By: Shane McCarthy
You have to go all the way back to
the 2001-02 season to find the last time Rutgers finished with a .500 record in
the Big East. Last year was another
tough season to endure, but fortunately for Rutgers fans - Mike Rice has the
Knights on a promising path as he enters his third season as head coach.
Who’s Back:
Eli Carter –G– Soph – 29.8
Min, 13.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.1 apg
Dane Miller –G/F– Senior –
28.8 Min, 7.9 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.2 apg
Myles Mack –G– Soph – 26.6
Min, 9.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.1 apg
Jerome Seagears –G– Soph –
25.8 Min, 7.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.5 apg
Mike Poole –G/F– Soph – 22.1
Min, 6.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.2 apg
Austin Johnson –C– Senior – 16
Min, 4.1 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 0.4 apg
Derrick Randall –F/C– Soph –
11.3 Min, 2.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 0.1 apg
Malick Kone –G/F– Soph – 9.7
Min, 3.3 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 0.4 apg
Kadeem Jack –F/C– Soph – 8.3
Min, 1.2 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 0.0 apg
Greg Lewis –F– Soph – 5.9
Min, 0.6 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.3 apg
Incoming
Recruits:
Logan Kelly – [Guard] – 6 foot
2, 200
Incoming
Transfers:
Wally Judge – [Power
Forward] – 6 foot 9, 250
In the class of 2009, Wally was the 15th ranked player by
ESPN and 18th ranked player by Rivals.com. He sat out last season at Rutgers after
transferring from Kansas St., where it wasn’t working out. He is extremely athletic and a former
McDonald’s All-American, and will provide a sizable body upfront who will be
looking to live up to the hype and get Rutgers back to relevance.
Vincent Garrett – [Guard] –
6 foot 5, 210
Garrett, a junior college transfer from Lee College in Baytown, Texas, brings a
scoring touch to Rutgers. He averaged 16
ppg last year to earn all-region accolades at Lee College.
Who’s
Out: Gilvydas Biruta
Outlook:
The Big East punishes youth, and the story for
Rutgers is very similar to that of St. John’s. Both teams were incredibly young last year,
thrown into the fire, and expectedly struggled to find success.
And the similarity
with St. John’s doesn’t end there. Not
only are the Knights expected to have more success due to a year’s experience,
but they are getting necessary aid from new comers, and more specifically – an
improved front court.
The addition of Wally Judge will likely have
the biggest impact. He's a top 100
recruit who underperformed expectations at Kansas St. and is looking forward to
a fresh start. The Knights lacked
physicality in the post, a strength of Judge's. A change of scenery tends
to be beneficial for highly touted recruits, something the Knights are willing
to roll the dice on. Judge's impact
alone can be the difference for Rutgers getting to the next level.
Beyond Judge, the Knights will be looking for
Randall and Jack to step up in the front court. As freshmen, they were
relatively unproductive. But with a
year's experience, the Knight faithful are hoping they are better prepared for
the grueling Big East.
Rutgers is deep at guard, led by Eli Carter. Expect him to expand on last season's success
and lead the Knights in scoring. Dane Miller has relatively underwhelmed
in his 3 seasons thus far, but his size at wing makes him a matchup problem. Even so, you cannot under estimate senior
leadership on the floor. The rest of the back court will be made up of
Mack, Seagears, Poole, Kone and Garrett. Playing time could turn into a hot-hand
situation from game to game.
After two years at the helm, Mike Rice has
gotten modest improvements. This year he
will be blessed with a deeper, more skilled squad. It's been quite some time since Rutgers has
been relevant, but year 3 of his tenure is looking promising.
Twitter: @shane_t_mac
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