Rutgers faces tough NCAA tournament road, opens against Dartmouth

3/16/2006 8:00 PM

Rutgers rolled through its Big East regular-season schedule. The Scarlet Knights will have to regain that dominating form if they hope to make a run at the Final Four.

The third-seeded Scarlet Knights have what appears to be a rough road to that point after opening their fourth straight NCAA tournament appearance against 14th-seeded Dartmouth on Sunday in Trenton, N.J.

Rutgers (25-4) went undefeated in conference play for the first time in school history to win its second straight Big East regular-season title. However, the Scarlet Knights were upset in the league tournament semifinals, falling 56-40 to West Virginia and ending their 13-game winning streak.

Rutgers, which dropped from No. 6 to No. 9 in the rankings after the loss, wound up in the Cleveland Region in the NCAAs.

To make it through the region, the Scarlet Knights may have to face sixth-ranked Tennessee in the regional semifinals and No. 1 overall seed North Carolina in the final. Those teams have the top two RPI ratings in the nation.

Coach C. Vivian Stringer, who has taken three different schools to the Final Four, isn't thrilled that so many elite teams are in the same region, but insists her team is up to the challenge.

``I like the challenge myself,'' she said with a smile. ``I don't appreciate other people putting in the challenge for me.''

Stringer's team is led by Cappie Pondexter, the conference's player of the year and the first player in league history to earn All-Big East first team honors four times. She averaged 21.5 points this season.

``Like coach always said, to be the best you have to play the best,'' Pondexter said. ``Whoever comes out of this (region) is going to win the national title, and I believe that in my heart.''

The Scarlet Knights will have experience on their side. Rutgers returns nine letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team, which lost to top-seeded Tennessee in the round of eight.

The Scarlet Knights allow a Division I-low 51 points per game and their opponents are shooting just 36 percent from the field.

Rutgers, making its 17th appearance in the NCAAs, is 22-16 in the tournament. The Knights are making their eighth appearance in nine years.

Dartmouth (23-6) earned an automatic bid with a 63-48 win over Princeton last Sunday, winning a three-team playoff to break a tie in the final Ivy League standings.

Jeannie Cullen scored 17 points and Krista Perry added 14 points and nine rebounds for the Big Green, which is playing in its second straight NCAA tournament. Cullen tops the team with 13.9 points per game.

Dartmouth won the conference despite losing leading scorer Elise Morrison to a season-ending foot injury in November.

``I'm just so proud of them,'' coach Chris Wielgus said. ``They love the game of basketball and it shows. The last couple of games they just brought me along for the ride.''

Rutgers has won both of its previous matchups with Dartmouth, including an 84-70 victory in the first round of the 1999 NCAA tournament. The winner of Sunday's game will face either sixth-seeded Texas A&M or 11th-seeded TCU.