RUTGERS PROGRAM PROFILE FOR 2005-2006

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY SCARLET KNIGHTS

2005-2006 Team Roster from Official Team Site: ROSTER.

The Rutgers Coaching Staff: RU STAFF.

Home Court: Louis Brown Athletic Center, affectionately known as the “RAC”: THE RAC.

OVERVIEW: The Scarlet Knights, led by Gary Waters, are coming off a terribly disappointing 2004-2005 season. The season started with a glimmer of hope by defeating a very good UNC-C team on the road, but once they hit the Big East regular season, things went down hill in a hurry and they limped home with a 2-14 conference record. The usual magic they enjoy in their intimate home court, known as the RAC, was missing as well, as they went just 2-6 in the conference at home, including blowing an 18 point half time lead against Syracuse and then losing by 33 at home the next time out (in a game that wasn’t that close) to Villanova. There just wasn’t too many highlights to choose from their season after their season opening win against Charlotte and their first round upset in the Big East Tournament of Notre Dame, ending the Irish NCAA Tournament hopes, in fact, it is a season that many Rutgers fans would like to soon forget!

Gary Waters will be entering his 5th season as the head coach at Rutgers University as the 2005-2006 season tips off and the program has definitely been a little up and down in his tenure. Waters earned great respect around the nation as a successful head coach at Kent St and led the Golden Flashes to a couple NCAA tournament appearances in his 5 seasons and laid the foundation for their Elite 8 run in 2001-2002. In his first 4 seasons at Rutgers, he has been very effective at using their great home court advantage to stun some top teams at home and take Rutgers to two NIT appearances. However, when the team is down, they have been way down, struggling to under-.500 records overall and 4-12 and 2-14 Big East seasons. The frustrating part for Rutgers supporters, is these down years seem to follow a taste of success and the maddening inconsistency might be leading to a little impatience on the part of the fans.

One of the reasons Rutgers has been so successful at home is their style of play. They like to employ full court pressure and create turnovers with some aggressive defense and then score in a hurry with 3-pointers on the other end. When this is working at home, the RAC crowd gets going and the place becomes really loud and een the best team can become a little rattled. Rutgers has had guards that can play this game, but on the road, it can be tougher to play this style as the refs might call some of the harassing defense a little tighter and the shots don’t seem to fall as often outside of the comfortable surroundings of the RAC. Gary Waters has also had a difficult time in recruiting big men to the Rutgers campus that have been effective in the Big East half court game, so, when an opposing team is able to control the tempo and force the game to be played in the half court setting by rebounding and not being bothered by their pressure, Rutgers can struggle and struggle mightily.

A NEW HOPE: Another criticism of Coach Waters has been his inability to keep local talent home and playing for Rutgers. Coach Waters has spent much of his career in the Midwest and most of his recruiting contacts come from his time there. So, getting the local talent was a new chore for Waters in the New Jersey area. Rutgers is located within one of the most fertile recruiting areas in the nation and the talent that is in the area can keep any program well stocked. The incoming class for the 2005-2006 season has gone a long way in helping the program carry some additional weight in the New Jersey area. With three of the top 10 players from the state of New Jersey, including projected impact recruit JR Inman, the Scarlet Knights are looking to bite back in the local recruiting wars. Also, in the off season they added Fred Hill to their staff and Coach Hill is highly regarded in the area as a recruiter and has helped land some of the best talent of the Garden State for Seton Hall and Villanova in the recent past. Also, Jim Carr is a highly recognizable area recruiter that will give RU an even greater presence in the NYC/NJ area. With these added resources, the pressure is on for Gary Waters to get Rutgers over the hump and in the new Big East basketball conference, that is a tall order for anyone.

RETURNEES: Rutgers returns three of their top four scorers from 2004-2005 and will get back the services of Adrian Hill, who missed the season because of a knee injury. Quincy Douby is their top performer and the 6’3 shooting guard can do that very well, shoot! He averaged 15 PPG as a sophomore and has the green light to shoot anytime and fits the style that Rutgers employs very well. He will be looked upon once again to carry the load. Ollie Bailey, a 6’7 230 lb sophomore, manned the power forward position for RU last season as a true frosh and held his own throughout the campaign in the rugged Big East. Bailey averaged nearly 10 points and over 4 rebounds a contest last season. Marquis Webb returns for his junior season and the NJ native, with an excellent assist to turnover ratio, will look to continue to be a defensive force and will need to increase his offensive production to help the Scarlet Knights in 2005-2006. Along with Hill returning to the front court, bg junior Byron Joynes is also back and continues to slim down, when not in foul trouble, the 270 lb Joynes is quite nimble for his size and shows the ability to take up space and grab rebounds. He should team with Dan Waterstradt and Jimmy Inglis to offer up a three-headed monster in the middle for RU and each brings their own positives to the floor and play hard. They need to improve defensively and if you could have melded them all together, you would definitely have one good center for the conference. Fran Russell is a 6’11 player that could add additional depth, or fouls, to the position as well.

INCOMING: As I mentioned earlier, Rutgers is very excited about their incoming freshmen class and they deserve to be. New Jersey products Anthony Farmer, Jaron Griffin and JR Inman represent the best influx of local talent in the Waters-era. Waters also went to his Midwest roots and added Zack Gibson from Michigan whose intriguing upside at the power forward bodes well for the future. Farmer will give them immediate help as a true PG to play along side Webb and Douby in the back court and Griffin will add some athleticism and deep range to the wing positions. But, the main impact I anticipate will come from JR Inman, who is a steal of a recruit that is often overlooked by most on the impact he will provide. Inman comes to RU listed at 6’9 and 220 lbs and adds great size to the small forward spot, NBA size, and is adding strength to be able to play some at the power forward spot. They will have to find ways to get him on the floor and starting from day 1 is a definite possibility.

LOSSES: Ricky Shields will be missed as he was a steady player that went about his business and hit many big shots from the wing in his four years. Manny Quezada left the program and transferred to San Francisco and Juel Wiggan has graduated.

SCHEDULE: Easy! That is my assessment of the slate the Big East assigned Rutgers. Mirror teams include Seton Hall, St John’s and South Florida and they do not have to face Connecticut or West Virginia. The slate is set up for a very good possibility of winning 6 games at home and there are four games for the taking on the road and once again, road performance will key the Scarlet Knight’s season.

OUTLOOK: Coming off a 2-14 season, dare I say, things are looking up at Rutgers? I am not expecting miracles, but with a favorable conference schedule, several key returnees and an increase in talent from their incoming class, Rutgers could be a surprise team in the conference. It might take a little time to get up to full speed and the front court is still a little subpar for the conference, but, making the Big East tournament should not be a difficult task for Rutgers. This most definitely should be a solid NIT squad, anything less will be a disappointment and would surely heat up the Gary Waters rumors.