Sorry I’ve been out of touch the past 48 hours.  We had a minor family scare but my Dad was extremely tough.

Though he now has 4 stents in his heart to rebuild a collapsed artery; it was a lot better than going through surgery.

It’s time to leave the Big East Tournament and NYC and head down to Atlantic City this morning for Cox Sports.

URI vs Temple in the A-10 Semifinals - 1:00 pm

*Reports today from the NY Post that Norm Roberts is about to get fired is a little premature.  They are waiting on their NIT invite and the season could possibly extend another week or two for the Red Storm.  And it’s business as usual in Queens.  Norm is still doing his Red Storm Report Show today as usual.

Back to the St. John’s-Norm Roberts situation….

Jim Calhoun’s post game comments yesterday may really help Norm with the St. John’s Administration.

Calhoun said that with those seniors returning, St. John’s is going to be one of the top 5 or 6 teams in the league next year. Whether it’s true or not, the fact that Jim Calhoun said it will carry a lot of weight.

*Some of the fans I saw last night around the Garden…former Rutgers A.D. Bob Mulcahy, Manhattan head coach Barry Rohrssen, Iona head coach Kevin Willard, Iona A.D. Pat Lyons, Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, Louisiville Assoc. head coach Ralph Willard, Miami Heat President Pat Riley and singer Nick Lachey.

For the 2nd straight season, Bobby Gonzalez and his Seton Hall Pirates have won their 1st round Big East Tournament Game as a #10 seed.  They defeated Providence 109-106 in a game that was a lot more interesting than it had to be.  Seton Hall ran the Friars off the court in the 1st half and at one point in the 2nd half led by 29 points.  Gonzalez chose to start resting guys with 6 minutes left and it may have been a little too early as PC rallied.  Providence played hard but fell short as Duke Mondy’s 3 pointer to force overtime was way long.  In the post game press conference, Gonzalez credited the comeback to what the Pirates did….not what Providence did.

Just heard from a reliable NEC source…(and please trust my NEC source, vphoops.com was correct about the FDU situation…that Florida assistant coach Richard Pitino…(son of Louisville coach Rick Pitino)…has peaked the interest of Wagner’s Athletic Department.  Because of the rebuilding success Iona’s Kevin Willard has had…(a former Louisville assistant coach)…metropolitan mid-major Athletic Directors are really ‘high’ on the Rick Pitino coaching tree more than ever right now.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Coach Pitino had a conversation with Wagner A.D. Walt Hamline in the near future.

Did Norm Roberts save his job today?

Interested to hear what you guys think!

- VP

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY NCAA BLOG AT www.wfan.com this week.

I’ll be at the Garden covering the Big East locals for WFAN Radio.

It won’t be Tom Barrise after all.  Sources have told me that Greg Vetrone will remain as Head Coach of Fairleigh Dickinson.

For those of you that have been following my blog the past year, the name Brayden Carr probably rings a bell.  For the past year, Rutgers basketball coach Jim Carr and his wife Natalie have been dealing with epiletic seizures from their 17 month old son.

When Jim Carr heard Dr. Orrin Devinsky, the primary neurologist for his son, Brayden, was holding a fundraiser for epilepsy research, the Rutgers men’s basketball assistant coach reached out to his peers for help.

“Believe it or not it’s one of the least-funded diseases in our country,” Carr said. “Everyone knows someone who has epilepsy or a seizure condition. But it’s not one of those diseases that people know a whole lot about.”

Carr e-mailed coaches from all 16 Big East Conference teams, requesting that they send something of value for the Finding A Cure for Epilepsy and Seizures (F.A.C.E.S.) fundraiser set for tonight at Chelsea Piers in New York City.

“We got lucky in that people that we know, they want to help us, and a lot of that was through basketball, through Rutgers and through the Big East,” Carr said. “Not a lot of people have those same advantages so we want to give back by raising money in a different way, so they get better research. Everybody’s sending stuff, whether it’s tickets or autograph basketballs and posters, which is great.”

Mike Hopkins was among the Big East assistant coaches who offered to help.

“I’m sure anybody Jimmy asked to do something, they would help,” Syracuse’s longtime assistant coach said. “It really is a coaching fraternity, and while we may be rivals on a given night, you know we’re in this thing together. And I can’t tell you how many kids I’ve known who played at Rutgers that just always talk about the influence Jimmy has had on them.”

Devinsky said the goal for Tuesday’s gala is to raise money for research and treatments of epilepsy and to create awareness “for people like Brayden.”   - courtesty of Keith Sargent -

Keith Sargent from the Home News Tribune has done an amazing job covering this emotional story.  This is the first time Jim and his wife have spoken publicly about Brayden.  Please take 5 minutes to read it and keep Brayden in your thoughts and prayers.

Read more about Brayden’s story here…

Pete Thamel and Kevin Armstrong from the NY Times released some long awaited pieces on Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez yesterday.  One of the pieces focused on Gonzalez when he was the head coach of the Manhattan College Jaspers from 1999-2006.

And in a very rare, candid and some may say unprofessional way; Manhattan College Athletic Director Bob Byrnes opened up to the NY Times about how he truly feels about the man they call Gonzo. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen quotes from an AD like this about a former coach.

Here’s what Byrnes had to say:

-the following are excerpts from the NY Times-

Byrnes told a story about the bus company Manhattan used to travel to games.

“The guy who runs the bus company called me and said something to the effect of: ‘I have 131 drivers that drive for us. But we’re down to one guy that will drive for Bobby Gonzalez,’ ” Byrnes said.

“It was him and the team against the world,” Byrnes said. “It was a war. Everything was a war.”

Byrnes received letters from sports editors threatening to stop coverage because of Gonzalez’s treatment of reporters. He said the only effective management style was “by threat.”

Byrnes said Gonzalez would ask campus security, “Do you know who I am?” and routinely broke campus speeding and parking rules.

Manhattan has not achieved nearly the same success under Gonzalez’s replacement, Barry Rohrssen, but Byrnes quickly answered “no” when asked if he would bring Gonzalez back.

Byrnes said that when he was informed that Gonzalez was leaving for Seton Hall he said: “Good luck. I had him for seven years. I used to have a lot of hair. I’m almost bald now.”

He said he had seen Gonzalez only once since he left, at a dinner, but did receive a bobblehead of Gonzalez in the mail recently from him.

“I don’t talk to you for four years, and you send me a bobblehead?” Byrnes said. “Save the postage.”