Richard Kent

WBB: RUTGERS/LOUISVILLE IN BATTLE OF HEAVYWEIGHTS

By Richard Kent

It was like a heavyweight fight. It even went beyond 15 rounds.

No. 8 Rutgers,15-2 beat no. 16 Louisville, 14-4 at the Rutgers Athletic Center, 71-68 in overtime in one of the top Big East games of the year.

Rutgers entered the game on a high and Louisville had played poorly in a loss at St. John’s and a narrow win over South Florida.

The Scarlet Knights dominated at the beginning, but the Cards flew by and took a 13 point lead. Rutgers then turned up the defensive pressure and tied the game at 48.

The teams traded baskets and April Sykes missed a shot at the buzzer for Rutgers to send the game into overtime.

Both teams were evenly matched in the last stanza and it took an off balance 3 by Erica Wheeler from Rutgers, just beating the shot clock to seal the deal for the Knights.

Coach Vivian Stringer was thrilled to see her team perform well in a close game after several blow out wins.

Louisville’s Jeff Walz was not unhappy with how his team played,especially emphasizing that they took a team with talent as good as any team in conference into overtime with only 5 points out of top scorer Shoni Schimmel.

Rutgers is about to enter a stretch of games which will define its season, starting with an away contest at St. John’s on Tuesday.It will see them travel to Georgetown and UConn and host DePaul and no. 2 Notre Dame.

BIG EAST WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: THE CONTENDERS

By Richard Kent

The Big East is top heavy this year with 3 teams who can make Final Four runs and two teams who are legitimate National Championship contenders (records as of Monday):

NOTRE DAME (15-1)- The Fighting Irish have to be considered the top team in Conference right now after a 74-67 overtime victory over UConn at home. It marked the second consecutive win for them over the Huskies as the Muffet McGraw led team knocked UConn out of the Final Four last year. They are led by one of the three top players in Conference in junior Skylar Diggins. Notre Dame leads the Conference in scoring average at 84.4 ppg. Their only loss was at no. 1 Baylor.

UCONN- (12-2)- The Huskies, when all is said and done in March should be the best team in Conference. They have the best coach in Geno Auriemma and the best player in sophomore Bria Hartley. They fell by 5 at Baylor and lost a road game against a team with whom the are relatively equal. Hartley is a far improved player from her freshman season. Stefanie Dolson, at center is a good one but still needs to work on her conditioning. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis is a pure shooter and is the best freshman in the country right now.

RUTGERS- (13-2)-The Scarlet Knights are off to their best start in years and could be undefeated. They lost in double overtime at highly regarded Miami and fell at home to hot shooting Tennessee. April Sykes has established herself as a First Team All Big East player. Vivian Stringer is letting her team run more than in the past, largely as a result of more depth.

DEPAUL- (14-3)-A bit of a surprise for veteran head coach Doug Bruno. The loss of senior Keisha Hampton to injury will hurt, but Anna martin has picked up some of the scoring slack.

GEORGETOWN-(13-3)-It begins and ends with high scoring junior Sugar Rodgers who leads the Conference at 20.1 ppg.The Hoyas had a good win over Georgia in Las Vegas and are a team to be reckoned with.

BIG EAST CONFIDENTIAL: 2010-2011 BIG EAST SEASON

The 2010-11 Big East season was one of the most exciting in history and produced an unexpected National Champion and some shocking early NCAA losses. Richard Kent’s Big East Confidential,the first book about the season captures the season from start to finish with interesting tidbits and analysis about recruiting,officiating,the Mike Rice hire,the Steve Lavin hire and why Jamie Dixon has problems in March games. The book also has a list of the top 50 Big East players of all-time. It sells for $18.00 on amazon.com, but can be purchased by readers of this site for $12.00,autographed by contacting the author directly at bewbr@aol.com. Hoops Weiss wrote the Foreword and the book makes a great and inexpensive Father’s Day gift.

UCONN/TENNESSEE WOMEN TO RENEW SERIES?/A LOOK AT TCU MEN’S HOOPS

The Connecticut and Tennessee women have not played since 2007. That decision was made by Pat Summitt of Tennessee, allegedly over UConn’s recruitment of Maya Moore.

Summitt alluded to the possibility of the two teams playing again at the NCAA’s in 2009. she did that again when asked by Dick Vitale on ESPN before his broadcast of the Tennessee-Vanderbilt men’s game.

Summitt once again did not discount the idea and said that it would happen again.

We have reason to believe that Tennessee will be willing to schedule UConn when Moore graduates this year.

Tennessee has had some great recruiting classes recently. UConn is due for a small downward trend after Moore graduates,just like it did after Diana Taurasi graduated.

Let it appear here first. If the two teams don’t meet in the NCAA’s this year then we say that it happens in late-2012. We will see.
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Time to take a look at TCU, who will enter the Big East in two seasons.

The Horned Frogs are 10-9, including a 12 point win over USC. They are a middle of the pack team in the Mountain West Conference this season.

The Frogs third best player, 6-9 freshman forward Amric Fields will see plenty of action in the Big East. He can score from inside and out and needs to put on some more bulk in order to be an inside threat in the Big East.

TCU is coached by Jim Christian who moved over from perennial NCAA participant Kent State three seasons ago. At the time he was hired, commentator Jay Bilas called him the best hire in the country. One of Christian’s Kent State teams gave Pitt, where he previously served as an assistant coach, fits before losing in the NCAA’s.

Expect the Horned Frogs recruiting to improve this season and next after being announced as a Big East team.

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The BIG EAST conference season might be just getting underway, but it is not too early to begin thinking about tickets for the 2011 Big East Tournament this coming March in Madison Square Garden. You can visit the NBE 2011 Big East Tournament & Tickets page for the event schedule and links to purchase tickets to each and/or all sessions. NBE is uniquely partnered with TicketNetwork.com to bring our readers Tickets to All Sporting Events during ANY season.
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A TOO EARLY LOOK AT 2010-2011 BIG EAST WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Veteran college basketball writer Richard Kent has joined on as a NBE Basketball Report contributor this summer. Richard has had extensive experience in writing about college sports and was the founder of the Big East Women’s Basketball Report. Most of his work will be done in the area of the men’s game for NBE, but from time to time Richard will supply a few thoughts from the women’s side of the conference. Here is an early look at how the 2010-2011 season looks in Big East Women’s Basketball…

by RICHARD KENT

1. Connecticut – They will not only be the best in the Big East but in the country as well. Maya Moore is the best returning player. Tina Charles is a tough loss,but many capable frosh are on their way in. Head coach Geno Auriemma is the best in the business. UConn should run the table in the Big East if they can get by Notre Dame on the road.

2. Notre Dame – They have sophomore Skylar Diggins who after Moore leaves will be the best player in the Big East. Coach Muffet McGraw was just announced as a Hall of Fame inductee. She is a good one.

3. Georgetown – Ta’Shauna Rodgers is back as are a host of young players.

4. West Virginia – They made it to the second round of the NCAA’s last year. Liz Repela is a good one. Mike Carey is the second best coach in Conference.

5. St. John’s – Senior forward Da’Shana Stevens is back along with key entering frosh Kylantra Langley.

6. Louisville – A down year last year for a team that made it to the NCAA Championship Game the year before. Junior forward Monique Reid returns along with senior center Keshia Hines and sophomore Shelby Harper.

7. Rutgers – Who knows?There is so much talent on this team led by Junior guard Khadijah Rushdan but so little predictibility. Their style of play leaves so little margin for error. They are also very thin in players.We say that they will have some upset wins but some head scratching losses as in past years.

The rest of the Conference will be chasing the above teams. Pittsburgh can be good as can Syracuse and Cincinnati. Villanova and Providence won’t be.

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Richard Kent is a veteran college basketball writer and has written for SI.Com, Athlon and has covered the NCAA Tournament in the CBS Studio. He also has done extensive work on women’s college basketball, having founded the Big East Women’s Basketball Report and written three books on the topic. He broke the story nationally that UConn and Tennessee would no longer be playing. His day job is practicing law as a matrimonial attorney in Fairfield, Connecticut where he is a member of Best Lawyers In America.
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SUPER 16 SHOWCASE NOTES

by RICHARD KENT

The event was held at the brand new TD Banknorth Arena on the campus of Quinnipiac University. Quinnipiac’s head coach Tom Moore, formerly an assistant at UConn, was like a proud poppa in the stands, watching some of the top talent in the country eye his digs.

Probably the best player on display was former Providence-commit, 6-foot point guard Naadir Tharpe of Brewster Academy and the New England Playaz. Tharpe can see the court well and is a pure point. He is now still involved with Providence along with Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Indiana and UMass, among others. He was coached in the event by John Carroll,former head coach of the Celtics.

Tharpe played against J.B. Hoops of Pennsylvania led by rising junior 6-foot-5 forward Terry Turner, drawing looks from Penn State,Temple, La Salle, St. Joe’s and to a lesser extent Syracuse and Rutgers. 6-foot-7 Mark Bevacqua also impressed. He has a high ankle sprain but is being looked at by some Big East schools.

The New England Playaz 16s were led by 6-foot-9 Evan Cummins of Northfield Mt. Hermon who is drawing looks from Ivies such as Brown, Penn and Cornell.

The New York Panthers were stuck in traffic and didn’t show by press time. Many coaches were there to see 6-foot-7 Maurice Harkless of South Kent (via NYC), heavily recruited by Rutgers, who is on his new list, along with Memphis, St. John’s, Georgetown, Miami, South Florida, Xavier, Virginia, Maryland, Syracuse, Temple, Pitt, Providence and Cincinnati, according to adviser Nate Blue’s twitter this afternoon, since retracting his verbal commitment from Connecticut. Many coaches were also waiting on Kadeem Jack, who will join Harkless at South Kent next season, as Jack is Working Through Recruiting Process as a 2011 Prospect now.

Rising sophomore Kuran Iverson was a star for Connecticut Select 16s and was being looked at by Big East assistants from UConn (Andre LaFleur), Pittsburgh (Pat Skerry) and Cincinnati (former Rutgers assistant Darren Savino was there on behalf of the Bearcats).

Present for Rutgers was Van Macon, who previously coached under former Hofstra and now Fordham coach Tom Pecora, who was also present. The two remain friendly.

ESPN’s Andy Katz headed the media contingent and was looking all over the place for West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, who was due to arrive by evening. Word is Huggins made sure to make himself seen when elite 2012 prospect Andre Drummond took the floor for Connecticut Basketball Club later on.

Affable Harvard head coach, and former Seton Hall head coach, Tommy Amaker was there looking at some prep players. He did not rule out coaching in the Big East again.
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NBE recently welcomed Richard Kent, a veteran college basketball writer, to our growing team. Richard has written for SI.Com, Athlon and has covered the NCAA Tournament in the CBS Studio. He also has done extensive work on women’s college basketball, having founded the Big East Women’s Basketball Report and written three books on the topic. He broke the story nationally that UConn and Tennessee would no longer be playing. His day job is practicing law as a matrimonial attorney in Fairfield, Connecticut where he is a member of Best Lawyers In America.
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PROVIDENCE HEAD COACH KENO DAVIS GOES ONE-ON-ONE WITH NBE’S RICHARD KENT

Coming off a 12-19 season, including a 4-14 mark in the Big East, the offseason has been a little trying for the Providence College basketball program and head coach Keno Davis. After seeing a large graduating class exit following a 19-14 season in 2008-2009, which included a 10-8 Big East record and upset of then-No. 1 Pittsburgh during Davis’ first year at PC, expectations were lower for his second season. However, progress was expected, so finishing the 2009-2010 campaign on an eleven-game losing streak was a bitter pill to swallow.

The losses continued this spring after the season in the form of personnel as four players either left, or were dismissed from, the program, including leading scorer and rebounder Jamine Peterson. Still, with hopes of solid gains on the recruiting trail and a very good incoming class, Davis is confident things will get better for the Friars and their fans as he works toward building a program for the long-term, not short-term. NBE’s Richard Kent spent some time with one of the nation’s up-and-coming coaches and below is the Q&A from their session…

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2010-2011 BIG EAST OUT OF CONFERENCE MATCH-UP HIGHLIGHTS

There are some very interesting out-of-conference match-ups already announced with Big East teams for the 2010-2011 season. Here are some of the highlights:

2010 NIT Season Tip-off:
– Villanova hosts a pod with George Washington, Marist and Boston University. Other Pod hosts trying to make Madison Square Garden include UCLA, Tennessee and Wake Forest

2010 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic:
– Pittsburgh, Texas, Maryland and Illinois take part November 18-19 at Madison Square Garden

2010 Charleston Classic:
– Georgetown, NC State, George Mason, UNC-Charlotte, East Carolina, Wofford, TBA and TBA compete November 18-21 at Carolina First Arena in Charleston.

2010 Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic:
– Marquette, Duke, Kansas State and Gonzaga take part November 22-23 at Sprint Center in Kansas City.

2010 Cancun Challenge:
– Providence, Missouri, LaSalle, Wyoming, North Florida, TBA, TBA and TBA compete November 23-24 just outside of Cancun, Mexico, at the Aventura Palace and Spa.

2010 EA Sports Maui Invitational:
– Connecticut, Kentucky, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Virginia, Washington, Wichita State and host Chaminade University compete during Thanksgiving week.

2010 Great Alaska Shootout
– St. John’s, Arizona State, Ball State, Drake, Houston Baptist, Southern Utah and Weber State compete Thanksgiving week in Fairbanks (AK).

2010 Paradise Jame:
– Seton Hall, Xavier, Alabama, Iowa, Old Dominion, St. Peter’s, Clemson and Long Beach State compete November 18-23 at the University of the Virgin Islands.

2010 76 Classic:
– DePaul, Cal State Northridge, Murray State, Oklahoma State, Stanford, Tulsa, UNLV and Virginia Tech compete Thanksgiving weekend in Anaheim (CA).

2010 Old Spice Classic:
– Notre Dame, Boston College, California, Georgia, Manhattan, Temple, Texas A&M and Wisconsin compete Thanksgiving weekend at the Fieldhouse at ESPN Wide World of Sports near Orlando.

2010 Legends Classic:
– Syracuse, Michigan, Georgia Tech and UTEP host regional games and then advance November 26-27 for championship rounds at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

2010 Jimmy V Men’s Basketball Classic
– Syracuse vs. Michigan State, 9 PM at Madison Square Garden December 7.

SEC/Big East Invitational:
– Dec. 8, at Freedom Hall in Louisville – Arkansas vs. Seton Hall at 7 p.m. Kentucky vs. Notre Dame at 9:30 p.m
– Dec. 11, at CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh – Rutgers vs. Auburn. Pittsburgh vs. Tennessee (times tbd).

Other marquee non-conference games dotting the schedules include:

UConn vs. Texas
UConn vs. Tennessee
Rutgers vs. North Carolina (at MSG)
Seton Hall vs. Temple
Louisville vs. UNLV
Georgetown vs. Temple
Seton Hall vs. Temple

Please let us know of any other top non-conference match-ups on the schedule or events we might have missed by leaving a comment below.

— Richard Kent contributed to this story

Tickets to many of these events are already available at StubHub.com – The Safe Way to Buy & Sell Tickets Online for tickets to any NCAA event or NBA, MLB, NHL game or UFC, WWE or concert tickets at an arena near you this spring or next season.

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REGIME CHANGES AT RU, SHU & SJU HOPE TO PUT NYC LOCALS BACK ON BIG EAST MAP

With the July ‘live’ period about to kick off, Richard Kent takes a look at some notes around the Big East

by RICHARD KENT

“The Locals”

It may be a little too early for a report card on Steve Lavin, Kevin Willard and Mike Rice but they are all making their marks in different ways.

One New York reporter has indicated that Lavin could be a homerun or a quick out. He has already gotten a top notch player to come from California. Many question his abilities on the bench, especially at crunch time. He had great talent at UCLA, but often times lost many scratch of the head games. He certainly has the charisma to coach in New York but many feel that St. John’s is a tough sell with the dorm situation and a possible problem renewing with Madison Square Garden.

Willard did a great job at Iona but he has been called a few years away from the big-time by a few. That may be more of a function of his age than his basketball coaching abilities. He looked awfully comfortable on then bench throughout his Iona tenure and always has his dad to call on if a tough situation arises while at Seton Hall. Of the three, he actually has Big East head coaching experience as he stepped in for one game for Rick Pitino while an assistant at Louisville.

Rice is taking over a Program which is lower than St. John’s or Seton Hall. Some in the media have characterized Rutgers as a football school. That is more of a compliment to football coach Greg Schiano than an indictment of basketball. Rutgers can use football as an advantage in two ways. One, when kids come on campus in the Fall they can go to a sold out Rutgers Stadium for a football game. St. John’s and Seton Hall do not have that advantage. Secondly, they can also get a sell from Schiano who is regarded as one of the top recruiters in the country. He has always felt that a strong basketball program will help his program.

Time will tell on all three coaches. St. John’s and Seton Hall have the chance to have winning records this coming season. Rutgers does not, even with a hopeful addition of a JUCO center in the near future they will still be thin in the frontcourt. Three years is probably a fair amount of time to judge the three coaches. We say that all three will be an improvement at their respective schools over the past regimes.
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Top 5 NCAA Coaches

1.Mike Krzyzewski, Duke – This year sealed the deal. His team was not that talented. No draft picks yet he won it all with thoughts about his upcoming Olympic stint in the back of his mind.

2.Roy Williams, North Carolina – A master on the bench. An even better recruiter.

3.Jim Calhoun, UConn – If his team had beaten George Mason a few years back he would be higher. He has done an amazing job at UConn. His players make better pros than either of the two coaches ahead of him.

4.Tom Izzo, Michigan State – Never has a bad team. Is a master of getting to the Sweet Sixteen.

5.Jim Boeheim, Syracuse – Just take a look at his wife. In all seriousness he lets his kids play and they like that system. His 2-3 zone defense is as good as any zone anywhere.
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More Notes…

** Class of 2011 small forward Aaron Brown of Penn Wood HS in Langhorne (PA) just gave a verbal to West Virginia. Brown is the first commit for Bob Huggins and staff in the class of 2011. Brown averaged 18.7 points per gameas well as 6.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.4 steals in helping the Patriots reach the PIAA Class AAAA championship game for a second straight season. Brown also had visited Rutgers and strongly considered Temple before picking the Mountaineers.

** Hillhouse High in New Haven (CT) has had some explosive guards. Billy Evans, former BC star comes to mind. They probably have never had a player as explosive offensively as Fred Wilson, Jr. The 6-foot-1,180-pound combo guard was double-teamed by powerhouse Mount Vernon this year and still had 21 points in a 61-52 win. Wilson can shoot the three and also drive to the basket with equal abilities. He is playing the recruiting game close to the vest but one of his teammates confided that he is waiting on an offer from Connecticut, his top choice. He is also hearing from Rutgers, UMass, Providence, Boston College and Rhode Island among other national schools.

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HAS RUTGERS FINALLY GOT IT RIGHT?

Scarlet Knights’ staff looks to be finally of quality to compete in the Big East basketball conference

by RICHARD KENT

After 30 years of trying, Rutgers may finally have gotten it right. And not only by hiring Mike Rice from Robert Morris last spring as the head coach. Rutgers finally has some assistants who can perform their functions with competence in the cutthroat Big East recruiting battles.

There are far too many echoes in the Rutgers Athletic Center of the likes of Tom Haggarty, Jeff Mitchell and the champion of them all, Kevin Heck who served under Gary Waters.

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NBE Q&A WITH NEW SETON HALL COACH KEVIN WILLARD

On Monday, March 29th Seton Hall announced the hiring of Kevin Willard as their next head men’s basketball coach. The 34-year-old Willard spent the last three seasons as head coach of Iona where he completed a remarkable rebuilding job. Taking over a program that won just two games during the 2006-2007 season, he guided the Gaels to 21 wins this past season and earned Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference coach of the year honors.

Willard comes from a coaching family as his father Ralph has been a head coach with stops at Western Kentucky, Pittsburgh and Holy Cross and is currently an assistant at Louisville for head coach Rick Pitino, his longtime friend. Kevin Willard has also spent much time under coach Pitino, working six years as an assistant at Louisville and four more years on the staff of the Boston Celtics. The new Pirate head coach took the time to talk with new NBE contributor Richard Kent on those influences and other thoughts about his new job at Seton Hall University.

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