It’s time to talk about Bambi on ice, runaway redwoods, clotheslines and head butts.

Must be rivalry week for Rutgers and Seton Hall.

With the Garden State Hardwood Classic set for Saturday, we take our annual trip down memory lane of this crazy series. Here is beat writer Jerry Carino’s catalog of the most memorable showdowns since 2000 and their accompanying controversies.

The devil, of course, is in the details:

Rutgers, Seton Hall trophy made of Asbury Park boardwalk planks

1. March 2004: Seton Hall 66, Rutgers 64 at the RAC

Why it was classic: Rutgers was 16-1 at home, with the lone loss coming to No. 1 UConn by one point. Seton Hall needed a win to secure an NCAA berth. This was — by far — the best and most consequential game the rivals have played in modern times.

How it ended: Rutgers’ Marquis Webb missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The hero: Andre Barrett drained a 3-pointer from the block R to give the Pirates the lead for good with about two minutes left.

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Of course, controversy: Gary Waters accounted for the wrong inbounds spot when he drew up the final play, which was supposed to go to Herve Lamizana. The spot was further back than he expected, Lamizana was unreachable on the high block (and double-teamed by Barrett and Marcus Toney-El) and the ball wound up in the hands of the poor-shooting Webb, whose off-balance, uncontested 3 clanged off the front rim.

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2. March 2008: Rutgers 64, Seton Hall 61 at the Rock

Why it was classic: Rutgers rallied from a 17-point first-half deficit to snap a nine-game losing streak on a buzzer-beater by J.R. Inman. The loss cost Seton Hall a chance at the NIT.

How it ended: After Jamar Nutter banked in a put-back to tie the score with 4.3 seconds left, Anthony Farmer sent a long pass down the right sideline to Inman, who barely beat the buzzer with his off-balance 25-footer.

The hero: Inman won the game, but freshman Corey Chandler earned MVP honors with 11 points, six boards and three assists.

Of course, controversy: You could fill a book chapter with all the nuttiness that went down after Inman’s shot, starting with the contentious handshake between Fred Hill and Bobby Gonzalez and spilling over into the press conferences.

When asked if he was “celebrating in Gonzalez’s face” during the handshake, Hill replied, “I was clapping for J.R. Inman because he executed what we drew up in the timeout. I was more happy for Byron Joynes, that’s who I was clapping for. He’s a senior, he’s a warrior and he’s done so many things in our program.”

Gonzo also moaned about a no-call on a potential travel late in the game, claiming Chandler was “skating like Bambi on ice.” Gonzalez ripped official Wally Rutecki as “that mysterious guy who happened to make all the big calls,” implied that “somebody faked an injury” during a late-game foul-shooting situation, said these kinds of losses were why “there’s a lot of former coaches walking into the river and talking to themselves, chasing parked cars in the parking lot” and wondered if the incident with Hill “may have caused more frustration in our already wonderful friendship.”

Reporters’ pens were running dry in the media room.

Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese publicly castigated both coaches and Seton Hall suspended Gonzalez for one game the following season.

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3. February 2000: Seton Hall 65, Rutgers 63 (OT) at the RAC

Why it was classic: Seton Hall came in at 16-4 and 8-2, Rutgers at 12-9 and 4-5. The crowd of 8,600 was going berserk as Rutgers led by 10 at halftime and by eight in overtime.

Of course, controversy: With Rutgers up three and 49 seconds left, Rashod Kent called a timeout as he was falling out of bounds. Rutgers had no timeouts left, prompting a technical foul. The Pirates made both shots and then got a go-ahead layup by Ty Shine.

The hero: Seton Hall’s Rimas Kaukenas scored 16 points and made both free throws after Kent’s technical.

Did you know? The last shot of the game was taken by Rutgers’ Luis Flores (who later starred for Gonzo at Manhattan) and it was an air ball from 14 feet.

4. February 2012: Rutgers 77, Seton Hall 72 (OT) at the Rock

Why it was a classic: Seton Hall was closing in on an NCAA Tournament berth but Rutgers rallied from a 10-point first-half deficit before a sold-out crowd of 10,945. There were 18 lead changes before a Jerome Seagears 3-pointer broke a tie with 12 seconds left in overtime. The Pirates’ bubble would burst after they dropped the next game at DePaul. This was the last "big" game in the rivalry.

The hero: Seagears hit the shot, but Dane Miller was the man, posting 21 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and no turnovers in one of his many strong efforts against the archrival. “There was no way we could see them go to the tournament,” Miller said afterward.

Of course, controversy: With the score tied and under a minute left in overtime, Seton Hall lost possession when Herb Pope was called for an illegal screen. Replays showed Pope didn’t move, but Jerome Seagears hit him — and then the floor — with such force that it prompted a whistle. Rutgers got the ball and Seagears made it count.

5. February 2005: Rutgers 62, Seton Hall 61 (OT) at the RAC

Why it was classic: Just a wild game that came out of nowhere in a lost season for both programs. Seton Hall trailed by 12 in the first half before forcing OT.

Of course, controversy: The score was tied 61-61 at the end of overtime when official Les Jones whistled Donald Copeland for a shooting foul on Quincy Douby as time expired. Replays showed no contact as Douby missed his last-ditch jumper. With the court cleared, Douby missed the first free throw and made the second.

“I think what everybody thinks, that it was a horrible call,” Seton Hall senior John Allen said. “The worst part is that it’s two teams at the bottom of the league, so not a lot of people are going to care, but that was messed up.”

6. March 8, 2011: Rutgers 76, Seton Hall 70 (OT) at MSG

Why it was classic: In the first round of the Big East Tournament, the lead changed hands three times in the final minute before Seton Hall’s Jeremy Hazell drained a 25-footer with one second left to force overtime.

Of course, controversy: Five players fouled out, including an ejection of Gilvydas Biruta for throwing an elbow (Wally Rutecki on the whistle, again). Afterward, Rutgers coach Mike Rice admitted he made a mistake not fouling with his team up three in the closing seconds of regulation. A despondent Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard ended his postgame press conference without being excused by moderator John Paquette, something longtime Big East scribes said they had never seen happen before.

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January 2002: Seton Hall 67, Rutgers 54 at the Meadowlands

Of course, controversy: Prior to the game the Star-Ledger quoted Rutgers forward Herve Lamizana saying he spurned Seton Hall’s recruitment because he disliked Pirate forward Marcus Toney-El. The following day Toney-El responded with, “He shouldn’t hate. That’s a female trait. Men are men. We get over things.” Toney-El later issued an apology statement and apologized personally to Lamizana during pre-game warm-ups, but the stage was set for . . .

February 2002: Rutgers 66, Seton Hall 60 at the RAC

Of course, controversy: With just under four minutes left and Rutgers in command, Toney-El practically tackled Rutgers guard Mike Sherrod on a breakaway layup. Both players ended up among the fans in Section 118 under the basket. The benches emptied and some shoving ensued but a full-scale conflagration was narrowly avoided.

February 2004: Seton Hall 85, Rutgers 58 at the Meadowlands

Of course, controversy: With more than 15,000 fans in attendance, Seton Hall ran away with it. Afterward a defiant Gary Waters told reporters “all they did was hold serve” and promised “the outcome will be different” in the rematch at the RAC (it was, sort of — Seton Hall won by 2).

February 2010: Seton Hall 76, Rutgers 70 at the Rock

Of course, controversy: An otherwise ordinary game ended on a strange note when, with the outcome decided, Rutgers’ Dane Miller elevated to throw down a dunk with one second left. Seton Hall’s Herb Pope knocked the ball — and the player — to the ground hard. An intentional foul was called. “That’s just the way they are, and we carry ourselves the way we are,” Rutgers guard Mike Rosario said. The play set the stage for a battle royal in round two.

March 2010: Seton Hall 85, Rutgers 74 at the RAC

Of course, controversy: Before an ESPN audience, Rutgers’ Hamady N’Diaye charged at Seton Hall’s Jeff Robinson after a Robinson body check sent the 7-footer rolling off the court like a runaway redwood. People got in the way and prevented an exchange of haymakers. N’Diaye was charged with a technical foul, Robinson with an intentional foul. While the officials sorted it out, N’Diaye paraded around waving his arms, exhorting the crowd for more volume. “It’s crazy,” Herb Pope said. “Everybody was going nuts.”

The lunacy didn’t end with the final buzzer. Breaking protocol, Rutgers’ Dane Miller darted for the exits as soon as the buzzer sounded. Moments later, in the handshake line, heated words were exchanged between Seton Hall head coach Bobby Gonzalez and Rutgers assistants Darren Savino and Jim Carr.

Asked about it, Gonzalez made no apologies afterward.

“There’s supposed to be emotion and energy, a little bit of angst and whatever, and that exists,” he said. “We beat St. John’s, we beat Rutgers twice. We want to be able to say to recruits that we swept the metropolitan area, that’s important to us.”

Rutgers coach Fred Hill said he was unaware of the exchange. Asked about Miller bolting into the locker room, he said, “I didn’t see that either.”

Afterward N’Diaye’s mother, who was watching him play in person for the first time, said she was appalled by the nastiness on the court. Welcome to Rutgers-Seton Hall lady.

January 22, 2011: Rutgers 66, Seton Hall 60 at the Rock

Of course, controversy: Seton Hall distributed white towels proclaiming the 11th commandment: “Thou Shalt Not Lose to Rutgers.” The Scarlet Knights faithful were miffed, but they got the last laugh as Pirate fans booed their team’s lackluster effort for the better part of two hours. Jordan Theodore would later acknowledge, “The alumni . . . were pissed off at us."

February 12, 2011: Seton Hall 69, Rutgers 64 at the RAC

Of course, controversy: Earlier in the day Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard dismissed seniors Keon Lawrence and Jamel Jackson for “an ongoing pattern of conduct unbecoming of a representative of Seton Hall athletics.” Afterward Jordan Theodore defended the move, saying, “When guys are repeating, repeating, repeating the wrong things you have to step in and do your job and that’s what he did. Nobody on the team thinks he made the wrong move.” Lawrence’s mother took umbrage with the comment and picked a fistfight with Theodore’s mother later that month at the Rock.

In an unrelated subplot, Hall senior Jeremy Hazell scored his 2,000th career point on a transition layup with three minutes left. The milestone went unacknowledged by the host (Rutgers officials said later Seton Hall never approached them beforehand about it). Hazell didn’t mind, but Herb Pope did: “We try to treat them with class when they come to our place,” he said, “and if someone from another team hit a milestone like that at the Rock, I can’t speak for the school, but I think we would have acknowledged it.”

February 8, 2012: Seton Hall 59, Rutgers 54 at the RAC

Of course, controversy: A rare triple technical was called with 3:26 left when a mini-fracas ended with Seton Hall forward Herb Pope head-butting Rutgers guard Eli Carter. Rutgers got a six-point play out of it to take the lead, but Pope — who should have been ejected — reversed the momentum for good by hitting a 3-point shot.

Afterward, in perhaps the strangest official’s quote of all time, crew chief Jim Burr said he did not eject Pope because “It wasn’t a great head butt, it was just a little tap.”

When asked about the incident, Pope said: “I just leaned over to tell him something, I guess.”

February 12, 2013: Rutgers 57, Seton Hall 55 at the RAC

Of course, controversy: In the obligatory “what-the-hell?” sequence, Rutgers guard Eli Carter bricked a fast-break layup with his team up three and 13 seconds left. Seton Hall, which had trailed by 12 with four minutes left, promptly turned it over when Brian Oliver’s outlet pass was intercepted by Mike Poole. Afterward, a frustrated Oliver told reporters “we don’t have the camaraderie I think we should,” but later tweeted that he was misinterpreted.

Fewer than 5,000 fans attended — the smallest RU-SHU crowd anyone could remember, prompting Star-Ledger columnist Steve Politi to pronounce the rivalry dead. Said Rutgers coach Mike Rice, “We’re certainly not going to ship this one to the Hall of Fame.”

March 8, 2013: Rutgers 56, Seton Hall 51 at the RAC

Of course, controversy: News broke during the game that Seton Hall recruit Jerron Wilbut had been charged with felony robbery. That was a final kick in the head for the Pirates, who got swept by Rutgers for the first time since 2001 and finished below the Scarlet Knights in the Big East standings for the first time since 2002.

After a sloppy contested that ended with Rutgers’ Myles Mack stripping Paterson buddy Fuquan Edwin with 20 seconds left, both coaches affirmed their intention to continue the rivalry on a non-conference basis as Mike Rice lamented Rutgers’ upcoming entry into the “America Whatever” conference.

Dec. 8, 2013: Seton Hall 77, Rutgers 71 at the Rock.

Of course, controversy: With 7:22 left in the second half and Seton Hall up by nine, Pirate senior Brian Oliver was ejected after clotheslining Rutgers freshmen Junior Etou as they went for a rebound. The Hall already was playing shorthanded because Fuquan Edwin and Patrik Auda missed the game with injuries (Brandon Mobley would foul out shortly thereafter).

Stoked by Oliver’s buffoonery, Rutgers rallied to cut the deficit to one. Then, inexplicably, RU’s Jerome Seagears fouled Sterling Gibbs deep in Seton Hall’s end with 1:23 remaining. Gibbs made the free throws en route to a game-high 27 points, and when Seagears responded by shanking a layup, the deal was sealed and Eddie Jordan would not be collecting his $5,000 beat-SHU bonus.

“It’s always nice to win those types of games so you don’t have to get trash-talked,” Gibbs said. “You can do the trash talking.”

Dec. 6, 2014: Seton Hall 81, Rutgers 54 at the Rock.

Of course, controversy: The game itself was notable only for the margin of victory, third-largest in the rivalry’s history. Afterward, for the first time anyone could remember, the postgame press conference did not include both coaches. Reporters had to scramble to the Rutgers locker room to interview Eddie Jordan while Kevin Willard was taking questions. There were conflicting versions of why this happened, but it was clear that they could not agree on who would speak first — protocol even Gonzo and Fred Hill figured out.

Dec. 5, 2015: Seton Hall 84, Rutgers 55 at the RAC.

Of course, controversy: After the Hall won by the biggest margin of victory in series history, marking the first time since the 1980s that one team routed the other in back-to-back years, Eddie Jordan issued an all-time jaw-dropping quote regarding his team's 53-32 deficit on the glass. "I told them (Rutgers' players) I’m not going through rebounding drills guys,” Jordan said. “That’s not in my package as a coach. Rebounding is about heart and nose for the ball and wanting to go get it. That’s just not me as a coach.”

Dec. 23, 2016: Seton Hall 72, Rutgers 61 at the Rock

Of course, controversy: A few days before the game, Seton Hall center Angel Delgado had some not-so-subtle things to say about the series.

"(Rutgers) could be No. 1 in the country, we're still going to beat them," Delgado promised. "I'm coming with the mindset that we're not losing this game. That's how I feel, that's how I'm always going to feel. If I stay another year here, I'm going to still beat them, too."

He then backed up his talk with 19 points and 16 rebounds as the Pirates rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit before a sold-out crowd of 10,400.

CHARTING THE RIVALRY

Here is how the regimes fared against each other:

Tommy Amaker vs. Kevin Bannon: Amaker 3, Bannon 3

Louis Orr vs. Gary Waters: Orr 7, Waters 4

Bobby Gonzalez vs. Fred Hill: Gonzalez 6, Hill 2

Kevin Willard vs. Mike Rice: Rice 5, Willard 2

Kevin Willard vs. Eddie Jordan: Willard 3, Jordan 0

Kevin Willad vs. Steve Pikiell: Willard 1, Pikiell 0

The rivals have met 39 times since Rutgers joined the Big East in 1995. Seton Hall leads 24-15 over that span. The longest winning streak has been five games by Seton Hall. Here are all of those scores:

Jan. 28, 1996 at the CAA: Seton Hall 81, Rutgers 78

Feb. 7, 1996 at the RAC: Rutgers 70, Seton Hall 61

Jan. 26, 1997 at the RAC: Seton Hall 75, Rutgers 72

Jan. 7, 1998 at the RAC: Rutgers 78, Seton Hall 65

Feb. 18, 1998 at the CAA: Seton Hall 64, Rutgers 54

Feb. 21, 1999 at the CAA: Seton Hall 57, Rutgers 55

Feb. 9, 2000 at the RAC: Seton Hall 65, Rutgers 63 (OT)

Feb. 4, 2001 at the CAA: Rutgers 70, Seton Hall 64

Feb. 21, 2001 at the RAC: Rutgers 75, Seton Hall 57

Jan. 11, 2002 at the CAA: Seton Hall 67, Rutgers 54

Feb. 23, 2002 at the RAC: Rutgers 66, Seton Hall 60

Feb. 2, 2003 at the CAA: Seton Hall 58, Rutgers 53

Feb. 25, 2003 at the RAC: Seton Hall 62, Rutgers 52

Feb. 7, 2004 at the CAA: Seton Hall 85, Rutgers 58

March 7, 2004 at the RAC: Seton Hall 66, Rutgers 64

Jan. 22, 2005 at the CAA: Seton Hall 74, Rutgers 58

Feb. 8, 2005 at the RAC: Rutgers 62, Seton Hall 61 (OT)

Jan. 7, 2006 at the RAC: Rutgers 82, Seton Hall 78

Feb. 5, 2006 at CAA: Seton Hall 73, Rutgers 67

March 8, 2006 at MSG: Rutgers 61, Seton Hall 48

Jan. 3, 2007 at CAA: Seton Hall 77, Rutgers 72

Jan. 27, 2007 at the RAC: Rutgers 74, Seton Hall 70 (2OT)

Jan. 30, 2008 at the RAC: Seton Hall 84, Rutgers 71 (OT)

March 9, 2008 at the Rock: Rutgers 64, Seton Hall 61

Jan. 29, 2009 at the Rock: Seton Hall 70, Rutgers 67

Feb. 8, 2009 at the RAC: Seton Hall 65, Rutgers 60

Feb. 23, 2010 at the Rock: Seton Hall 76, Rutgers 70

March 4, 2010 at the RAC: Seton Hall 85, Rutgers 74

Jan. 22, 2011 at the Rock: Rutgers 66, Seton Hall 60

Feb. 12, 2011 at the RAC: Seton Hall 69, Rutgers 65

March 8, 2011 at MSG: Rutgers 76, Seton Hall 70 (OT)

February 8, 2012 at the RAC: Seton Hall 59, Rutgers 54

February 25, 2012 at the Rock: Rutgers 77, Seton Hall 72 (OT)

February 12, 2013 at the RAC: Rutgers 57, Seton Hall 55

March 8, 2013 at the Rock: Rutgers 56, Seton Hall 51

Dec. 8, 2013 at the RAC: Seton Hall 77, Rutgers 71

Dec. 6, 2014 at the Rock: Seton Hall 81, Rutgers 54

Dec. 5, 2015 at the RAC: Seton Hall 84, Rutgers 55

Dec. 23, 2016 at the Rock: Seton Hall 72, Rutgers 61

Staff writer Jerry Carino: jcarino@gannettnj.com.