Youth movement

Good morning everyone! Sam Lance here with my first newsletter on The Daily. Hope you enjoy and make sure to follow along with me on Thursday mornings throughout the college basketball season.

Let’s get to the news.

1. Are uber-talented freshman enough for Rutgers to be a Big Ten contender?

Rutgers basketball — yes, Rutgers basketball — has two of the top three recruits from the 2024 class in Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper. That’s unusual, but it ensures the Scarlet Knights will have a ton of eyes on them this season.

Bailey and Harper have had a longstanding relationship. When Harper, the younger brother of former Rutgers standout Ron Harper Jr., committed to the Scarlet Knights, the two shared a phone call. “We’re going to do great things at Rutgers next year. We have a goal, and that goal is to win a national championship,” Harper said on the phone.

However, even with all the talent these two players possess, will relying on two stud freshman and NBA lottery hopefuls translate to winning?

Since Steve Pikiell became coach in 2016-17, Rutgers has reached the NCAA Tournament twice and finished in the top half of the Big Ten twice. They’ve gone from also-ran to the team others hate to play, especially if it’s at the RAC Jersey Mike’s Arena.

With Bailey and Harper at the forefront, I’m sure the Rutgers faithful would love to see the Scarlet Knights compete atop the Big Ten, win another NCAA tournament game or make it to the second weekend for the first time under Pikiell. That talent influx is the crux of Offseason Grades discussion between Rob Dauster and Mike LaTulip.

Firstly, it’s important to note who Rutgers will play besides Bailey and Harper. The Scarlet Knights have three returners: senior guard Jeremiah Williams, sophomore guard Jamichael Davis and junior center Emmanuel Ogbole. They also brought in transfers in fifth-year guard Tyson Acuff (Eastern Michigan), junior guard Jordan Derkack (Merrimack) and a couple grad transfer sharpshooters in forward PJ Hayes IV (San Diego) and forward Zach Martini (Princeton). That will likely be the nine rotation players.

Let’s start at guard. Rutgers has Harper and Williams, who will likely be side-by-side in the starting lineup. Torvik projects Bailey, plus those two, as the only double-digit scorers. LaTulip thinks Williams will be key as an experienced returning guard who can help Harper adjust. The interesting pieceswill be Acuff and Derkack. Both had usage rates over 30% at their respective schools last season and are used to having the ball in their hands. They will need to adjust to a lesser role, with both likely coming off the bench.

On the wing, you have two proven shooters in Hayes — who shot 39.7% from deep on 184 attempts last season — and Martini — who 38.5% drained of his 156 attempts. They’re ideal complimentary pieces.

The biggest question mark? What will Rutgers get out of the 5 spot and will Pikiell play smaller, more versatile lineups? Losing center Cliff Omoruyi was big. He was the Scarlet Knights’ rim protector and a low-post force. But if they can get consistent production out of Ogbole or find a small-ball lineup with Bailey or Martini at the 5 look out.

With a loaded, bunched up Big Ten, who knows. Maybe the Scarlet Knights can win the conference. They have the star power, great positional size, shooting, and a coach who’s led Rutgers to two top-six finishes in Kenpom defensive efficiency over the last three years.

The recipe looks nice, but can Pikiell correctly cook up all of the ingredients together? We will surely see.

2. Pitt makes its first big 2025 recruiting splash

By bringing in Carlton “Bub” Carrington and turning him into a one-and-done lottery pick, Pitt coach Jeff Capel has quite the pitch for guards. He's actively recruiting some of the best names in the 2025 class like Isaiah Denis, Derek Dixon and Amari Evans.

And now Capel has his first commit and is off and running in the 2025 class.

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