College Hoops Picks: Rutgers Scarlet Knights at St. John's Red Storm

Preview

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights (0-6, 9-10) will make the short drive through New Jersey on Saturday to Manhattan when they visit the St. John's Red Storm (1-5, 10-8).

Rutgers is yet to be victorious in Big East play, but their schedule has been abnormally hard. After ending their non-conference schedule with a trip to North Carolina, they have faced Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Marquette, Syracuse, Cincinnati, and Louisville. The good news, though, is that after St. John's they face winless Seton Hall and DePaul, so there's a good chance they can get rid of the zero in the wins column somewhere along the way.

After a great beginning to non-conference play where they went 9-1, the Red Storm lost their final two non-conference games and have gone 1-5 in Big East play. They haven't had Anthony Mason, Jr. for most of the season, but they are really missing him now. St. John's has had their own string of tough conference games, having faced Providence, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Villanova, and Cincinnati. Their lone Big East win came when they upset Notre Dame.

Stats

	Record	Conf	ATS	RPI	SOS	PF	PA
Rutgers	9-10	0-6	7-6	146	67	65.8	66.5
St. John's	10-8	1-5	6-6	139	79	68.6	66.2

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG
Rutgers	42.9	41.3	28.7	27.9	72.0	39.6	5.7	11.3
St. John's	44.1	42.8	30.2	34.4	63.0	41.6	7.2	12.8

Prediction

Current Line: St. John's -4.5

Rutgers ATS: 7-6, 5-4 when underdog
St. John's ATS: 6-6, 4-1 when favored

Rutgers may be winless in conference play so far, but no one is giving them credit for how tough their schedule has been. St. John's has the win over Notre Dame and that's it—and while they have played some tough teams too, their schedule hasn't been as bad as the Scarlet Knights.

The Red Storm are coming off an 11 point loss to Cincinnati, a game they were favored to win and are still trying to figure out their 19 point loss to Villanova.

As I said above, the Scarlet Knights haven't been given enough credit for their strength of schedule and how they have matched up with some of the best teams the country has to offer.

Pick: Rutgers +4.5

*All statistics for this article have come from StatSheet.com*

*This article is also featured on CFBPlace.com—and soon to be featured on CBBPlace.com*