PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Mike Rice remembers watching Wally Judge play when he was a McDonald’s All-American in high school.
“I just saw him as one of the best athletes with that frame,” the Rutgers coach told SNY.tv.
“That’s what pros are, the ability to run, jump, change directions. That’s what a pro body looks like.”
Fast forward several years and Rice will now get the opportunity to coach the 6-foot-9, 245-pound Judge after he sat out last season following his transfer from Kansas State.
Coming off a 14-18 season and facing the loss of forward Givydas Biruta, who transferred to Rhode Island, Rutgers desperately needs an infusion of power and athleticism in the frontcourt and Judge could end up being a force in the revamped Big East Conference.
“He got so much better,” Rice said. “He’s one of the best athletes when he steps on the floor that I don’t care who we play.”
During the 2010-11 season, Judge played in 17 games (11 starts) at Kansas State as a sophomore and averaged 5.5 points and 3.8 rebounds.
But he left the team in January 2011, when then-coach Frank Martin said Judge quit the team.
“He’s not happy,” Martin told the Kansas City Star. “I kinda saw it coming because of some of his emotional situations. He just has not been enjoying it.”
Said Judge: “People get a little misconstrued. They think that I was told to leave, but I just left, it was no hard feelings toward Frank. I love the guy as a coach. He taught me a lot in my two years there. I guess it’s just every situation isn’t for everybody. So I felt it was time to find a better situation. He agreed with my decision and we just went from there.”
Judge, a Washington, D.C., native who played high school ball at Arlington (Fla.) Country Day, chose Rutgers in part because of his “personal relationship” with associate head coach David Cox, and also because he wanted his mother, Rosemary Yorn, to be able to see him play closer to home.
“My mom never really got to see me play all throughout high school because I went to high school in Florida,” Judge said. “She never really got to see me play in college, except when we played on TV. So now I’m closer to home, she can drive up, watch me play. And just being back around family, it feels good to be home and having my family so close.”
Judge admits there are similarities between Rice and Martin, now the South Carolina coach. Both are aggressive, in-your-face coaches who sometimes toe the line of what is considered appropriate with their players.
“No knock on Frank’s personality, like I said he’s a great guy,” Judge said. “But when it’s on the court time, it’s business time. It’s straight business. It’s no games. With Rice, he’s intense, but it’s like a fun intense. It’s like a big brother who wanna push you to get better, and I appreciate that because it does make us better….At the end of the day, it makes us tougher mentally and physically.”
Judge has already seen plenty of tough times.
On his right arm, he has a tattoo that reads, “God Bless the child that can hold it’s own.”
“It’s something I seen Amar’e Stoudemire with,” Judge said. “He has it tattooed across his chest and that just always stuck with me. Where I come from, I had to grow up fast and learn things on my own. So it just meant a lot to me to stay focused and be my own man.”
Judge turns 22 in August and will be the closest thing Rutgers has to a man next season.
Judge and 6-6 junior college wing Vincent Garrett will provide two key additions to a team still seeking its first NCAA Tournament bid since 1991.
“The potential’s there [with Judge] and now he’s developing an offensive game,” Rice said of the former McDonald’s All-American. “He’s developing an understanding, he’s developing good instincts, and that’s hopefully the next step to his success.”
