Rutgers:

Continuing after the Purdue preview, I decided to start at the bottom and work my way up what I think will be the standings next year. Rutgers was not very good this year, finishing 5-13 in the not-so-good American conference. A lot of people would say, "you can only get better from here". This may be true for this Rutgers team. Rutgers loses seniors Wally Judge and J.J Moore. Jerome Seagears and D'Von Campell, and Craig Brown are also transferring. Losing these five players means a loss of 48% of their points and 41% of their rebounds per game, along with 50% of their minutes. They do bring in 4 freshmen who, unless they contribute right away will leave Rutgers pretty awful.

So here is their projected roster:

#     Name                  HT   WT   YR   POS

11   Kadeem Jack      6-9   230   SR.  PF

Starting Power Forward, averaged 14.3 points per game with 6.8 rebounds. A close second to Mack.

4     Myles Mack         5-9   175   SR.  PG

Starting Point Guard, averaged 15 points per game with 4.3 Assists. Rutgers' best player.

13   Malick Kone          6-5   200  SR.  SF

The starting Shooting Guard, averaged 3.5 points per game last year.

44    Kerwin Okoro       6-5   220  JR.   SF

Does not play meaningful minutes.

21    Stephen Zurich    6-5   205  JR.    SF

Same as Okoro.

23    Jalen Hyde          5-8    160   JR.   PG

Same as Okoro.

35    Greg Lewis          6-9     260   JR.  PF

The starting Center that has a decent rebound rate. With him starting Rutgers actually has a pretty big lineup.

10    Junior Etou          6-7     225   SO.   SF

The starting Small Forward, averaged 5.3 points per game.

30    Khalil Batie           5-10   175   SO.   PG

Walk-on

5     Mike Williams         6-2    180   FR.    SG

3 Star, offers from Dayton, Iowa, ST. Johns, Temple... 

3      Bishop Daniels      6-3     185   FR.    SG

3 star, no other offers

14    Ibrahima Diallo      6-9     215    FR.   C

Rawer than sushi. 3 Star

22    Dwayne Foreman  6-7     215    FR.    PF

Offers from Iowa State, Minnesota, Pittsburgh...

My projected starting lineup:

Point Guard: Myles Mack

Shooting Guard: Malick Kone

Small Forward: Junior Etou

Power Foward: Kadeem Jack

Center: Greg Lewis

Michigan plays Rutgers at home and on the road next year, which is favorable for us.

In all, Rutgers is a pretty small team that is losing a lot of players of. They do not have depth, or much skill. The junior class looks to have nothing so the team will rely on mostly seniors. I project Rutgers will go 4-14 and tie with Purdue for last. 

Next up... Northwestern.