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Big East Basketball: Construction Of Rutgers, St. John's Programs Ahead Of Schedule

By now, most Big East Conference men's college hoops fans know about No. 1 Syracuse and No. 24 Seton Hall. However, two more tri-state area programs -- Rutgers and St. John's -- are playing well and contending for postseason invites.

Don't look now, but there's not just one, two or three -- but four -- good SB Nation New York men's college hoops programs this season. Of course, most Big East Conference basketball fans know about No. 1-ranked Syracuse Orange and the feel-good story of No. 24 Seton Hall Pirates. However, to overlook the St. John's Red Storm and Rutgers Scarlet Knights as postseason candidates (NIT or NCAA) is just silly.

On Wednesday, Rutgers (10-7, 2-2 Big East) slaughtered the struggling Pittsburgh Panthers, 62-39, to earn its second league victory in three games and place the Scarlet Knights just a half-game behind fifth-place No. 17 Connecticut Huskies (13-3, 3-2).

Now, for most Big East programs fifth place wouldn't be an accomplishment worth striving for or celebrating, but for a group that has started three freshman -- guards Eli Carter and Jerome Seagears, and forward Derrick Randall -- sophomore center Gilvydas Biruta and junior forward Dane Miller during four league games, it's a solid start.

"These guys are embracing the formula," said Rice after the game Wednesday. "They are embracing the energy and intensity that you need. For our first road victory to be at the ‘Pete’ in front of the Oakland Zoo is a (big deal). I know how big of a thing it is. I’m not sure if (our players) do because they are so young, but maybe that’s why they played so hard and didn’t have a fear of it."

Currently, Carter paces the Scarlet Knights in scoring averaging 18.8 points per game, while freshman guard Myles Mack is coming off the bench to added 8.3 ppg.

The next three games will be the turning point for Rutgers, as its 2011-12 schedule features a Saturday match-up at West Virginia Mountianeers, a Monday contest against visiting Notre Dame Fighting Irish and a Saturday, Jan. 21, battled at the Georgetown Hoyas.

That trio of Big East showdowns will test this young squad and separate them from the cellar dwellers they're used to being or postseason contenders.


FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
Eli Carter 17 27.1 4.9 11.5 43.1 1.5 4.5 32.5 2.8 3.8 73.8 0.4 2.7 3.1 2.2 2.4 1.3 0.1 2.2 14.2
Gilvydas Biruta 17 27.8 3.6 7.9 45.9 0.3 0.6 45.5 2.7 4.6 59.0 2.5 3.2 5.6 1.4 1.9 1.0 0.5 3.1 10.3
Myles Mack 17 25.4 3.3 7.7 42.7 1.4 3.9 34.8 2.2 2.7 82.6 0.2 1.8 1.9 2.1 2.2 1.6 0.1 1.1 10.2
Jerome Seagears 17 24.9 3.0 7.2 41.8 0.8 2.6 29.5 1.0 1.5 68.0 1.5 1.9 3.4 2.4 1.5 0.8 0.2 2.6 7.8
Dane Miller 17 27.3 2.5 4.8 53.1 0.2 0.7 25.0 1.6 2.2 71.1 2.1 3.5 5.6 2.0 2.0 1.4 1.8 2.7 6.8
Mike Poole 17 20.7 2.5 6.3 40.2 0.3 0.6 50.0 1.3 1.5 84.6 0.9 2.1 3.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 0.7 2.2 6.6
Austin Johnson 17 17.6 1.9 3.6 52.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.6 2.1 75.0 1.0 1.6 2.6 0.4 1.5 0.6 0.1 2.8 5.4
Malick Kone 11 11.5 1.7 3.6 47.5 0.1 0.4 25.0 0.7 0.9 80.0 0.9 1.5 2.5 0.4 0.2 0.4 0.2 1.3 4.3
Austin Carroll 10 10.6 1.0 2.3 43.5 0.6 1.5 40.0 0.2 0.4 50.0 0.3 0.9 1.2 1.0 1.1 0.3 0.1 0.9 2.8
Derrick Randall 17 12.2 0.8 1.8 46.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6 1.1 61.1 1.4 1.5 2.8 0.1 0.6 0.4 0.5 1.5 2.3
Kadeem Jack 4 4.8 0.5 0.8 66.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.5 50.0 0.3 0.5 0.8 0.0 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.3 1.3
Greg Lewis 10 6.6 0.4 1.3 30.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.5 0.3 0.8 0.1 0.7 0.0 0.2 1.0 0.8
Charlie Rigoglioso 6 2.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.3 0.5 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.0
Mike Kuhn 6 2.0 0.0 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.0

Meanwhile, despite losing 83-64 at No. 25 Marquette Golden Eagles the Red Storm (8-8, 2-3) have been surprisingly competitive this year.

On Saturday, behind a buzzer-beating, tip-in t\from freshman guard Moe Harkless the Johnnies upset the Cincinnati Bearcats, 57-55. St. John's is another young tri-state area program that should be on the rise in the next few years, but instead is a bit ahead of schedule.

Freshman guard D'Angelo Harrison leads all Red Storm scorers with 15.6 ppg, while Harkless is averaging 15.4 ppg and a team-best 8.4 rebounds per game. Two other freshman -- guard Sir'Dominic Pointer and forward Phil Greene -- are averaging more than 28 minutes per game, while junior forward God'sgift Achiuwa is a powerful, inside play-maker that can easily match up with some of the bigger insidemen in the league.

Like Rutgers', the St. John's basketball schedule features a big match-up against visiting Georgetown, Sunday (noon on ESPNU). Then, two winnable games at the South Florida Bulls, Wednesday, and vs. Villanova Wildcats, Saturday, Jan. 21.


FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
D`Angelo Harrison 16 33.9 4.4 11.6 38.2 2.0 5.9 33.7 4.8 5.9 80.9 1.4 2.7 4.1 1.9 1.8 1.6 0.2 2.9 15.6
Maurice Harkless 16 35.0 5.8 13.0 44.2 0.8 2.9 25.5 3.1 4.4 70.0 2.1 6.2 8.3 1.6 2.5 1.6 1.8 2.1 15.3
God`sgift Achiuwa 16 34.1 4.3 7.9 54.8 0.1 0.4 14.3 3.5 4.9 71.8 3.3 3.6 6.9 0.3 1.8 0.5 1.0 2.3 12.2
Nurideen Lindsey 9 29.6 4.0 8.7 46.2 0.0 1.7 0.0 3.8 6.7 56.7 0.7 4.2 4.9 2.9 4.1 1.6 0.0 3.2 11.8
Sir`Dominic Pointer 16 28.3 2.6 5.9 44.7 0.3 1.3 23.8 1.1 2.4 47.4 1.3 3.5 4.8 1.4 1.5 1.4 0.9 2.8 6.7
Phil Greene 16 28.2 2.1 7.1 30.1 0.5 2.5 20.0 1.3 1.8 75.0 0.9 1.6 2.5 2.4 1.9 1.1 0.3 1.7 6.1
Amir Garrett 6 18.7 1.2 3.0 38.9 0.3 0.8 40.0 0.7 1.8 36.4 0.3 1.8 2.2 0.8 1.2 1.0 0.2 2.7 3.3
Malik Stith 16 16.2 1.2 2.9 41.3 0.2 0.7 27.3 0.6 0.8 76.9 0.5 0.8 1.3 1.3 0.8 0.4 0.1 1.4 3.2
Jamal White 1 6.0 1.0 4.0 25.0 0.0 3.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 2.0
Drew Bashen 1 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0
Sam Sealy 1 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

For more on Rutgers basketball, check out the SB Nation blog On The Banks, while Rumble In The Garden has everything on the Johnnies. Need a Big East basketball fix? Visit Big East Coast Bias or the SB Nation college basketball homepage.