After two disappointing performances and back-to-back losses to Illinois and Wake Forest, Rutgers marched into The Rock and knocked off their in-state rival Seton Hall 70-63 in the Garden State Hardwood Classic, earning themselves their first win over the Pirates on their home floor in ten years. The victory for Rutgers serves us as a reminder that this team isn’t quite done yet, and not to give up on these Scarlet Knights.
Mawot Mag’s return provided a big boost in the win over Seton
Hall and certainly helped showcase how tough this Rutgers team really is. The
Scarlet Knights played with a completely different attitude, fire, and grit with Mag returning
to the hardwood. After all, he is the most important player to this team, andhe showed why on Saturday night.
With Mag returning to the lineup and Rutgers playing solid team basketball in the win over Seton Hall, can the Scarlet Knights build some
momentum for the rest of December and finish the month at 9-3 before they face Ohio State on January 3rd?
With three games remaining in the December slate, Rutgers will face Long Island University (LIU) next Saturday, December 16th at The
RAC before facing Mississippi State in a neutral floor meeting at The Rock on December 23rd.
Rutgers will round out the month with a home game against Stonehill on December
30th before the Scarlet Knights dive into their Big Ten schedule.
To help me glean more on Rutgers’ upcoming opponents LIU (12/16) and Stonehill (12/30) as well as to what’s happening around
Northeast Conference (NEC) basketball, I reached out to NEC insider and guru Nelson Castillo.
Nelson Castillo is a passionate NEC basketball insider. He became involved in NEC basketball going back to his days as a student at LIU-Brooklyn as he followed the 1996-97 team that won the NEC Championship and earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament as a 13-seed falling just short to Villanova 101-91 in the First Round.
Since then, he has followed and covered NEC basketball for over 25 years. In 2021, he recently created his own web site called the NEC Hoops Insider, devoted towards the coverage of NEC basketball. Castillo also maintains a presence on Twitter as he posts updates concerning NEC news and NEC basketball games.
Check out all of Nelson Castillo's work on his web site at NEC Hoops Insider (nechoopsinsider.wordpress.com). Please follow Nelson @NelCastNY.
Rutgers Hoops Insider (RHI): Nelson, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this Q&A with me today. I'm really glad to have the opportunity to discuss some Northeast Conference (NEC) basketball with you today.
You're one of the most passionate NEC hoops guys I've known and you have done a fantastic job covering all news concerning NEC basketball this year, including scheduling updates, conference realignment, transfer portal news, coaching hires, etc. the list could go on.
But, let me first start by asking you, other than the great 1996-97 season LIU-Brooklyn had when you were a student there, what got you into covering NEC hoops for such a long time? And why are you so passionate about NEC hoops?
Nelson Castillo (NC): I was a sophomore at LIU back in 1996-97 and in the summer before that LIU added a controversial freshman in a guard from New York City named Richie Parker who had committed to play for Seton Hall a couple of years prior but was arrested for sexual assault while he was still in high school and Seton Hall walked away. He was getting a second chance at LIU after sitting out a year and I had known about his story and wanted to watch him play. Little did I know then, LIU also added a Rutgers transfer by the name of Charles Jones (who is currently assistant coach at LIU) who would turn out the be the nation’s leading scorer that year and the following year. LIU went to the NCAA tournament that season and I was hooked on LIU basketball pretty much ever since. Although I was a follower of LIU and NEC hoops for a long time, I didn’t start covering LIU until 2012 when I started a blog which was called Blackbirds Hoops Journal. I did that for five seasons until I had my daughter and I decided to stop writing full-time and closed down my blog. A couple of years ago, I launched a new blog site named NEC Hoops Insider more geared to the entire NEC which I write on a part-time basis. I do most of my coverage through the app formerly known as Twitter, now known as X. The NEC is a fun league to watch. It is more of a guard-oriented league since true bigs are few and far between but it features different styles of play, unique coaches and players, small gyms, and usually a lot of competitive basketball especially during conference play.
RHI: You were a student at LIU, and you're no doubt a really big fan of the basketball team, but do you root for all the NEC teams during the basketball season?
NC: Obviously as a LIU alum, my main rooting interest is LIU basketball but having followed the NEC for over 25 years, I like rooting for NEC teams to do well, especially during non-conference play. I like seeing NEC teams do well against other conferences. It is not at all easy. NEC schools have to play a bunch of road games during non-conference and a ton of buy games to bring in money for their athletic departments. When you see an NEC team finish at or above .500 after non-conference play, you know they are going to be in it to the end.
RHI: For those that don't know, the campuses of LIU-Brooklyn and LIU-Post recently merged together to form one LIU. LIU-Post used to compete as a Division II program but with the merger, athletics was dropped from Post and athletics continued at the campus in Brooklyn; however, the name Blackbirds was dropped and instead they were given the nickname Sharks. Do you like the new nickname or do you wish they kept Blackbirds? Why did they decide to do this?
NC: Back in 2018, the LIU administration decided as a cost-saving measure to merge the DII LIU Post Athletics with DI LIU Brooklyn Athletics. I also believe it was a strategic move. LIU Post sponsored football which LIU Brooklyn did not. By merging athletic departments, football was elevated to DI which helped add another football school to the NEC which is DI FCS. LIU also had plans to add DI women’s and men’s ice hockey out by LIU Post on Long Island. By merging athletics, all these programs would immediately become DI and avoid any sort of transitional period from DII to DI. The new Sharks mascot was picked out of three options by the LIU community. As a Brooklyn alum, the old Blackbirds name was near and dear to many and had been synonymous the LIU Brooklyn athletics since the 1930s. I didn’t like when they decided to make the change but I understood that they did not want to slight LIU Post athletics which was also losing their mascot which was Pioneers. After a few years, I’ve gotten used to the new Sharks mascot. I still would rather have the old Blackbirds mascot if I’m being honest.
RHI: Have you had the opportunity to travel and watch some of the other basketball programs in the NEC? Name the best arena/gym in the NEC. Best atmosphere in the NEC.
NC: I used to travel all the time for games but not as much recently since I’ve moved away from where most of these schools are based. I have not been to every NEC gym but I have been to a lot of them. The NEC has gone through a bunch of changes with teams coming and going the last few years so I have been out to any of the newer schools such as Le Moyne who entered the NEC this season from DII or Merrimack who entered DI a few years ago. Obviously, as a low mid-major conference, the gyms/arenas are pretty small especially when you compare them to any power conference school. Of the current NEC teams, I believe Wagner out on Staten Island has one of the best atmospheres. Their gym is compact but it holds sound well so it gets really loud during big games.
RHI: Last year, the entire college basketball universe quickly became familiar with Farleigh Dickinson (FDU) after they pulled off the most stunning upset in college basketball history, defeating 1-seed Purdue 63-58 in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.
FDU entered that contest vastly undersized, an overall record of 19-15 with zero signature wins, and lost the NEC Championship to Merrimack but by virtue FDU made the NCAA Tournament because Merrimack was still in the NCAA Division I transition phase, thus not allowing them to compete in the NCAA Tournament.
So, did you even remotely think FDU had a chance of winning that game last year? Just how big was that win for the conference?
NC: Honestly, no. FDU was a huge underdog and didn’t have anyone taller than 6’7” on their roster and they had to go out against 7’4” Zach Edey. Plus FDU they were fortunate just to be in the NCAA Tournament. Every year, the hope for the NEC team involved is to make it a game for as long as possible since for the past decade they had to play in the First Four in Dayton and if they survived, had to play a one-seed team. As I watched that game though, you can see FDU was the most confident team and they kept making play after play. It was stunning to watch. It was easily the biggest win in NEC history by a mile. It was the first non-First Four NCAA Tournament win in NEC history and being just the second 16-seed to beat a 1-seed made it even more special.
RHI: For years, the NEC has been looked upon by the high-majors as a conference filled with "punching bags" and in the world of NIL usually the high-majors win out in the recruiting/transfer portal battles because they have more money and resources, so what does the NEC have to do to keep its teams competitive in college basketball?
NC: The college basketball world was already tough for the little guys and now with NIL, it most likely only going to widen the gap. A lot of smaller schools are trying their best in this new NIL world by starting up collectives and looking at different ways to stay competitive in this ever- changing landscape. Unfortunately, schools in power conferences are always to have the financial backing of huge TV contracts, huge alumni bases with boosters who have deep pockets, and autonomy from the NCAA which helps gear everything towards them. It is tough being the small guys and it is likely going to get tougher unless some federal guidelines for NIL are established.
RHI: Recently, I heard the news Sacred Heart and Merrimack announced their departures from the NEC and they will join the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) for 2024-25 season. Were you disappointed when you heard this announcement?
In order for the NEC to continue to receive an automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament, the conference had to go out and find a replacement to keep the NEC at the required league minimum. The NEC decided to add Chicago State to the conference. What were your initial thoughts of the NEC's decision to add Chicago State to the conference? Are there any other schools that have expressed interest in joining the NEC, perhaps a Division II program looking to make the jump to Division I?
NC: The NEC has had a lot of movement over the last few years. Since the end of the 2019-20 season, the NEC has had four schools leave or plan to leave, three new schools added or will be added and one school terminated its entire athletic program. Merrimack and Sacred Heart are the newest schools leaving joining previous member Mount St. Mary’s in the MAAC. It is always disappointing to lose schools you’ve become familiar with. I was surprised to hear Merrimack was leaving after coming up from DII and just becoming fully eligible this season. The NEC gave them an opportunity in DI and they immediately bailed at the first chance. It is not very good optics for them in my opinion. It is sad to see Sacred Heart as they have been in the NEC for a while now and I’ve enjoyed covering them and visiting their campus. At the end of the day, every school is going to do what they feel is best for them. Their departures put the NEC in a bind with their automatic bid since it would leave them with only six full DI members as Stonehill and Le Moyne won’t be full DI members until they complete their transitional periods coming from DII and the NCAA requires a conference to have at least seven full D1 members for basketball. Chicago State as the lone DI independent school, it made them attractive to the NEC and it made sense for the NEC to invite them to join next season. Chicago State is not the ideal choice as they are in the midwest and in a bus league like the NEC, a flight to/from Chicago will now be required to play them and vice versa, it was a move the NEC had to make to keep their automatic qualifier. I’m fine with it. The next step for the NEC is likely looking back into DII schools in the Northeast and seeing if there is any interest out there. One DII school that has been long rumored is the University of New Have in Connecticut. There might be one or twoothers on their radar as well.
RHI: This is a new season in the NEC with some new faces, including coaches, players, and teams. When the NEC preseason polls were released in late October, Sacred Heart was projected to finished first followed by Central Connecticut and Farleigh Dickson. The two teams Rutgers will face from the NEC this year were projected to finish in the bottom half of the conference with Stonehill projected 6th and LIU projected 7th. Do you think the preseason polls appear to be accurate? Has there been any one team from the NEC that has surprised you the most so far this season? Any team from the NEC that has disappointed you? Or about as expected?
NC: My preseason projections were slightly different for what the NEC coaches poll put out. I agreed with the coaches having Sacred Heart at the top, although I picked FDU second and Central Connecticut third. I agreed with them picking LIU sixth and Stonehill seventh. Both teams are going through rebuilds this season so it made sense to have them near the bottom. For the most part, there wasn’t a huge difference from my projection to what the coaches put out in their preseason poll. The one NEC team that has surprised me so far is Merrimack. They lost three key starters from last season including the co-player of the year but they look like they are once again going to be pretty good this season. Also, pleasantly surprised by Le Moyne as they already got their first DI win and nearly had a second. Right now, Sacred Heart has been disappointing. They have been fighting through some nagging injuries but they added more depth to help overcome that but they haven’t been able to get this going yet. I still think they will be there at the end. I would also put FDU as a bit disappointing.
RHI: In head coach Rod Strickland's first year at the helm for LIU, the Sharks had an utter disaster of a season as they finished 3-26 overall and 1-15 in the NEC. The year prior to Strickland taking over the program, Derek Kellogg guided LIU to a record of 16-14 overall and 12-6 in the NEC. So why such a big drop off in Strickland's first year?
NC: LIU decided in late June 2022 to make a coaching change from Kellogg to Strickland although Kellogg had his best season since year one in which he took LIU to the NCAA Tournament. Once Strickland arrived, several key guys hit the transfer portal including three starters. Strickland was not left with many options with very little left in terms of quality in the transfer portal. Most of the guys he ended up getting were not very good. At least three players left the team during the season. He had to play walk-ons for meaningful minutes in games. They had a ton of injuries as well. But overall, it was a bad team hence they were the worst team in the NET and KenPom last season. Strickland rebuilt the entire roster this season. He kept just four players from last season and added three transfers (two of which are his sons Tai and Terell) and six freshmen.
RHI: Now Strickland is in his second year with LIU, and already the Sharks are off to a 1-7 start. LIU has played some stiff competition but were non-competitive in losses to Air Force, UCLA, and Miami. LIU did show some fight in close losses to Northern Kentucky and Columbia and tallied their first win of the year against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi back in late November.
From what you've witnessed so far this season, what does LIU do really well that impresses you? And what do they do that makes you scratch your head? And what do they need to improve on to have success this year?
NC: From an outside view, you see the 1-7 record and some of the final scores and say they are a terrible team. But if you compare this team to last season’s, you can tell right away this team has more talent on it than it did a year ago. The most recent loss to Miami was the one game they were non-competitive in from the tip. They had their moments in pretty much every game except for the Miami game this season. They were in it versus NKU and Columbia until late. One thing I do like is that this LIU team is better defensive than LIU teams in the past. Now, it is still not anything to write home about but it is improved. They had their struggles offensively and have gone through stretches where they’ve gone cold from the field. The competition they’ve played likely had something to do with that but it has been an issue. As has turnovers, they have turned the ball over a lot this season. LIU likes to play fast, probably to their detriment at this stage of their rebuilding process and will commit a lot of silly turnovers. Hopefully, as the season goes along and the level of competition eases up, these issues improve.
RHI: What does success look like in year two of the Rod Strickland era?
NC: After winning one game versus a DI team last year and a roster overhaul this summer, the bar is set pretty low. With a DI win already under their belt, they are already doing better than last season. They didn’t do themselves a ton of favors with their non-conference scheduling this season with a younger team, scheduling only two non-conference home games in between ten away games. It is tough to build confidence playing tough teams on the road. Before the season, I said ten wins overall would be a very successful season. I don’t think they are going to get there. If they can get at least five to six conference wins while developing a lot of these freshmen and sophomores, that would be a success and help get things back on track going into next season.
RHI: Who are the players from LIU to keep an eye on if you're Rutgers? What do they do really well?
NC: Two players for Rutgers to keep an eye on are Tai Strickland and Eric Acker. Tai Strickland is a grad transfer who is playing for his dad in his last season of eligibility. Tai is easily the oldest player on a team that features only four upperclassmen. He is more of a penetrating guard than a shooting guard but he will take open looks. Acker is a freshman who is LIU’s leading scorer. He has been very impressive at times with his shooting ability and his craftiness. But he tends to turn the ball over a lot especially when he is tasked to play point guard. He is still getting used to the speed and agility of the game at this level. Also, look out for sophomore RJ Greene, who has had some of his better games against higher competition.
RHI: Where is LIU most vulnerable?
NC: Right now, this team doesn’t have a ton of size. Outside of 7’ Nikola Djapa and 6’9’’ Gezim Bajrami, they don’t have any other player taller than 6’8” which hurts them on the boards. They’ve only won the rebounding battle twice in eight games this season. Also, as I mentioned before are turnovers. They have won the turnover battle only twice this season.
RHI: Rutgers has had a history of playing down to its competition, and playing in tight games against lesser opponents. I mean, take the loss to Lafayette in late November 2021 as an example. Rutgers let Lafayette hang around for most of the game and the Leopards delivered a huge blow to the Scarlet Knights with a buzzer beating three-point shot to pull off the upset. Do you see Rutgers-LIU being a close game or do you think the Scarlet Knights will blow the doors off the Sharks next Saturday?
NC: In light of Rutgers coming off their recent win at Seton Hall and the return of Magot Mag and LIU having lost by at least 20 to two power conference teams on the road they have played already this season in UCLA and Miami, I have to think Rutgers’ size and overall athleticism will take over at some point and be at least 20-point win for the Rutgers. LIU right now is not built for a major upset.
RHI: If LIU wants to dream of an upset against Rutgers, what do they have to do to pull it off?
NC: If they have any chance of winning, they need to hang with Rutgers on the boards, make at least 40% of their threes, limit their turnovers to single digits, limit Rutgers second chance points, and points off of turnovers. Also, get to the free throw line 25 to 30 times, and make at least 85% of their free throws. They need to do all that and hope Rutgers is having an off-shooting night.
RHI: Last year, Stonehill played its first year at the Division I level and the Skyhawks had some decent success. Despite being their first year in the NEC, head coach Chris Kraus guided the Skyhawks to a 3rd place finish in the conference with a 10-6 record, which is quite impressive considering they were projected to finish last in the NEC in the preseason polls.
This year expectations are a little higher for Stonehill as they were projected to finish 6th in the NEC, according to the preseason polls. But they are off to a rough start. The Skyhawks are now 1-10 overall on the season and face four more out-of-conference opponents before they jump into the NEC regular season. Stonehill hasn't looked particularly good, especially in blowout losses to Connecticut, St. Joseph's, and George Washington, and to Division I newcomer Texas A&M Commerce. Stonehill registered its only win of the season against Army back in early November.
Now that you've seen Stonehill play 11 games, how do you think the Skyhawks will fare in the NEC this season?
NC: Year two in Division I is not off to a flying start for the Skyhawks (no pun intended). It was going to be difficult for Stonehill to have the same type of success they had in year one with the amount of experience and cohesion they lost to graduation. Adding to the challenge has been that Stonehill has had to deal with the injury bug during the non-conference portion. I had them projected to finish sixth in my preseason projections. I might have been a little too optimist about them but their head coach Chris Kraus wasn’t named NEC Coach of the Year last season for nothing. I think they’ll land around a 6th or a 7th place finish.
RHI: As Chris Kraus enters his 11th season at the helm and continues to guide Stonehill through the transitionary period, do you think administration will dial up the heat under his seat if they have a dreadful year in the NEC?
NC: No, not at all. If that were the case, that would be a problem. I have to assume administrations understand how challenging it is for programs going through these NCAA- mandated four-year transitional periods. He is coming off a 14-win season in which they finished with ten conference wins and finished tied for second place. This team is on the rebuild now, it is going to take time. I don’t think Kraus has anything to worry about for the next few seasons.
RHI: Why is Stonehill struggling so much this season? Is it the offensive/defensive woes? Do they lack the talent?
NC: Last season’s team was older and had played together for several seasons at the DII level and came into year one at the DI level ready to play. Most of that group is gone this season and they’ve had to transition to a roster whose overall level of experience is not at the level of the team they had last season. They have one returning starter back in fifth-year grad student Max Zagarowski who is still currently starting for them. The majority are guys either new to the program or new to the role they are now having to play. Plus, they have struggled defensively so far this season. They are near the bottom in terms of defensive efficiency. They’re just having a tough time stopping anyone on the defensive end.
RHI: Are there any particular players that standout on this Stonehill roster that have impressed you this year despite this team's struggles?
NC: The player I believe every coach has at the top of their scouting report on Stonehill is Max Zagarowski. He is their top returning player. He had a great year for Stonehill in his first year with them. He shot 41 percent from three last season and 87 percent from the foul line. He was the perfect complement to Andrew Sims who they had last season playing mostly on the interior. He is now the guy this season. His shooting is off a bit from last season so far but he is overall play is close to what he did last season. VMI transfer Tony Felder who is the team’s new starting point guard this season has eased himself nicely to his new team.
RHI: What does Stonehill have to do to keep the game close or possibly win against Rutgers when these two collide in late December?
NC: Similar to LIU, Stonehill would need a lot to go right for them to pull off an upset at Rutgers. They would need a tremendous shooting night from Zagarowski and others. They would need an off-night by the Scarlet Knights which would allow them to hang around. Ultimately, Rutgers has too much size and athleticism for a team like Stonehill at their current stage to put up much of a challenge as long as Rutgers comes in not taking them lightly.
RHI: Nelson, once again, thanks for taking time out of your day to do this. It was a pleasure doing this Q&A with you today.
NC: Thank you so much. I appreciate the chance to give Rutgers fans a small glimpse into the Northeast Conference and a couple of their teams. Good luck to Rutgers for the remainder of the season.
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