PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers women's basketball safely and gratefully returned to the RWJBarnabas Health Athletic Performance Center court for the first official practice of the 2020-21 season on Monday afternoon.
Beginning her 26
th season at the helm of the Scarlet Knights,
C. Vivian Stringer enters her 50
th year overall as a head basketball coach with 1,041 career wins, which ranks fifth all-time. With a half-century of experience and vision, the pioneering head coach brings back three starters and two-thirds of Rutgers' scoring from last year's 22-win squad, joining a nationally touted recruiting class (No. 5 by Blue Star Basketball; No. 8 by ESPN). Stringer retained her entire staff with associate head coach
Tim Eatman beginning his sixth season alongside assistant coaches
Nadine Domond (fifth season) and
Michelle Edwards (18
th season).
"The Rutgers women's basketball family is profoundly thankful for the opportunity to return to practice," Stringer said. "The safety and testing procedures at Rutgers, and our discipline to adhere to these guidelines, have provided us the chance to do what we all love. We return today with our primary goals the same as they have always been: win championships while developing our student-athletes into leaders and professionals in any field they enter after college. We do that this year with renewed perspective, and sincere thoughts and prayers for a global community affected by a pandemic."
Rutgers was poised to be selected for its second straight and 26th overall NCAA Tournament before the postseason was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Scarlet Knights started last season by claiming Coach Stringer's 500th win as Rutgers' head coach, kick starting an 11-1 record to open the year - Rutgers' best beginning to a campaign since the 1990-91 season. RU claimed the Junkanoo Jam title in the Bahamas during Thanksgiving Week with wins over Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech, its first holiday championship since 2015.
A pair of postseason award winners return to lead the Scarlet Knights. From start to finish last season,
Arella Guirantes paced Rutgers and the entire Big Ten in scoring with 20.6 points per game, netting her 1,000th career point in the process and becoming the first Scarlet Knight in history to average 20+ points, 6+ rebounds and 3+ assists per game for an entire season. The Scarlet Knights posted 11 wins in the Big Ten to earn the No. 5 seed in the Big Ten Tournament before advancing to the quarterfinals for the fifth time in six years. Guirantes was named All-Big Ten First Team, while
Tekia Mack earned Big Ten All-Defensive Team honors and an honorable mention on the All-Big Ten awards.
The signing of No. 6 overall prospect
Diamond Johnson powered the unanimous ranking of the Rutgers recruiting class as No. 1 in the Big Ten, and as high as No. 5 in the national rankings. A junior transfer from Jacksonville,
Destiny Marshall, is immediately eligible for competition, joining six freshmen as newcomers to the 2020-21 roster.
Including sixth-ranked Johnson, the class features four with national prospect rankings in the Top 55: post
Sakima Walker (No. 21), forward
Chyna Cornwell (No. 48) and guard
Elizabeth Martino (No. 53).
The NCAA has set Nov. 25, 2020 as the first day of the women's basketball regular season. The schedule continues to be a work in progress, as the Big Ten and its institutions work through the logistics and safety measures. A schedule and other details will be released as they are made available.
Follow Rutgers women's basketball on Twitter and Instagram (@RutgersWBB) for all of the latest news and updates. The team is also on Facebook (
www.facebook.com/RutgersWBB). For all Rutgers Athletics news follow us on Twitter(@RUAthletics), Instagram (@RUAthletics), Snapchat (@RUAthletics) and Facebook (
www.facebook.com/RutgersAthletics). For additional updates, please download the
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