The Holy Land of Hoops

Is the new branding of the Seton Hall- Rutgers Rivalry



They're adding a trophy to the game as well, which hasn't been unveiled yet but is apparently impressive.

At least it's some easy annual hardware for the Pirates!

Go Hall

I saw a tweet saying that the trophy will be made from pieces of planks from the Asbury Park boardwalk that was destroyed during Sandy. Great idea all the way around.

Like the idea, particularly with the Sandy connection, but personally, that name reeks of "tl;dr" which for the older folks around here, means "Too long; Didn't read."

Your most memorable college sports rivalries generally follow Shakespeare and maintain that brevity is the soul of wit (Red River Shootout, Border War, Tobacco Road, Backyard Brawl, "The Game"). 2-3 words, alliteration. "Garden State Hardwood Classic" clocks in at 7 syllables, sounds like it was designed by committee and doesn't seem to fit that mold. If the branding is wordy, it better be creative: (See also World's Largest Cocktail Party or Clean Old Fashioned Hate.) However, no branding can save the fact that Rutgers and Seton Hall have combined for 1 NCAA Tournament win since 2001. That's ultimately what makes a good college rivalry.


PS: I'd have personally gone with "The Jersey War," but nobody asked me.

agree with notkirk that I'm not a fan of the name. The unofficial nickname previously thrown around for the rivalry was "The Turnpike Tussle" which is just as bad.

Overall, I like the idea because something needed to be done to ignite a rivalry that really isn't as good as it should be. For the rivalry to get any sort of national attention, it really needs both teams to be good at the same time (and really- for an extended period of time). But that's easier said than done, so at least adding some branding and incentive (the trophy) can do something to get the locals excited about it.

As a good 'ol Jersey Boy I like The Garden State Grudge Match.

A look at the hardware that will be on the line between Seton Hall and Rutgers this Saturday.

Awesome looking trophy in my opinion.

If you look at it long enough the top half looks like a Simpsons character Doh!

I cannot begin to describe my joy in kicking the Rutgers conference affiliation of my shoes. What an armpit of an athletic program they have been and in hoops they were just putrid. But the worst part about it are/were their fans. They used to talk so much smack about how they were turning the corner and were going to become the premier hoops program in the NJ/Pa/NY region. The Fred Hill recruiting classes that never amounted to anything... The Rice coaching abuse scandal....The decades of zero tourney appearances... Contributing nothing but shame to the conference at every turn. True doormat in every sense of the word. Now that they are in the B1G they again think they are a few seasons away from being a top NE program. I hope the Hall kicks the sh!t out of them. Can not stand Rutgers even a little bit. They'll be in the basement of the B1G for another couple decades at least. It's a shame that SHU has to take this RPI hit with this game.

Ok, it's good to vent. Back to the nBE...love this conference from top to bottom.

Interesting read for people not aware of this rivalry (which is pretty much everyone outside of the 2 schools)

http://blogs.mycentraljersey.com/hoopsh ... fireworks/