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Saturday / December 14.
  • Tranghese Says Rutgers Has 'Gotta Get Better'

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    Even Mike Tranghese thinks Rutgers has a lot of work to do on the hardwood.

    The outgoing Big East Commissioner told Chris “Mad Dog” Russo during a radio interview Tuesday that Fred Hill’s club had to improve or there would be changes on The Banks.

    “Well, they gotta get better,” Tranghese said, according to a report in The Star-Ledger. “I sound like I’m making excuses and I know this is a hard league, but they don’t have an athletic director at Rutgers. They are in the process of naming someone and I would think that down the road, everybody’s got to win.

    “If you don’t win, you’re going to make changes. Our coaches are being paid a significant amount of money. This is a hard league to coach in, but I don’t see any administration staying with any coach for a long period of time when they are winning zero, one, two three or four games.”

    Rutgers is 10-17 overall and 1-13 in the Big East with its only win coming against DePaul, which has yet to win a conference game.

    Hill’s freshman class includes McDonald’s All-American Mike Rosario of St. Anthony, one of the top scorers in the conference, and big man Greg Echenique of St. Benedict’s, who has been an effective rebounder.

    Next year’s incoming class includes forward Dane Miller of Rush-Henrietta High School, who could be a point-forward type, and Austin Johnson of Blair Academy, who could also contribute down low.

    Rutgers still needs a point guard to replace the graduating Anthony Farmer and has its sights set on JUCO point guard James Beatty, a 6-2, 195-pound point guard at Miami Dade College who is averaging 13.6 points.

    Without Beatty or someone else who can play at a high level, Rutgers will have to play Corey Chandler or Mike Coburn at the point, neither of whom is a high-level Big East floor general.

    Asked if Hill, who has a record of 31-56 in three years, deserves more time, Tranghese replied:

    “You know, I did last year. I like him and you know, Freddy turned his roster over this year. He probably has one of the three or four best freshman in our league playing — and a lot of people don’t know about him, Mike Rosario — and he’s got a good recruiting class.

    “But the problem is as you turn over and turn over, like Norm Roberts has that same issue at St. John’s and Freddy’s got it at Rutgers and now Jerry (Wainwright) has it at DePaul, fans don’t care anymore. We live in this age of instant gratification. They want wins. And I think if Freddy were here, Freddy would tell you. I’ve talked to Freddy a couple of times during the year — he understands that next year he’s going to have to win more games.”

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    Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle. A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.

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