Career Legacy of AJ Rizzo - CH2k11

[R1zzo23]

Rumors Become Truth, Newsom Gets UNH Offer

November 14, 2010 - Just days after hearing the report from Ryan Gregg, the speculation of a scholarship offer to junior college power forward Dallas Newsom has come to fruition. When questioned about the offer, Coach Rizzo was careful with his choice of words.

I know I'm a first year coach, but I know my boundaries. You guys know the boundaries. You know I'm not allowed to talk publicly about any student-athlete that hasn't signed a Letter of Intent to play for us. With that said we are looking at both the high school and junior college ranks to find players that fit our system. Just because we may lose a year of eligibility because a kid has spent a year at a junior college doesn't mean we will shy away from a kid, especially if it is a position of need.

Recruiting insiders have Newsom still favoring Long Island University just slightly over New Hampshire as he is looking to stay close to home. Interesting thought was that AJ Rizzo went to scout and talk to Newsom rather than sending his head scout Adham Jones. Seems to us that Coach Rizzo is going all-in on Newsom.

[R1zzo23]

Blue Devils Torch Wildcats

Nov 17, 2010 - UNH at CCSU
TEAM	1ST	2ND	SCORE
New Hampshire (0-2)	37	23	60
C. Connecticut (3-0)	32	46	78

New Hampshire
TOP PERFORMERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
C. Rhoads	30	5-14	0-0	8-10	6	5	0	0	2	18
F. Myrick	31	3-10	0-3	2-2	1	0	1	1	2	8
J. Valladares	26	1-4	0-1	4-5	7	0	0	0	2	6

C. Connecticut
TOP PERFORMERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
K. Horton	18	9-15	4-8	2-2	8	0	1	0	1	24
S. Thompson	20	5-12	2-5	1-1	0	0	1	0	3	13
J. Alexander	26	2-5	0-0	4-4	11	1	0	5	2	8

Another road game, another second half collapse for the UNH Wildcats. This game was eerily similar to the game against the BC Eagles as they lost a half time lead, turned the ball over 20+ times (21 tonight) and allowed a bench player to go for 20+ points (24 tonight). If that's not a recipe for disaster, what is? The field goal percentage for UNH was horrendous tonight and going 3-19 from deep isn't helping matters at all. Coach Rizzo is going to have to stress shot selection until his players start knocking down jumpers from deep.

It was encouraging to see sophomore point guard Chandler Rhoads have a sexy stat line with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists, but it would look a heck of a lot better in a winning effort. Starting freshman small forward Ferg Myrick was the second leading scorer behind Rhoads with eight points, but ended up breaking a finger on his shooting hand that greatly hampered his shot. Team doctors say he will be able to play through it but speculate it could bother him for at least a month. Tough start for the youngster.

[R1zzo23]

Quinnipiac Quiets Wildcats At Home In Durham

Nov 25, 2010 - QU at UNH
TEAM	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Quinnipiac (3-1)	51	30	81
New Hampshire (0-3)	38	35	73

Quinnipiac
TOP PERFROMERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
J. Jonson	34	10-23	4-10	8-11	8	7	2	0	5	32
E. Baker	38	6-11	4-6	0-1	6	6	1	0	1	16
R. May-Thomas	13	4-6	2-4	0-1	3	0	0	0	3	10

New Hampshire
TOP PERFORMERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
C. Matagrano	32	6-11	0-2	1-2	8	0	0	0	1	13
D. Buckley	24	5-6	1-2	2-2	4	1	5	0	3	13
C. Rhoads	31	2-7	0-0	2-5	4	14	1	0	3	6

New Hampshire's long awaited home opener ends like the first two games of the season: a Wildcats loss. UNH got some great individual efforts, but it doesn't seem like they are gelling as a team like Coach Rizzo would like. Matagrano and Buckley led the way with 13 points a piece while Rhoads chipped in with a career-high 14 assists. For the first time of the season, the team shot over 50% from the floor and hit on eight of 18 three-pointers, but they struggled from the line a bit.

The biggest reason for the loss was the outstanding effort of Quinnipiac's junior point guard James Johnson, who put up a LeBron James-like stat line of 32 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, two steals on 10-23 shooting including 4-10 from deep and 8-11 at the line. When asked, Coach Rizzo had this to say:

"What that kid did tonight was incredible. We had no answers for him. Man-to-man, 2-3, 3-2... Didn't matter. He was scoring at will and getting everyone else involved. It was his night and we suffered because of it. I have to do a better job in putting our guys in position to stop him, but when you're knocking down contested shots with two defenders on you, there's nothing you can do about it."

Three weeks into the season, the Wildcats are now 0-3 with a tough week ahead. They have an underrated Harvard (4-2) to visit on Wednesday before busing over to undefeated Rhode Island (7-0) on Saturday, December 1st. On top of that, December 2nd is the opening for the early signing period. If UNH starts 0-5, will that dissuade some prospects from signing on early to be a Wildcat?

[R1zzo23]

Quote: Originally Posted by @RGregg_AEC

Frequent flier miles for AJ Rizzo. Three in-house visits this week. Boston for Lyons, Bronx for Newsom, Hartford for Butch. All three hold #UNH scholarship offers.

Quote: Originally Posted by @RGregg_AEC

Coach Rizzo is out in full force this week to try to lock up at least 1 of his top-3 targets. Feeling around the program he may miss out on all of them. #UNH #AEC

[R1zzo23]

Coach Rizzo Gets Win No. 1!

Nov 28, 2010 - UNH at HARV
TEAM	1ST	2ND	SCORE
New Hampshire (1-3)	44	27	71
Harvard (4-3)	33	35	68

New Hampshire
TOP PERFORMERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
C. Rhoads	32	6-11	0-0	5-6	3	6	0	0	2	17
J. Valladares	26	3-9	1-3	3-4	6	1	2	0	2	10
F. Myrick	31	4-7	0-1	1-1	1	0	1	0	4	9

Harvard
TOP PERFORMERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
E. Rouse	26	6-16	2-8	7-9	1	1	2	0	8	21
L. Rivard	15	3-3	1-1	2-2	2	2	0	0	1	9
K. Wright	22	3-5	0-0	1-1	6	1	3	1	0	7

In his fourth game as a Division I men's basketball coach, AJ Rizzo finally gets his first ever collegiate win! Whether it was against Kentucky, UCLA or, in this case, Harvard, it will be a game that Coach will never forget. In typical Wildcat form, they held an 11-point lead at halftime, but allowed the Crimson to claw back in and make it interesting. Leading scorer Chandler Rhoads did just enough to eke out a 3-point win by scoring 17 points and handing out six assists in the winning effort. Freshman Ferg Myrick, broken finger and all, had an efficient nine points and kept his matchup from hitting a single bucket all game.

An all-out team effort is what it took to garner up a win for Coach Rizzo. Let's hope he can parlay this into another win on the road at Rhode Island and perhaps a win on the recruiting trail this weekend.

[R1zzo23]

Hard Fought Loss at Rhode Island, Herrion Lost To Injury

Dec 1, 2010 - UNH at URI
TEAM	1ST	2ND	SCORE
New Hampshire (1-4)	47	24	71
Rhode Island (9-0)	43	33	76

New Hampshire
TOP PERFORMERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
F. Myrick	26	5-9	1-2	1-2	1	1	0	0	2	12
C. Matagrano	22	3-5	0-1	4-5	3	0	0	0	3	10
C. Rhoads	30	2-4	0-0	5-6	7	5	2	0	4	9

Rhode Island
TOP PERFORMERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
N. Malesevic	34	6-16	6-10	2-5	6	6	1	0	4	20
A. Richmond	28	5-8	2-4	6-8	5	6	3	0	1	18
M. Jones	35	4-10	1-3	0-2	1	0	1	0	1	9

The Wildcats may have lost the game 76-71 to a still undefeated Rhode Island team, but that is not all they lost. Sharpshooter Ryan Herrion is out for the next 2-3 weeks with a lower back strain that he will not be able to play through. In what was a controversial play, Herrion was taken out by an on-coming defender. Coach Rizzo was not all too happy about it.

"Listen, I'm not going to say it was a dirty play. Ryan [Herrion] is one of the best shooters in the league. When he's about to pull an open three, the defender is going to run out at him as hard as possible. But when the defender turns to box him out before he hits the ground and there's no foul called, I have a problem with that. I mean the kid ends up in press row on his back and now won't be available for three weeks. I need to protect my players and if that means getting a technical like I did tonight, that's fine with me."

The team hasn't exactly struggled offensively this season, but to lose your best scorer off the bench is going to hurt. What has been holding this team back from taking the next step forward is their perimeter defense as opposing guards seem to have a field day against this UNH team. That will be a focus in practice in the coming weeks to try to slow down some of the marquee guards this team will see in the near future.

[R1zzo23]

America East Recruiting Update
UNH Misses Out On Two Targets

December 2, 2010 - On the very first day of the early signing period, the fears of the UNH faithful had come true. Two of the three prospects they had offered scholarships to had signed... with someone else. Their reportedly No. 1 target, Martell Lyons (3* PF from Boston) ended up signing with Dartmouth. If you are on the same page as Coach Rizzo, you believe that they got themselves an outstanding young player that could potentially be a program leader for the next four years.

Along with losing out on Lyon, junior college freshman Dallas Newsom has decided to stay at home at Long Island University. Newsom's entire package and polish was something the Wildcat coaching staff coveted, but in the end just didn't have enough ammo to bring him to Durham.

With two of their top targets now off the board, it is time to head back to the war room and re-map their whole recruiting strategy. If the sources are correct, Hartford point guard Moises Butch still holds an offer to play at UNH, but according to his high school coach, "I'd be shocked to see him sign early anywhere whether it is UConn, UNH or Northeastern." Just for the record, UConn has ZERO interest in Butch, but UNH and NE, along with Vermont, are in the running.

[hockeyplaya2724]

Very realistic, I love it! Sad to hear that your off to such a slow start, but once you find that winning touch it will be so much sweeter.