It could be a nice few days of basketball here for the Scarlet Knights.  Rutgers shocked #7 ranked Georgetown at the RAC over the weekend. Jonathan Mitchell had 24 points and 7 rebounds - and Dane Miller….who is making a run at Big East Rookie of the Year….had 13 points and 10 rebounds in the 71-68 win.  The reason it could be a nice few days is because of tonight….Rutgers in on the road at DePaul which is a very winnable game for Fred Hill’s club.

Speaking of Fred Hill, he coached a terrific game Saturday night….a compliment he hasn’t heard much of this season.  Credit Hill for having the guts to foul intentionally rather than giving up a game tying 3 pointer.  And if you watched the game….you know how important that play was!  Georgetown actually made the 3 pointer after the ref blew the whistle….so the game would have been tied up!  As great as this strategy is; there’s not many coaches out there who ever have the nerve to pull this tactic off.

Saturday night I had to work the St. Patrick vs Rice game for MSG’s High School Game of the week at the Prime Time Shootout in Trenton.  So on the way down, I stopped by the RAC to catch the 2pm Rutgers practice.  And I gotta tell you….it is not what I expected.  The team practiced extremely hard and had great intensity on both ends of the court.  It’s rare to see such fire from a team that is struggling in terms of conference record this late into the season.  Fred Hill was adamant about how he wanted to play Georgetown in the practice.  He told the players he was not coming up with some ‘one game gimmick defense’….he preached that if they defended as hard as they could, they could pull the game out….and they did.

And did anyone catch Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti and his big hug with Scarlet Knight Mike Rosario after the game?  It’s great to see Pernetti’s passion for the school and his fondness for the players so public like that.  And the best part is that it comes across as authentic and natural….not staged or phony.

Let’s see if RU can now pull off a big road win.

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