Rutgers Basketball Preview 2011-12

With its animated head coach, can Rutgers shake off their defining youth and shock the Big East?

No matter what Rutgers University men’s basketball head coach Mike Rice decides to do, he will have a freshman running his set. Whether it comes from highly touted Myles Mack or solid scorers Eli Carter and Jerome Seagears. Rice’s floor general will always be a point guard.

Those three guards are part of a superb recruiting class brought in by in the late recruiting class last season. The class includes three athletic big men in Kadeem Jack, a blue chip recruit, and Derrick Randall and Gregory Lewis, to project big men with great upside. Rounding out the class is freshman wing Malick Kone.

The frontcourt joins a set of confirmed big men. Jack, who enrolled in January 2011, redshirted last season to gain more experience. However, he suffered a foot injury and isn’t due back until mid-January 2012. Fortunately, in front of him there are solid athletes that present expertise on the consistent Big East battle. At the center position is a sophomore who played on the U20 Lithuanian National team over the summer. Gilvydas Biruta (9.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg), a 6’8” workhorse from St. Benedicts Prep in New Jersey was a consensus member selected for the 2010-11 freshman all-Big East team. His counterpart at power forward is Austin Johnson (.534% FG%), a junior who developed solid post moves last season and gained great muscle over the summer, making his presence felt in the Jersey Shore Basketball League (JSBL). Rounding out the frontcourt are two project freshmen, Gregory Lewis, who both have solid strength and very good rebounding ability. With Jack out for the entire OOC season, these two have the opportunity to shine.

At wing, Rutgers has their most experienced player in Dane Miller (9.2 ppg, 6.1 rpg). Miller became a defensive specialist last season and added scoring ability to his set of skills during the offseason. “I’ve been working on my conditioning and lifting, trying to get my body bigger. I’ve also been doing a lot of shooting,” Miller told Josh Newman after scoring 32 points in a JSBL game. Shooting guard Mike Poole (5.6 ppg) showed ability to be deadly from mid-range, scoring in spurts last season. Freshman Malick Kone comes in as a defensive specialist, but showed his ability to score with fifteen points in the season exhibition against Rutgers-Newark.

At guard, sophomore Austin Carroll (.372 3pFG%) provides leadership – he is the son of former Celtics coach John Carroll – and a great shooting stroke. Surrounding him are the three freshman guards who gelled well, often leading the team at the JSBL. In the exhibition, they showed how effective – though youthful – the trio could potentially be, combining for thirty-seven points and ten assists.

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By: Justin Sontupe
Big East Fans Staff Writer