The Rutgers basketball team (men’s edition) began the season ranked in the final spot of the AP poll. And from there, everything went straight downhill. They’ll visit the Northwestern Wildcats tomorrow night in a game that both sides desperately need to get. Both teams are in danger of missing the Big Ten Tournament, let alone the NCAA Tournament.
The bottom three in the league (16th, 17th and 18th) get left behind for the conference tourney and the Scarlet Knights are currently 15th. Northwestern is 13th.
Rutgers Basketball at Northwestern Wildcats FYIs
Tip: Wed Jan. 29, 8pm local, Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston, IL
ESPN Matchup Predictor: 77.3% Northwestern 22.7%
Where we have Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper in our latest NBA Mock Draft
Nick Martinelli feature: go here
Dylan Harper feature piece: go here
Rutgers Basketball Northwestern
Net 83 49
KenPom 82 46
Quad 1 ‘ 1-3 2-7
Quad 2 1-4 1-1
Records 10-10 (3-6) 12-8 (3-6)
Rutgers Basketball Preview
This is the most NBA talent that the Rutgers basketball program has ever had on their roster for any single season. Their freshman comprise the highest rated recruiting class that the program has ever seen.
Yet here they are with absolutely no postseason resume at all as we approach February. However, the two highly heralded freshmen have been as good as advertised.
Ace Bailey (19.833 points per game) is the Big Ten’s leading scorer, ahead of Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli (19.75 ppg) by the slightest of margins.
Meanwhile Dylan Harper, brother of Ron Harper Jr. and son of Chicago Bulls legend Ron Harper, is 4th. Both Bailey and Harper project as top five overall picks in this summer’s NBA Draft.
Harper came off the bench, having just healed from an ankle injury, to play 13 minutes in the Madison Square Garden loss to Michigan State on Saturday.
He is likely to play a much larger role here in midweek. As for what makes Bailey so special, Rutgers basketball coach Steve Pikiell explained.
“He’s unique,” Pikiell said exclusively to RG. “He can play five positions, can really pass the ball. He’s got a really good IQ. And these kids are just young, so the excitement is – where they [Bailey, Harper and the rest of the frosh] can be in a few years. But their best basketball is ahead of them, and they’re talented as could be right now.”
Northwestern Wildcats Preview
While Martinelli is second in the conference in scoring, only out of the top spot, by a very slight margin, his teammate, Brooks Barnhizer, is 8th.
And that gives you the only match-up in the Big Ten possible that features two players in the top ten in scoring on both sides. And Barnhizer stuffs the stat sheet in other ways too: 9.2 rebounds (3rd), 4.3 assists (10th), 2.5 steals (1st) and 1.2 blocks (10th).
He’s a double doubles machine and one of just three Big Ten guards to average over nine rebounds per game during the past half-century.
The other two are Evan Turner (2009-10, Ohio State, 9.2) and Henry Wilmore (1970-71, Michigan, 9.8). But the x-factor here is Ty Berry. The proverbial third piece for the Cats, when he’s on, so is Northwestern. When he’s having an off shooting, night, well Chris Collins’ team often find themselves in a struggle.
Collins said it best after Northwestern’s signature win of the season, the OT triumph at home over Illinois on Dec. 6th, “we’re a mid-range team.”
They have an identity, and that’s extremely important. An identity can be a springboard to get you where you need to go.
Unfortunately though, having a mid-range identity means you’re going to be an up and down team, because well, mid-range shooting percentages rise and fall like the stock market.
Prediction: Northwestern 73, Rutgers Basketball 64
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.