Scarlet Knights

CINCINNATI - With another shutdown performance by its defense, No. 22 Rutgers stayed in control of the Big East. Reserve running back Savon Huggins had a career-high 179 yards, and the Scarlet Knights shut down the league's highest-scoring offense for a 10-3 victory over Cincinnati on Saturday that left Rutgers alone in first place. Rutgers (9-1, 5-0) knocked the Bearcats out of the race and maintained its one-game lead over No. 20 Louisville, which was idle. The Scarlet Knights finish with games at Pittsburgh and home against Louisville.

Tuesday dawned bleakly in the central New Jersey town of Piscataway. The temperature was in the teens, and there were several inches of snow and ice on the ground. But at the Louis Brown Athletic Center, the outlook was sunny and the atmosphere was warmer than at a Wildwood beach in July. By 7 a.m. that day, 2,000 students had gathered in line at the building fondly known as "The RAC" to buy precious tickets to see their Rutgers basketball team play in tonight's championship game of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.

The Rutgers women's basketball team delivered a message. "Our defense is back," coach C. Vivian stringer said after the No. 15 Scarlet Knights' 72-46 rout of No. 6 UCLA last night. "We demonstrated some stuff to ourselves and sent a message across the country that our defense is going to be as stingy as it was last year. " Rutgers (6-2) was third nationally in scoring defense last year and was ranked sixth this season at 54.6 points per game. The Bruins (5-3), who led the nation by averaging over 80 points per game through the first seven games, had no answers for Rutgers's matchup zone.

Last year, Rutgers nearly upset Syracuse in the Carrier Dome before succumbing to a furious Orange rally that produced two touchdowns in the final three minutes. Yesterday, the Scarlet Knights exacted payback in spades. Corey Barnes returned a blocked punt and a fumble for touchdowns and Mike Teel threw for two scores in leading Rutgers to a 31-9 victory over host Syracuse. Despite perfect playing conditions inside the Carrier Dome, Syracuse (1-5, 0-3 Big East) lost five of nine fumbles and Rutgers (4-2, 2-1)

Tasha Pointer chuckled at the question, perhaps because the answer was so simple. What were her memories of her first game against Tennessee? The game when Rutgers got drilled, 92-60, in a Mideast Regional semifinal of the 1998 NCAA women's tournament, and she fouled out with too much time left on the clock? "I don't think I knew all the plays," said Pointer, now a junior. "That was my freshman year. " Along with a lot of things about the Rutgers women's basketball program since Vivian Stringer took over on July 14, 1995, Pointer has evolved.

A month ago, Rutgers senior guard Lynn Ust was lost for the season in a game at Penn State when she tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee. Since then, the Scarlet Knights' opportunities for postseason success have dimmed; they've lost three games and slipped from No. 9 to No. 18 in the weekly coaches' poll. "It's not so much what she did offensively, but she was the glue to our attack," Rutgers coach Theresa Grentz said last week. "She kept everyone calm, she gave us leadership and she played tough defense.

South Florida insisted it owed Rutgers revenge after three consecutive losses, but the No. 23 Bulls played last night as if they owed the Scarlet Knights a favor instead. Cardinal O'Hara graduate Tom Savage threw for 194 yards and two touchdowns, and San San Te kicked three field goals as the Scarlet Knights topped USF, 31-0, in front of 48,057 at Rutgers Stadium. In getting shut out during the regular season for the first time in its 13-year history, South Florida (6-3, 2-3 Big East Conference)

Cappie Pondexter hit two foul shots with 7.8 seconds remaining last night to end years of Rutgers frustration here with a 60-56 win over No. 4 Connecticut. It was only the third victory by the Scarlet Knights in the 22-game series between the two Big East and national powers, but Rutgers (18-3, 10-0 conference) had never beaten the Huskies in Gampel Pavilion or in nearby Hartford. The teams will meet again later this month in Piscataway, N.J., and possibly soon thereafter in the Big East tournament in Hartford.

Former Pennsbury High star Mike Jones didn't expect to be a factor in his first season on Rutgers' basketball team. However, Jones, a 6-foot-4, 175-pound freshman guard, has started for the Scarlet Knights most of the season. "It's been a pretty good year for me," Jones said. "I'm not averaging a lot of points (3.3) and rebounds (1.1) a game. But I've been starting and getting about 16 minutes a game. "I wasn't sure about my playing time. Rutgers had some fine guards coming back from last year's team, which won the Atlantic 10 Conference championship.

Fred Hill Jr. is at the Final Four again this year, rubbing shoulders with colleagues and counterparts from around the country. The 47-year-old Hill just joined the fraternity on Monday. When the Verona, N.J., native arrived in Indianapolis on Tuesday, he was a first-time head coach whose new job at Rutgers satisfied a career goal. An added bonus is that Hill's father, Fred Hill Sr., is in his 23d season as the Scarlet Knights' baseball coach. "Growing up in New Jersey, Rutgers was the state university, and I always thought it could be a good job," said Hill, who attended Verona High and Montclair State.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers on Wednesday named Julie Hermann its new athletic director, and the former No. 2 athletic administrator at Louisville promised a restart for the scandal-scarred program following the ouster of its men's basketball coach and the resignation of other officials. Hermann replaces Tim Pernetti, who quit last month after the firing of basketball coach Mike Rice. Practice videos surfaced of Rice shoving and throwing basketballs at players and yelling gay slurs at them.

While preparing for the NFL draft, Rutgers cornerback Logan Ryan has learned that one of the best traits he could take into pro football is to show toughness, especially between the ears. Ryan, The Inquirer's 2008 South Jersey defensive player of the year from Eastern High in Voorhees, bypassed his senior year at Rutgers for the draft. He said he has heard he could go anywhere from late first round to the third round. The consensus among draft experts is that it could be in the third round.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Rutgers introduced Eddie Jordan as its new men's basketball coach Tuesday, turning to a name from the school's past as it seeks to move forward from a scandal that forced the firing of coach Mike Rice and the resignation of athletic director Tim Pernetti.   The 58-year-old Jordan played for the Scarlet Knights from 1973-77 and was a member of Rutgers' Final Four team in 1976. Most recently he's been an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers.   "We have to regain our pride and our dignity and our integrity for our university," Jordan said at a news conference that began with some in the crowd chanting "Eddie!

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - It is a marriage made somewhere south of heaven, miles closer to the hell that Rutgers University has been through this year. That explains the standing ovation Eddie Jordan received when he was introduced at a Tuesday afternoon news conference in the Barn - the very gym where he played for the Scarlet Knights in the mid-1970s. It also explains the nagging feeling that the ovation was the biggest cheer Jordan will get on a basketball court anytime soon. Maybe that's not fair.

NEWARK, N.J. - Rutgers' board of governors will meet Tuesday to sign off on a contract that will allow Los Angeles Lakers assistant Eddie Jordan to take over the Scarlet Knights' scandal-marred basketball program. The university said Monday morning that the board is expected to discuss the proposed appointment in a conference call. In a statement released later in the day, the athletic department announced a basketball news conference at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, in which Jordan will likely be introduced.

In a blow to a team reeling from injuries, the New York Yankees said Thursday that 38-year-old shortstop Derek Jeter will be sidelined until after the all-star break because of a new fracture in his broken left ankle. General manager Brian Cashman said Jeter should be able to resume his rehabilitation when the new crack heals, in about four to eight weeks. Cashman has maintained that the 13-time all-star should be able to return at his previous level of play. San Diego Padres president and CEO Tom Garfinkel apologized to the Los Angeles Dodgers for comments he made about Zack Greinke the day after the pitcher's left collarbone was broken in a brawl, including referencing the righthander's social-anxiety disorder.

A person familiar with the situation told the Associated Press that former 76ers coach Eddie Jordan is nearing an agreement with Rutgers to replace Mike Rice as coach. Jordan and Rutgers interim athletic director Carl Kirschner were to meet Sunday to finalize the language in the contract, the source said. Jordan, an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers, flew to New Jersey on Saturday and a deal could be in place by Monday. Jordan, 58, who played for the Scarlet Knights from 1973 to 1977, would take over a program mired in scandal after a video was released that showed Rice kicking and grabbing players while uttering antigay slurs at them in practice.

A PERSON FAMILIAR with the situation tells the Associated Press that Eddie Jordan is nearing a deal with Rutgers to replace Mike Rice as coach. Jordan and Rutgers interim athletic director Carl Kirschner were meeting again Sunday to finalize the language in the contract before an announcement can be made. Jordan, an assistant coach with the Lakers, flew to New Jersey on Saturday to begin the process. A deal could be in place by Monday, with a press conference later in the week.

Chris Christie called Mike Rice, so gifted at hurling basketballs and homophobic epithets at his players, an "animal. " No, Rice is merely a former Division I coach, a product of the system. Division I sports is about winning and money, while tolerating behavior that would be unacceptable anywhere else on campus. Had Rice been an economics professor and engaged in similar actions, he would have been gone within the week. Rice's actions weren't initially extreme to Rutgers officials, who initially chose to suspend and fine him. The only reason Rice is now the former coach is because he was caught on a videotape that went viral, produced by an angry staffer whose contract was not renewed in a possible extortion being investigated by the FBI. So, really, there is something for everyone.

It is no small feat for the Rutgers basketball program to experience the most embarrassing and depressing week in its history. Pick any random week since 1991, the last time the Scarlet Knights were invited to the NCAA tournament, and chances are it was embarrassing and depressing. The roundballers at the State University of New Jersey put the bar up pretty high this time, though, witnessing a week during which the head coach, an assistant coach, and the athletic director all lost their jobs as the result of an abuse scandal that had been hidden and tolerated for probably a couple of years.