Pope’s foul issues since the start of Big East play, Seton Hall Could Use a Big Body but Melvyn Oliver Doesn’t Fit the Mold Quite Yet (Star-Ledger) as the 6-foot-10, 340-pound redshirt freshman center has struggled with his conditioning, weight and academics, being temporarily removed from the team back in November. Bobby Gonzalez is not giving up on his project big man, but the road is still winding before it looks like he will contribute in the Big East.
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On the recruiting front, Seton Hall looks to have suffered a blow as a Guard from Philly Enrolls at UMass (Daily Hampshire Gazette). That Philly guard is Jesse Morgan, who signed a letter of intent with the Pirates last fall. Morgan is a non-qualifier, which is a status that makes him ineligible to enroll at a Big East program, however, the fact that he signed a letter of intent just back in November makes the situation around him receiving a scholarship to UMass so soon a little confusing.
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In their first game since head coach Jim Calhoun took a medical leave of absence, Connecticut picked up a much needed win over visiting St. John’s on Wednesday night. Now the Huskies Need to Keep Focused (Hartford Courant) as the season continues on as planned and No. 1 Texas comes to Gampel for a 4 PM nationally televised match-up Saturday afternoon.
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We noted the troubles at Rutgers on a few occassions recently as fan unrest has become obvious as their displeasure with the program has seen Fred Hill be met with a chorus of boos when introduced prior to their last two home games. Now the players are questioning the efforts of teammates as Knights are Imploding from Within. With Dane Miller being vocal following Wednesday’s loss to Villanova and Hamady N’Diaye publicly questioning the effort of Mike Rosario, ZagsBlog contacted former coaches of Miller and Rosario to see if there was a possibility either, or both, would look to leave the program. Mickey Waker, Miller’s AAU Coach Says Miller is Not Transferring (ZagsBlog) and Bob Hurley does not think Rosario would look to leave and miss a season of playing.

As for Hill himself, the embattled RU coach received an extension following the 2008 season and Villanova, serving as an assistant coach on a staff that brought in a first recruiting class of Randy Foye, Allan Ray, Jason Fraser and Curtis Sumpter back in 2002. Hill then left the ‘Nova staff for a position at RU and is in his fourth season as the head coach of the Scarlet Knights. While Hill’s struggles are well documented of late, Wright Build a Culture and Program for the Long Haul (Philadelphia Inquirer) with ‘Nova and Fred Hill had another front row seat to see that earlier this week.
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With Lance Stephenson unavailable to play Wednesday against South Florida, and still day-to-day because of a sprained left ankle, Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin moved senior Deonta Vaughn back off the ball and inserted little-used freshman Jaquon Parker at the point.

The Bearcats’ New Combo of Deonta Vaughn and Jaquon Parker is a Hit (Cincinnati Enquirer) as Vaughn scored 20 and Parker added 15 points, 5 assists and 0 turnovers, while playing 35 minutes, in a 78-70 win for UC.

With Parker emerging as a potential answer at point guard, Cashmere Wright, who started eight of UC’s first nine games, has slipped further back in the rotation.
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The 2010 Primetime Shootout kicks off this weekend in Morgantown (WV) and NBE’s Ray Mernagh will be checking out the action on Saturday before and after attending the West Virginia – Ohio State non-conference match-up at the WVU Coliseum.

One of the top prospects participating this weekend will be top-10 class of 2011 prospect Quincy Miller as Analysts Rave About the Skills of Quality Education’s Miller (Winston-Salem Journal), a 6-foot-10 forward. Quality Education Academy will take on Our Savior New American in a late morning contest at Morgantown High School.

Another team participating in this weekend’s event is Lake Clifton, featuring elite, unsigned 2010 recruit Josh Selby, and is coached by former Syracuse forward Herman Harried. Selby is not the only top prospect catching Division 1-A looks on the team as 6-foot-7 forward Durand Johnson is one to watch. Three are Out in Front for Johnson (Yahoo! Sports) as the 2011 prospect has UNLV, Pittsburgh and UMass in the forefront of his recruitment.
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Huntington (WV) Prep School coach Rob Fulford, whose first-year program has one of the nation’s top sleepers in 6-foot-10 center Gorgui Dieng, has been getting a lot of attention this winter from college coaches. The native of Senegal arrived in the United States three months ago and is becoming one of the hottest names in recruiting circles. Louisville, Marshall, Arkansas, Georgetown, South Florida, Virginia and Virginia Tech have all expressed interest in him, and Kentucky has called as the Cards & Cats are Among Those Wide Awake Regarding the 6’10 Sleeper (Louisville Courier-Journal).

Louisville has talked to Dieng and is also after one of his teammates, 6-foot-5 guard Justin Coleman. Both senior prospects visited UL recently for a game, and Cardinals assistant coach Walter McCarty was watching their Huntington Prep team play Sunday in Dayton’s Flyin’ to the Hoop event.
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The move from NYC to the Winchendon School has already paid dividends for 2011 forward prospect Angel Nunez. The highly touted 6-foot-7 swingman has offers from Arkansas, Indiana, West Virginia, Louisville, Connecticut, St. John’s, Rutgers and Providence as well as heavy interest from Wake Forest and Kentucky on the recruiting front. But the real reason for Angel on the Rise is Maturity Being a Key in his Transformation (NY Post).
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