Rush The Court

Rutgers and Maryland enter the Big Ten fray after playing last season in the AAC and the ACC, respectively. While college basketball fans probably know something about Maryland from their time as an ACC heavyweight, those outside of the New York/New Jersey area that follow the B1G might not know quite as much about the Scarlet Knights. Personally, when I think Rutgers basketball, I think of this. It probably isn’t a good thing for someone as basketball-obsessed as me to think about a Saturday Night Live sketch when thinking about that program. That said, it’s a new season in a new league for the former members of the Big East and the AAC. Here’s some quick information about the program to get Big Ten fans ready for the newcomers.

• Last Season: The Scarlet Knights went 12-21 overall and 5-13 in the AAC. They were 6-7 in the non-conference portion of their schedule, losing to William & Mary and Farleigh Dickinson at home — for some context, Iowa beat Farleigh Dickinson 92-59. They started out 4-7 in conference play with their most impressive win coming when they beat Houston 93-70. They won a game in the AAC Tournament before bowing out to Louisville 92-31. They averaged 105.7 points per 100 possessions, which ranked 145th in the country. Only Illinois and Northwestern had worse per possession offensive numbers among Big Ten teams. They struggled even more on the defensive end, where they gave up 106.3 points per 100 possessions. That mark would have been dead last in the B1G, as only Iowa at 102.7 was in the same ballpark.

• Coach: Eddie Jordan is back for his second season in Piscataway. He spent all of his previous coaching time as an assistant and head coach in the NBA. He’s probably most well-known for coaching the Gilbert Arenas-led Washington Wizards squads that were perennial fixtures in the Eastern Conference playoffs a few years ago. He is a Rutgers alumnus, and he’s already gotten a commitment from top 50 recruit Corey Sanders in the class of 2015. The team brings back only two of their top seven players from last season, as it lost seniors Wally Judge and JJ Moore to graduation, junior Jerome Seagears transferred to UNLV, and Craig Brown and D’Von Campbell also moved on to Kent State and NAIA school Campbellsville, respectively. It’s clear Jordan is trying to get things in order with his type of players, and that could take a while.
• Marquee Players: While most of the rotation from last season is gone, the team’s two top scorers are back. Myles Mack is a senior point guard who led the team in scoring (14.9 PPG) and assists (4.3 APG). Kadeem Jack is the sole offensive threat in the post, as he went for 14.3 PPG and 6.8 RPG. Only two other returning players averaged more than 10 minutes a game. Junior Etou is a big body who was among the top 20 in defensive rebounding percentage in the AAC despite playing only 23 minutes per game. Malick Kone is a 6’5″ guard/forward who likes to get to the rim.
• Newcomers: The Scarlet Knights had the 66th best recruiting haul in the country, according to 247 Sports. They got some much needed size with Nigeria native Shaquille Doorson and Senegal native Ibrahima Diallo. Doorson is listed at 6’11”, 275 pounds, while Diallo checks in at 6’10”, 240 pounds. DJ Foreman also will allow them to go with big lineups when they need to. With these three freshmen in addition to Jack, there are four possible contributors who are at least 6’8″ that should enable Rutgers to bang down low and control the boards against smaller squads.
• Schedule: A home date with George Washington will kick off the season on November 16. Other non-conference tests will come against Vanderbilt, Clemson and Seton Hall. They get to start league play with home contests against Northwestern and Penn State, but their first exposure to the arduous nature of the B1G will truly start around game three with a stretch of games at Nebraska, home against Wisconsin, road games against Maryland and Minnesota, and then a home game against Michigan. They luck out, however, because they only have to play against Wisconsin, Nebraska, Ohio State and Michigan State one time each. The Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Michigan State games are all at home.
• Prognosis: Rutgers was picked last by the media and KenPom has them last in the B1G as well, with the analytics guru placing the Scarlet Knights at 103rd in the country. Coming off the season they had combined with the jump into a more difficult league with more top-to-bottom parity is not usually a recipe for success. Until they take the floor, we won’t know for sure whether this team can surprise anyone. It will be interesting to see whether Mack and Jack, along with the freshmen, can buy into Jordan’s system to make their first Big Ten season a memorable one.