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Eugene Harvey and Seton Hall lost to Notre Dame in the second round, but Hurley still has plenty of horses in the race.

Six former Newark (N.J.) St. Benedict's Prep players are on Big East rosters, and five of them were active for the tournament. Cincinnati junior guard Rashad Bishop was suspended from the tournament by the team for violating team rules.

Three more players in the tournament -- Mike Rosario (Rutgers), Travon Woodall (Pittsburgh) and Dominic Cheek (Villanova) -- all competed for Bob Hurley, Dan's father and the legendary coach at Jersey City's St. Anthony High School. The elder Hurley has won 25 state championships, is approaching 1,000 career wins and is once again a candidate for the Naismith Hall of Fame.

Rosario, Woodall and Cheek are all featured in the documentary "The Street Stops Here," which documents the Friars' perfect 2008 campaign that culminated in a Tournament of Champions victory. It will air March 31 on PBS.

All told, that makes nine Hurley products on the rosters of the 16 teams of at the Big East tournament.

"That's a cool thing," said Dan Hurley, who played at Seton Hall and has compiled a record of 223-21 in his nine years as the coach at St. Benedict's. "It's a dream for a lot of these kids to get to this level, and it's a premier event in college basketball in the Northeast and it's great to see. I come every year to catch a day or two of the event."

The St. Benedict's products in the tournament include Harvey, Samardo Samuels (Louisville), David Cubillan (Marquette), Corey Stokes (Villanova) and Lamar Patterson (Pittsburgh). Yet another St. Benedict's player, 6-8 senior forward Gilvydas Biruta of Lithuania, is headed to Rutgers next season.

Told that there were that many St. Benedict's players in the event, Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin cracked, "That doesn't surprise me. I'd like to get another one."

Big East and college coaches from across the country flock to St. Benedict's and St. Anthony, as well as neighboring St. Patrick of Elizabeth (coached by Kevin Boyle), every year.

They known that the Hurleys are known for instilling the values of discipline, hard work and fundamental play -- often aided by the use of some colorful language.

"If you get a guy from either Coach Hurley or Danny you're going to get a guy that's been taught basketball," said Cronin, whose 11th-seeded Bearcats face No. 3 West Virginia Thursday night. "Not only are they taught the game, the practice that they run is a college practice. Mistakes are not allowed and intensity is high and that's the difference."

He added: "You're playing against good players in practice. The guy guarding you in practice is a good player but at the same time they don't tolerate mistakes at the level of college coaches. So they demand of their players the same way college coaches do. So when we get them, they're all ahead of the curve."

Jerry Walker, the former Seton Hall star who played at St. Anthony, added: "They're excellent coaches, excellent coaches. They know what they're doing. They teach fundamentals. Mr. Hurley's a tough guy, Danny's a tough guy. They demand it. And that's what you need these days. A lot of people say you shouldn't be too demanding, but the kids really need that."

Dan Hurley had departed the Garden by the time Samuels and Louisville lost Wednesday's last game to Brooklyn's Lance Stephenson and Cincinnati.

Huddled in a corner of the Louisville locker room, Samuels, a native of Trelawny, Jamaica, said he benefited a great deal from his time at the Newark school.

"Just my basic skill set I kind of learned from him," Samuels said. "Being tough, begin able to lead my team the right way. He used to get on me a lot.

"St. Benedict's kind of built me the right way for college basketball and things I might face." While the Hurleys are known as tough coaches, they also endeavor to create a family atmosphere, often helping kids avoid the dangers of the street in favor of the safety of the gym.

And they love to stay in touch with many of their former players.

"To me it's what it's all about," Dan Hurley said. "It's why you coach high school, to watch Cubillan and then come back and see Eugene. Not so much them winning or playing great, just to see them grown up and mature and having dealt with them when they were immature and crazy teenage kids is just a neat thing."