Rutgers Basketball: A look at the roster as summer practices begin

The summer has started for Rutgers.

The long-awaited, highly-anticipated version of the 2024-25 Scarlet Knights have taken the floor to begin the early phases of practice — and fans are enjoying the videos coming out of Piscataway.

Rutgers is expected to be a team that has a chance to be ranked in the Top 25 over the course of the season and the hope is to return to the NCAA Tournament. Steve Pikiell and company entered the offseason with an eye on the transfer portal, needing to make improvements in many ways. That was accomplished.

Despite being without Dylan Harper, who is recovering from a knee procedure, the Scarlet Knights have been able to showcase their roster.

Ace Bailey is pretty good

Let’s get the obvious out of the way as we dive into this roster a bit. There is a reason that Ace Bailey is one of the three best players in the nation coming out of high school. That was apparent on day one of practices.

The 6-foot-8 Bailey brings an incredible, and deep, skillset to Rutgers. He can handle the ball and shoot like a guard while using his size to compete down low.

The duo of Bailey and Harper is expected to be one of the best in the freshmen class.

Three-point shooting a priority

It is no secret that Rutgers needed to improve offensively. The three-point line might have been a priority but the overall offensive game had to improve.

Last season, Rutgers shot 28.7% from three-point range, which was last in the Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights were also last in the conference in overall field goal percentage (38.9%) and points per game (65.4).

Aside from the addition of Bailey and Harper, who both showed the ability to shoot the ball, Pikiell focused on additions in the portal that can fill it up from deep.

It began with Princeton transfer Zach Martini, who is shooting better than 38% from three-point range in his career. P.J. Hayes became the icing on the cake. The San Diego transfer shot 39.7% from three-point range last season. Jordan Derkack brings great versatility on both ends, having scored 17 points per game last season for Merrimack, while Eastern Michigan’s Tyson Acuff is another offensive product.

The offense will look much different this season, especially from beyond the arc.

Complete roster turnover

It was apparent early that it was going to be a new-look roster for the Scarlet Knights.

A total of six players entered the transfer portal — Cliff Omoruyi (Alabama), Mawot Mag (BYU), Derek Simpson (St. Joseph’s), Gavin Griffiths (Nebraska), Antwone Woolfolk (Miami Ohio), and Antonio Chol (Howard). Because of this, the coaching staff had to go to work in the portal to compliment the best recruiting class in program history.

That is exactly what Pikiell did and all of a sudden, the Scarlet Knights look all but complete.

Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images

Who will play center?

The reason the team is not 100% complete is the lack of centers.

When Cliff Omoruyi entered the portal, it was assumed that Rutgers would add another big man to fill in down low. A true center did not commit, and the Scarlet Knights do have an offer out to 6-foot-11 Viktor Mikic.

If Mikic commits, this would add some much-needed size but if not, who will play center?

Rutgers added size this offseason but no true center. Bailey and Martini enter at 6-foot-8 and can compete down low but do not have much experience playing center. Lathan Sommerville is 6-foot-10 and part of the heralded freshmen class.

It will be interesting to see how Pikiell rotates the center position if this is the group.

Scarlet Knight Numbers

As practices began, the Scarlet Knights shared the jersey numbers for each player for the upcoming season:

• #0 – Jordan Derkack
• #1 – Jamichael Davis
• #2 – Dylan Harper
• #4 – Ace Bailey
• #5 – Tyson Acuff
• #8 – Bryce Dortch
• #9 – Dylan Grant
• #21 – Emmanuel Ogbole
• #23 – PJ Hayes
• #24 – Lathan Sommerville
• #25 – Jeremiah Williams
• #99 – Zach Martini