If you have not see the ESPN "30 for 30" on the REQUIEM FOR THE BIG EAST and the Big Ten documentary on Rutgers' basketball, you should watch it... You get a flavor for the history of eastern basketball and the struggles they have had historically at the college level, though have experienced much success at the prep and pro levels in the area.. I think the '30 for 30' on the Big East is one of my favorites and I have seen most of them. Very well done.
Rutgers made the Final 4 in the 1975-76 season and have only made the NCAA tournament 4 times since then. AS A BACKDROP TO THE RUTGERS STORY, before the popularity of the Big East in the late 1970's and 80's, college basketball in the northeast was made up of independents and small conference teams that did not necessarily get automatic bids to the NCAA's... Its best HS products up to that point, New York's Lew Alcindor(Kareem Abdul Jabbar) and Philadelphia's Wilt Chamberlain left the northeast to go west to power schools more likely to make the NCAA tournament.. Chamberlain went to Kansas and Abdul Jabbar to UCLA...One thing the ESPN documentary DID NOT EMPHASIZE that was kind of what 'broke the camel's back' in recruiting is that in 1977, the 2 best players in the US in HS ball. Albert King from New York and Gene Banks from Philadelphia, went to the ACC.. King went to Maryland and Banks to Duke... 2 TOP NOTCH northeast kids leaving the area, AGAIN!! Dave Gavitt from Providence knew he had a 'gold mine' if he could keep the northeast kids at home and the foundation of Big East basketball was born. Gavitt, of course, built the conference and pinnacled a few years later.
BEFORE THE BIG EAST, eastern coaches at all programs had to work very hard to keep their local kids home.... Dick Vitale is getting old now, but at the time he really was the catalyst that recruited that Final 4 Rutgers team. He was an assistant coach for Rutgers before taking the job at University of Detroit but probably should have done everything he could to stay at Rutgers and build a power at that school. Dick Lloyd took over the Rutgers program in 1971 and hired a very young HS coach in VItale to be his assistant.. VItale had the gift of gab then as well plus a New Jersey heritage.. VITALE HAD TO FIGHT HARD TO KEEP THOSE LOCAL KIDS AT HOME AND GO TO RUTGERS.. He recruited a guy named Mike Dabney from under Seton Hall's nose in East Orange, New Jersey and then a street tough, cool as could be, Phil Sellers, from Brooklyn in New York City. Sellers was from Bedford Stuyvesant, which at the time was considered one of the roughest housing projects and neighborhoods in the US.... Sellers carried himself similar to New York Knick, Walt Frazier yet had a New York street toughness that no one would mess with him.. He became their star and the ultimate confident player..Sellers originally committed to Notre Dame but the additional scholarships that Rutgers offered made Sellers change his mind.. That was the key.. They added James Bailey, Hollis Copeland, and Eddie Jordan plus a cast of interesting characters.
Vitale wanted the head coaching job after Lloyd left but Rutgers gave the job to Tom Young from American University.. Very different times in the mid 70's as Young would have the players over and give them a beer or two on a monthly basis over at his home.. The players bonded. Rutgers is the STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY yet their arena was able to only hold 2800 people at capacity.... The ceilings were rotting and they had to stop every Rutgers home game MANY TIMES DURING THE GAME to sweep the falling paint chips off the floor that fell from the ceiling after the place was rocking with Scarlett Knight fans. The team went UNDEFEATED that year and for the first time, exposed to the nation... They were beat in the NCAA semifinals by Michigan(Indiana beat Michigan for the national championship that year..In retrospect, 3 Big Ten teams out of 4 in that Final Four though Rutgers was not Big Ten at the time).
Rutgers finest hour as far as a basketball program.. Virtually all the members of that Rutgers team were successful in whatever endeavor the players chose in life.. They get together frequently to this day. It was the eastern 'breakthrough' before the Big East breakthrough. A story of an ambitious assistant, Dick Vitale, building an eastern power when that was unheard of in that day. Great history.
Rutgers made the Final 4 in the 1975-76 season and have only made the NCAA tournament 4 times since then. AS A BACKDROP TO THE RUTGERS STORY, before the popularity of the Big East in the late 1970's and 80's, college basketball in the northeast was made up of independents and small conference teams that did not necessarily get automatic bids to the NCAA's... Its best HS products up to that point, New York's Lew Alcindor(Kareem Abdul Jabbar) and Philadelphia's Wilt Chamberlain left the northeast to go west to power schools more likely to make the NCAA tournament.. Chamberlain went to Kansas and Abdul Jabbar to UCLA...One thing the ESPN documentary DID NOT EMPHASIZE that was kind of what 'broke the camel's back' in recruiting is that in 1977, the 2 best players in the US in HS ball. Albert King from New York and Gene Banks from Philadelphia, went to the ACC.. King went to Maryland and Banks to Duke... 2 TOP NOTCH northeast kids leaving the area, AGAIN!! Dave Gavitt from Providence knew he had a 'gold mine' if he could keep the northeast kids at home and the foundation of Big East basketball was born. Gavitt, of course, built the conference and pinnacled a few years later.
BEFORE THE BIG EAST, eastern coaches at all programs had to work very hard to keep their local kids home.... Dick Vitale is getting old now, but at the time he really was the catalyst that recruited that Final 4 Rutgers team. He was an assistant coach for Rutgers before taking the job at University of Detroit but probably should have done everything he could to stay at Rutgers and build a power at that school. Dick Lloyd took over the Rutgers program in 1971 and hired a very young HS coach in VItale to be his assistant.. VItale had the gift of gab then as well plus a New Jersey heritage.. VITALE HAD TO FIGHT HARD TO KEEP THOSE LOCAL KIDS AT HOME AND GO TO RUTGERS.. He recruited a guy named Mike Dabney from under Seton Hall's nose in East Orange, New Jersey and then a street tough, cool as could be, Phil Sellers, from Brooklyn in New York City. Sellers was from Bedford Stuyvesant, which at the time was considered one of the roughest housing projects and neighborhoods in the US.... Sellers carried himself similar to New York Knick, Walt Frazier yet had a New York street toughness that no one would mess with him.. He became their star and the ultimate confident player..Sellers originally committed to Notre Dame but the additional scholarships that Rutgers offered made Sellers change his mind.. That was the key.. They added James Bailey, Hollis Copeland, and Eddie Jordan plus a cast of interesting characters.
Vitale wanted the head coaching job after Lloyd left but Rutgers gave the job to Tom Young from American University.. Very different times in the mid 70's as Young would have the players over and give them a beer or two on a monthly basis over at his home.. The players bonded. Rutgers is the STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY yet their arena was able to only hold 2800 people at capacity.... The ceilings were rotting and they had to stop every Rutgers home game MANY TIMES DURING THE GAME to sweep the falling paint chips off the floor that fell from the ceiling after the place was rocking with Scarlett Knight fans. The team went UNDEFEATED that year and for the first time, exposed to the nation... They were beat in the NCAA semifinals by Michigan(Indiana beat Michigan for the national championship that year..In retrospect, 3 Big Ten teams out of 4 in that Final Four though Rutgers was not Big Ten at the time).
Rutgers finest hour as far as a basketball program.. Virtually all the members of that Rutgers team were successful in whatever endeavor the players chose in life.. They get together frequently to this day. It was the eastern 'breakthrough' before the Big East breakthrough. A story of an ambitious assistant, Dick Vitale, building an eastern power when that was unheard of in that day. Great history.
Last edited:
