Not long after landing the Rutgers men's basketball head coaching position in mid-March 2016, Steve Pikiell held a team workout. His initial impression of a team that had just finished 7-25 in the 2015-16 season?
"I thought we had a long way to go,'' he recalled last week.
The Scarlet Knights defied all reasonable expectations in a 15-18 campaign that included a 3-15 record in Big Ten play.
"We've come a long way from the first time I worked out with these guys,'' Pikiell said. "I’m proud that we were able to assemble a great staff, to get these guys to buy in to a new system.