SCOUTING RUTGERS
Very good. Pikiell, a former UConn player and the former head coachat Stony Brook, inherited a Rutgers program that went 7-25 in the final season of EddieJordan’s tenure as the head coach in 2015-16. The Scarlet Knights were 1-17 in Big Ten play that season.
It has been a steady build as Rutgers pushed toward .500 with 15 wins in 2016-17 and 2017-18 and 14 wins in 2018-19. The breakthrough was about to happen last season. Rutgers was 20-11 overall and 11-9 in Big Ten play (fifth). It was the school’s first winning season since 2005-06 and its first 20-win season since 2003-04. Unfortunately, when the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled, Rutgers’ drought for The Big Dance still extends to 1991.
Pikiell brought three starters back from last year’s team with senior Geo Baker and juniors Montez Mathis and Rob Harper Jr. Senior Jacob Young, who started his career at Texas, has stepped in at point guard. Sophomore Paul Mulcahy has pitched in with Baker sidelined by an ankle injury.
Freshman Cliff Omoruyi and junior Myles Johnson, both 6-11, have formed an outstanding tandem at center. Omoruyi figures to be out a while after suffering a knee sprain during Sunday’s win at Illinois. Rutgers only played seven players in that win, so Pikiell will be looking for help from the end of the bench to win games in the short term.
Harper, the son of former Cleveland Cavaliers star Ron Harper, has taken his game to a new level. He is sixth in the country in scoring at 24 ppg, almost double of the 12.1 ppg he averaged last year. He has been on a tear of late with 26 points and seven rebounds against Syracuse, 27 points and five rebounds against Maryland and 28 points and nine rebounds in the win over Illinois.
Young is like a dynamo at point guard. He had 18 points and 10 assists against Syracuse and 24 points and four assists against Illinois. He also has good bloodlines.
His dad, Michael Young, was a guard for the University of Houston Phi Slamma Jamma teams from the early 1980s.
Mathis chipped in 19 points and seven rebounds against Syracuse and had 15 points against Illinois.
The senior Baker missed three games due to his ankle injury. He had 13 points against Maryland and seven points and five assists against Illinois.
Johnson, listed at 6-11 and 255 pounds, is a load in the low post. He is one of the most effective rebounders around. Here were his last three games: Syracuse (11 points, 12 rebounds), Maryland (10 points, 16 rebounds) and Illinois (nine points, 13 rebounds).
Rutgers’ Achilles heel last year was trying to win games on the road. The Scarlet Knights were 2-7 in Big Ten play away from their cozy home court at the Rutgers Athletic Center. But Rutgers has already taken a 14-point road win at Maryland this season.
Anybody else remember Phi Slamma Jamma?
Phi Slama Jama: The greatest team to never win it all
Houston's Phi Slama Jama changed the way the game was played, dunking their way to three consecutive Final Fours.
Read article:
https://www.ncaa.com/video/basketba...on-cougers-phi-slama-jama-olajuwon-final-four
‘Phi Slama Jama’ Invented the Art of Dunking
Guy Lewis knew only one speed: go. The University of Houston Cougars head coach built his teams in the early 1980s based on this principle. They flew and ran and flashed their personalities, but most importantly, they slammed. Lewis’ Houston teams were the antithesis of John Wooden’s regimented UCLA teams that dominated college basketball in the the 60s and 70s.
Lewis had no boundaries on his recruiting. He sought players on the playgrounds, at local Houston high schools, in Africa, and landed some of the most talented players in the world in the process. Clyde Drexler, Hakeem Olajuwon, Benny Anders, Reid Gettys,
Michael Young, Larry Micheaux, Rob Williams, and co-captains Eric Davis, Lynden Rose. All proud brothers of Phi Slama Jama.
Entire article:
https://fanbuzz.com/college-basketball/phi-slama-jama/
