Rutgers Scarlet Knights - Grade: A
2025-26 record: 14-20 (6-14)
Roster departures
- Dylan Grant (9.5 ppg and 4.2 rpg)
- Harun Zrno (6.5 ppg and 1.6 rpg)
- Emmanuel Ogbole (4.7 ppg and 6.0 rpg)
Roster returnees
- Tariq Francis (17 ppg and 2.9 apg)
- Darren Buchanan (8.1 ppg and 3.9 rpg)
- Jamichael Davis (7.5 ppg and 2.5 apg)
- Kaden Powers (6.1 ppg and 1.8 rpg)
- Lino Mark (5.9 ppg and 1.8 rpg)
Roster additions
- Darin Smith Jr. (20.7 ppg and 5.4 rpg at Central Connecticut)
- Dorin Buca (3.2 ppg and 3.3 rpg at Kansas State)
- William Sydnor (13.9 ppg and 6.8 rpg in 2024-25 at Manhattan)
- Christian Gurdak (5.6 ppg and 4.4 rpg in Virginia Tech)
- Lewis Duarte (international guard prospect)
Admittedly, I’m grading the Knights on a curve, since the program’s resources are on par with Penn State towards the bottom of Big Ten Basketball. That makes their offseason fairly impressive, starting with keeping the leading scorer, Francis. He was a quality portal pickup from a year ago and worked out, so keeping him is big for the program.
Rutgers also kept other rotation pieces, including Buchanan and Davis. Coach Steve Pikiell has a good track record with players who stay with him for multiple years, so that could be the most important aspect of this offseason.
That’s not to say that they also didn’t land some pieces. Smith was the NEC Player of the Year after leading the league in scoring, and after Francis’ campaign, the Knights hope for a similar transition for this NEC newcomer. Overall, it feels as if Rutgers did the best it could do this offseason, thus earning the “A”.
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