Rutgers season preview: Two stars return, and expectations shoot sky-high
“We talk about it all the time: We want to win a national championship,” Geo Baker told the Big Ten Network. “We’ll come out and say that to anybody.”
Geo Baker doesn’t mince his words. Peruse the interviews he’s taken part in this offseason and preseason, and you’ll find Rutgers’ super-senior point guard is certain of his team’s primary objective.
“We talk about it all the time: We want to win a national championship,” Baker told the Big Ten Network. “We’ll come out and say that to anybody. That’s our goal. We say it every single day in practice. And I feel like we had the offseason like a national champion.”
Anyone who believes Baker utilized his fifth year of NCAA eligibility solely to capitalize on the name, image and likeness rights he had an important hand in fighting for is mistaken. Baker and his teammates have exhibited a laser focus on what remains for them to accomplish on the court.
OK. But a national championship?
Rutgers fans don’t need reminding that this program endured a 30-year absence from the NCAA Tournament before last year’s historic bid. Coach Steve Pikiell has lit a new path for the Scarlet Knights in a way that several coaches before him couldn’t. But after Rutgers’ first March Madness appearance since 1991 and first win since 1983, a sudden jump to the Final Four would be an unfair expectation.
And yet...
“There’s always expectations on the banks,” Pikiell smiled at Big Ten media day.
Look at it another way: If you’re Rutgers, why not shoot for the moon?
Prognosticators like me will declare the top of the Big Ten is too rugged, too impenetrable for a team like Rutgers to infiltrate, but prognosticators are often wrong. The Scarlet Knights know what their potential is as a group better than us outsiders. And if all this is just Pikiell getting his players to think big, well, that couldn’t hurt a program that finished dead last in the Big Ten its first four years as a member.
It helps to have Ron Harper Jr. back. Harper could have kept his name in the NBA Draft, but instead he returns as the centerpiece of this team that has lost three of its top five scorers from a year ago. While Harper led with 14.9 ppg, the Scarlet Knights need to replace the production of guard Jacob Young (14.1), guard Montez Mathis (8.3) and center Myles Johnson (8.0 points, 8.5 rebounds), all of whom transferred.
It isn’t just pure scoring that was lost through the portal. From last year’s rotation, Rutgers’ top two leaders in usage rate, which estimates what percentage of a team’s plays a player was involved in, were Young (27.3%) and Mathis (24.7%). It goes to show how important a role guard Caleb McConnell will have to fill. On the bright side, McConnell enters this year fully healthy and, according to Pikiell, committed to becoming one of the best defenders in the league.
“I have the privilege of getting guarded by (Mawot Mag) and Caleb McConnell in practice, so it doesn’t really get better than that,” Harper said.
Perhaps iron sharpens iron. Harper is the second Rutgers men’s basketball player ever to earn preseason All-Big Ten honors (last year, Baker became the first). He projects to be one of the best scoring wings in the league, and with Baker and McConnell helping around the perimeter, he won’t have to do it all himself.
As mentioned in my preseason crystal ball edition, the biggest question mark is down low. Johnson was a dynamic defender at center, and losing him is no small thing when you play in a conference overflowing with imposing bigs like Hunter Dickinson (Michigan), Kofi Cockburn (Illinois) and Trevion Williams (Purdue).
Cliff Omoruyi will step into the starter’s role at the five, and Rutgers brought in two transfers to help: fifth-year forward/center Ralph Agee (San Jose State) and power forward Aundre Hyatt (LSU). Pikiell said at media day that the five spot will be as good as he’s ever had at Rutgers. The jury’s still out, and that places a lot of pressure on Omoruyi and Agee in particular.
Browsing the schedule, the Knights’ most notable nonconference game is against Clemson in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, coincidentally a rematch of last March’s Round of 64 game. Right after that, they pack their bags for No. 11 Illinois, come home to face No. 7 Purdue and, after some more non-con action throughout the holidays, play host to No. 6 Michigan in early January.
“We open up league play I think with three of the top teams, preseason picks in the league, so I thank the schedule maker for taking good care of Coach Pikiell,” the coach joked.
No kidding. In a league that sent nine teams to the dance last year, no one will have an easy January and February – but due to the imbalanced nature of the scheduling formula, some have it harder than others. Rutgers has two-game sets against Michigan, Purdue, Illinois and Maryland and gets away having one meeting with Ohio State at home, giving the Knights nine games against preseason Top 25 teams.
But that’s not unfamiliar territory. KenPom ranked Rutgers’ strength of schedule last year the seventh-toughest in the nation. Now the core of this team has had two years of substantial experience under their proverbial belts. That familiarity and chemistry Pikiell dubbed “elite” were themes of the team’s talking points during media day.
“We have a lot of players that didn’t get as many minutes last year, but they have a year of experience, know what our system is all about,” Pikiell said.
“I like the fact that we got some guys that have been through it a little bit. We got some experience now in the NCAA tournament. We’re just doing some great things. If we pack the RAC, I like those expectations.”
The players and – maybe most of all – the fans will like those expectations too.
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No notes section today! I will make “cleaning the glass” a regular closing section once the season gets moving. See you Thursday.