An Early Look At The 2014-15 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Depth Chart

Next up on our series of possible depth charts for the 2014-15 season is the newest addition to the B1G from Piscataway.  Rutgers has a decent amount of returners from last season, but the Mack and Jack show will likely be tempered due to a lack of depth at all positions.

Frontcourt:

The big star for the Rutgers frontcourt will be junior 6'9" forward Kadeem Jack.  He comes back to the team as their 2nd leading scorer, leading the frontcourt with 14.3 PPG and 6.8 RPG last season.  Jack made great strides last season in being able to finish around the rim, and that has helped him to be the most efficient player on the team. Jack has also shown the ability to draw fouls, and he has been able to knock down 69% of his free throws.  Jack will be looking to extend his range this year as he has been working on his mid-range shot this off-season.  Kadeem will be the leader of the big men, and has the talent to be a potential 1st or 2nd team All-B1G player by the end of the year. Kadeem will be relied upon to do a bulk of the scoring in the frontcourt, and his shot blocking presence (1.3 BPG) should keep opposing big men honest.

Joining Kadeem Jack in the frontcourt will be sophomore Junior Etou, junior Greg Lewis, and freshman Shaquille Doorson. Junior Etou is a 6'7" stretch 4, and will likely start as the 3 this year due to the lack of depth in the backcourt.  Etou averaged 5.3 PPG and 4.6 RPG in his freshman year last year.  Etou has shown the willingness to shoot the three (he shot 43 last year), but he has not been able to find the bottom of the net with great success, only converting a quarter of his three point shots.  Etou's shooting needs to greatly improve this season in order for the team to be successful.  If Junior can find his shot this year, he will be very difficult to guard and will open up the offense for the whole team.  Greg Lewis is a junior who has had difficulty finding the court in his first two years.  He may be the team's fifth starter this year, and will likely play power forward.  Lewis won't be relied upon to do a whole lot of scoring this year, but will be a key defensive piece, as he averaged .6 blocks a game in limited minutes last year.  Coming off the bench this year for the frontcourt will be Shaquille Doorson.  The freshman will likely see early playing time, and may find his way into the starting rotation by the end of the season.  Behind Doorson, there is a plethora of unknowns and players who will only see action in blowouts this year.

Backcourt:

Rutger's backcourt for the 2014-2015 season will be the x-factor for Scarlet Knights. Starting at point guard is the team's highest scorer from last year, 5-10 Myles Mack.  Mack averaged 14.9 PPG and 4.3 APG last season, while shooting the three at a respectable 37% last season.  Although Mack was the leading scorer on last year's team, he saw both his 3 point % and field goal percentage decline last year as he was asked to do a lot more for the offense. The offense will once again run through the undersized Mack, as he will be the leader on the team and will be leaned upon to generate a bulk of the team's scoring this year as well.  Mack will look to distribute the ball a bit more this year as he will now be joined by Junior College transfer Bishop Daniels.  Daniels had a brief stint at Miami before eventually ending up at Rutgers. Daniels will look to push the pace of play this year while also helping to bring the ball up the court to allow Mack to work off the ball a little bit.  Daniels will be the most important piece to this team and needs to be a consistent number three scorer behind Jack and Mack.

Behind Daniels and Mack will be Freshman sniper Mike Williams.  Williams is a three point specialist, although it remains to be seen if he can be a successful enough all around player on this team.  If he struggles to develop other parts of his game, he may see limited minutes on this team.  On the wing will be senior Malick Kone and freshman Ryan Johnson.  Kone has had a disappointing career at Rutgers, and will only be expected to be a role player in his final season. He will be expected to give about 20 minutes a game this year while and isn't expected to be a major contributor in the scoring column, but will be expected to defend his position and get rebounds.  Ryan Johnson will also likely see some minutes at the small forward position, but not much is expected in only his freshman season.  After that, no other guards are expected to play any meaningful minutes, as the depth in the backcourt is very sparse and will be one of the biggest weaknesses of this team.  Without much depth, the starters are going to be expected to play nearly every minute, which will wear on them as the season progresses.

Depth Chart:

It seems pretty safe to assume that Jack, Etou, Daniels and Mack will be the starters to open the season.  If head coach Eddie Jordan decides to go with a small lineup, I would expect Malick Kone to possibly play small forward, with Etou shifting over to be an undersized power forward. Freshman Ibrahima Diallo could see minutes at center this year when Jack isn't on the floor.  Junior Kerwin Okoro should also see some minutes at the wing, but neither of these players are expected to be a major contributor to the team.  Jalen Hyde and Stephen Zurich both saw less than 40 minutes of action last season and likely won't make a very big contribution to the team. Jake Dadika and DJ Foreman are two freshman who won't see much of the floor next year.