Big Ten Basketball Preview: #14 Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Rutgers kick off our Big Ten power rankings at #14

The Scarlet Knights are kicking off our Big Ten conference preview, a power ranking of every team in the conference starting with teams who should temper expectations and ending with the final four hopefuls. After ranking every Big Ten team 14 through 1, we will give you our preseason All-Big Ten teams.

Our 14th Big Ten team is lead by returning head coach Eddie Jordan. Jordan made his debut with the Scarlet Knights last season, finishing with a 12-21 record and going 5-13 in the American Athletic Conference. Jordan’s hire made some noise in the college basketball world after he admitted less than a month later that he never graduated from Rutgers. His official Rutgers University bio stated that he graduated in 1977, yet after further inspection, word got out that he never did. This had no effect on his job status however, as Rutgers released a statement saying that head coaches are not required to have a degree and that Jordan was hired for his experience and leadership abilities. Jordan and Rutgers will look to earn respect in the Big Ten this season and become more than just the newcomers.

Key Losses

Jerome Seagears
Craig Brown
Wally Judge
J.J. Moore
D’Von Campbell

The Scarlet Knights lose two starters to graduation, Moore and Judge. They started at the 3 and 4 respectively, and their contributions will be missed. Moore was third on team in scoring, and Judge was second on the team in rebounding with 6.2 boards per game. In addition to graduation, Rutgers has had three players transfer in the off-season, most notably three-year starter at shooting guard, Seagears, who will play his final season at UNLV. The other two, Brown and Campbell are headed to Kent State and Campbellsville University, respectively. Both received substantial time off the bench, but their departures should not affect the Knights too much this season.

New Faces

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Bishop Daniels
Ibrahima Diallo
D.J. Foreman
Mike Williams
Ryan Johnson
Shaquille Doorson
Jake Dadika

Rutgers biggest addition in the off-season was without a doubt Daniels. The former Miami Hurricane played last season at junior college powerhouse ASA. Daniels was one of the most athletic players in his class coming into college and was voted a top five dunker in high school by Rivals.com. As a player who can score well in transition, Daniels will be able to start right away for Eddie Jordan’s squad and will be one of the few players on the Rutgers roster who can turn some heads in the Big Ten.

In addition to Daniels, the Scarlet Knights are adding 6 freshmen. Three-star 6’10” center Diallo is the highest ranked of the freshmen according to ESPN. The Winston-Salem product will hope to contribute off the bench along with Johnson, an unranked shooting guard from the same state. Rutgers also added a couple of three-star wings from New York in Foreman and Williams. Lastly, Rutgers had two late summer additions in Doorson and preferred walk-on Dadika. While neither is expected to have much playing time, it is worth noting that Doorson is a 6’11 Dutchman who de-committed from Pittsburgh over the summer and decided to take his talents to Piscataway.

Projected Starters:
- PG SR Myles Mack 5’10” 175 lbs
- SG JR Bishop Daniels 6’3” 185 lbs
- SF SR Malick Kone 6’5” 200 lbs
- PF SO Junior Etou 6’7” 230 lbs
- C JR Kadeem Jack 6’9” 235 lbs

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Mack and Jack will be the only two returning starters for the Scarlet Knights. Yet thankfully for Rutgers fans, Mack and Jack were the team’s two best players last year and should be this year as well. They were one and two in scoring last season and will look to do so again. Daniels will also likely carry a large portion of the scoring load, depending on the style of play that Rutgers uses this year. Jordan likes to have the ball in the hands of his floor general, Mack, and let him run the show. Mack is an experienced point guard who can drive, pass, shoot and will keep Rutgers competitive on the offensive end. In addition to the their offensive firepower, Mack and Jack will be the defensive strong points of this team as well. Jack led the team last year with 1.3 blocks per game while Mack locked down opposing point guards and notched 1.6 steals per game.

Rutgers biggest question mark this year will be who is going to provide a spark off the bench. Greg Lewis and Kerwin Okoro will be the only players with any meaningful college experience, but neither of them played more than ten minutes a game last year. Jalen Hyde and Stephen Zurich return to the team once again, but they only played a combined 40 minutes all of last season. Besides these 4, Rutgers will be counting on their freshmen to contribute big time off the bench.

The Scarlet Knights will be somewhat of a question mark heading into the season. They return some top talent but will likely suffer from inconsistency. Mack and Jack will shine for Rutgers, but this team lacks height and depth, two things you cannot afford to be missing in college basketball, let alone in one of the elite basketball conferences in the country.

In their first season in the Big Ten, Rutgers should shoot for a .500 season and hope to make the NIT, this will be difficult however, as the Big Ten is a great conference top to bottom. I expect the Scarlet Knights to struggle mightily in conference play, and come in 14th place in the Big Ten.

Bonus: Must Watch Game

12/30 vs Northwestern at 12:00 P.M. ET
This will be Rutgers’ Big Ten opener, and should give us a good idea of how well Rutgers can handle themselves in one of their few winnable conference games.

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