Zagoria Raw

[Halldan1]

Embarrassed on Court, Rutgers Also Invisible in Recruiting

By Adam Zagoria | Dec. 5

Rutgers coach Eddie Jordan lost 84-55 at home to Seton Hall, and his recruiting efforts aren't going well, either. Credit: Jim O'Connor-USA TODAY Sports (Jim O'Connor)

As embarrassing as Rutgers' 84-55 loss to New Jersey rival Seton Hall on its home floor was on Saturday, it may not be the most disturbing thing about Eddie Jordan's program at the moment.

To be sure, the loss -- the second straight in which Kevin Willard's team drilled Rutgers -- was pretty damning.

"It's bad, real bad," one of the program's few remaining longtime boosters texted from his courtside seat at the RAC. "Rock bottom."

But what is -- or at least, should be -- more disturbing than the game itself is what a handful of top New Jersey high school and AAU coaches told me on Friday.

I texted about a half dozen of the state's top coaches and asked them which of their recruits had been invited, or were planning on attending, the Seton Hall-Rutgers game.

In past years, it has been common for players from the state's top high school programs -- St. Anthony's, St. Patrick's, St. Benedict's, Roselle Catholic, Hudson Catholic, Seton Hall Prep, etc. -- to be invited to Rutgers or Seton Hall when they face each other.

As I wrote recently, three of those schools -- St. Anthony's, St. Patrick's and reigning New Jersey Tournament of Champions winner Roselle Catholic -- had 24 players with Division 1 scholarship offers.

Here's a sampling of the text messages I got back. (These coaches all spoke anonymously because they didn't want to go on record ripping the state university's basketball program.)

"Who are they playing this weekend?" one AAU coach asked.

"What's at Rutgers?" a high school coach asked.

"What time is the game?" a second high school coach asked.

So, to summarize so far: Rutgers, the state university, was scheduled to play Seton Hall, its top in-state rival, in men's basketball in a noon game on Saturday -- and several of the top high school and AAU coaches in the state didn't even know the game was taking place.

"They hadn't reached out," the AAU coach said of Rutgers.

Do you think that happens when Louisville and Kentucky play?

North Carolina and Duke?

How about just Providence and Rhode Island?

I asked a top Class of 2017 recruit from one of the above schools if he went to the game.

"Nah, I laid back," he said.

Did he know any other recruits from New Jersey who attended the game?

"As of right now, no," he said.

One high-profile coach pointed out to me that the game was slated for noon on a Saturday and that many of the high school teams are busy practicing -- or playing -- and that they were too focused on their own teams to worry about the college programs.

Fair enough, but generally speaking, most of the coaches said they just didn't feel like Rutgers was recruiting their players hard or at all.

"I don't even know who the Rutgers assistants are, to be honest, other than Dalip [Bhatia]," one coach said.

When I explained they were Van Macon and Greg "Shoes" Vetrone, his response was, "I've not even sure if I've ever met them, to be honest. If I saw their faces, I might say, 'Oh, that guy's been in our gym,' but if Van Macon or Shoes walked by me, I would not know who they are."

I know Van and Shoes and they are good guys. I'm sure they and the staff believe they are trying the best they can.

But this is not a good look when the state's top high school coaches are saying this stuff.

Rutgers doesn't have a single commit for the Class of 2016, and they don't appear to be seriously in the mix for any of New Jersey's top D-1 players.

"I don't think any of our guys were invited [to the game]," an assistant at one of the state's top programs said.

Seton Hall doesn't get all the top Jersey kids, either.

Let's face it. Kentucky, Louisville, Duke, Syracuse, UConn and other elite programs have been eating New Jersey's lunch for years.

See: Karl-Anthony Towns, Kyrie Irving, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Tyler Ennis, Malachi Richardson and on and on and on.

But Seton Hall just smacked Rutgers by 29 with several home-grown New York and New Jersey kids like Khadeen Carrington, Isaiah Whitehead, Michael Nzei and Angel Delgado playing big roles.

Seton Hall made the bold move earlier this year of offering a "Fab Five" group of 2018 recruits from the Sports U program.

The Pirates may not get all of those kids, heck they may not get any.

But it was a smart, bold move to make the group offer and it got some publicity. Several high-profile New Jersey coaches praised the move in my story.

"They want to try to get all five guys," Sports U coach Brian Coleman told SNY.tv for the initial story. "They feel like if they could get these guys that play together to stay home, it would be great for their state, it would be great for their team because they'd have a group of guys that are familiar with each other and they're kind of looking at them as kind of like the next Michigan Fab Five."

Did Rutgers make the group offer, too?

"They haven't," Coleman said then. "I can't say, should they do it? I don't really know the needs of their team. They got a couple of young guards that they signed….I think it would be good for them to try to recruit some of these players because they're really good guys and they're young players."

None of those players were invited to the Seton Hall-Rutgers game on Saturday.

Leaving fans and boosters to wonder if the program has hit rock bottom.

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[Halldan1]

Adam Zagoria ‏@AdamZagoria 18h18 hours ago Manhattan, NY

Rutgers booster at the basketball game: 'It's bad, real bad. Rock bottom.'

 

[HallX2]

Nice to see him leaving us alone. But honestly does anyone believe a word he writes? Does anyone think HS coaches are telling him what they think? Perhaps it's all true but I have my doubts. He is not a guy I would ask where the lifeboats are if the ship was sinking.

 

[SHUSource]

To be fair, the more Jordan can hide that program from recruits, the better. You know, limiting the witnesses and all that.

 

[hallgrad80]

Maybe Jordan and his staff have made the decision that recruiting NJ is not a priority since the top players never seem to stay home except for one here and there and is focusing on other areas. How long has it been since we got a player from St. Anthony's , St. Benedict's , Roselle Catholic or St. Joe's . We do far better in NY then we do in NJ.
I'm not saying we shouldn't recruit locally but many times programs feel going out of state gives them better opportunity to land higher ranked players and Jordan strength seems to be in the DC, VA, Baltimore area .

 

[Seton75]

Not having many players at a game is bad. If you stink, the kids know ut regardless of whether they are there. Get them in. Get face time and see who seems receptive and go after them. When we have no kids at games we don't like it. They did have a potential transfer visiting

 

[HallB]

I'm with Seton75 on this one. Recruiting like any sales is a numbers game. If you make 3 calls, you will not get a customer, however, it may take 100 calls to get your first hit. That should be the attitude with recruiting as well. While SHU has not landed any of the big name NJ players, they have been involved in the majority of them, plus, you have to be at the door when the opportunity presents itself, i.e. what if SHU does turn it around, and it is all of a sudden seen as a destination for a high level NJ player, you don't want to start the work then, you want to have the foundation already laid. Also, as we have seen, transfers happen all of the time...helps to have a relationship already in place should a player decide they want to come home.

 

[HallLine69]

Nice to see him leaving us alone. But honestly does anyone believe a word he writes? Does anyone think HS coaches are telling him what they think? Perhaps it's all true but I have my doubts. He is not a guy I would ask where the lifeboats are if the ship was sinking.

Zagoria certainly has his issues, but there's no way he made up all those texts and quotes.

 

[hallgrad80]

I'm with Seton75 on this one. Recruiting like any sales is a numbers game. If you make 3 calls, you will not get a customer, however, it may take 100 calls to get your first hit. That should be the attitude with recruiting as well. While SHU has not landed any of the big name NJ players, they have been involved in the majority of them, plus, you have to be at the door when the opportunity presents itself, i.e. what if SHU does turn it around, and it is all of a sudden seen as a destination for a high level NJ player, you don't want to start the work then, you want to have the foundation already laid. Also, as we have seen, transfers happen all of the time...helps to have a relationship already in place should a player decide they want to come home.

HallB
You make some excellent points and you would hope that in the sixth year of any coach's tenure you would have established the relationships needed to be a legitimate contender for the top players from the traditional powers. We have been named as a school on the list of many of the top players in NJ/NY but haven't closed on many of them and have done better in NY. In my business our marketing people always use this to describe what their efforts are directed at , " You can't hit a home run if you don't get up to the plate" meaning the more people that consider you the better the chance to land one". Certainly true in BB recruiting as well.

 

[Hall91]

I think this is one of the big issues with bringing in a guy like Eddie Jordan; no previous college recruiting experience, all he has done over the last umteen years prior to RU was to coach in the NBA, coddle egos, and see where the chips fell from there. Coaching College Hoops is an entirely different job than a NBA coach.

RU looks like a team just going through the motions, no real juice, lousy defense, just plain awful. Not sure how much money they're paying the new HC, but I think Hobbs is going to have to go out sooner rather than later to get a new Mens Hoops coach depending on how much they're on the hook to pay EJ. Pretty bad situation.

 

[Pirate6711]

I think this is one of the big issues with bringing in a guy like Eddie Jordan; no previous college recruiting experience, all he has done over the last umteen years prior to RU was to coach in the NBA, coddle egos, and see where the chips fell from there. Coaching College Hoops is an entirely different job than a NBA coach.

RU looks like a team just going through the motions, no real juice, lousy defense, just plain awful. Not sure how much money they're paying the new HC, but I think Hobbs is going to have to go out sooner rather than later to get a new Mens Hoops coach depending on how much they're on the hook to pay EJ. Pretty bad situation.

He's in the third year of a five-year deal. I'm not sure what his per year amount is (articles differ on this), nor do I know what his buyout is, but I know he doesn't make Stringer-level money.

 

[The SHUttle]

I know this was a hit piece on RU/Jordan, but this is also an indictment on our recruiting. If recruits/coaches truly had no idea this game was happening and/or no interest, there are two teams that played in the game.

 

[Seton75]

There is a post on the RU board that re-enforces the recruiting story.

I assume we don't want to host local kids at RU when we can do it at home. I am not sure what the protocol is on this. I know kids are invited to the Rock by other coaches, but I assume Nova would want to host all Philly kids at home. Given our circumstances (awful breakdown last year, and a young talented team on the roster) our recruiting is way better than I expected. Getting a kid like Powell is real good. A few years ago we were bringing in players who had no biz being on a BE roster.

 

[hbkmyr]

I know little about recruiting but I'm guessing you csnt invite recruits to an away game. I don't expect our staff to contact every recruit to tell them when we're playing on TV, even if it's our so called rival Rutgers.

 

[Halldan1]

St. Anthony's Assistant: 'It would be great if Rutgers were in the gym more'

By Adam Zagoria | 3:17AM

St. Anthony's assistant coach Eric Harrield says Rutgers head coach Eddie Jordan and his staff haven't recruited the storied New Jersey high school program coached by Hall of Famer Bob Hurley as effectively as they could have, and the state university has work to do in building relationships going forward.

"It would be great if they were in the gym more," Harrield, a former college assistant at Buffalo under Bobby Hurley, said Wednesday on The 4 Quarters Podcast.

"I understand they do have a lot going on and they have to fulfill their needs for this year's recruiting class, but we would love to see them in the gym. I think we have some talent that could help them. But they haven't been there much. We would love to have the state school in our gym as much as possible."

Harrield's comments reflect and amplify a column I wrote in the wake of Rutgers' 29-point home loss to in-state rival Seton Hall on Saturday in which several of New Jersey's top high school and AAU coaches said Rutgers wasn't recruiting their programs as hard as it could be.

Rutgers (4-5), which hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 1991, didn't have a single recruit from New York or New Jersey at the Seton Hall game.

"Ironically, I just got a text earlier [Wednesday] from one of the [Rutgers] assistants about coming to one of our practices this week," Harrield said in the wake of the column.

New Jersey boasts several of the top high school programs in the nation. St. Anthony's coached by the legendary Hurley, is currently ranked No. 10 nationally by USA Today and had five players sign Division 1 National Letters of Intent last month, including Georgetown-bound guard Jagan Mosely.

Roselle Catholic, which has won two of the last three New Jersey Tournament of Champions titles, is ranked No. 14 by USA Today and features a slew of Division 1 recruits, including Rutgers target Andre Rafus, a 6-foot-9 2017 forward.

The Patrick School, which is unranked by USA Today, also features numerous Division 1 prospects, including 6-11 2017 forward Nick Richards, a potential future pro who holds offers from Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, Arizona and Syracuse, but not Rutgers. (Ironically, the school's interim coach is now Mike Rice, the former Rutgers head coach.)

As I reported earlier in September, those three schools feature 24 players with Division 1 offers.

That doesn't even include other New Jersey powers such as St. Benedict's Prep, Hudson Catholic, Seton Hall Prep, Blair Academy, Pope John XXIII and St. Joe's Metuchen.

This week alone, with the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden, coaches from Virginia and West Virginia have toured the North Jersey schools. SMU, Georgia Tech, Stanford and Temple were also at Blair this week for their loaded group of 2017s that includes point guard Matt Turner, wing Kodye Pugh and big man Deng Gak.

During a scrimmage at St. Anthony's on Monday, several huge athletic young players roamed the floor dunking the basketball, blocking shots and shooting jumpers.

That group includes 6-10 2017 small forward Daniel Mading, 6-7 2017 power forward Samson George and 6-10 2018 forward Savior Akuwovo.

According to the Website VerbalCommits.com, none of the trio of bigs holds a Rutgers scholarship offer.

For Mading, Harrield listed Arizona State, Marquette, Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin and Oregon State as the schools working hardest. St. John's assistant Slice Rohrssen was also into St. Anthony's last week for Mading.

"I think being here with us is only going to help him even more get some tenacity," Harrield said.

Harrield called Akuwovo "a high-major four man" with offers from Seton Hall, St. John's, Pittsburgh and Wake Forest.

"He is a worker," Harrield said. "He doesn't want to leave the gym and he wants to know when he can get back in the gym. His potential is unlimited at this point."

As for George, who transferred from The Patrick School before the season, Harrield called him a Draymond Green-type who "can be that perfect three man at the next level."

"Samson has said if he could go Ivy League, he would love to have that opportunity," he said.

"All three of these kids are honor roll students, so they're not just looking athletically but academically as well," Harrield added.

Asked how much Rutgers (or Seton Hall or St. John's, for that matter) could benefit by landing several of these players, Harrield expounded.

"If you can keep the kids home, you have the opportunity to be a very good program," Harrield said. "But it takes a huge investment of time and resources and it is difficult because the thought is that kids would want to go elsewhere, which is not always true.

"The advantage is you can get on them early right here in the state and hopefully establish that relationship where would they would want to stay home and build that program into a national program, which it should be."

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