courtesy of WFAN.COM
February 3rd, 2010
A Bad Red Storm
One of the worst losses in a long time took place for St. John’s last night. The Red Storm lost 84-72 at Rutgers. If you can’t beat Rutgers….it is safe to say things are not looking good for Norm Roberts and his team the rest of the way. Two months ago, everything was great…..a solid record and talk of an NIT berth at worst. And now it’s a total disaster in Queens. Mike Rosario scored a career high 33 points for Rutgers in the win.
Can someone explain to me why St. John’s didn’t just face guard Rosario? Forget trying to contain….forget trying to contest…..face guard! Play him like your playing a Box & 1! Rutgers does not have enough scoring to beat you with the rest of the team….but Rosario can when he’s hot. A really poor job defensively by the Red Storm.
In an interview with WFAN last year….St. John’s Athletic Director Chris Monasch stated that making the NCAA Tournament was a realistic goal for 2010. His reasoning was because Anthony Mason Jr. would be back and all of Norm’s recruits would be Juniors and Seniors.
St. John’s is now 2-7 in Big East play and in the basement with Rutgers and DePaul. And the game clearly will not quiet down the speculation regarding Norm Roberts and whether he’ll be back next season.
*How about the Big Red!
Cornell has earned their first national ranking in 59 years! The Big Red are ranked 25th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. It is also the first time a team other than Princeton or Penn from the Ivy League is ranked since 1970.
Steve Donahue’s team is impressive. The are 18-3 overall and 4-0 in league play. But most importantly, they went 14-3 in their non conference portion of the schedule.
And how about their wins….they’ve beaten Alabama, UMass, Davidson, St. John’s and St. Joe’s. And one of their three losses was at #1 Kansas by five points.
This team is led by the scoring of Ryan Wittman and Jeff Foote - but it’s Donahue’s name that you’re going to be hearing a lot about.
Look for Steve Donahue to receive more than a few phone calls this spring when some high profile jobs open.
*The best coaching job in the metropolitan area is going on in New Rochelle, NY. Kevin Willard and his Iona Gaels are in 2nd place (preseason picked 9th) and now have a showdown with Siena Friday night in Albany. Siena is undefeated in MAAC play and the cream of the crop when it comes to mid major basketball. The Saints have won back to back MAAC Championships and have won their 1st round NCAA Tournament games both times. The game is expected to be a sellout at TIme Union Arena and Iona has the chance to win one of its biggest games in a long, long time. In the last two seasons, Iona has had the largest jump in RPI in all of college basketball.
*Check in next time for the updated version of VP’s Super 7 in the metropolitan area!
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