Jason Miller-US PresswireJarvis Hayes hopes to return to the Nets next season - and he'd love to have LeBron James as a teammate instead of an opponent.It is a virtual certainty that Jarvis Hayes will have his pick of jobs this summer, because he has the kind of game that every contender can use, the kind of professionalism that rebuilding teams covet, and the kind of versatility that middling teams value, just to plug whatever hole might arise.
   
But all things being equal, the pending free agent is just fine returning to a team that’s 7-62.
   
Wait, don’t say it: Does not compute.
 
“Obviously the opportunity to win is at the top of things you weigh,” the 28-year-old wing Sunday. “But I would not like to leave here after a season like this – I wouldn’t want to leave New Jersey on this particular note.
 
“Of course, we don’t know if Rod (Thorn) or Kiki (Vandeweghe) will be here, because with new ownership anything can happen. But nobody wants this record on their resume’, and the only way you erase it is by coming back and turning it around. And like anyone else, I would like the chance to rectify it, or redeem it somehow.”

Sorry, still does not compute.
   
Never mind that the team low-balled him for two years; that couldn’t be helped. Hayes also should think about making up those years he lost to knee injuries, and the two prime seasons he wasted in Jersey – partly because of the hamstring tear that cost him 30 games, partly because he didn’t know he was signing up to watch a team hit rock bottom.
   
Er. . . .right?

“I’m confident I’ll have options,” he said. “But the biggest thing is the opportunity to re-do it all. It’s been a nightmarish season as a team. And I missed 30-something games, and feel I want to give back. So I just want to come back on two fronts: I want to have a healthy season and hopefully make the playoffs – give Jersey a winner next year.

“I was on a 59-win team in Detroit – I know how satisfying winning can be. I don’t take that lightly. And I don’t know if Rod and Kiki are going to be here, but I know they want the opportunity to turn this thing around. Some players feel the same way. And we can turn it around pretty quickly. . . .with our cap room and draft picks.”

It’s easy to forget that Hayes tore his hamstring on opening night in Minneapolis, and when he returned on Jan. 5, he found himself on a team that was already drowning in despair, with a 3-30 record.
 
“You can’t even describe what this has been like,” he said. “Everybody was pretty stressed out by the time I got back.”

The record isn’t any better nowadays. But Hayes looks like one of the few guys on the team who looks comfortable in his role lately: Over the last six games, the 6-8 sniper has averaged 13.2 points in only 23 minutes per game – shooting 50 percent from the floor, including a dazzling 17-for-36 from the arc. He also nearly stole games in Dallas and Oklahoma City last week.

“Unfortunately, it’s coming late in the season, but I felt increasingly better the last few weeks,” Hayes said. “You can say I’m rounding into midseason form.”
   
Because of that, he is in no hurry to see this season end, as others might. And he’s one of the few who likes to cogitate the possibilities of a rebuilding summer.

“Good health would have changed everything here,” Hayes said. “The injuries at the start – Devin (Harris), me, Keyon (Dooling) – that just put us in a hole early, and it led to difficulties with people not knowing their roles. There was never a chance to build chemistry after that, and chemistry is the most underrated thing in sports.
 
“So this can change in a summer. It’s happened before, and it can happen again. And I see an opportunity for me to help with that.”     
   
NOTES: Kiki Vandeweghe had to attend to a personal matter Sunday, so assistant coach John Loyer ran practice and the film session, and then stayed late to work with Yi Jianlian. Yi had a rough return from his two-week ankle injury Saturday against Toronto: He managed only two points and one rebound in 19 minutes of the second half. . . Dwyane Wade makes his final Izod appearance Monday, the start of a very soft closing schedule for sixth-seeded Miami. Only two of the Heat’s last 12 opponents currently reside in playoff range.. . . Jermaine O’Neal, who still has one very good game for every three so-so games, is expected to return from a twisted left ankle.

Al Messerschmidt/Getty ImagesWith just 3 hits in 28 at bats so far this spring, Marcus Thames needs to get hot to make the Yankees' Opening Day roster.KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The Central Florida heat bore down on Marcus Thames Saturday as he tapped his black bat behind home plate and twirled it into position. Houston Astros right-hander Brett Myers wound and fired. Thames lashed the pitch into the left-center alley and Carlos Lee, never the sleekest fielder, gave chase. Thames charged out of the box, looking for extra bases.
 
“He hasn’t had any luck whatsoever,” Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long had said the day before. That held true again: Lee sprinted and flagged down the ball.

Thames popped off his helmet and walked back toward the dugout, accepting a high-five from Alex Rodriguez along the way.

An eight-year veteran, Thames says he will do anything to make the squad this year — but the thing he needs to do is hit. So far, he has connected this spring, squared his bat on balls, smashed line drives. The hits just haven’t come, three in his first 28 at-bats.
 
His coaches say they have faith. Thames, 33, hopes to deliver. He is battling Rule 5 pick Jamie Hoffmann for that final spot, a right-handed power hitting outfielder to balance the Yankees lefty-heavy lineup. The Yankees gave him an opportunity once. He wants to repay them now.
 
Back in 1996, in the 30th round of the amateur draft, the Yankees plucked a raw kid with one real season of high school ball out of Mississippi. They shaped him in their minor-league system for six years before dealing him to Texas.
 
“I’ve always said I wanted to come back here,” Thames said.
 
Along the way, Thames carved out a place for himself in this game. In 2004, he joined the Detroit Tigers. He mashed minor-league pitching for two years and made the Opening Day roster in 2006.
 
Curtis Granderson, now his Yankees teammate, played in Triple-A Toledo with Thames. They were teammates in Detroit. In 2006, Granderson watched Thames hit 26 homers in 110 games. In 2008, he hit 25 in 103.

“When given the opportunity,” Granderson said, “he tends to usually do pretty well.”

But like all players, Thames needed his health to ensure his efficiency. A hamstring injury derailed a hot start to the 2007 season. Last year was worse.
 
Late last April, during batting practice in Anaheim, Thames hacked at a pitch and felt his left side pop. He had strained his rib cage and sat for two months. His side, he said, bothered him when he swung, threw, ran, played with his kids, anything.

“It was the worst pain I’ve felt in a long time,” Thames said.
 
He hit only 13 home runs. His slugging percentage dropped about 50 points below his career average. The Tigers dumped him after the season.
 
Thames went to his home in Starkville, Miss. He logged hours in the cages at nearby Mississippi State and waited for a call. It came in late February, a minor-league deal from his old club.
 
In Tampa, both Long and manager Joe Girardi say they’ve been pleased with Thames, despite the strikeouts and lack of hits. But the manager wants to see production during the final 10 days of camp.
 
Thames’ middling Saturday was typical of this spring. Besides the rocket to left, he struck out in his other two at-bats, whiffs No. 10 and 11 in Grapefruit League play.
 
He will keep swinging. He will put in the work. Last week, third-base coach Rob Thomson told him to grab his infield glove and take some grounders.

“Whatever it takes,” Thames said.
 
At the plate, he labors with Long, who wants him to keep his back foot in place when he swings and to use his legs for more power.
 
Besides that?

“I’m just waiting for that one game where everything he hits falls and it goes into place,” Long said. “I think he’ll take off.”

Andy McCullough may be reached at amccullough@starledger.com

Saed Hindash/The Star-LedgerRutgers' Chelsey Lee thinks it's 'great' the current group of returning players will have at least two years together.STANFORD, Calif. — Last season, Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer saw the Tennessee women’s basketball team rely on young players. And she saw how that team “took its lumps,” when it was bounced in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

This year, Rutgers was the team that took its lumps — losing to Iowa, 70-63, in the opening round Saturday — playing several sophomores who had little game experience in their first season. But her faith is that the payoff, though not in the present, comes next season with a more game-tested roster.

“I will say that all of them got really valuable experience,” Stringer said after the first-round loss. “As you can see, I was quick to make substitutions to get everybody a taste of it, assuming that everybody was going to have to get in and make a difference in the game.”

All six players who will return next season were in the game for double-digit minutes Saturday, including sophomore starters Chelsey Lee (14 points and six rebounds in 27 minutes) and Nikki Speed (six points and three steals in 37 minutes). Lee averaged less than seven minutes per game as a freshman, and Speed averaged 13.3. Redshirt sophomore guard Khadijah Rushdan had 11 points in 25 minutes Saturday.

“What I think is great about the returning class is we won’t have any seniors up until my graduating year,” Lee said. “If we don’t know each other by now, we’ll have a bunch of time to learn together over the summer. We’ll have just two more years to play with each other, and hopefully make it all the way to the big game and not just the musical-chair round.”

Stringer said she does believe that core can mature into a team that can achieve the kind of success she has brought to Rutgers, though she added that “the jury is still out.” The work now begins in the offseason.

Lee and Speed were already spouting Saturday night the changes they needed to make moving forward, starting with buying into an identity sooner and not letting details pass them by. The freshest example of that was the team’s inability to get the most out of its “55” press in the loss to Iowa.

The players realized the things Stringer had harped on with them in practice — taking switches or not letting the opposing player they were responsible for get behind them — are the reasons they couldn’t affect the Hawkeyes with their press as much as they had hoped.

Also, Stringer was disappointed in the first five minutes of the opening-round loss, when she continued what she had done the past five to seven games and called no plays, instead asking the players to work off what they saw. Instead, she saw them missing cues and opportunities on the court.

“That has something to do with maybe sometimes when you’re really nervous and you just trust yourself rather than to trust everybody else,” Stringer said. “So we probably lost about five minutes.”

Those are among the things the Scarlet Knights hope can be remedied by maturity. They also hope their experience of this year’s up-and-down season, and the resultant No. 9 seed that was the program’s lowest under Stringer, will help them avoid a similar fate next year.

“We can’t have that, no,” Speed said. “As you can see it hurt us now; the roller coaster hurt us.”

Jenny Vrentas may be reached at jvrentas@starledger.com.

Chris Faytok/The Star-LedgerFortunately for Rex Ryan, the black sweater is slimming; the Jets coach said he weighed 348 pounds at the end of the season. He had weight loss surgery and now is 317, he said.

Jets coach Rex Ryan, speaking publicly on Sunday at the owner's meeting in Orlando for the first time since undergoing lap-band weight-loss surgery last week at NYU hospital, said he underwent the procedure because he has everything but his health. He said he ended the season weighing 348 pounds and is now down to 317. His goal in two years is 250 pounds.

``I want to be around,'' Ryan told reporters. ``I want to enjoy my kids. I want to see grandkids. I don't need to get diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems.

``I've got everything right now. This is unbelievable. Everything that I've ever wanted in my life -- got a great family, I'm making more money coaching that I ever thought I would. I'm doing exactly what I want to do. I'm a head coach in the NFL.

``I'm at the very top of my profession and loving it. I've got everything. (But) if you don't have your health, you have nothing.''

 

Matt Cashore-US Presswire file photoUConn coach Geno Auriemma said his team played "as good as I've seen us play'' in the lopsided victory over Southern Sunday.NORFOLK, Va. — Up comfortably at the half, it would have been easy for Connecticut to coast to another victory. Instead, Geno Auriemma’s team opened the second half with one of its most impressive runs during the remarkable 73-game win streak.

Leading by 23 at the break, top-seeded UConn scored 21 of the first 23 points of the second half to bury Southern in a 95-39 victory in the first round of the women’s NCAA tournament Sunday.
 
“That first five minutes was about as good as I’ve seen us play at any time all season,” Auriemma said. “That’s the kind of basketball we like to see.”

And it only got better.
 
The Huskies matched their best defensive half in a NCAA tournament game by holding Southern (23-9) to 10 points on 4 for 30 shooting (13.3 percent) in the second half. The Huskies, sloppy at times in the first half but comfortably ahead because of a vast talent advantage, weren’t happy in the locker room at the break, and the Jaguars paid.

“A lot of times with our team, it’s not so much making these huge adjustments and necessarily changing what we do,” said Maya Moore, who scored 21 points. “It’s just the continual pounding and pressure and attack mentality that we put on teams. I think they weren’t ready for it.”

Tina Charles led UConn with 22 points. The senior center made her first nine shots before missing a baseline jumper for the Huskies (34-0), who have won every game during their winning streak by double digits. UConn hasn’t lost since falling to Stanford in the 2008 national semifinals.

The Huskies, who arrived having won their last 10 first-round games by an average of nearly 49 points, led 52-29 at halftime and actually looked pretty sloppy at times. They had 12 turnovers, one more than the Jaguars, but easily dominated in every other category.
 
“They were just longer, they were taller than us,” Jaguars forward Freda Allen said.
Hannah Kador led the Jaguars with 10 points, but shot just 3 for 22.

Saed Hindash/The Star-LedgerIlya Kovalchuk (17) skates past goalie Ty Conklin and heads behind the net for a wrap-around attempt that was stopped in Saturday night's 1-0 loss to the Blues.Home ice in the first round of the playoffs seems a certainty.

Even after a half-dozen wasted opportunities against non-playoff teams in the past 11 games, the Devils are not likely to drop below fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings. If it did happen, they would be heading into the postseason with a first-round exit probably in the cards.

So, assuming they will finish in the top four, which of the five likely opponents would best suit the Devils in the first round?

Bruins: The Devils are 3-0 against former coach Claude Julien and his squad this season with one more meeting on March 30. All three games have been decided by one goal, including a shootout win by the Devils on Nov. 27 in Boston. David Clarkson and Zach Parise each have two goals.

Senators: In addition to finishing 3-1 in the season series with Ottawa, the Devils went 2-0 at home. Brian Elliott shut the Devils out on Jan. 26.

Canadiens: With one last meeting set for March 27 at the Bell Centre, the Devils are 2-1 against the Habs. This would be a series with a lot of story lines, including former Devils Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez, but it could also be a distraction for Martin Brodeur.

Thrashers: The Devils hold a 2-1 edge with one last game to be played on April 6 in Atlanta. In the past, whenever the Thrashers and Devils met, the games were unpredictable and surprisingly wide open. But that was when Ilya Kovalchuk was playing for the Thrashers. Now that he’s a Devil, wouldn’t that be an interesting series?

Rangers: This series, of course, would draw the most attention. It would also offer the circus that is Sean Avery facing Brodeur. The Devils hold a 3-2 edge in the season series so far, with one last game to be played on March 25. This is not a matchup for which the Devils should wish.

Flyers: The Devils have lost four of their first five meetings with the Flyers this season, one of them in overtime. With one game remaining on March 28, the Devils are 1-3-1 against Philadelphia. However, they are 1-1-1 against the Flyers without Ray Emery in goal and he’s out of the picture.

Note: If the Sabres don't win the Northeast Division, they could also be a first-round opponent. The Devils are 1-1-1 with a shootout loss. The Devils end the regular season against the Sabres at the Prudential Center on April 11. 

*    *    *

The Devils were given a day off on Sunday. They host the Columbus Blue Jackets Tuesday night.

After Saturday night’s 1-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues, Kovalchuk was asked what the Devils need to change.

“Nothing,” he said. “We just have to work the way we work. We had a lot of shots and a lot of great chances. We just have to play for each other. When something doesn’t go our way, we have to stick with each other.”

In their battle with the Pittsburgh Penguins for first place in the Atlantic Division, the Devils trail by two points. They have 11 games remaining—six at home and five on the road, five against teams in a playoff spot and six vs. teams out of the top eight.

The Penguins have 10 games left—six at home and four away, four against clubs in a playoff position and six vs. teams out of the top eight.

Noah K. Murray/The Star-LedgerJesus Montero was reassigned to minor league camp on Sunday, though not before leaving a good impression with Yankees manager Joe Girardi.

TAMPA, Fla. -- A few notes after Sunday's rainout...

Players' association chief Michael Weiner spent about an hour giving a presentation in the Yankees clubhouse on Sunday morning, part of the union leader's annual tour through spring training. Weiner said he touched on the collective bargaining agreement, which expires after the 2011 season.

"Our contract is up after 2011 and by this time next year, if history is any guide, negotiations will have started already," he said. "It’s really just preparing them for that."

***
The Yankees reassigned two top prospects to minor league camp on Sunday in catchers Jesus Montero and Austin Romine. Montero is expected to begin the season in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre while Romine will likely be headed to Double-A Trenton.

"I was impressed with their work, their willingness to learn, their willingness to take what you give them and apply it to the game," Girardi said.

Outfielders Reid Gorecki and Colin Curtis were also cut.

***
Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald and his family visited Yankees camp as guests of Girardi, himself a Northwestern alum.

Girardi followed Fitzgerald as a player on the Wildcats' powerful teams in the mid-1990s. In 2006, Fitzgerald became the youngest head coach in the history of the Big Ten, taking over at Northwestern following the death of then-coach Randy Walker.

Girardi and Fitzgerald have since maintained a relationship. Fitzgerald said on Sunday that Girardi sends a text before every Northwestern football game.

Noah K. Murray/The Star-LedgerNelson Figueroa

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Nelson Figueroa threw three strong innings in the Mets' 8-1 win over the University of Michigan on Sunday.

"They'd never seen me before, so it was to my advantage. I was throwing four pitches for strikes, and I was able to put them away with curveballs and fastballs,'' said Figueroa, who last pitched in a B game against Florida last Sunday.

He struck out the side in the first inning before Michigan scraped out a run in the second by stringing together a pair of hits. Figueroa (1-0) responded with a perfect third.

The Mets scored a pair of runs in the second, four in the sixth and two more in the eighth.

Chris Carter went 3 for 3, while Henry Blanco and Alejandro Machado each drove in two runs for New York.

The other half of the Mets' split squad played the Astros in Kissimmee. The game was called because of rain after one inning, with Houston leading 1-0. Jon Niese gave up the run on three hits.

John Munson/The Star-LedgerFor the second time this spring, AJ Burnett has had a spring training washed out by rain. But this time, throwing a simulated game won't cut it.

UPDATE: The Yankees scheduled an intrasquad game for Monday morning. Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Damaso Marte will pitch for one squad while Joba Chamberlain, Damaso Marte and Chan Ho Park will pitch for the other.

In Clearwater, A.J. Burnett will start against the Phillies while Phil Hughes is scheduled to follow. Chamberlain had originally been scheduled to pitch against the Phillies but was bumped back.

***

TAMPA, Fla. -- Rain wiped out Sunday's scheduled game with the Tigers, sending the Yankees scrambling to untangle a pitching situation that manager Joe Girardi called "a mess."

With the rainout, the Yankees must now find enough live hitters to spread around for eight pitchers, two of whom are vying for the final spot in the rotation, with the rest needing to face live batters to stay on schedule in their preparations for the season.

"Right now, it's a real pain in the rear," Girardi said.

A.J. Burnett and Phil Hughes were both scheduled to pitch against the Tigers on Sunday, though it appears both will be pushed back a day.

"I'm assuming I'm throwing tomorrow at Clearwater," said Hughes, who along with Chamberlain will have plenty riding on their next spring training appearances. "But if they call, it could change."

Meanwhile, Joba Chamberlain was set to pitch against the Phillies on Monday with Andy Pettitte set to throw in a minor league game.

Even with a minor league game scheduled, the Yankees still don't have enough innings to go around, because relievers Chan Ho Park, Damaso Marte, David Robertson and Mariano Rivera must get their work in as well.

Too late in camp for simulated games to be of any value to pitchers needing to face live competition, team officials spent Sunday afternoon trying to lineup a split squad opponent or a 'B' game for Monday.

The team has a scheduled off day on Tuesday, further complicating matters.

"We're trying to work some things out to see how we're going to do it actually," Girardi said. "We don't have it completely ironed out."

Indeed, stay tuned.

John Munson/The Star-LedgerJoe Girardi takes the ball here from Dave Robertson, but the manager figures to give Robertson the ball often in 2010.TAMPA, Fla. -- On Thursday night, minutes before he took the mound against Tampa Bay, Yankees reliever David Roberston rolled around the floor of the clubhouse inside Steinbrenner Field as he watched that night's game on the clubhouse television.

Then he zipped through a scoreless sixth inning and struck out a pair of Rays.

"They know what I've got,'' Robertson said. "But it doesn't hurt, I think, to have good outings in spring training.''

That baby-faced 24-year-old, Yankees manager Joe Girardi says, might pitch the eighth inning this year. Of course, this is the spring. Of course, this could be just the manager talking. And of course, the team still needs to hammer out it's starting rotation and see where pitchers like Alfredo Aceves and Joba Chamberlain land.

But Girardi says he has enough confidence in Robertson -- four runs in 3 2/3 innings this spring -- to use him as a "guy who can pitch for us anywhere now.''

Robertson gained respect last October, when he threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings and earned a pair of extra-innings victories. When the team narrowed its roster for each series, Robertson was always on the cusp of sitting out. But as Chamberlain and Phil Hughes faltered, Girardi discovered he could turn to Robertson.

"I came to camp expecting him to be one of our guys,'' Girardi said.

The offseason, he says, was quick. He spent some time with his wife in Massachusetts, then they moved to a new house near Tampa. He is living there now during spring training.

Like Hughes and A.J. Burnett, Robertson is trying to improve his changeup. A role will develop for him, he says.

"I don't know where I'm going to be in the bullpen, whether I'm going to eating innings, or tight games, eighth inning, whatever,'' Robertson said. "I'm just planning on treating it like it was last year and just going into the season and trying to earn a spot. Wherever it is.''

Noah K. Murray/The Star-LedgerNelson Figueroa will start Sunday against the University of Michigan.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- The University of Michigan is here for its annual exhibition game against the Mets. And if last year is any indication, the Mets shouldn't take Fred Wilpon's alma mater lightly.

Meanwhile, the other half of the Mets' split squad is headed north to Kissimmee to play the Astros.

TODAY'S GAMES (split squad)

Mets vs. University of Michigan, 11:10 a.m. (No TV), Tradition Field
Lineup:
1. Luis Castillo, 2b
2. Alex Cora, ss
3. David Wright, 3b
4. Mike Jacobs, dh
5. Jason Bay, lf
6. Gary Matthews Jr., cf
7. Chris Carter, rf
8. Daniel Murphy, 1b
9. Chris Coste, c
Nelson Figueroa, sp

In the bullpen: Hisanori Takahashi, Pedro Feliciano, Fernando Nieve, Kiko Calero, Elmer Dessens

Mets at Houston, 1:05 p.m. (No TV), Osceola County Stadium, Kissimmee
Lineup:
1. Jordany Valdespin, 2b
2. Ruben Tejada, ss
3. Ike Davis, 1b
4. Jeff Francoeur, rf
5. Fernando Martinez, cf
6. Fernando Tatis, 3b
7. Frank Catalanotto, lf
8. Omir Santos, c
9. Jon Niese, p

In the bullpen: Ryota Igarashi, Tobi Stoner, Bobby Parnell, Jenrry Mejia

Star-Ledger file photoSeton Hall Dean of Law Patrick Hobbs took charge of the athletic department and made changes. His biggest challenge now is hiring the right person for the men's basketball job.The man who is dismantling and rebuilding Seton Hall sports is not a coach, an athletic director or a priest.

Patrick Hobbs is the law school dean, and at most universities, the suggestion that a person in his role also oversees the basketball program would be laughed right off campus.
Here, it makes perfect sense. Here, in an athletic department that seemed to be operating like a town in the old wild west, someone had to come in and play the role of the sheriff.

That someone is Hobbs, and so far, the results are stunning. He started overseeing the troubled department this past summer and, in just a few months, the law dean has managed to:

• Force out not one, but two basketball coaches. One day before Bobby Gonzalez was fired, Hobbs engineered a much more cordial removal of longtime women’s coach Phyllis Mangina.

• Marginalize Joe Quinlan, the ineffective and passive athletic director, to the point that the AD didn’t even attend a preseason planning meeting with Prudential Center officials.

• Diminish the influence of Richard Codey, the former governor and Seton Hall booster whose imprints were everywhere in the athletic department and was Gonzalez’s agent and confidant.

• Cut four sports to balance the department’s budget, including track and field — a program that, since 1980, had produced more than 400 individual Big East champions under legendary coach John Moon.

To think, when outgoing university president Msgr. Robert Sheeran asked Hobbs to oversee athletics, he was expecting Hobbs to make observations and come up with recommendations for his successor. Hobbs, from the beginning, decided there were too many problems and too big a leadership void not make immediate changes.

Now, he’ll make the biggest decision of them all. Hobbs is leading the search for Gonzalez’ replacement, a coach who will not only have to win games but clean up a mess that has embarrassed an entire university.

Will he woo Fran McCaffrey, the successful Siena coach? Will he entrust Chris Mooney, the former Princeton star and up and coming coach at Richmond? The coming days will decide who ends up on the bench for the Pirates.

But this much is certain: Hobbs, more than anyone else at Seton Hall, will make that call.

“I care a lot about Seton Hall,” Hobbs said on his cell phone last week. He was supposed to be at a law conference in Georgia; instead, he was on a scouting trip for his new basketball coach.

“I’m a graduate of the school. I’ve been at the law school for 20 years. The success of the sports programs brings a lot of light to the good things we do at the university. It matters.”

And, when the head coach of the most prominent sports program is abrasive, paranoid and out of control, that brings exactly the opposite kind of attention to the school.

Hobbs has dedicated the past two decades to making sure the name Seton Hall stands for excellence. So imagine how he felt knowing that Gonzalez, the raving lunatic on the sideline in the neon blue suit, had become the most recognized individual at the university.

It pained him. Hobbs saw the disaster coming with Gonzalez before the events of the last week, before one player sucker punched an opponent in the groin and another was arrested and charged with kidnapping and robbery.

He saw a coach who had won a power struggle with his boss and was operating unchecked. Gonzalez had assembled a combustible group but was an absentee guardian, arriving late to campus and usually leaving soon after practice.

Hobbs would lecture him one day on his combative dealings with the media, and the next, he’d listen to complaints from a reporter about the coach. The team had won more games, but not nearly enough to justify the headaches.

“How does it look for me?” Gonzalez asked Hobbs after the season-ending loss to Texas Tech last week.

“It doesn’t look good, Bobby,” Hobbs told him.

The next day, at Hobbs’ recommendation, Sheeran fired the coach. Hobbs did most of the talking on the conference call to announce the decision, and he is conducting the search to replace him.

People who know Hobbs are not surprised he has taken such an aggressive approach. He has always operated that way, from the law school he took over in 1999 to his involvement in Newark.
 
He helped mediate a disagreement between the Devils and city officials over the financing of the Prudential Center, overcoming an impasse that threatened the entire project.

“He put his foot down and said, ‘We can do it this way or this is not going to happen,’” said Jeff Vanderbeek, the Devils owner. “He wasn’t shy about that, and that’s unusual in leadership these days.”

So, from the very beginning with Seton Hall athletics, it was clear Hobbs had taken charge. When the school had its preseason meeting with the Prudential Center officials, Quinlan wasn’t present. It was Hobbs who ran the show, and he immediately insisted on changes.

He wanted the students closer to the court at the Rock to create a more raucous atmosphere. Told that moving the student section might obstruct the view of prominent boosters, Hobbs responded, “Tell them to stand.”
 
He saw a department budget in the red and started the process that, eventually, led to what he considers his most difficult decision: Cutting four teams and adding one, women’s golf, to save $1.5 million.

But his most important move is the next. Firing Gonzalez, in many ways, was the easy part — he had yet to take this team to the NCAA Tournament and had become unpopular with many fans.

His choice to replace him will determine the program’s direction. With so much instability in the college sports landscape, Seton Hall can’t afford a dramatic fall to the Big East basement.
 
It needs somebody who can win and win quickly, but the instability at the school could give the top candidates pause. Sheeran is on his way out. Quinlan could be gone soon, too.

Usually, a school hires a president, who hires the AD, who hires the coach. Seton Hall is doing it backward, and it will take a leap of faith (or a lot of money) for a top coach to sign on.

Edwin Leahy, the St. Benedict’s Prep headmaster who has worked on several Newark committees with Hobbs, put it this way: “When the law school dean has to head up the athletic department, something’s wrong.”

Something was wrong. The athletic department was lacking leadership and direction and, maybe most of all, had somehow lost sight of its moral compass.

Maybe, at another school, the idea of the law school dean taking over would be laughable. That wasn’t the case at Seton Hall, which finally has found somebody to be the sheriff.
 
Steve Politi appears regularly in The Star-Ledger. He may be reached at spoliti@starledger.com, or follow him at Twitter.com/NJ_StevePoliti.

Associated Press file photoKevin Towers was the GM of the San Diego Padres for 14 years. Now he's a scout with the Yankees.TAMPA, Fla. — Brian Cashman and Kevin Towers first met sometime in the mid-1990s, two young baseball executives whose personalities clicked immediately. Fast friends, they were soon rivals, Cashman as the general manager of the Yankees and Towers as the GM of the Padres.

When Towers’ successful 14-year run with the Padres came to an end this season, Cashman brought a trusted friend into the fold as a special assignment scout with the Yankees.

Though Towers said he’s undecided about pursuing another GM job, he’ll likely be a sought-after candidate when opportunities open. But for now, Towers said he’s content simply to “get back to what I grew up doing, evaluating talent.”

As he watched batting practice on his first official day on the job last Tuesday, Towers spoke to The Star-Ledger about returning to his scouting roots:

Now that some time has passed, what comes to mind when you look at your time in San Diego?

I feel blessed. It was the organization that drafted me, took me No. 1 in 1982. I got to be a player in the Padres organization, I was an area scout, I was a pitching coach, I was a scouting director, and then I was a GM for over 14 years ... Great city, great fans, no regrets.

Scouting is where your heart is, but when did you know you wanted to be a GM and run a team?

You know what? Probably not until the day it was offered to me. ... When Randy Smith left to go to Detroit, Larry Lucchino asked me, I was kind of the senior baseball guy that was left there, if I would help him in the interview process. ... He chose me, and I didn’t even know I was being interviewed for the position. I never knew if I could really do it. I never really set my sights on being a GM.

How did climbing up the ladder from the bottom up shape you going forward?

Because I wore several hats, I probably had a greater appreciation for all the different roles. I knew what it was to be a player, to be a prospect, how difficult it was being a prospect and going through the different levels of the minor leagues, what goes through a player’s mind. As an area scout, how difficult and lonely a job that is... You feel like you’re kind of off there on your own, especially when I was doing it. There wasn’t cell phones, there wasn’t computers, there wasn’t voice mail. You were really kind of a nomad out there trying to find players.

Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, right?

Yeah, that was my area. All of Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. And if you’ve ever driven through Texas... to go all the way to the Mississippi line to El Paso, that’s about a two-day drive. It was a lot of time spent in my Maxima, listening to country music and chewing a lot of Copenhagen. But I learned a great deal.

Do you consider this job as a return to your roots?

Absolutely. Not that I think I wasn’t good at managing people. But my comfort zone is definitely watching baseball players. What I loved about the job was watching baseball games. To me, that was what it was all about.

Can you describe what a great scout should be?

It’s somebody who was tremendous work ethic. It’s somebody who is willing to get to know the player, not just turn in a report. Somebody that’s able to pick up on the intangibles not just the tools, and that takes getting to know players. You have to have instincts to become a great scout. I don’t think it’s taught but you become better.

And a great GM?

The good general managers hire good people. Without some of my key evaluators, I wouldn’t have been as successful as I was... Be yourself. Don’t try to be somebody that you’re not. Be consistent. And have no fear. When I pulled the trigger on deals, I wanted to do it. If I was wishy-washy on it, I wasn’t going to do it. Not all of them worked out. ... You had to have some conviction

You talk about doing things with conviction. Is that the old pitcher in you coming out?

Absolutely... To me, I never had fear of the hitter. Always thought I was better than every hitter I was facing. Not always that results were positive, but I gave it 100 percent every time I went out there. I was always prepared. I believed that I belonged. I still feel that if I hadn’t been injured I would have played in the big leagues.

What can you learn from scouting that no number can tell you?

I really think a big part of good scouting is knowing your player, knowing those intangibles, knowing what they’re made of. What do they do after the ballgame? What do they do in the offseason? What drives them? Do they like to be in tough situations with the game on the line? And knowing those things about players before numbers really matter... Your good organizations make those reads early.

Doug Benc/Getty ImagesJeff Francoeur said the way he played after being traded to the Mets last season is a truer representative of the player he is, rather than the way he played in the first half of the season, with Atlanta.PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- It has been a busy week for Jeff Francoeur, the self-appointed commissioner of the Mets' NCAA Tournament pool and their starting right fielder. In between filling out brackets, collecting other players' brackets, watching games on a clubhouse television and occasionally playing baseball, Francoeur found a few minutes to talk to The Star-Ledger.

You seemed like you got comfortable here very quickly after the trade last summer. What, if anything, does having a full spring with the Mets do for you?  

What's been fun for me is getting to know everybody in the organization. When I came up last year, you just kind of got to know the guys that were there in New York. Here, I'm getting to know guys like Ike Davis, Fernando Martinez, guys that hopefully I'll be playing alongside. That's the fun part. And of course, messing around, playing golf, doing the brackets. I love that kind of stuff.

It seems like you're always talking to somebody in the clubhouse. Do you try to play a certain role in the clubhouse or is that just being yourself?

I just like to have fun. I think saying 'Hi' to people, messing around with them and all that, I think one of the fun parts of coming in here is joking around and having a good time.

Braves catcher Brian McCann is one of your best friends. How has that relationship changed now that you guys are rivals in the division?

I think we both have enough respect for each other and understand that when we're out there, we're going to try to beat the crap out of each other. That's just how it is. But after the game, we still hang out, still talk a lot. It's been different. We definitely don't talk like we did last year because last year we saw each other every day, but we still know we're both pulling for each other pretty hard.

People had high expectations for you when you came into the league, and then by this time last year, those expectations were dramatically lower. Has your view of yourself and what you can do changed through all that?

No. I still know what I can do. You're going to go through rough patches just like you're going to go through good patches, but I know what type of player I am, and I know what I can do. My thing is, the three months I had last year reminded me of what I can do, knowing how I can play. And I expect that from myself for six months this year.

What was the most surprising thing to you about living in New York when you moved there?

Probably that you always hear it's really rude, people don't have any manners. But it's not that bad. The people are very proud of where they come from. And that's the one thing I've enjoyed about playing in Flushing. The people were born and raised as Mets fans, and it's fun to play for people like that.

What were your Final Four picks?

I got Syracuse. I got Kansas. I got Kentucky. And my other one, I got Villanova.

What's your bracket strategy?

I pick mostly favorites. I think people pick too many underdogs. This year, it might end up backfiring. But usually, I think if you pick enough favorites you'll do pretty good.

How is being a sports fan different when you're a pro athlete?

It's funny, because we sit here and yell at the TV when those guys screw up. I'm sure people do the same thing when we strike out. But I just enjoy sports. I enjoy the tournament. I enjoy just seeing what it's all about.

So you're not easier on other athletes when they fail because you know
what it's like?

No, no. I'll still crush them.

Jason O. Watson-US PresswireSophomore Nikki Speed is one of the young players who will be returning to Rutgers next season.STANFORD, Calif. — Chelsey Lee stood in the Rutgers locker room, trying to put the frustration in her eyes into words.

“Well, it hurts, of course,” the sophomore said. “Any great competitor, when you lose a game that you definitely know is your last game and the last time you’re going to play with certain people, it hurts. It hurts bad. But I’m just going to use it as fuel for next year.”

Seniors Brittany Ray and Myia McCurdy won’t be back next year. But for the rest of the roster — including the much-heralded recruiting class that is now sophomores — they will have more college seasons. After Saturday night’s 70-63 loss to Iowa, they were already planning the things they wanted to do differently next year.

“A lot of things have to be different,” sophomore guard Nikki Speed said. “Whether in practice, off the court or being together — or just getting it done on the court when we have games. The little things matter, and I just knew we let them pass us by this year.”

In a frustrating season that had many ups and downs, the berth in the NCAA Tournament was much appreciated, because there were times when it seemed like it might not happen. But the toll of the inconsistent regular season was reflected in the No. 9 seed, Rutgers’ lowest under coach C. Vivian Stringer.

The five McDonald’s All-Americans Stringer recruited after the 2007 appearance in the national title game brought with them a wave of expectations. Two transferred and the three members still at Rutgers had limited freshman experience, so Stringer likened their sophomore seasons to more like freshman seasons.

There are no juniors on the team. So the players who are not graduating will have two years to turn expectations into reality starting next season.

“This is a very young team and I hope that we do remember, and it does hurt and I hope it stings,” Stringer said. “I hope we remember why this happened.”

“I do believe that, ultimately, before they leave, they can enjoy the kind of success that I know that we can.”

• Iowa coach Lisa Bluder had never beaten Stringer in five tries. She admitted that last night’s victory was significant, coming against the coach who had built up the Hawkeyes program.

“It does feel good to get that little monkey off your back,” Bluder said. “Taking over a program that she established, and we have so much respect for coach StringerÂ… Anytime you can beat somebody you have that much admiration feels good.”

• The “55” press is a hallmark of Stringer’s teams, but Rutgers was disappointed in its results Saturday.

“I think we didn’t apply as much pressure as we should have and as we normally do when we play the 55,” Lee said. “I just think we were probably just out of it, or some people were really tired. We just let our man cut behind us and let the person we don’t want to get the ball, get the ball.”

• Rutgers finishes with 19 wins, ending its streak of seven straight seasons with 20 wins.

Jenny Vrentas may be reached at jvrentas@starledger.com.