Big Ten Basketball: 5 biggest storylines for the league in 2020 offseason

Expectations for Rutgers

With a history book riddled with disappointment and insufficient excitement for a university that houses nearly 70,000 students each year, Rutgers basketball appeared on the verge of finally bringing some college basketball relevance to the garden state after winning 20 games this year. Had the NCAA tournament played out accordingly, the Scarlet Knights seemed certain to attain their first tournament bid since 1991.

Elevating a team accustomed to finishing the year with a sub .500 record stands as now an easy task, but Rutgers managed to accomplish the feat thanks to a well-oiled team effort that included seven players averaging over 20 MPG. Although Ron Harper leads the team with 12.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game as a guard, Geo Baker, Akwasi Yeboah, Jacob Young, Myles Johnson, and Montez Mathis all put up scoring numbers within three points of each other, helping label the Scarlet Knights as the Big Ten’s deepest and most evenly spread out team.

But for next year, the team seems destined to expand its success even further. With Yeboah as the only exception, Rutgers expects each core player from last year to return, once more assembling a squad boasting depth and “team basketball” as unique yet profound strengths. Now Rutgers now appears locked and loaded with several players having already established chemistry with each other. But this brings up the question: How high can Rutgers soar next year?

With their bountiful returns considered alongside the chemistry already established, a tournament bid immediately stands out as a goal certainly within the team’s grasp. But while also assuming the elevation each returning player’s game most likely will undergo with yet another season playing against tough Big Ten opponents now under their belts, alongside an incoming freshmen class that offers far more talent than the team typically expects, a mid-tournament run seems like a very reasonable possibility too.

But on the other hand, the star power that the team lacks might prove fatal for Rutgers next year. With a similar team returning, the opportunity for opposing coaches to analyze and later dismantle next year’s Scarlet Knights team begins to materialize. Few expected Rutgers to challenge their opponents to such an impressive degree this year, which likely worked to their advantage. But as the team continues to acquire more attention, this advantage uncoincidentally disintegrates.

Rutgers accomplished a great deal last year just by earning some respect as a team with winning capabilities, but the manner in which they did so could allow them to achieve even more success just as easily as it could help plunge them back down towards the Big Ten’s basement.