Rutgers Basketball Roster Heavily Criticized Following Disappointing Season
There were many eyes on Rutgers Basketball this season with two projected lottery picks in the lineup.
Many flocked to Jersey Mike's Arena to see Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey but it was hard to ignore the lack of success the team had over the course of the season. The Scarlet Knights missed the NCAA Tournament despite having two of the top players in the NBA Draft rankings.
ESPN's Kevin Pelton and Jonathan Givony joined Brian Windhorst on his podcast and the conversation shifted to Rutgers.
"I think people are very surprised by this idea and it is historic," Pelton said. "This Rutgers team did not relly have any other shot creation except those two guys."
It was a new-look Rutgers team on the floor this season after many of last year's players left in the transfer portal. This includes Cliff Omoruyi, who went to Alabama to patrol the middle. This is an area where Rutgers struggled on both ends this season.
Givony highlighted the lack of offensive weapons around Harper and Bailey.
"They had no shooting, they had no bigs, they had nothing honestly," Givony said. "In this era of college basketball, you have to surround your players with high-major college players. You can't just grab any mid-major or low-major guy just because they're born in the state of New Jersey. And that's where Rutgers failed those guys."
"Any time Dylan Harper was really playing pick-and-roll, he had two guys collapsing on him and a third guy cheating off the corner."
Head coach Steve Pikiell attended to put together a roster good enough to compete this season. Despite entering with high expectations ranked No. 24 in the nation, Rutgers crashed and burned.
"It's so hard to build a roster like that," Givony said. "Basketball is a team sport. There are 10 guys on the court at all timee. If three of them can't play, it just makes it so much harder for the other two."
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Greg Patuto is a sports writer who covers College Football, College Basketball, MLB, and NBA. He previously worked as Managing Editor at SB Nation's On The Banks, covering Rutgers Athletics, and has also been featured on Fox Sports, NJ.com, ClutchPoints, and FanSided. Greg enjoys spending time with his family while rooting for the Washington Commanders and New York Mets.