Rutgers needs to embrace the challenge

by user Leslie Monteiro

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights got that easy appetizer out of the way last night as they routed the East Carolina Pirates 77-34. This game was more of an exhibition game than a start of a postseason game.

The challenge begins for them on Tuesday night against the Michigan State Spartans. They not only have to face a very good, tough-minded Spartans team, but they have to face them at the Breslin Center, which is the arena for the Spartans.

It is rare that NCAA Tournament teams play their postseason games at someone's home court, but in women's basketball, it is different for whatever reason. It is not fair, but that is the way it is.

At this point of the season, teams have to play instead of worrying about home-court advantage or other stuff that goes on.

The lady Scarlet Knights should relish this challenge instead of whimpering from it. It is time for this team to grow up and start dealing with them. This is the only way they will learn and get better.

It is time for them to start beating the powerhouses in women's college basketball. They are going to have to if they want to be a national championship contender.

When basketball wonks talk about college basketball powerhouses in the women's level, they talk about North Carolina, Duke, Maryland, Connecticut, Tennessee, Stanford, and LSU. They do not talk about Rutgers because they have proven that they can not get it done when they get to the Sweet 16.

C. Vivian Stringer's team have bowed out to the Tennessee Volunteers for the last two years in the tournament. Her team was the better team in both of those years. They should have found a way to beat them at least once.

With a star player like Cappie Pondexter and a good group of bench players, was it too much to ask for them to come up big at least once against them.

Stringer has had some good teams in recent years because she is a very good recruiter. She gets players who are tough-minded when it comes to playing defense and dealing with her arduous 5:00 am practices, which is a trademark of her mentor, John Chaney.

For whatever reason, her teams not only just lose come March, but they are just soft in big games. It is very surprising.

There is no question that the losses against elite teams has to take a toll on the players. They get affected on them to the point that they do not believe that they can beat them.

That mentality has to change from now on. This is a good place to starting Tuesday night. If they can get past Michigan State, they will likely face Duke, which is the team to beat, in the Greensboro regional semifinals, which should be a home-court advantage for the #1 ranked team in the nation.

The Knights will be led by Matee Avajon and Essence Carson. They were bench players for the last two years, but now they are expected to be the stars. The question is can they handle their new roles?

The key for them to go far will be Kia Vaughn and Epiphany Prince, who is best known for scoring 113 points in a high school game at New York City last year.

Yes, they are underclassmen with Vaughn as a sophomore and Prince as a freshmen, but that does not mean anything. As long as they play and step up, that's all that matters.

Vaughn is a physical player that can defend and score in the paint. If you have that type of player, you will win basketball games. Ii is time for her to step up. She was highly recruited by many schools to be their next centerpiece of that program. She has to live up to it now.

Prince could use this experience. She needs to know what it is going to take be a champion.

She had an okay season which is to be expected as a freshmen, but she went through ups and downs like anyone would in playing in a different level of basketball.

Stringer made her work hard on defense. She got on her often. Prince was known not to play defense when she was in high school.

It was quite an adjustment. To her credit, she was able to learn like a sponge and benefited from it.

She will be better for it. It will be good to see what she does.

Rutgers will not be in the Final Four this year, but it is very imperative that they get to the Sweet 16 and try to give Duke as much as they can handle next week. It is time to start earning respect from other programs.

This should be viewed as an opportunity not an intimidation.