By Stephen K. Lee
Maya Moore’s go-ahead 3-pointer with under three minutes left in Connecticut’s 66-56 win over Rutgers in the Elite Eight not only punched the Huskies’ ticket to Tampa, it also ended one of the most intriguing seasons C. Vivian Stringer and her Scarlet Knights have ever seen.
Like many Rutgers seasons, the 2007-2008 campaign was an up-and-down rollercoaster ride. Here’s a look back at some key moments:
Nov. 11 – Stanford 60, Rutgers 58: Rutgers sophomore guard Epiphanny Prince was called for a controversial foul on Stanford star Candace Wiggins with 0.1 seconds remaining in the game. Wiggins made both free throw attempts to spoil the Scarlet Knights’ season opener and possibly foreshadow Rutgers’ future problems with fractions of a second remaining on game clocks.
Nov. 14 – Introducing the Fab Five (Class of 2012)!: Jasmine Dixon (Long Beach, Calif.), Chelsey Lee (Miami, Fla.), Brooklyn Pope (Fort Worth, Texas), Nikki Speed (Pasadena, Calif.) and April Sykes (Crawford, Miss.) signed their national letters of intent to join Rutgers next season. All five would later be named McDonald’s All-Americans and Pope and Speed would be named co-MVPs of the All-American game. This group has the potential to lift Rutgers from first-class status to elite-class status (i.e. Tennessee, UConn).
Nov. 25 – Rutgers 45, LSU 43: This game marked Rutgers’ first grind-it-out win over an upper-echelon opponent. RU junior center Kia Vaughn and LSU star Sylvia Fowles each scored 13 points in a hard-fought battle in the paint.
Nov. 28 – Rutgers 56, St. Joseph’s 50: The Scarlet Knights snuck past the Hawks in a game that should have been a Rutgers blowout. RU’s porous 33.8 percent shooting (8-of-37 in the second half) was a sign that the Scarlet Knights sometimes play down to their competition.
Dec. 3 – Rutgers 68, Maryland 60: Then-No. 3 Maryland was the highest-ranked team Rutgers had beaten at home in nearly four years. Rutgers trailed 33-23 at the half but roared back in the second frame. This is the first game when the Scarlet Knights showed signs of being the second-half Cardiac Crusaders. Prince shined with 22 points and 10 assists and seniors Essence Carson and Matee Ajavon added 15 points apiece.
Dec. 6 – Duke 49, Rutgers 44: A week removed from the messy win over St. Joe’s, Rutgers lost its first game of the season with a disappointing effort against a rebuilding Duke program. The Scarlet Knights shot an embarrassing 27.6 percent from the floor. Prince led the team with 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting, showing signs that she would be Rutgers’ steady rock throughout the course of the season.
Dec. 8 – Jan. 8 (America, meet The Pace-Setters!): Frustrated with the lack of sustained fire and momentum that her usual combination of starters (Ajavon, Carson, Prince, Vaughn, and Heather Zurich) and reserves (Katie Adams, Rashidat Junaid, Myia McCurdy, Brittany Ray, and Khadijah Rushdan) was producing, Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer decided to mix things up and swapped her starters for her reserves in various combinations. Stringer would ease in her regular starters a few minutes into the first half and the team experienced much success with this strategy, going 7-0 with wins over Army, California, Princeton, Temple, Pepperdine, St. John’s, and Marquette.
Jan. 29 – West Virginia 63, Rutgers 54: For Rutgers, this is the loss that ultimately cost them a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tourney. After the Mountaineers trashed them 41-26 in the second half, the Scarlet Knights started moving into the No. 2 seed classification.
Feb. 5 – Rutgers 73, Connecticut 71: In this Round 1 matchup between Rutgers and UConn, Prince took her game to another level. The sophomore guard scored 14 points in a three-minute span early in the second half to rally the Scarlet Knights back from a 40-30 deficit. Prince finished with a career-best 33 points as Rutgers handed UConn its only loss of the season.
Feb. 11 – Tennessee 59, Rutgers 58: From this day forward, the time “0.2 seconds” lives in infamy among Rutgers coaches, players, and fans. With the clock winding down and Rutgers ahead 58-57, Kia Vaughn was called for a foul on Lady Vols forward Nicky Anosike on a Tennessee offensive rebound with the clock reading 0.2 seconds. The clock, however, froze at 0.2 seconds for nearly a full second before the foul was called, meaning that the game was technically over and Rutgers had won. The officials missed the clock malfunction and the rest is history.
Feb. 19 – Rutgers 57, Notre Dame 51: In this game Myia McCurdy suffered a torn ACL, LCL and lateral meniscus in her right knee, ending her season. The loss of McCurdy essentially took away Rutgers’ use of Stringer’s ‘55’ press, as the sophomore forward was its key cog. The Scarlet Knights, which had lost freshman Khadijah Rushdan in the win over Temple, had to deal with an eight-player roster from here on out. Though they had had a few games with just eight earlier in the season, this was different because no one was coming back.
March 3 – Connecticut 66, Rutgers 46: In the Rutgers’ regular season finale, the Huskies outperformed the Scarlet Knights in just about every facet of the game. Though this loss certainly didn’t help Rutgers, it didn’t hurt RU too much either in its outside shot at a low No. 1 seed.
March 9 – Louisville 57, Rutgers 56: One week after receiving a 20-point thrashing in Hartford, Conn., at the hands of UConn, Rutgers came up short against Angel McCoughtry (20 points) and the Cardinals in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. With this loss and the fact that they hadn’t faced UConn a third time, as expected, before the NCAA tournament, the Scarlet Knights suffered a major blow to their standing at the potential top No. 2 seed. This loss may have been the reason why the NCAA committee put Rutgers in the same regional bracket with UConn.
March 17 - Selection Monday: Rutgers got dealt the Greensboro bracket where it would have to inevitably have to face UConn, the top overall seed, in the Elite Eight. Charlie-Brown sighs and eye rolls engulfed everyone in Piscataway. Not again!
NCAA Rounds 1 & 2, Greensboro Semifinals: In NCAA tourney play, the Scarlet Knights looked like they had fully recovered from their disappointing losses to UConn and Louisville. Kia Vaughn averaged 22.5 points per contest in the first two rounds while Epiphanny Prince averaged 19. In the first round win over Robert Morris, Brittany Ray notched a season-best 14 points on 5-for-5 shooting (4-for-4 from beyond the arc). In Rutgers 53-42 win over George Washington in the Sweet 16, Essence Carson matched a career best with 25 points. So, heading into their Elite Eight matchup against UConn, it looked like the Scarlet Knights found new life on offense to make up for their limitations on defense.
April 1 – Connecticut 66, Rutgers 56: The Scarlet Knights led by as much as 14 in the first half and looked poised for another Greensboro upset over a top seed. The Huskies answered with a big second half to come back and end Rutgers Final Four aspirations.
In addition to ending the Scarlet Knights’ season, Tuesday’s Elite Eight loss to UConn also closed an important chapter in the history of the Rutgers program.
The legacy of seniors Matee Ajavon, Essence Carson and Katie Adams lies in the giant leap that the Rutgers program has taken since the beginning of junior year. The trio, which is the most successful class in Scarlet Knights history (two Elite Eights, a Sweet 16, and a trip to the National Championship game), has demonstrated leadership on and off the court.
On the court, Carson and Ajavon each reached the 1,000-point mark. Carson maintained Stringer’s high expectations on defense, winning Big East Defensive Player of the Year three consecutive years. Ajavon filled the intensity void left by Rutgers legend Cappie Pondexter by playing with flair and aggressiveness. Adams, set a good example for bench players everywhere with her passion for the game despite receiving little playing time.
Off the court, Carson was always the voice of the team. Whether it was taking the mike at after a rough game or taking the podium at the Imus reaction press conference, Carson always knew the right things to say.
Ajavon served as the loveable class clown. From “I want to go to Hollywood!” to “Congratulations, Vivian (in jokingly deep voice)” she always had something humorous to say to break the tension at practices or press conferences.
Adams was the mother figure of the group off the court. At the beginning of the year Myia McCurdy mentioned that Adams, who like McCurdy is an out-of-state student, got her settled as a freshmen, showing her around and even helping her set up a local bank account.
The trio also played a key role in building the future. Stringer credits the Class of 2008 for recruiting the highly-touted Class of 2012.
No, the Class of 2008 didn’t win a national championship. But, perhaps more so than any other class, it put the program in a position to win future championships.
Thanks for everything E, Mat and Katie. Good luck with wherever life takes you.
Philly.com discussions are intended to be civil, friendly conversations. Please treat other participants with respect and in a way that you would want to be treated. You are responsible for what you say. And please, stay on topic.
These boards are monitored by Philly.com staff. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us in our sole discretion and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. Personal attacks, especially on other board participants, are not permitted. We reserve the right to permanently block any user who violates these terms and conditions.