Tommie Patterson can speak firsthand about the ability of new Rutgers coach Mike Rice to unearth rare recruiting gems in the Garden State.
During the 2007-08 basketball season, when he was an assistant coach at Paterson (N.J.) Eastside High School, Patterson tried to interest several Division I teams in a diminutive, yet explosive combo guard named Karon Abraham.
“Karon had a couple of low D-2 schools [interested] and a couple guys thought that he was just too small to play at the Division I level,” recalled Patterson, now the head coach at Clifton (N.J.) High School. “I called FDU [Fairleigh Dickinson University]…and they pretty much gave us the cold shoulder and said that he couldn’t play at that level because of his size.
(Photo courtesy Robert Morris Athletics)
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rurahrah / May 4, 2010
Rare NJ gems? Tell us about a few more. The Rutgers roster needs a booster shot right now, not another defaulted five-year promissory note. RU has a long way to go to ever reach .500 in the BEast and the pre-league ‘cupcake W’s’ don’t kid anyone when selections are made for the Big Dance. I wish Coach Rice all the best, so if he’s the successful workaholic the insiders say he is, the good news on revamped staff and commitments of some proven newcomers should be coming in a matter of days.
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