ZAGSBLOG

PrimeTime Shootout; SNY Invitational Upon Us

It's that time of year again. Time for the PrimeTime Shootout, and now the inaugural SNY Invitational.

The PrimeTime begins Friday night at Villanova with four games, highlighted by the nightcap featuring Tyreke Evans and American Christian, No. 4 in the National Prep Poll, against Louisville commit Samardo Samuels and St. Benedict's, No. 2 in the ZAGSBLOG Top 10. Will these guys be future teammates under Rick Pitino? Only time will tell, as Evans is set to announced sometime after visiting Memphis Feb. 23. Louisville, Villanova, Memphis, UConn and Texas are his final five.

Prep and college fans will want to turn out at the Rutgers Athletic Center Feb. 8 for four more games, including St. Anthony and its six Division I commits and the can't-miss showdown between St. Benedict's and St. Patrick. These three teams alone feature nearly a dozen Division I players, including Samuels, Dexter Strickland (North Carolina), Quintrell Thomas (Kansas), Mike Rosario (Rutgers), Travon Woodall (Pitt), Tyshawn Taylor (Marquette), Jio Fontan and Alberto Estwick (Fordham), A.J. Rogers (St. Joseph) and Greg Echenique  (Duke/Rutgers/Pitt/Maryland/Penn/Miami). Taylor and Cheek combined for 35 points Wednesday night as the unbeaten Friars (15-0) routed Neptune, 80-51.

Top Big East Quotes

"You now have to move on (from last night's 74-42 rout of St. John's) and as everyone knows, this league is brutal. We have to move on to a Seton Hall team that's playing as well or better than any team in the conference right now. We have to come in extremely focused if we want to win on Saturday.

"(Seton Hall) has a lot of different offensive weapons. They seem to be extremely comfortable and confident in each other in  that they make the extra pass. They have guys who can shoot, but who can (also) get to the basket and convert and make tough shots and tough layups. They put a lot of pressure on the opposition, on whoever it is they're playing.

"They are growing, they are improving. There's been some confidence in each other. They do a good job of sharing the ball and working to get the open man, the hot man, the guy with the mismatch the shot. They don't quit, they have a stick to it-iveness that good teams have. They keep playing, they keep playing hard and they've found a way to win games."

--Georgetown coach John Thompson III on Seton Hall

Seton Hall 84, Rutgers 71 (OT)

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT

"We've played ourselves into position to put ourselves in position. Maybe we can talk about being on the bubble pretty soon."

--Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez, whose team has won five straight in the Big East

OBSERVATIONS ON THE GAME

**Before the game, Rutgers coach Fred Hill said Seton Hall's guards are probably playing "as good as any of the guards in the Big East." Brian Laing, Jeremy Hazell, Eugene Harvey, Paul Gause and Jamar Nutter combined for 81 of Seton Hall's 84 points, hitting 8-of-19 3-pointers.

SHU closed the OT on a 13-0 run, getting five points from Gause and four apiece from Laing and Harvey

**Speaking of guards, RU frosh Mike Coburn continued his fabulous play of late, scoring 16 of his team-high 23 in the second half. Coburn, who added nine boards, was named Big East Rookie of the Week this week after leading RU to wins over Villanova and Pitt, both ranked teams.

Seton Hall 35, Rutgers 26

Here we are at the half with Seton Hall holding a 35-26 edge on the strength of 6-of-13 from 3-point land, including three from Jeremy Hazell, two from Eugene Harvey and one from Brian Laing. Laing has 13 points and Hazell 12.

Rutgers is 5-of-12 from the line, a stat that is killing them at this point. Corey Chandler has seven points to lead RU.

Seen at the game....Linden junior big man David Bruce, St. Benedict's junior C Greg Echenique and junior G Tamir "Pop" Jackson of Paterson, as well as RU commit Christian Morris, formerly of South Kent (Conn.) According to former South Kent coach Raphael Chillious, who recently left the school to take a job at Nike, the 6-9 Morris is being sent coursework by the South Kent coaches and is on track to graduate.

St. John's Offers Crosgile

St. John's became the latest school to offer a scholarship to Justin Crosgile, a 5-11, 165-pound point guard from Wayne (N.J.) DePaul Catholic.

A tremendous defensive player as well as shooter, Crosgile already owns offers from Rutgers, St. Joseph and Houston, and has interest from Seton Hall, Michigan and Notre Dame.

He's averaging 20.6 points, six assists and five steals for the defending Passaic County champion Spartans, who open tournament play Saturday against Lakeland.  Last year he poured in 32 against Seton Hall-bound PG Jordan Theodore and Paterson Catholic in the county semis, and then he added 24 with four 3-pointers in the final against Wayne Valley. Crosgile recently had 27 points, six rebounds and five steals in a win over Passaic Tech, which you can read about here.

Gary Flowers Update; Few Recruits at Tonight's Game

Gary Flowers may have given Seton Hall head coach Bobby Gonzalez a verbal commitment during Gonzalez's recent trip to Chipola (Fla.) College, but Flowers won't be making any public declarations anytime soon.

"Gary and I haven't spoken about anything with recruiting," said Chipola head coach Greg Heiar, whose team is 23-0 and ranked No. 1 in the nation. "I know Seton Hall's in good with him. At the end of the season, Gary and I will sit down and talk. We don't want it to be a distraction to the team."

Heiar added: "Unless a school comes down here and talks to me, Seton Hall's the only school that's been in here."

RU, SHU Guards Coming up Big

See Rutgers freshman Mike Coburn drive fearlessly into the paint and score on an acrobatic layup over defenders nearly a foot taller.

Watch Seton Hall freshman Jeremy Hazell fire up 3-pointer after 3-pointer from six feet behind the line to crush an opposing team's spirit.

Believe it or not, some of the best guard play in the Big East is going on at Rutgers and Seton Hall.

"We both have good guards; the young guards seem to really be coming on strong," said Seton Hall head coach Bobby Gonzalez, whose Pirates (14-6, 4-3) will take a four-game Big East winning streak into tonight's game at Rutgers (10-11, 2-6).

Read the full story here. Aditi also has a nice feature on the friendship between RU guard Anthony Farmer and Seton Hall guard Paul Gause, who will make his return to the court tonight after missing several games with a broken knuckle on his right hand.

In other Big East news, the Philly Inquirer reports that 6-10 sophomore center Casiem Drummond, the former Bloomfield Tech star, returned to practice Monday.

Kennedy, West Milford, Passaic Win; Eastside Loses to Joes

Four days before the start of the Passaic County tournament, there were a ton of big games on the boys basketball slate Tuesday and I took in two  tilts in Paterson. Kennedy, the No. 4 seed in the tourney, awoke from a first-half slumber and destroyed Montclair, 58-37, behind 16 points from Shondel Stewart. Kennedy's 6-5 big men, Davian Plunkett and LaQuan Peterkin combined for 25 points and 21 boards in the win.

"It's all going to boil down to us against West Milford in the quarters, and then it's us against (No. 1 seed) Paterson Catholic (in the semis)," Kennedy coach Jim Ring said after his team outscored the Mounties, 38-19, in the second half.

ZAGSBLOG Top 10

1. St. Anthony (14-0)

Previous: No. 1

Last game: Rutgers-bound G Mike Rosario and junior wing Dominic Cheek combined for 38 in a 90-32 rout of Christian Brothers in the Brian Doherty Classic.

Ahead: Neptune, Wednesday; Rancocas Valley, Saturday (at Villanova)

2. St. Benedict's (17-1)

Previous: No. 2

Last game: With Louisville-bound F Samardo Samuels on the bench in street clothes, Paterson's Tamir Jackson scored 17 points in an 59-47 victory over Passaic Tech at the Brian Doherty.

Ahead: American Christian, Friday (at Villanova in the PrimeTime Shootout)

Previous: No. 2

Last game: With Louisville-bound F Samardo Samuels on the bench in street clothes, Paterson's Tamir Jackson scored 17 points in an 59-47 victory over Passaic Tech at the Brian Doherty.

Ahead: American Christian, Friday (at Villanova in the PrimeTime Shootout)

Cheek Coming to Villanova

Dominic Cheek is coming to Villanova.

No, the 6-5 junior wing from St. Anthony hasn't announced his commitment to the Big East school, but he will be playing there Saturday when the unbeaten Friars, No. 1 in the USA Today poll and the ZAGSBLOG Top 10, take on Rancocas Valley (13-2) in the Kobe Bryant Classic.

Cheek scored 17 points when St. Anthony routed Christian Brothers, 90-32, on Saturday at the Brian Doherty Classic in Newark. The Friars (14-0) will face Neptune Wednesday night.