It is officially April and the College Basketball season has ended. In the same vein that The Floor Slap did season previews and in season spotlights for every team in the Big Ten, now it’s time to look back on everyone’s season and reflect. Going from the Bottom to the Top in the standings, we will be releasing Exit Survey’s for all 14 teams in the conference. Today, we have the 9th place Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
Preseason
Preseason expectations were all over the place for Rutgers.
Some people had Rutgers finishing in the Double digits of the table. Andy Katz had them all the way in his top four. The Scarlet Knights probably had the most variance in their prediction of any team in the conference.
Why is that?
The team lost players who defined the previous few years of Rutgers Basketball in Geo Baker and Ron Harper Jr. Two players who turned the program around and were the leaders for two NCAA Tournament appearances.
Yet, they also kept key components like Paul Mulcahy, DPOY Caleb McConnell and budding center Cliff Omoruyi. Players like Mawot Mag and Aundre Hyatt seemed ready for bigger roles. Rutgers even landed a nice transfer in Cam Spencer.
There were pieces and there was belief in Coach Pikiell. People were just unsure how much belief to have and how well the pieces could fit.
Nobody really knew what to expect.
My preview of the Rutgers season focused on the fact that with Rutgers hitting restart, can Coach Pikiell sustain success?
Could Pikiell make the tournament again? Would Rutgers fall back into being “Rutgers” and being at the bottom of the conference?
The Season
The Rutgers season was erratic.
There were some great results for Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights beat IU in their first Big Ten game proving they could compete with the best in the Big Ten. There was even a stretch where Rutgers won 5 in a row and were tied a top the Big Ten standings.
The season definitely peaked for Rutgers when they upset No. 1 ranked Purdue for the second straight season. Cam Spencer cemented his Rutgers legacy with the go-ahead three with 11 seconds left.
Rutgers also had some questionable defeats.
The Knights lost a neutral site game to Temple early in the year. There was an embarrassingly bad offensive game when they lost to in-state rival Seton Hall 43-45.
Perhaps no defeat was more questionable than Ohio State’s game winner where Tanner Holden might have been/could have been/definitely was out of bounds.
Many of their weird losses could be explained away by freak missed calls like the OSU game or injuries.
Paul Mulcahy missed 4 games. Caleb McConnell missed 6 games. Mawot Mag had a season ending injury after playing the first 23 games.
However, those are just excuses.
Rutgers showed their potential early in the season with their wins over IU and Purdue. They beat the two best teams in the conference both at home and on the road. They had the ability to play at the highest level.
Rather, Rutgers defense could operate at the highest level.
Rutgers was a top-5 KenPom defense virtually all season. Cliff Omoruyi was the central rim protector with 2.1 blocks a game. Hyatt and Mag’s length bothered Big Ten players. Mulcahy and Spencer are good defenders who tried hard. And of course, McConnell is one of the best Big Ten Defenders ever and repeated as Big Ten DPOY.
Defense clearly is a defining principle of Pikiell ball.
After their hot start in conference, I thought Rutgers was going to compete with them for the Big Ten Title, but Rutgers was more of a middle of the pack team because of their offense.
Rutgers couldn’t score enough to really separate themselves in the Big Ten. They finished 266th in points per game. The Knights scored 60 or less points in five of their ten losses.
Pikiell’s team just could not muster enough offense to win games. That’s why a high powered offensive team like Iowa beat Rutgers twice somewhat easily.
Rutgers amazing defense and sketchy offense caused them to trade games for much of the Big Ten season.
Right up until the end when Rutgers slipped at the worst possible moment.
Rutgers got smashed by fellow bubble team Michigan in Ann Arbor, lost to Northwestern in Jersey Mike’s Arena and also collapsed in a loss against lowly Minnesota in 3 of its last four games of the Big Ten season.
This stretch is why Rutgers missed March Madness.
Post-Season
Rutgers avenged the Michigan loss with a win in their first game of the Big Ten tournament over the Wolverines. Many thought that was a play-in game for the Tournament.
However, after falling short to Purdue in the next round, Rutgers never heard their name called on Selection Sunday.
Instead, the Scarlet Knights earned a 1 seed in the NIT. Before proving how big of a snub they were, Rutgers lost to Hofstra in Jersey Mike’s Arena in their first game of the NIT.
Another disappointing loss to end the season. Rutgers finished the season losing 8 of their last 11 games.
Despite the lackluster finish, Rutgers’ fans should feel good.
Sure, the Knights missed the Tournament this year… but this is 4 straight seasons of Pikiell putting up a tourney level team.
Rutgers made March Madness 6 times in their ENTIRE HISTORY before Pikiell showed up.
Perspective is needed to understand how good of a stretch for Rutgers Basketball this has been. It sucks for Rutgers fans COVID took away one of tournament year and a questionable bubble selection took away another, but Pikiell has Rutgers in maybe its best shape ever.
Despite losing cornerstones in Geo Baker and Ron Harper Jr, Pikiell rebuilt Rutgers and had them right there for the tourney. He built one of the nation’s best defense again and upset the number one team in the country on their home court.
The program could lose more cornerstones in Caleb McConnell, Cliff Omoruyi to the NBA (unlikely), and Paul Mulcahy has a decision to make on his return.
Once again, next season will have a wide range of possible outcomes for the Scarlet Knights.
Still, the fans should feel good about Rutgers taking that next step and not just sneaking into the tournament but winning games in it.
Pikiell has recruiting the best it has ever been at Rutgers.
The Scarlet Knights have 4-Star SF and Top 40 recruit Gavin Griffiths coming next year. They landed sought after transfer guard Noah Fernandes from UMass. The 2024 recruiting class is ranked 3rd in the Nation with 5 Star Ace Bailey and 4 Stars Dellquan Warren and Lathan Sommerville.
We aren’t going to talk about Baye Ndongo’s decommitment.
The team has bright spots of development to be excited about. Derek Simpson came on strong with double digit performances in 5 of his last 6 games, and could be a much needed scoring threat for Rutgers next year. Antwone Woolfolk had flashes and earned more minutes near the end of the season. Mawot Mag continued to improve.
Pair them with Cam Spencer, Aundre Hyatt, Fernandes, Griffiths and whoever comes back between Omoruyi and Mulcahy and you have the bones of another tournament level team.
Rutgers fans should feel great about the direction of their school and the type of Program Pikiell is building. They have improved as a program under him.
Now as more talent comes into New Jersey, we will get to see how good of a program they can be.