BIG TEN TEAM PREVIEW #14 RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS

Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell might be more on the hot seat than any other Big Ten coach. He's entering his 9th season as the head coach and has only reached the NCAA tournament twice, missing it in each of the last three seasons. Rutgers had two five-star freshmen on their squad last season, and despite both of them having good seasons, the Scarlet Knights finished with a 15-17 record.

Projected Lineup:

G Tariq Francis (NJIT transfer)

G Jamicheal Davis

F Darren Buchanan (George Washington transfer)

F Dylan Grant

C Emmanuel Ogbole

Being able to replace Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey is an unrealistic expectation for Rutgers this year. They'll need a balanced scoring attack to find success this season. Rutgers returns three players who were a part of its rotation last season, none of whom were regularly in the starting lineup. This includes 6-foot-1 guard Jamichael Davis, 6-foot-9 forward Dylan Grant, and 6-foot-10 center Emmanuel Ogbole. Starting with Jamichael Davis, he didn't really have the breakout sophomore season that Rutgers fans were hoping for last year. Davis actually ended up having a smaller role than he did in his freshman season. He started in 7 of his 31 games and averaged 4.6 points and 1.7 assists, shooting 37.1% from the field. Dylan Grant is Rutgers' best returning player from last season. He played in 21 games, starting 16 of them. He averaged 5.9 points, which was fifth on the team, along with 3.4 rebounds. Grant was also a freshman last season. Emmanuel Ogbole should see a much bigger role next year for Rutgers in his senior season. In just 13.3 minutes per game last season, Ogbole averaged 3.1 points and 3.7 rebounds.

Rutgers only brought in three players from the portal this offseason. 6-foot-7 George Washington transfer Darren Buchanan was probably their best add. He averaged 10.6 points on 45.5% shooting along with 5.8 rebounds per game last season. Buchanan actually had a significantly better season last year, during his freshman year at GW. He averaged 15.6 points on 54.6% shooting along with 6.6 rebounds in his first season of college hoops. 6-foot-11 Kansas State transfer Baye Fall might be Rutgers' most intriguing addition. Out of high school, Fall was the #29 overall player in the 2023 recruiting class, committing to Arkansas. He's yet to find his stride at the college level, playing in just four games last year at K-State and 9 games during his freshman season at Arkansas. He's averaged just 1.3 points and 1.4 rebounds in his college career. Fall should have the biggest role of his career, though, next season for Rutgers. 6-foot NJIT transfer Tariq Francis is Rutgers' third portal addition. Francis averaged 19.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game last year. The scoring average sounds really impressive, but he shot 36.9 percent from the field, taking an average of 18.4 shot attempts per game. Rutgers will also be relying heavily on its freshman class this season. They brought in a total of seven players in their 2025 recruiting class. Four-star guard Dorian Jones and four-star power forward Chris Nwull should have the biggest impact.

Rutgers will be an extremely young team next season. They only have one senior on the entire team in Emmanuel Ogbole. In my opinion, too many things have to go right next season for Rutgers in order for them to be competitive. I'm sure some of their players will improve next season, but right now, Darren Buchanan is the only guy on this roster that I can say for certain will be a solid player at the Big Ten level. I think there's a very good chance this is Steve Pikiell's last year in Piscataway.

Prediction: 18th in Big Ten