Jerry Carino

@njhoopshaven

Doug Gottlieb is known for speaking his mind. So what does the college basketball analyst for CBS Sports think of Seton Hall, whose game he’s calling Saturday at St. John’s? And what’s his take on Rutgers?

Here are the highlights from Gannett New Jersey’s chat with the former Oklahoma State point guard Thursday.

Jury’s out on Seton Hall

As Seton Hall (15-8 overall, 5-6 Big East) makes an NCAA Tournament push, the biggest concern is depth. There are just nine scholarship players available until power forward Ish Sanogo returns from a sprained ankle, and the Pirates’ rotation is going to max out at seven down the stretch.

Gottlieb sees that as a potential positive.

“So much of the sport is confidence, believing what you’re doing ultimately is going to work out,” he explained. “When you don’t have a bench, it increases your confidence. Your coach, based upon the minutes, believes in you. You can’t play basketball with one eye on the bench.”

He views seven men as the ideal late-season rotation for any team.

“You do run the risk of guys taking plays off on defense,” he said. “You’ve got to make sure if you’re resting you rest on offense, not on defense.”

He sees the Pirates as solid favorites against St. John’s (11-14, 5-7), whom they pummeled last month in Newark. The game, which takes place at Madison Square Garden, tips at noon on CBS Sports Network.

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A loss could be catastrophic to the Hall’s Big Dance hopes.

“I don’t know how good Seton Hall actually is,” Gottlieb said. “If you can survive this one, then you’ve got (a three-game homestand against Creighton, Villanova and Xavier) that defines your season. If you win two of those you’re in, locked up. If you win one of those you’d better beat DePaul and Georgetown. If you win none, you’re in really bad shape.”

The Johnnies are tough to predict. They’ve beaten Marquette and Butler at home behind high-powered freshmen guards Shamorie Ponds and Marcus LoVett.

“They’re totally jump-shot dependent,” Gottlieb said. “LoVett and Ponds have a ton of scoring talent. Can they help you when they’re not scoring and can they move the ball?”

He called the Red Storm “kind of a house of cards inside” and that’s where Hall center Angel Delgado feasted in the last meeting, tallying 21 points and 20 rebounds. The junior might be the Big East’s second-best player right now.

“He’s a grown man under there,” Gottlieb said. “Naturally he has very good instincts. When the ball goes up he goes and gets it, and that’s incredibly valuable for a team.”

Bullish on Rutgers’ future

Gottlieb said Rutgers athletics director Pat Hobbs consulted him last year about finding a replacement for Eddie Jordan.

“One of the flaws with a lot of athletic directors and hiring committees, they hire somebody who won a game or two to get to the tournament, or won a game or two in the tournament,” Gottlieb said. “It’s much harder to win your league two or three times in a row. So I thought they made a really good hire. Once they get their facilities going, they have a chance.”

Rutgers (13-12, 2-10) plays host to Minnesota (17-7, 5-6) Saturday at noon. The contest airs on ESPNU.

RELATED: Winning season within reach for RU?

“I’m pleasantly surprised by Deshawn Freeman,” Gottlieb said of the junior forward, who averages 11.4 points and 8.5 boards. “Not a lot of junior college kids go to the Big Ten. He’s an undersized big, but (Pikell) has found ways to have him be super-effective.”

A Rutgers win Saturday would put a huge dent in Minnesota’s NCAA Tournament hopes. The Scarlet Knights nearly knocked off Ohio State on the road Wednesday.

“I feel like they’re playing solid basketball,” Gottlieb said. “Let’s see what they do against Minnesota, which is coming off a big come-from-behind win (against Iowa). That’s one I think they can get.”

Big picture, Gottlieb acknowledged the lone remaining question about Pikiell (“can he recruit in the Big Ten?”) but is bullish on the regime’s future.

“For year one, you were able to stabilize things,” Gottlieb said. “You’re not embarrassing yourself. Rutgers had been embarrassing themselves in this league. I think those days are over.”

He added, “I don’t know if Rutgers can ever win the league, but you don’t have to. You win 10 Big Ten games and they’re going to erect a statue of you up front.”

As Gottlieb noted, that’s the endgame of a four- to five-year project. For the time being, Rutgers is playing hard and smart. The foundation is being set.

“They’re not as good as their early-season record and not as bad as their record in the first half of conference play,” he said. “But even a blind man could see the culture is changing there.”

Bullock redshirting

Freshman forward Matt Bullock will seek a medical redshirt for this season, Pikiell told reporters Friday. He said the 6-foot-4 Bullock, who appeared in just two games early on, has a variety of maladies. Bullock is a graduate of high school powerhouse Roselle Catholic and a close friend of Lions big man Naz Reid, who is a top recruiting priority for the Class of 2018.

Staff Writer Jerry Carino: jcarino@gannettnj.com