Busting Brackets
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Big Ten Basketball: Power ranking the conference (Nov. 26-Dec. 3)

By Blaine Lewallen

PORTLAND, OR - NOVEMBER 26: Nike co-founder Phil Knight presents head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans and the Michigan State Spartans the trophy for the 'Victory Bracket' Championship after the game during the PK80-Phil Knight Invitational presented by State Farm at the Moda Center on November 26, 2017 in Portland, Oregon. Michigan State won the game 63-45. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
PORTLAND, OR - NOVEMBER 26: Nike co-founder Phil Knight presents head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans and the Michigan State Spartans the trophy for the 'Victory Bracket' Championship after the game during the PK80-Phil Knight Invitational presented by State Farm at the Moda Center on November 26, 2017 in Portland, Oregon. Michigan State won the game 63-45. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 19: Rutgers Men’s Basketball Head Coach Steve Pikiell speaks at the 2017 Big Ten Basketball Media Day at Madison Square Garden on October 19, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 19: Rutgers Men’s Basketball Head Coach Steve Pikiell speaks at the 2017 Big Ten Basketball Media Day at Madison Square Garden on October 19, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are by no means a pushover team. In fact, they are a much-improved team from a season ago, where they went 15-18 (but 3-15 in the conference). However, it is still difficult to give the Scarlet Knights much credit just yet, as they have really not beaten anyone worth mentioning.

This week, Rutgers faced off against Florida State in the Big Ten/ACC challenge.  The Seminoles are kind of underrated, as they have started the season at 7-0, including a win over Florida. The Scarlet Knights really stuck with the Seminoles for the majority of the game before falling 78-73 at home. Still, head coach Steve Pikiell has to be happy with his team’s effort in the loss.

The Scarlet Knights followed this game with an 89-67 loss at Minnesota. This was to be expected, as the Golden Gophers just have way too much firepower and size for the Scarlet Knights, especially this early in the season.

So far this season, the Scarlet Knights have a very balanced scoring effort. Corey Sanders leads the team with 12.6 points per game but is shooting just 36% from the field. DeShawn Freeman averages 11.4 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game as well. Rutgers also has two other players who average at least 10.0 points per game in Geo Baker (11.5) and Eugene Omoruyi (10.9).

Schedule for this week:

  • Michigan State (7-0, 1-0 Big Ten) at Rutgers on Dec. 5
  • NJIT (5-3) at Rutgers on Dec. 7
  • Fairleigh Dickinson (3-5) at Rutgers on Dec. 9
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