BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: SOUTH FLORIDA @ RUTGERS

March 7, 2009


JR Inman, Anthony Farmer and Jaron Griffin were supposed to represent a new direction for Rutgers basketball as the three local Jersey recruits were wooed into staying home by Gary Waters. However, Waters did not make it past their freshman seasons and now, with a 1-16 Big East record in their final season, the three seniors look to end their final home game in the RAC on a positive note.

South Florida stunned NCAA hopeful Cincinnati earlier this week, and in doing so, the Bulls set a Big East season-best in their history with four conference wins. Dominique Jones once again led the way with a 30-point performance in the win.

Luckily for both teams this is not their last game as the 2009 Big East Tournament has expanded to include all 16 conference teams. So, they will both get to lace them up at least one more time this year. It will be USF’s first trip to the Big East tournament, same for RU coach Fred Hill, Jr.

Here are some pregame stories and previews on the game:

Rutgers Men’s Basketball Seniors Know Expectations Were Not Met, Are at Peace (Star-Ledger)
For RU Seniors, A Day of Reckoning (mycentraljersey.com)
Trio Takes Away Bond of Friendship (Asbury Park Press)

A week ago, USF looked absolutely gassed as their short-handed team was running on empty in a home loss to West Virginia. This week, however, UC rebounded and showed life with a strong second-half in a win over Cincinnati, a team playing for their NCAA Tournament lives.

Now they hit the road for the regular season finale with Rutgers. A team that will look to salvage a little something in their season gone wrong. At 1-16 in Big East play, RU has little left to play for except for a chance to send their three seniors out as winners. Distractions foreshadowing a possible rocky offseason have begun with the Corey Chandler transfer possibilities becoming public after Tuesday’s blowout loss to Syracuse.

The lone conference win for RU this season was a home beatdown of winless DePaul earlier this year. This should be their second conference win…if not…well, there really is not much lower they can go at this point.

NBE Blogger Prediction:

Rutgers 66
South Florida 60