Saturday, January 25, 2020

Blue Collar U.

New Joisey is a blue collar state, and Rutgers is a blue collar team. Rebounding, defense, hard work. All the things I love in a team.

"We take pride in our defense." That's Geo Baker, one of their star players and their second-leading scorer. "We enjoy playing defense, and I don't think that's something a lot of teams can say." Note that: "We enjoy playing defense." Instill that attitude in a team and it just makes a huge difference.

Jay Young is now the head coach at Fairfield, but he was Rutgers's defensive coordinator last season, and so he follows the Scarlet Knights closely. "[Playing hard] is probably the most important skill you have. I say to our guys all the time, 'When they throw it up, no one cares how many stars you had next to your name.'"

I like it! Just gritty, hard-nosed basketball. I remember a lightly-recruited kid named Jones-Jennings who was not a great leaper who would have loved it.

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