SEASON OUTLOOK Head coach Mike Rice enters his third season “On the Banks,” intent on furthering the progress achieved during his initial two campaigns. The Scarlet Knights had many notable accomplishments last season with the nation’s fifth-youngest roster on the court. As a result, the team heads into 2012-13 with a measure of experience and with 10 returning letterwinners on the roster, including nine with starting experience. “The old saying ‘the best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores’ is true,” said Rice. “Last year, we showed what everyone who follows college basketball already knows. Freshmen are inconsistent. They now know what they didn’t know coming in. They’re now attacking their weaknesses and developing a greater understanding of what it takes to be successful.”
To build off of the positives established last season, RU needs to mature and become more consistent. Having senior leadership in Dane Miller (Rochester, N.Y.) and Austin Johnson (Elkins Park, Pa.) to go along with three scholarship juniors and seven scholarship sophomores is key. In addition to the players competing in an NCAA sanctioned league and working out in the weight room together this past summer, the process was aided by a rule change which allows coaches to instruct players on the court. “This rule change is significant,” said Rice. “It provides an opportunity to better develop the players as individuals and to create team chemistry. They also have more time to understand their roles. Some things just occur naturally as you spend more time with your players, and this aids that process.”
Despite having seven freshmen on a roster that did not feature a scholarship senior last season, the Scarlet Knights boasted several notable performances. Of the five youngest teams in the country, RU had the best winning percentage while playing a schedule in which twenty of 31 regular season games (65 percent) were against teams that received postseason bids. Rutgers earned its most BIG EAST Conference victories since 2005-06 and was 3-4 against teams that concluded the season ranked in the RPI top 35.
As far as style of play, the formula remains the same. Under Rice, the Scarlet Knights will continue to be an attacking team with an aggressive approach.
The Scarlet Knights were especially tough to beat at the RAC, where they defeated a pair of top 10 teams. Rutgers downed No. 10 Florida 85-83 in double overtime and defeated No. 8 Connecticut 67-60. It marked only the second time in program history that the Scarlet Knights downed a pair of top 10 foes in the same season. The win over the Huskies signaled the only time that Rutgers has downed a defending national champion.
“There will be more of a balance, inside to outside. We all know the accomplishments some of our freshmen guards had last year. Now I hope to add some balance - scoring in the paint, getting more points off free throws and second chance points. When you look at this team you see a balanced, diverse team that hopefully can score in different ways.”
CARTER
“That’s our mentality,” said Rice. “With a year under their belts, our sophomores are going to understand how to attack with their teammates rather than just how to attack as individuals. How to use one another, how to play for one another, is a big part of becoming a better team.
Backcourt Sophomores Eli Carter (Paterson, N.J.), Myles Mack (Paterson, N.J.) and Jerome Seagears (Silver Spring, Md.) will play prominent roles in the team’s future. The trio combined to start 76 games as freshmen, with each averaging more than 25 minutes per contest. Not only did they make an impact in Scarlet, but also among the BIG EAST leaders. Carter ranked fourth in scoring (13.8) and third in three-point field goal percentage (.353) among league rookies. Mack was fourth in free throw percentage (.788), fifth in three-point field goal percentage (.338) and fifth in steals (1.4) among BIG EAST freshmen. Seagears boasted a 1.58 assist-to-turnover ratio. “We don’t really have ones and twos, we have guards and wings,” said Rice. “It really doesn’t matter in our system because all three of them can shoot, while creating for themselves and for others. Mike Poole (Rosedale, N.Y.), because of his improved ball-handling, becomes one of those guards. He wasn’t one in his first two years, but he has done a tremendous job of making that a strength.”
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