2007-08 Season Outlook
Oct 12 | Men's Basketball
The process of developing a first class program that competes at a national level for a BIG EAST and National Championship is in full swing at 83 Rockafeller Road. In an effort to meet these expectations, second-year head coach Fred Hill has instilled a daily operation consistent with this level of success. Primary to this operation is enabling a support system that nurtures the achievement of each student-athlete. With player fulfillment at the program's core, progress is steadily taking place.
"We are recruiting and mentoring young men to be true student-athletes," said Hill. "To develop great basketball players is a challenge. To develop great players that are also fulfilled people is a mission. We are very proud of what we have accomplished in this vain thus far. Last year, our team GPA was the highest it had been in ten years. Right now, every young man in our program is on schedule, or ahead of schedule, to graduate in four years. There is still work to be done, but the leadership we are receiving, both on and off the court, in the development of first-class people has been tremendous."
Hill's first season as head coach saw all six of his seniors earn diplomas. It marked the highest number of men's basketball graduates in the conference. The academic achievement continued this past summer, when the team achieved a 3.3 cumulative grade point average.
While the team has been hitting the books, it has also taken an active role in the community. Recently, student-athletes visited the High Road School, a special education facility for children with learning disabilities and emotional and social needs. They also interacted with disabled children and young adults at Matheny Medical and Education Center. This past season, the team participated in the nation "Read Across America" program and read to children at local elementary schools. In addition, every player is assigned a pen pal at a local elementary school via "Scarlet Letters," a program sponsored by men's basketball that further enables the Scarlet Knights to serve as positive role models in the surrounding communities.
Competitively, the Scarlet Knights earned a hard-fought, double overtime win against Seton Hall last season and captured a pair of victories against Cincinnati. Rutgers also had a win over Big 12 foe Nebraska in a schedule comprised of 12 teams that earned postseason berths, including seven NCAA tournament participants.
This past summer, the Scarlet Knights remained active on the hardwood, with three players competing overseas. Junior swing man Jaron Griffin was a standout performer on a 10-day tour of Holland and Belgium, averaging 18.9 point in seven games with the East Coast All-Stars. Junior point guard Anthony Farmer was also a member of the All-Stars, while freshman guard Mike Coburn went on an 11-day tour of China with his Mount Vernon High School squad. Also busy were fifth-year senior center Byron Joynes and junior forward JR Inman. Joynes had a standout performance at the Pro Hoops Academy, a skill development camp attended by some college basketball's top players. Inman, meanwhile, spent his August in San Francisco, completing the rigorous Chameleon Training program to improve his strength and agility.
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GRIFFIN |
With winning behavior and collective mind set, the Scarlet Knights enter the 2007-08 campaign with a 13-player roster comprised of six returning letterwinners and seven newcomers. Four scholarship signees highlight a rookie class that features three recruits rated among the best at their positions nationally. With six returning lettermen on the squad, the Scarlet Knights are tied for the fewest number of veterans in the BIG EAST Conference.
It would appear to the casual observer that Rutgers is a team requiring experience, but such is not the case. Numbers are often deceiving. Four of the six returning players have at least one full season of starting experience, with three competing as starters for at least two years. Depth, however, especially in the frontcourt, is a concern.
Joynes is the lone senior on the roster and has already assumed a leadership role in the frontcourt. One of the better rebounders and defenders of the post position in the BIG EAST, the center has persevered through multiple injuries during his tenure in Piscataway. He enters his final campaign in peak physical condition after sitting out last season with a foot injury. The Baltimore native has improved his strength, agility and conditioning exponentially since arriving on campus as a freshman weighing 310 pounds.
"We are certainly excited to have Byron back as a fifth-year senior team captain," said Hill. He has been through four seasons and has exhibited some real winning behavior, persevering through injuries and committing himself to improvement. He is a character person that leads by example. He has supplemented that by becoming a more vocal presence."
Also bringing experience to the table with two years of starting experience are Inman and Farmer. After both earned selection to the BIG EAST All-Rookie team in 2005-06, the duo expanded their roles last season, with Inman earning Third Team All-Metropolitan honors. Griffin also has a year of starting experience under his belt. The trio represents New Jersey's state university after all having played their high school hoops in the Garden State.
Backcourt
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FARMER |
Farmer averaged 7.8 points and 3.1 assists per contest, and was among the BIG EAST Conference leaders in assists-to-turnover ratio. Nelson made his debut as a Scarlet Knight after transferring from Richmond following the 2004-05 season, and posted 3.7 points per game. Griffin moved into a starting role in 2006-07, making 28 starts and playing 30.2 minutes per contest, while also increasing his offensive productivity with 8.6 points per outing.
Joining the returning members of the Scarlet Knight backcourt will be incoming freshmen Corey Chandler, Coburn, Earl Pettis and Justin Sofman. Chandler, a 6-2, 190-pound guard from Newark's East Side HS, was a consensus all-state selection in 2006-07. Rated the 10th best point guard prospect nationally by Rivals, Chandler was nationally ranked 55th overall by Hoop Scoop, 62nd by Rivals and 77th by The Sporting News/Rise Magazine. Coburn was rated a top 20 guard prospect national by Scout.com. He was a four-year starter for Mt. Vernon, which was ranked 18th in the nation during his senior season. Pettis, a national top 40 prospect, is a versatile 6-5, 195-pound athlete who attended the Patterson School in North Carolina in 2006-07. Prior to competing at Patterson, he was a four-year starter and 1,000-point scorer at Neumann Goretti HS in Philadelphia, where he led the team to back-to-back Catholic League championships. Sofman is a 6-4, 210-pound All-New England guard who prepped last season at St. Thomas More in Connecticut. A former star at West Milford HS, he was a first team All-State Group III selection and first team All-Passaic County by the Star-Ledger and NJHoops.com following his senior campaign.
Frontcourt
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INMAN |
Sophomore center Hamady N'Diaye, the team's leading shot blocker, provides Rutgers with a force in the paint on both ends of the floor. At 6-11, 235- pounds, the Dakar, Senegal native was seventh in the conference in blocked shots and second among freshmen. He posted at least one block in 23 games and recorded multiple blocks in 15 contests. N'Diaye ended the season already ranked 23rd on Rutgers' all-time career blocks list with 49, a mark which was also the 17th-best single-season performance in school history.
"We continue to see growth and development in Hamady," said Hill. "Last year, he displayed the level of potential that he brings to the table. We need to continue his development by getting him more minutes this season."
With only three players returning to the frontcourt, replacing 2006-07 team MVP Adrian Hill will be a challenge. Hill averaged 9.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game last season and led the team in scoring six times. He signed a contract to play professionally overseas this past summer, along with Webb.
Schedule
Rutgers hosts 2007 Elite Eight teams North Carolina and Georgetown, in addition to traveling to two-time defending national champion Florida, in a regular season schedule featuring 31 games. The Scarlet Knights, who supplement their BIG EAST schedule with a largely regionalized non-conference slate, have at least three contests on national television and 18 within the confines of the Louis Brown Athletic Center.
"I am very excited about the opportunities that the schedule presents," said Hill. "It provides an early home start and has a non-conference make-up that helps prepare us for our always demanding BIG EAST schedule. We are also proud to be playing five of New Jersey's seven Division I basketball schools."
Twelve teams that advanced to post-season play last season are on the Scarlet Knights' schedule, including eight squads that earned NCAA tournament berths.
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N'DIAYE |
The highlight of the non-conference home slate takes place on Sunday, Dec. 16 when ACC-member North Carolina visits the RAC in a nationally televised contest on ESPN at 8:00 p.m. The game will mark the tenth meeting between the Scarlet Knights and Tar Heels dating back to 1921.
Many of Rutgers' non-conference games have a distinct regional flavor. RU will play Saint Peter's at the newly renovated Jersey City Armory (Nov. 25) and will travel to a freshly-unveiled Prudential Center to meet NJIT on Dec. 13. Visiting Piscataway will be Princeton (Dec. 1), Lafayette (Dec. 5), Rider (Dec. 21) and Manhattan (Dec. 29).
The longest trip of the Scarlet Knights' regular season campaign is to Lincoln, Neb., where they will meet Big 12-conference member Nebraska on Sunday, Dec. 9.
Rutgers begins its 18-game BIG EAST slate at South Florida's Sun Dome on Wednesday, Jan. 2 in an ESPN 2 game at 7:00 p.m. The trip is the first of two league road match-ups to be featured on national television at this point. RU's contest at West Virginia on Feb. 14 at 7:00 p.m. will broadcast on either ESPN or ESPN2.
The Scarlet Knights host their first league game on Saturday, Jan.5, when they meet 2007 Final Four participant Georgetown. The Hoyas are the first of nine league squads visiting the RAC. Also taking the hardwood in Piscataway are Louisville (Jan. 13), Villanova (Jan. 23), Seton Hall (Jan. 30), St, John's (Feb. 6), Cincinnati (Feb. 9), Notre Dame (Feb. 17), Connecticut (Feb. 26) and South Florida (March 1).
The 2008 Big East Championship will take place at Madison Square Garden, March 12-15.
