With all the uncertainty surrounding the Rutgers basketball program, speculation has run rampant that Mike Rosario and/or Dane Miller could opt to leave after the season and go elsewhere.
But Mickey Walker, Miller’s AAU coach with Upstate Basketball, says he doesn’t see the 6-foot-7, 210-pound Miller going anywhere after his freshman season.
“In terms of transferring that makes no sense,” Walker said. “It’s so obvious that it’s a good situation for him, that that’s never come up.
“If a kid wants to be a pro, what situation is better for him than to play a lot in the Big East?”
Miller scored a game-high 26 points in Rutgers 94-68 loss Wednesday to Villanova at the RAC and spearheaded a second-half comeback.
Heading into Saturday’s game at Georgetown, he is averaging 8.8 points and 5.6 rebounds.
After the Villanova game, a frustrated Miller told a group of reporters that he felt the team had quit, and appeared to single out a few players.
“I feel like during the game, we gave up,” Miller said. “And we can’t get better, we can’t improve, if we give up on games.
“The high school I went to, no matter what the score is you gotta play till the game’s over and I felt like we just gave up at the end.
“Some other guys, Jonathan Mitchell and Hamady [N’Diaye] when he was in the game, were playing hard. We need the whole team to do that. Even if you’re not in the game you’ve still got to be cheering everybody on.
“We have to play with more heart. I don’t care how talented you are. You can’t win games without heart.”
Walker credited Miller with speaking up and taking a leadership role.
“From a character standpoint, that’s facing adversity,” he said.
Despite the frustration, Walker says Miller has improved since the start of the year and he credits the Rutgers coaching staff with his development.
“He’s getting coached, he’s getting better and he’s playing in the Big East,” Walker said.
As for Rosario, who struggled to score just 3 points on 1-for-8 shooting in the Villanova game, St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley previously told The Star-Ledger that he couldn’t imagine the sophomore transferring because he would have to sit out a year.
“Mike knows himself,” Hurley told The Ledger. “Mike could not sit out a year and not play. I don’t see any quit in Mike. I know him. Mike has been that kind of person since he’s 9 or 10 years old.”
Hurley also told the paper Rutgers needed to add a few more talented players.
“They need Big East difference makers to add to the roster,” Hurley said. “We felt Mike was one. Maybe the kid Dane Miller is going to be one. But they need a couple more bona fide Big East players to compete night in and night out.”
**Here’s some good reporting by Jerry Carino and Keith Sargeant, revealing that Fred Hill is guaranteed $1.8 million by Rutgers.
(Photo courtesy ScarletKnights.com)
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