Rutgers Underclassmen Will Determine Improvement

Posted by Brendan Brody on November 12th, 2015

When a team drops 15 games in a row to close out a season followed by the loss of three of its best players, you can approach things a couple different ways. If you take the glass half full side of it, you might say that losing three of your best players from a team so awful could be a blessing of sorts — perhaps an opportunity for a new start. But if you go the other way and look at things as half empty, you might say that Rutgers appears to be an even worse team than it was when it suffered through that brutal skid. Regardless of which side you take, the onus is on the Scarlet Knights’ underclassmen to have a big year if this team is going to improve this season.

DJ Foreman and others who played supporting roles last season now must step up (Matthew O'Haren, USA Today).

DJ Foreman and others who played supporting roles last season must now step up (Photo: Matthew O’Haren, USA Today).

Put simply, Rutgers could not score last year. It ended the season shooting a woeful 43.3 percent inside the arc and 29.5 percent from behind the three-point line. To make matters worse, the Scarlet Knights managed to make only 65.3 percent of their attempts from the free throw line as well. In each of these areas of shooting, more than 300 other Division I basketball teams performed better than Rutgers. Mike Williams wasn’t a primary scoring option as a freshman in large part because he logged an effective field goal percentage of just 37.9 percent last season. He must develop more confidence in his shot if he is to develop into the perimeter threat of which he was touted as a New York City prep star. Another sophomore expected to have a large stake in the outcome of the Scarlet Knights’ season is DJ Foreman. At 6’8″ and 230 pounds, this athletic forward can guard both wings and post players. Will his role become that of the defensive stopper/glue guy? Head coach Eddie Jordan must hope so, because Foreman really didn’t exhibit anything special on the other end of the court last season (3.8 PPG; 85.1 offensive rating; 21.5 percent turnover rate). The last sophomore who will be looked upon to increase his production is Shaquille Doorson. The 6’11” Doorson needs to provide quality minutes, and lots of them, off the bench. Senior Greg Lewis supplied decent production up front at times last season, but he needs help patrolling the paint on both ends. Doorson has the body to become a factor, but he’s still extremely raw. Not that there’s really any choice here: If Rutgers is to find any sort of respectability this year, all the sophomores need to improve by leaps and bounds.

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A Rutgers Primer: Who Are These Guys?

Posted by Brendan Brody on November 6th, 2014

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.

Eddie Jordan is in charge of trying to get Rutgers basketball back on solid ground after the Mike Rice tenure. (USATSI)

Eddie Jordan is in charge of trying to get Rutgers basketball back on solid ground after the Mike Rice tenure. (USATSI)

  • 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.

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