Rutgers Basketball had a lot of needs heading into an offseason where its two biggest producers would be leaving the program. Through various additions in the transfer portal and recruiting, they seem to have filled those needs, at the very least on paper. The Scarlet Knights went into the portal looking for a Big Man, they got Baye Fall. They went into the offseason looking for a deep threat, they got Harun Zrno. They went into the offseason looking for scoring depth, they came away with Denis Badalau, Darren Buchanan, and Tariq Francis. These players all seem to fill drastic needs for the Knights.
At least on paper.
In reality however, these additions still leave a lot to be desired. Rutgers did get their new Big Man in the portal yes, however, Fall has only 71 minutes of college basketball played over two years and found himself buried on the depth chart at both schools he transferred into. Zrno looks like he could be the three point shooter Rutgers desperately needs from his stellar performance in the Bosnian professional leagues. The only issue with that is those leagues often draw comparisons to division two level play when they are compared with American college sports.
Badalau did play at a very high level in Italian professional basketball, however he only appeared in four games. Darren Buchannan has proven to be a solid player in the Atlantic 10 at George Washington however he began to lose playing time at the end of last year due to being surpassed on the depth chart after an injury. Tariq Francis did score a lot of points last year, however he attempted an extremely high average of 18.4 shots per game at NJIT, which plays in a much weaker than the Big Ten.
Rutgers basketball did address their needs in the offseason, and when keeping in mind their limited NIL resources compared to other big time program, it is impressive that they were able to get at least somebody to put in each of the holes on their roster. However, their additions still leave a lot to be desired for next season. Stranger things have happened in college basketball over the years but from an early outlook, this team would need to gel almost perfectly immediately to make any noise in the Big Ten.
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