Mike Rosario is like a flower that blooms in the desert or a classically trained opera singer in line at an American Idol audition. He’s unexpected; a rare talent that stands out.

In short, he’s a McDonald’s All-American who spurned offers from North Carolina, Florida and Georgetown to attend Rutgers University.

Rosario started for three years on the varsity at St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, N.J., where he played for legendary coach Bob Hurley. The 6-foot-2 guard led St. Anthony to a 60-1 record over his last two years.

Rosario could have chosen to go to any college he wanted. He decided, instead, that he needed to go to Rutgers.

Rosario picked Rutgers, a school that made its last NCAA Tournament appearance in 1991 when he was just 1 year old, over a host of schools that included national titles and Final Fours in their recent histories because of Rutgers’ proximity to his mother and a vast support system in his hometown of Jersey City.

“I felt if I stayed home and stayed around the right people and my mom, they’d have the opportunity to come see me play,” Rosario said. “I wanted to keep those people close to me. That’s what I wanted to do.”

Rosario is the first high school All-American to play for Rutgers since Phil Sellers, a New York product who led the Scarlet Knights to the 1976 Final Four, and he’s the first McDonald’s All-American in the school’s history.

“For us to get a local kid, the school’s first McDonald’s All-American out of a great local program like St. Anthony’s with a great coach in Bob Hurley, was tremendous for our program,” said Rutgers coach Fred Hill, who is in his third year as the Scarlet Knights’ head coach. “We’re in the process of building this program. Mike saw a chance to come here and accept the challenge. He’s certainly been everything we hoped for up to this point.”

Rosario leads Rutgers (9-8 overall, 0-4 in the Big East) in scoring at 17.4 points per game. He’s scored 20 or more points in four of the Knights’ last six games. He is the only player to start every game for the Knights this season.

Being the best player on a struggling team has trained a lot of the focus on Rosario. He has made just 40.3 percent of his shots and just 30.6 percent of his 3-point attempts, while also being inundated with interview requests and attention from fans.

“We’ve seen gimmicks — some box-and-one and people not leaving him already early in his career,” Hill said. “I think Mike’s been a typical freshman in the fact that you’re going to be up and down a little bit, but atypical in that he’s really talented. He can really score the basketball.”

Oh, there’s no doubt that Rosario can score. He averaged 19.0 points per game as a senior at St. Anthony, leading the Friars to an undefeated season and a national title. In his four varsity seasons, he scored over 1,000 points.

Last year, he became the sixth St. Anthony player to earn McDonald's All-America honors, joining an illustrious group that includes Bobby Hurley (1989/Duke), Elijah Ingram (2002/St. John’s), Anthony Perry (1997/Georgetown), Rodrick Rhodes (1992/Kentucky) and David Rivers (1984/ Notre Dame).

But unlike his predecessors at St. Anthony, Rosario remained in-state when it came to his college choice.

Rosario grew up with a father who was out of the picture and a mother who struggled to raise her family amid the projects of Jersey City. In the third grade, Rosario found safety at the Boys and Girls Club of Jersey City where he met program director Gary Greenburg. Later, he would go to St. Anthony and watch the Friars practice.

“You know the saying It takes a village to raise a child?” asked Hurley. “Well, there are a bunch of people in Jersey City who were involved with Mike as he was growing up.”

Rosario said Hurley and Greenburg became his father-figures.

“Playing Coach Hurley was great for me because, as a kid, I grew up in the projects and I didn’t know much about life,” Rosario said. “I learned about life and how to be responsible from him. Beginning with my freshman year, he taught me the ins and outs of life and, basically, he disciplined us to where we know how to act and how to live. He got me strong.

“Gary played a big role in my life, too. He was in my life since I was in the 3rd and 4th grade. That’s when I started to really get away from the negatives where I was at. I kept myself moving by playing at the Boys and Girls Club in Jersey City. He was another father to me.”

Rosario was the first St. Anthony product to play basketball at Rutgers since Myles Dixson from 1985 to 1989, but Hurley liked the fit along with the fact that Rutgers assistant Darren Savino had played on St. Anthony’s 1989 USA Today national championship team under Hurley.

Rosario said playing at Rutgers gives him “a Plan B, in case basketball doesn’t work out.” The plan, according to Rosario, would be to strengthen his ties in the Garden State, which would help his post-graduate career.

So far, basketball has worked out for Rosario, even if the Scarlet Knights are still struggling.

Rosario has saved his best games for Rutgers’ toughest opponents, scoring 26 against North Carolina, 22 against Pittsburgh and 22 in an 81-76 loss to Marquette last Wednesday.

“It’s not really a big step,” Rosario said of the jump from high school to college. “I know I had a lot of expectations because I’m the first McDonald’s All-American and people expect me to do a lot of things, but I don’t think I have to do a lot. I’m just part of the puzzle.”

Rosario may be a piece to the puzzle, but he’s a critical piece. He’s not only the best player on the Rutgers’ roster, but he’s a link to New Jersey’s deep talent pool. Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, has struggled to get the top local players. The hope is that other Garden State products will follow him to Rutgers.

“Mike’s going to help them narrow the gap,” Hurley said.

Rising Team: Marquette

The Golden Eagles have won their first four Big East games, including a pair of wins over ranked teams in Villanova and West Virginia. Marquette is getting great play from its three seniors Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wes Matthews. The Golden Eagles will be a threat to win the Big East title with a schedule that has them playing Connecticut, Notre Dame, Louisville and West Virginia just once each.

Falling Team: DePaul

You know things are really bad when you lose to South Florida by 22 points at home. That’s what happened to DePaul on Saturday as the Blue Demons fell to 0-4 in the Big East. DePaul had already lost to Notre Dame at home and on the road at Providence and Syracuse. Which was bad, but not that bad. South Florida was 5-9 overall and 0-3 in the Big East and the game was at DePaul. But the Bulls dominated the Blue Demons in an 80-58 victory.

Player of the Week: Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody

Luke Harangody, the Big East’s leader in both points and rebounding, is putting up monster numbers. Harangody had 31 points and 11 rebounds in the Irish’s 73-67 win over Georgetown last week. On Saturday, Harangody topped that performance with 30 points and 16 boards in an 88-79 win over Seton Hall. The last Notre Dame player to score 30 or more points in three straight games was Adrian Dantley in 1975-76.

Freshman of the Week: Georgetown’s Greg Monroe

Should we begin engraving Greg Monroe’s name on the Big East Rookie of the Year award now? Monroe is the conference’s rookie of the week for the second time in a row after scoring a career-high 21 points (and pulling down 10 rebounds, too) in a tough 73-67 loss at Notre Dame. He nearly had a triple-double in Georgetown’s 82-75 win over Providence on Saturday, registering 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

Stats of the Week

Louisville is 3-0 in the Big East for the first time since it entered the conference. The first two wins came on the road — at South Florida and at Villanova — before a big home victory against Notre Dame Monday.

Marquette, another former Conference USA member, is 4-0 in the Big East; the Golden Eagles’ best start in their four years in the conference.

Notre Dame has won its last 45 home games, including 20 Big East games, tying the conference record for consecutive home wins.

Luke Harangody has scored 20 or more points in eight straight games. The last Notre Dame player to go over 20 in eight straight games was Kelly Tripucka in 1979-80.

Pittsburgh is undefeated, but the Panthers are used to great starts. Pitt is 15-0 for the third time in the last six seasons.

Syracuse, which ranks 5th in the nation in field goal shooting, made a season-high 61.1 percent of its shots in an 82-66 win at Rutgers on Saturday.

They Said It

“When I got my shot blocked on the break, I went to the bench and Coach Murph was like ‘Man, if you get up that high again and don’t dunk the ball, I’ll lose all respect for you’ So after I dunked that, I gave him a quick look and said ‘Like that?” — Syracuse guard Jonny Flynn to SU assistant Rob Murphy after Flynn’s straight-to-YouTube dunk over Rutgers’ Mike Rosario on Saturday.

Key upcoming games

Wednesday, January 14
Syracuse at Georgetown
Syracuse is 4-0 in the Big East, but the Orange have feasted on four teams that are a combined 1-14 in the conference. This is Syracuse’s first big league test. Georgetown, meanwhile, is 2-2 and the Hoyas have already lost one Big East home game.

Saturday, Jan. 17
Georgetown at Duke
Georgetown opened the Big East schedule with games against Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Providence and Syracuse. So after playing four nationally-ranked teams in their first five Big East games, the Hoyas should be prepared for No. 2 Duke.

Pittsburgh at Louisville
Pittsburgh will put its No. 1 ranking on the line at No. 20 Louisville. This is the beginning of a key stretch for the Panthers, who get Syracuse, West Virginia, Villanova and Notre Dame after this game.

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