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Announcements

The NJ Sportwriters Association will be holding it's 67th Anniversary Banquet on Sunday February 2nd from 11:30 am- 2:00 pm at the Pines Manor in Edison. Nathan Jones will be among those being honored for Football Scholar Athlete and Special Teams Player of the Year.
Tickets are $40 each or $380 for a table of 10. For information, people should call 877-257-0798.

The Rutgers Touchdown Club will be holding its annual Recruiting Tailgate Meeting on Wednesday night February 5th at 7:00 P.M. at the Rutgers Athletic Center (The RAC). Doors will open at 5:30 P.M. Coach Greg Schiano will review the 2003 recruiting class in this meeting. Subs and beverages will be served. Remember this meeting will not be at the Hale Center due to the large crowd expected.
If you are interested in joining the Touchdown Club you can join that night or you can visit their web-site at www.touchdownclub.rutgers.edu to learn more about the club and get an application form.

As Rutgers comes upon the rugged Big East Basketball schedule, they would like to invite you to join the Scarlet R in the Coaches' Huddle - a pre-game meal featuring Rutgers Athletics. The Huddle gives you an opportunity to gain an inside look at the opponent Rutgers will be facing that night with a brief scouting report by a member of the basketball coaching staff. Each Huddle will also showcase the coach of one of our 30 intercollegiate athletic programs. In addition, the event will provide a full buffet-style meal prepared by Rutgers Catering. The cost for each person is $10 - with and additional $5 for those who would like to have beer or wine with their meal.
To reserve your spot or to ask questions, please reply back to Keith Norton at
directly.
For full schedule and further info, please visit -
Coaches Huddle

Please note that we are having problems with our old domain www.rutgersfootball.com. This also effects any e-mail going to Donald "Big Dog" Forbes at [e-mail]. Everyone that needs to e-mail me, please use .

As a result of the problems, the redirect or access to the URL is no longer working. Please inform anyone who might be having problems.
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Football

In town for a second round of interviews, Craig Ver Steeg confirmed late Wednesday night that he is up for the Rutgers offensive coordinator's position.
"I hope I get the job," a jovial and seemingly easy-going Ver Steeg said from a hotel in New Brunswick. "These seem like really great people and this place just feels like a good fit."
Ver Steeg, 42, is rumored to be head coach Greg Schiano's top choice to replace Bill Cubit, who resigned Monday. The pair was on the Chicago Bears staff together from 1996-97, and Ver Steeg said his relationship with Schiano made coming to Rutgers appealing.
Schiano may go with Ver Steeg

Former Utah assistant Craig Ver Steeg is on the Rutgers campus and will spend a second day today interviewing for the school's vacant offensive coordinator's job with head coach Greg Schiano.
Interviewing Ver Steeg for assistant's job

Women's Basketball

Men's Basketball

As long as Jerome Coleman is on the court, the Rutgers men’s basketball team has a shot, albeit it a long one, of beating anybody.
The senior guard, whose slump coincided with a six-game losing streak that many thought had left the Scarlet Knights for dead, magically regained his confidence and old form Wednesday night, scoring 31 points in a 68-65 upset of 24th-ranked Syracuse.
Coleman leads Rutgers in upset over Syracuse

With the score tied and 14 seconds remaining in yesterday’s game between Rutgers and Syracuse, Scarlet Knights forward Herve Lamizana took a pass from point guard Mike Sherrod and launched a 3-pointer from the left elbow.
At first, Lamizana felt the ball fading left, and then he realized it was also too strong. But the combination proved perfect. The ball banked off the glass and dropped through the waiting net to give Rutgers a three-point lead that, after Carmelo Anthony’s miss at the buzzer, proved the winning points in Rutgers’ first Big East victory of the season, 68-65, over the 24th-ranked Orangemen at the Louis Brown Athletic Center/RAC.
Lamizana’s 3-pointer in the final seconds gives Rutgers first Big East win

Jerome Coleman scored 26 of his 31 points in the second half and Herve Lamizana banked in a 3-pointer with 16.6 seconds left to give Rutgers a 68-65 win over No. 24 Syracuse on Wednesday night.
The Scarlet Knights (9-9, 1-5 Big East) snapped a six-game losing streak and became the final Big East team to win a conference game.
Syracuse (13-3, 4-2) lost in its first game as a ranked team this season, and for the fourth time in its last five at Rutgers.
Rutgers Upsets #24 Syracuse 68-65

When Rutgers stepped out on the court in the second half of last night's matchup with No. 24 Syracuse, it was not the same Rutgers team that lost six straight games. The Scarlet Knights (9-9, 1-5) that graced the hardwood in that second stanza were completely recharged and ready to upset the Orangemen (13-3, 4-2), and prepared to go down to the wire with a team armed with weapons that can light any arena.
Bank open for Herve

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim called the shot a prayer.
And unskilled.
Rutgers coach Gary Waters said the God he gives honor to at the end of every game may have had something to do with it. And Herve Lamizana, the forward who tossed the ball up, banked it off the glass, through the hoop, and in for three points, with the score tied? "It was lucky," the Rutgers junior said, agreeing all the way.
Rutgers has cause to celebrate

This is the way it was most of last season for Rutgers. The gritty defense, clutch shooting from Jerome Coleman and just a touch of Rutgers Athletic Center magic.
This season, all of that had been missing -- until last night.
So what if the basketball fates happened to be smiling down on Rutgers? The Scarlet Knights will take their 68-65 upset over No. 24-ranked Syracuse at the RAC and won't make any apologies for the 3-pointer from the top of the key that junior forward Herve Lamizana banked in with 16.6 seconds left for the game-winning basket.
Rutgers bounces back to end skid at six

Jerome Coleman isn't sure if it's the 2-3 matchup zone or simply the orange uniform colors, but something about playing against Syracuse appeals to the Rutgers senior.
After lighting up the Orangemen for 52 points as the teams split their two meetings a year ago, Coleman had 31 points -- 26 in the second half -- to fuel Rutgers' upset of No. 24-ranked Syracuse last night at the RAC.
"I don't know what it is," Coleman said. "It just seems like I play well against them. The main thing (about last night) is that it came at the right time. That's what matters the most."
Coleman finds his target again

Rutgers hadn't won a game this year, and for most of last night, they couldn't buy a basket for all the money in New Jersey. But when they needed it most, Jerome Coleman gave them an offensive barrage to swing the game and Herve Lamizana a 3-point prayer to win it.
RUTGERS' 'LUCKY' TREY CRUSHES ORANGEMEN

As long as Jerome Coleman is on the court, the Rutgers men's basketball team has a shot, albeit it a long one, of beating anybody. The senior guard, whose slump coincided with a six-game losing streak that many thought had left the Scarlet Knights for dead, magically regained his confidence and old form Wednesday night, scoring 31 points in a 68-65 upset of 24th-ranked Syracuse.
With the win, Rutgers evened its record at 9-9 overall, improved to 1-5 in the Big East and strengthened its chances of qualifying for the conference tournament (the last place team in each of the league's two divisions won't receive an invitation).
Rutgers breaks skid with win over No. 24 Syracuse

It looked like the one-on-one mismatch of the century. It pitted a guy with considerable hype, considerable size and considerable offensive acumen against, well, a guy with none of those things. When Rutgers point guard Mike Sherrod, 6-foot-2 in combat boots, assumed his defensive post against Carmelo Anthony, six inches taller and considerably meatier, you could sense 8,000 folks doing a double-take.
Sherrod is known for his gritty on-ball defense. But Anthony is just plain known. In this age of overdeveloped 18-year-olds, he is a super-freshman of the first order, muscling his way to 21.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per outing and inspiring talk of the NBA Draft Lottery.
Rutgers keeps Anthony under control

On the banks of the ol' Raritan" goes the line in the Rutgers fight song.
On Wednesday night, the Rutgers faithful were singing about a completely different bank.
Herve Lamizana's unbelievable - and unintentional - bank shot from just outside the 3-point line gave struggling Rutgers a 68-65 Big East victory over No.24 Syracuse at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.
Orangemen fall to Rutgers

Site Information

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High Prospects

After two months of visiting some of the top schools in the country, Ira Guilford, of Hoboken, announced yesterday that he will be returning to his family's Ohio roots when he plays at Ohio State University next season.
"My aunts and uncles are already season ticket holders," Guilford said with a smile.
Though "not a deciding factor," having family in Cleveland, Columbus and Youngstown - where his father was raised - did play a part in his decision, Guilford said.
Hoboken's Guilford is Buckeye-bound

Although Princeton University is no longer in the recruiting mix for Notre Dame High senior quarterback Jay Graber, he has enough options to be patient with his college selection.
Division I-A schools like Boston College, Penn State and Syracuse have interest in Graber if he would get bigger and stronger during a postgraduate year at a prep school. The Division I-AA interest - like Lafayette and Lehigh in the Patriot League and New Hampshire in the Atlantic 10 - is more immediate for the 6-foot-2 left-hander.
"With a quarterback, you need the right match," Notre Dame coach Chappy Moore said last night. "We know he needs to get a little more arm strength, has to get a little bigger, a little quicker. The accuracy and smarts are there."
Graber remains patient

Around Big East

Around the nation

Interesting Article

Three years ago, in a column by yours truly, came the following assertion: Marcus Houston would become president one day.
No matter what happened in Houston's athletic career -- considerable as it seemed -- the blue chip running back from Denver's Thomas Jefferson High was destined to be a world-class human being.
All-world kid finds new home at Colorado State

There's only one group of people who love recruiting more than the Tom Lemmings of the world, and that's coaches. Coaches love selling themselves and their schools. They are competition junkies, and recruiting feeds their jones in that lag time between the bowl games and Labor Day. Take a coach away from recruiting, and you may as well take away his greaseboard and tell him not to draw up plays.
Meet Rick Neuheisel. He coaches teenagers for a living. For the last two months, he has been living like one -- one who took dad's car out without permission. Neuheisel is grounded.
Neuheisel keeps punishment in perspective

Anthony Schlegel never really got caught up in the world of big-time recruiting when he was a senior at Dallas' Lake Highlands High, but the 21-year-old linebacker is about to now.
Last week, Schlegel told his coaches that life at the Academy just wasn't for him and he was going to transfer. "I really love football and at the Academy, everything is the military first, then academics and football after that," Schlegel told ESPN.com Tuesday.
Schlegel now in the middle of a recruiting war

Donald "Big Dog" Forbes:
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