GARRETT STEPIEN SPORTS EDITOR
Corey Sanders rides in style. When he isn’t zipping through defenders on the hardwood, Sanders glides on his “hoverboard” scooter around Livingston campus. Standing at 6-foot-2, he skies over most of his classmates when he cruises up and down the sidewalks — and he’s hard to miss.
“Usually when I’m riding around, I got my little hoverboard now,” he said. “So I’m riding around and people are like, ‘Hey, Corey, can’t wait to see you, can’t wait to come to the games,’ and stuff like that. So it’s been real good having that love on our campus.” His trademark baby dreads and gleaming Hollywood smile draw eyes to Sanders, but it’s his electrifying play on the basketball court that keeps the attention locked there.
“He has a wonderful personality, he is engaging and he does a lot of good things,” said head coach Eddie Jordan. “He’s defensive first, he’s a pass point guard first.” While the former NBA coach in his third year back on the Banks knows a thing or two about how guards play the game of basketball — “Fast Eddie” logged seven solid years at guard in the NBA — much of the highlight tape for Sanders speaks for itself.
When his HoopMixtape hit the Internet, Sanders became a YouTube sensation. He even caught the eyes of Washington Wizards star point guard John Wall, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2010 NBA Draft, when Wall retweeted a link to the video to his millions of Twitter followers. The recognition was surreal for Sanders, who has watched countless highlight reels of the two-time NBA All-Star as he attempted to mirror Wall’s game.
SEE HYPE ON PAGE 2
2015-16 Rutgers Men’s Basketball Preview COURTESY OF RUTGERS ATHLETICS
Men’s Basketball Season Preview Page 2
HYPE
November 6, 2015
NEW BEGINNINGS
Freshman Corey Sanders brings explosive play to RU with immediate impact CONTINUED FROM FRONT “Man, that’s a blessing to me because it just shows that my grind hasn’t gone unnoticed,” Sanders said of the tweet. “Just having that recognition from (John Wall), he’s a great point guard and he’s where I want to be. So just having him see that and giving me a little shoutout, that was great for my emotions and my hard work — it paid off.” Second-year assistant coach Greg Vetrone, who coached Sanders in a club basketball tournament for Adidas at Rucker Park in Harlem, New York, didn’t need to watch him long to know that the talent he possessed was rare. “You could tell from that day he was special,” Vetrone said, reflecting on the all-star tournament. “The first time he came to practice with me, you could tell he was special. A 6-foot-1, explosive, high-IQ, really likes to defend.” The former Faireigh Dickinson head coach, who has more than 25 years of coaching experience at the high school and collegiate levels, said the talent goes past the tape. “I know the YouTube thing — they see him flying in the air and he’s an athlete,” Vetrone said. “But when you dissect his game, he’s a real point guard package at the position.” *** Immediately after Eddie Jordan wraps his press conference for Rutgers men’s basketball Media Day, the Scarlet Knights head down to the hardwood and gather for their 2015-16 team photo. From there, they head to the locker room before shedding their black and scarlet Nike jumpsuits. Like the rest of his teammates, Sanders chucks up shots to get loose. Then, the whistle blows and the team joins hands in a full circle at midcourt. As heralded of a recruit as Sanders is — as much as the explosiveness and excitement beam off of his persona — it ser ves as a subtle reminder that he is 1 of 14 Knights looking to work together and turn this program around. Sanders understands that the hype comes with the territor y. But at the end of the day, he wants his coaches, teammates and fans at Rutgers to remember one thing. “I think they should know that I’m gonna get after it ever y play. I’m a team player, I work hard and I just wanna help turn things around,” Sanders said. “That’s my goal — turn things around.” For updates on the Rutgers men’s basketball team, follow @GarrettStepien and @TargumSports on Twitter.
Rutgers returns to hardwood with bigger goals GARRETT STEPIEN SPORTS EDITOR
When Shaquille Doorson thinks back to his freshman season a year ago, mixed feelings enter the mind of the 6-foot-11 center. First, his eyes light up and he cracks a smile when he reminisces about the largest upset in program history — the Rutgers men’s basketball team’s improbable 67-62 triumph past then-No. 4 Wisconsin. The court swarming at the Louis Brown Athletic Center is still all so surreal to the soft-spoken Scarlet Knight from The Netherlands. But his eyes immediately lock back in and the joy on his face quickly dissipates when he moves to the memory of what happened next in Rutgers’ 201415 season. “We never wanna have that feeling ever again,” he says. “That’s a horrible feeling and we never wanna have that again.” That feeling Doorson refers to is the 15-game losing streak that the Knights couldn’t snap in a discouraging end to a cold winter. After rewriting the record books with a historic win that will bounce off the walls and hardwood at the RAC for as long
as that building stands in Piscataway, Rutgers made history for the wrong reasons directly after with the second-longest losing skid in program history. Take it or leave it, the experience is what it is to head coach Eddie Jordan and his returning players on the roster. “Our guys want to win,” Jordan said. “They want to play well, they want a good team. So emotions are involved. It’s a new team.” Despite the losses of Kadeem Jack and Myles Mack, Rutgers remains confident in the balance of its athleticism up and down the roster. To compensate for the loss of Jack, the Knights look to a similar spread of talent down low with a 6-foot-10, 240-pound presence in redshirt-freshman Ibrahima Diallo leading the way. Four-star junior college transfer Deshawn Freeman and sophomore forward D.J. Foreman expect to add versatility and athleticism to a deeper unit than last year’s, which relied heavily on the production of Jack in the frontcourt to complement Mack in the backcourt. With the inevitable gauntlet of the Big Ten slotting six teams in the preseason AP Top 25, how realistic can the expectations be for
a turnaround for the Knights this season — and to what degree? While the results remain to be seen for when Rutgers returns to the hardwood, one glance at the conference’s slate yields a heavy schedule loaded with programs likely to be in the hunt for the NCAA Tournament when March rolls around. But none of that fazes Bishop Daniels. Entering his senior season in Piscataway, the Knights’ starting guard knows the clock is ticking on his collegiate career after stops at Miami (Fl.) and ASA College led him to the Banks. With that in mind, Daniels agrees to disagree with the critics already counting Rutgers out. In fact, it makes him sicker than the losing skid that plagued
the minds of the Knights as last year came to a close. Like Doorson, Daniels still remembers that feeling of losing 15 consecutive games. But now, with the new season approaching, he’s ready to make sure Rutgers reverses its fortunes. “I don’t know about anybody else, but I hate it. I hate the fact that we’re picked almost 300 out of almost 351 teams like we’re last,” Daniels said. “… It’s tough. They’re counting us out already and it just — to me — it’s motivation that we need to grind harder and get it done this year, shock a lot of teams.” For updates on the Rutgers men’s basketball team, follow @GarrettStepien and @TargumSports on Twitter.
Head coach Eddie Jordan said he expects Rutgers to return to the hardwood in 2015-16 with greater athleticism and balance. EDWIN GANO / PHOTO EDITOR / MARCH 2015
Seniors take on leadership role in final year BRIAN FONSECA ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR
For the first time in Eddie Jordan’s tenure as the head coach of the Rutgers men’s basketball team, he will be without Myles Mack and Kadeem Jack. Jordan relied heavily on the two recent graduates for scoring, especially in the duo’s senior season last year. But what the third year-head coach will miss most from the two is the leadership they provided throughout the difficult season they endured together last winter. “They were treasures for us. They were experienced, they wanted to win,” Jordan said. “We just have to get experience — that’s what Myles and Kadeem gave us. Hopefully these guys grow up fast.” The hole left by the loss of the two players needs to be filled, and Jordan is looking to the two most
experienced players on his roster to do so. Seniors Greg Lewis and Bishop Daniels, who both played important roles in the team last season, are expected to share the bulk of the responsibility of ushering in the new generation of Scarlet Knights to the Banks. Daniels knows what it’s like to be new on campus. Having attended both Miami and ASA College in New York City before arriving in Piscataway, the guard makes sure to be available for his new teammates whenever they need him. “I was a freshman once in their shoes,” Daniels said. “So I guess the main thing is helping them out, show them what we supposed to be doing and take them away from the bad things we did in the past and show them different ways of doing things.” A fifth-year senior, Lewis has been around the block a few times
Now in his final season, senior guard Bishop Daniels feels that he and Greg Lewis need to lead a young Rutgers team this year. EDWIN GANO / PHOTO EDITOR / MARCH 2015
himself and knows what it takes to adapt to life on the Banks. Despite his experience, the returning captain continues to learn every day to become the best leader possible to those representing the Knights for the first time. “Yeah, absolutely. I’m embracing it,” Lewis said on his responsibilities. “Everyday is a new step that I have to embrace and get better. I’ve been going to coaches for advice, trying to pick their brains for what I can do to help these (new) guys get past the hump.” Having gone through the second-longest losing streak in program history of 15 games to end the season, the seniors are aware of the atmosphere of the locker room when things aren’t going well. If Rutgers finds itself in a similar situation this season, Daniels will be ready to help stop the bleeding and get his team back on track. “The main thing would be to keep our guys encouraged,” he said in respect to getting his team out of a rut. “I’ve been through that last year and it gets to the point where you do get down. But at the same time, I think our mindsets and our energy we have as a new team will kind of take over from us just getting down into a hole. It’s easy to get down like that but I think we have enough talent and enough enthusiasm as players to not let that happen.” It’s no coincidence that the lengthy losing skid occurred in the Knights’ first season participating in the Big Ten. The conference that saw two teams reach the Final Four —
including the national runner-up in Wisconsin that Rutgers upset earlier in the season — proved to be too much to handle for Rutgers in its first time through. With the little Daniels has seen of this team as they prepare for their second run through the Big Ten gauntlet, the Raleigh, North Carolina, native believes this team has the ability to improve on what was produced last season. “It’s definitely a battle day in and day out in the league. Every night, you’re going to play somebody, they gon’ bring their A-game,” he said. “I think as a team, last year, not everybody was ready for that and I think that’s the difference between last year’s team and this year’s team … main thing is to be ready at all times. We’re the underdog everywhere we go, so that’s the biggest thing — being prepared and being ready.” This season is both Daniels’ and Lewis’ final season wearing the white jerseys with Rutgers written across their chest. They can hardly wait to get on the court and put on one last show. “Absolutely, man. I’ve been counting down days (until the start of the season), I know Bishop has too,” Lewis said. “I just wanna give back to these fans. They’ve been so loyal to us. I think that’s probably one of my top motivations, to give back to these fans and give them something to look forward to.” For updates on the Rutgers men’s basketball team, follow @briannnnf and @TargumSports on Twitter.
November 6, 2015
Women’s Basketball Season Preview Page 3
B1G IMPROVENTS Junior seeks to elevate her game in 2015 season MIKE O’SULLIVAN CORRESPONDENT
Tyler Scaife has achieved plenty during her first two seasons at Rutgers. The junior guard was named the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in 2013 after leading all freshmen in the conference with 14.5 points per game. She followed that up with a strong performance during the Rutgers women’s basketball team’s inaugural season in the Big Ten, starting in all 33 games for the Scarlet Knights and being named an Honorable Mention AllBig Ten member by the coaches and media. But the Little Rock, Arkansas, native has dealt with more than
just the conference change in her time on the Banks. She has adjusted to a new lifestyle in New Jersey. “It’s a lot faster pace up here than the south,” she said. “It’s a lot colder and there’s more snow, but my teammates and the coaching staff make it a lot easier on me. It’s been a good transition.” Scaife enters her third season with the Knights as a top-scoring threat for her team and has worked hard on the defensive end to become an efficient two-way player. She has received praise from head coach C. Vivian Stringer for her quick development as a player and leadership for the Knights. Because of her coach’s preferred style of play, Scaife feels the transition has been as smooth as possible.
Junior guard Tyler Scaife averaged 14.8 points per game last year. Scaife said she has adjusted to the pace above the Mason-Dixon. THE DAILY TARGUM / MARCH 2015
“(Stringer) recruits guards who are quick and can play with a fast pace and score, which is what I like to do,” she said. “I feel like I’ve fit right in here.” Scaife has continued in the Knights tradition of strong guard play. Coming to Piscataway after twice winning the Arkansas Girls Basketball Player of the Year award, she was also Rutgers’ best free throw shooter last season by registering a 72-percent clip from the charity stripe. She has become more of a well-rounded player, working on her rebounding and passing to go along with her scoring prowess. The coaching staff has noticed her improvement and believes she is ready for her best season yet. “I’m extremely happy with Tyler this year,” Stringer said. “She is very committed on the defensive side of it and also committed to working on the consistency of her shot … She is always intently focused, and I think she will be more than a scoring threat by playing at the point guard spot. I expect great things from her because she is in great shape and she is ready.” Her teammates have also taken notice of her improvement over the summer. Senior guard Cynthia Hernandez played alongside Scaife last year after transferring in and has seen firsthand the quick bursts of scoring she can bring to any game.
“Tyler is very, very good,” she said. “She knows how to attack the basket and is great with her shot from mid-range, and now she can shoot threes. I’m pretty sure she can be unstoppable when she’s on her game.” Perhaps the most impressive part of Scaife’s game is her ability to play better as the games get bigger. Last season, she averaged 14.8 points per game, but 16.0 points per game against nationally ranked opponents and 18.5 points per game in the team’s two NCAA Tournament games last season. She also recorded a season-high four steals against No. 6 North Carolina in the thrilling 96-93 double-overtime loss last season. Playing in the Big Ten leads to high stakes games nearly ever y night. Scaife uses these games and playoff match-ups to elevate her performance when the team needs it most. “When the level of the competition level rises, you have to be on another level when you play in those games,” she said. “In the NCAA Tournament, it was a win or go home situation, so you really want to win and play your best, and that’s what I always try to do.” For updates on the Rutgers women’s basketball team, follow @ Mike_OSully2 and @TargumSports on Twitter.
Rutgers rookies add needed depth to roster MIKE O’SULLIVAN CORRESPONDENT
Coaches generally like to have balance in their roster in terms of newcomers and veterans. It helps breed competition and discourages complacency while creating natural leadership situations in which seniors will help guide freshmen through the rigors of the season. For the Rutgers women’s basketball team, there is an even split between freshmen and seniors on the roster — five apiece. With one sophomore and two juniors filling out the rest of the team, there is great variety in the type of players head coach C. Vivian Stringer can deploy. The Hall of Fame coach believes she has one of the deeper teams of her career. “I love this team because it is filled with a lot of good people,” she said. “They know what they need to do and I believe that everyone is on the same page at the same time … They don’t hesitate to ask the coaches what they should be doing on the court technically, and nothing is more rewarding than that.” Early on in preseason training, it became apparent to Stringer that this crop of freshmen were eager to learn. In her press conference at the team’s media day, she told an anecdote from a day in which practice was over, yet both the younger players and veterans
stayed after to ask the coaches for advice. It is this type of thing that gets Stringer excited for the season, and has her believing that this freshmen class can see a quick development that helps the team immediately. “I’ve been extremely pleased with all of the freshmen,” she said. “KK (Sanders) has a great spirit and she really is special. Aliyah Jeune … I love because she really wants to know how to better herself and see what she can work on. Both Victoria (Harris) and Desiree (Keeling) are coming along, and I can tell when people are going to be successful by the way they receive coaching, and these players are hungry for knowledge and want to be better.” Khadaizha Sanders, referred to as “KK” by her coaches and teammates, comes to Rutgers after starring as a guard at Bishop McNamara High School in Illinois. She is expected to earn minutes in the backcourt early on in the season. Victoria Harris and Desiree Keeling are interior players who give the Knights some needed size in the post and are another pair of scoring threats. Aliyah Jeune gives the Knights versatility by being able to play at both guard and forward. Her 6-foot-1 frame provides them with solid size when she plays in the backcourt. The quartet of newcomers provide the Knights with what they
hope are immediate contributors. Their willingness to learn the nuances of the college game give them a better chance to be successful and see early playing time. “These freshmen really want to learn and we have seen that since day one,” said senior guard Cynthia Hernandez. “That’s the best thing you can get from them because wanting to learn and help out really goes a long way for a team. We know that they are all ready to go this season.” Also part of the group making a debut this season for the Knights is Ashli Jeune, the sister of Aliyah. After redshirting her freshman season, Ashli Jeune feels ready to
help the backcourt in any way she can this season. She can already sense camaraderie that has already developed between the newcomers and veterans. “We all have high expectations for this season and I feel like our team is really confident in each other and we all know we can rely on everyone,” she said. “Even off the court, we have that sister-like bond and that is what is most important because it helps us to accomplish our goals. We know that we have each other, at the end of the day.” For updates on the Rutgers women’s basketball team, follow @ Mike_OSully2 and @TargumSports on Twitter.
Hall of fame head coach C. Vivian Stringer enters the 2015-2016 season with 432 wins at Rutgers and 952 total wins in her career. EDWIN GANO / PHOTO EDITOR / FEBRUARY 2015
DUO
Copper, Scaife aim to put up 20-plus points per game in RU’s second year in Big Ten CONTINUED FROM BACK The Little Rock, Arkansas, native expects to be even better in her junior season after spending most the summer in the weight room and in the gym. “We’ve been working in the off-season on our shots, different ways to score, ways to get people involved,” Scaife said. “I feel that this year, everybody will be able to see what we did in the offseason.” Copper willed her way onto the national radar after registering 11, 20-plus point performances in Rutgers inaugural season in the Big Ten. In a season that earned her Second Team All-Big Ten honors, Copper shined, averaging 16.3 points per game to go with 5.1 rebounds per contest in her junior year. The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, native feels that as effective as she and the Knights were at putting up points last year, they can be even more productive this season. “I think we’re going to continue to bring it,” Copper said. “I think that we’ve gotten so much better over the summer and are still continuing to get better, so I think we will definitely bring some more scoring this year.” The departure of honorable mention All-American wing and 2015 WNBA draftee Betnijah Laney (17th overall) leaves a void on Rutgers roster. Laney posted 20 double-doubles last year for the Knights, averaging 15.8 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. Copper is confident she can both increase her production on the boards and fill the leadership role left vacant after Laney’s departure. “It definitely has changed. I don’t have Benijah this year,” Copper said. “But I think I’ve been doing a pretty good job of leading by example. It’s not hard at all. I just come into practice and try to continue to lead the team and make sure everybody is doing everything correctly. Then there are times when you can be vocal, and those are the keys to good leadership.” Between Copper and Scaife, it’s conceivable that the Knights could have two players averaging close to 20 points per game in 2015-2016. Rutgers ascended as high as No. 16 in the national polls a year ago, but after another year of experience, they could threaten the nation’s top-10. With the expected uptick in offensive production, Scaife anticipates an astronomical rise up the national rankings for the Knights. “I think that will definitely be scoring more points this year,” Scaife said. “We’ve got some good pieces to the puzzle in the freshmen that we have. I feel like we can definitely be a top-10 team this year.” For updates on the Rutgers women’s basketball team, follow @ KevinPXavier and @TargumSports on Twitter.
KEVIN XAVIER ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR
They say this year will be different. Entering the 2015-16 season, the Rutgers women’s basketball team is poised to push its play to new heights after faltering in the latter portion of last season. The Scarlet Knights started fast in 2014, ripping off 20 wins in their first 26 games. But they sputtered down the stretch, losing four of their final seven, culminating in a 8760 loss to top-seeded Connecticut in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Rutgers finished 23-10 last year, averaging 68.7 points per game, the second highest average in the Hall of Fame career of head coach C. Vivian Stringer. “I love this team,” Stringer said from the podium at the team’s Media Day Oct. 27. “This is a great team — a people team — and I’m sincere when I say that. And they know what to do ... We had one of the highest scoring teams last year.” The Knights’ first year in the Big Ten Conference was a mixed bag. Rutgers finished 12-6 in the league, but most of its wins came against the lesser programs. Crucial losses to teams in the top half of the conference — namely Northwestern and Maryland, both twice — taught the team what life is really like in the Big Ten. A year later, leaders like senior wing Kahleah Copper and junior guard Tyler Scaife feel that the experience of the first year in the prestigious conference have served them well in preparing for year two. “I feel like we didn’t really get a chance to prove what we could do last year,” Scaife said. “We did decent, but this year, we know what we’re going up against and I’m just ready to get into the conference (schedule) so that we can play those teams again.” Scaife starred in her sophomore season, finishing third on the team with 14.8 points per game while elevating her play against ranked opponents (16.5 points per game) and in the NCAA Tournament (18.5 points per game). SEE DUO ON PAGE 3
2015-16 Rutgers Women’s Basketball Preview EDWIN GANO / PHOTO EDITOR