What Rutgers needs out of its offseason after a disappointing 2024-25
Let’s zoom out and evaluate where the Scarlet Knights’ roster stands, what Darren Buchanan and Tariq Francis bring to the table and what they (desperately) still need.
Here’s what Rutgers fans were looking forward to at this time last year: A top-five recruiting class anchored by two five-star, NBA-level guys; a returning guard who showed off his scoring ability late in the previous season after a suspension; and transfers that included a potential stretch five who’d been to the Sweet 16, the Northeast Conference Player of the Year and the seventh-leading scorer in the country.
There was legitimate reason to be optimistic, to project a return to the NCAA Tournament. All Steve Pikiell and his staff had to do was coach them up, figure out the optimal lineups and reap the benefits. We know what happened next.
Now we’re in April 2025, and here’s what Rutgers’ roster currently contains: The 32nd-ranked incoming freshman class, with four top-250 players but no Ace Bailey or Dylan Harper types; four returnees who combined to average 14.7 ppg; and two transfers coming from George Washington and NJIT.
“We have a chance now to do this right,” Pikiell told reporters in late March. “We got off to a bad start in the NIL era.”
If the program got off to a bad start, this isn’t exactly an inspiring U-turn so far.
I scanned the first page of message board comments after Rutgers signed NJIT guard Tariq Francis, which reminded me why I don’t usually scan message board comments. It’s no secret that Pikiell’s seat is the hottest it’s been this decade, but you’re wasting keystrokes by writing “Fire Pike” in April. It’s not going to happen just because they added a transfer you don’t like.
But there’s the reality: Many fans’ patience is completely gone, and some have taken to canceling season ticket packages. Darren Buchanan’s and Tariq Francis’ names on the marquee have no chance of rivaling Harper and Bailey, who were a great show if not a winning tandem.
So let’s zoom out and briefly evaluate where the Scarlet Knights’ roster stands, what Buchanan and Francis bring to the table and what they (desperately) still need.
Guards: Jamichael Davis, Tariq Francis, Lino Mark^, Kaden Powers^
Forwards/wings: Dylan Grant, Bryce Dortch, Darren Buchanan Jr., Chris Nwuli^
Bigs: Emmanuel Ogbole, Gevonte Ware^
^Incoming freshman
Let’s start with Francis, and the potential misjudgments of that situation I’ve seen online. “If we’re paying top dollar for this kid to be a starter there’s nothing nice about this.” Why would you assume a 6-foot guard from NJIT is commanding “top dollar”? That’s a byproduct of choosing to read the worst into every move Pikiell makes from here on out.
“We can’t be thinking of playing J-Mike and Francis together can we? If J-Mike leaves because of this we are in a far worse place.”
As it was helpfully pointed out down-thread, Jamichael Davis and Francis have the same agent, so Davis could not have been blindsided by this addition. I’ll eat crow if Davis hops in the portal before it closes on Tuesday of next week, but I think he stays.
That said, the trepidation of playing these two guards together is bolstered by the other critique of Francis: his size. Davis, at 6-foot-1, was already the shortest player on the court in any Big Ten game he entered; Francis is just 6 feet tall. Lino Mark, the incoming four-star point guard, is 6-foot-2.
You know who else was only 6-foot-2? Boo Buie, who made a nice five-year career for himself at Northwestern, and without being a 3-point specialist. Size isn’t everything. It can be done. And we have to admit Rutgers is closer to Northwestern than Michigan in terms of purchasing power on the transfer market. The top-ranked guys in the portal aren’t lining up for plane tickets to Piscataway.
Moreover, I think Davis and Francis have vastly different games, and to the earlier point, I don’t think Francis is even guaranteed a starting job.
The connection here is associate head coach Brandin Knight. As I wrote back in the fall, Knight’s dad and Francis’ dad were college roommates, and the families have stayed close to the point that Francis apparently considers Knight an uncle.
So this isn’t your everyday story about a high-scoring low-major guard transferring into a power conference, thinking he’s a hotshot and tuning out the coaches. He’s coming to practice with a built-in relationship with Knight. And to assume Rutgers threw millions of dollars at him to make that happen is an overblown hallucination.
I had to do more research on Buchanan, who once upon a time considered Rutgers as a high school recruit but chose Virginia Tech, didn’t play there and transferred to GW.
He led the Atlantic-10 in field goal percentage as a redshirt freshman in 2023-24 (54.6%), when he averaged 15.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. As a part-time starter in 2024-25, his numbers took a step back, but he’s averaged 13.0 points per game for his career and 17.5 per 40 minutes.
Buchanan doesn’t take many threes, but does his damage at and around the rim. He’s got a good assist-to-turnover ratio for a forward. And unlike Francis, there’s no size concern here: Buchanan is 6-foot-7, 235 pounds and plays like it, whether he’s driving, posting up or rebounding.
If I had to make a projection right now, Buchanan starts at the three for Rutgers on opening night.
Rutgers’ current roster is at 10 players, and three scholarships are open. Pikiell has to land a minimum of two more transfers who can make an immediate impact, in my opinion.
Pikiell said in March that he needed a wing scorer, a big guy and a combo guard. If Buchanan is the wing scorer and Francis is the combo guard, center is the No. 1 remaining priority.
I’m on the record saying I like Ogbole’s raw potential, but he’s about to be a college senior and potential isn’t going to save his starting job. He was at his best when splitting shifts with Lathan Sommerville last year, as Sommerville was more of a diverse scorer and Ogbole could muscle in for rebounds and layups. Now Sommerville is off to Washington, and it’s too soon to tell how much Ware will contribute as a freshman.
Kansas State had a pair of bigs hit the portal: 6-foot-11 Ugonna Onyenso and 6-foot-10 Baye Fall. The latter was a former five-star high school player who had Rutgers and Seton Hall as finalists before committing to Arkansas. But he’s played in just 13 college games between Arkansas and Kansas State.
I’d be more interested in pursuing Onyenso. He didn’t have a terrific year at Kansas State either – then again, who did? That team was a mess. But Onyenso spent two prior seasons at Kentucky and projects as the rim protector Rutgers desperately needs. He once had 10 blocked shots in a game against Ole Miss and averaged 2.8 blocks in 2023-24.
We shouldn’t be satisfied with the backcourt yet, either, and Rutgers is apparently involved with Utah Valley shooting guard Dominick Nelson, the reigning WAC Player of the Year. If your gut instinct is to cringe and compare that to Jordan Derkack being the NEC POY, 1) the WAC is a much more middle-of-the-road conference, right behind the Ivy League in average KenPom rating, and 2) it’s still a fine strategy to recruit conference Player of the Year winners, regardless of league.
Nelson averaged 14.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game for Utah Valley. He stands 6-foot-5. I regret to pass along that he only shot 25.3% from the arc.
The portal doesn’t move as fast as everyone often feels it does. New players enter constantly, and just because the “window” closes next Tuesday doesn’t mean everyone needs to have chosen their destination by that day. Rutgers’ roster may not be complete till May, or even later, if Pikiell goes digging for a junior college transfer to round out the bench.
There’s probably one overarching statement that everyone following Rutgers basketball can agree with, whether you spend your day doom-posting on Twitter and message boards, you try to retain your sense of hope or you’re a media type aiming down the middle. The program needs to figure out how to compete in the NIL/free player movement era; it hasn’t done that yet; and Pikiell is going to face much more heat in 2025-26 than he has in a decade coaching on the banks.
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Thanks for stopping by, as always. Let’s hit a few quick notes in Cleaning the Glass and get on with our Hump Day.
The aforementioned Derkack committed to Dayton, moving down a level to the A-10. Jeremiah Williams is getting heavily linked to none other than GW, the school from which Buchanan is moving up. I’m not stunned about Williams’ move, but Derkack was a disappointing one after the number of times the Colonia native told us playing for Rutgers was a dream for him. Was his confidence killed after his terrible post-MSG scoring drought? There could have been a non-scoring role for him on the 2025-26 team, in my view, but maybe that’s not how he or his camp saw it.
I recommend Stephen Edelson’s piece from Monday about Monmouth opting in to the forthcoming NCAA revenue-sharing plan. This settlement won’t mean every mid-major will be on equal footing with one another. One quote from Monmouth AD Jennifer Sansevero: “Are there going to be schools doing more than Monmouth? Yes. Schools like Wilmington and Charleston just have a greater capacity given where they are, given their current sport makeup and matrix, given collectives they have already established. But Monmouth is going to compete. We have figured out ways to strategically position ourselves to do that.”
On a lighter note, Kaitlyn Chen was the 30th pick in the WNBA Draft by the expansion Golden State Valkyries. She is the latest woman with Princeton ties to be drafted, a few years after Abby Meyers was a first-round pick by way of Maryland and Bella Alarie went fifth overall straight out of Princeton. What a year it’s been for Chen, who won a national title with UConn and now has a chance to compete for a roster spot on a first-year WNBA franchise.