The Scarlet Knights more than doubled their win total in their first season under Steve Pikiell, making the jump from awful to competitive. Rutgers, without a question, is a basketball program trending up. Pikiell is right: "Better days are ahead for Rutgers basketball," he said at the Big Ten Tournament.
So how quickly can it make that rise? This team can compete for a postseason bid for the first time in more than a decade in 2018. That almost certainly will be the NIT, but given the program's struggles, that would be an accomplishment worth celebrating.
Here are 10 things that have to happen for Rutgers to make that jump next season:
