Enter Coquese Washington. The 12-year Penn State head coach with three Big Ten regular-season titles to her name took over the program.
Since then, Washington made the best out of difficult situations, from improving the Scarlet Knights’ record in her first season with only eight rostered players to losing two of her best underclassmen players, in-season, in consecutive campaigns. One of those exits came last year, and Rutgers still managed to make the Big Ten Tournament and win two postseason games.
The upcoming Rutgers season has all the makings to be the most interesting of Washington’s New Brunswick tenure yet, and also the most challenging.
Roster and program overhaul
Rutgers brought in eight new players for a 13-player roster, on top of hiring four assistant coaches. Only two of the newcomers were freshmen. The other six came from the transfer portal.
Washington recruited heavily from existing NCAA talent, and so far it sounds like it’s working.
“I think we naturally bonded really well,” forward Zachara Perkins said on Rutgers’ media day. “It’s something that probably not a lot of teams will probably experience, but I think it’s actually crazy how fast we all bonded and created a really good culture.”
It’s easy to point to the Kaylene Smikle and Kiyomi McMiller situations over the past two years as evidence of problems within the program. Both players effectively finished their Rutgers careers midseason and eventually left for other Big Ten programs.
At the beginning of October, all 13 players suited up for the Scarlet Knights’ on-campus media day. The entire baker’s dozen of Rutgers student-athletes repeated Perkins’ sentiments. It did not sound like a group forced to talk nicely about their surroundings.
Washington brought together a team that features players with similar experiences, connections to the program and on-court strengths. At the same time, they are athletes with eligibility beyond the upcoming season to continue setting up the building blocks Washington has in mind to build a sustainable, competitive, program.
Look at the new roster, four of the six transfers have a combined 15 starts last season. They are athletes who were not given starter minutes at previous schools. When they joined Rutgers, they had the gift of a clean slate.
“We’ve started discovering who can do what and not being in a rush to put people in in spots and roles, but naturally seeing who leads, naturally seeing what they do,” Washington said at Big Ten media day. “That’s been the fun part this summer is just discovering who we are and what we can do and and then putting it all together.”
Take Kansas State transfer Imani Lester. The 6’3 forward averaged 6.1 minutes as a redshirt freshman and 10.8 last season behind four upperclassmen bigs.
“Rutgers was gonna give me the best chance to have skill development and wins at the same time,” said Lester. “And I think that’s where Coach Co [Washington] had a vision for every single person she recruited and how they were gonna live with our team.”
Kansas State Wildcats forward Imani Lester (32) blocks Cincinnati Bearcats guard Ta’Ziah Jenks (11) in the fourth quarter of the NCAA basketball game between Cincinnati Bearcats and Kansas State Wildcats at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati on Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023. Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
The vision for Lester, despite no starts in two seasons, was the experience gained in practice. Lester was in the gym against those upperclassmen, which included 6’6 All-American center Ayoka Lee. Without a congested depth chart, Lester could start day one.
Despite a small number of minutes with the Wildcats, Lester took advantage of every minute. The forward nearly averaged a double-double for every 40 minutes Lester stepped onto the court with 9.1 points and 10.2 rebounds per game over the last two seasons.
Ivey at point
The transfer portal haul is not only players working for their chance at a larger on-court impact. Kaylah Ivey joined Washington after a four-season career at Boston College where the pass-first guard is in the top-10 for assists in the ACC program’s history.
In the last two seasons, Ivey was top-five in assists in the conference. While Ivey was on the court, the graduate senior accounted for 35% of Boston College’s assists, the second-highest in the conference.
Now, Ivey plays for a head coach who knows about the point guard position. At Notre Dame, Washington averaged 4.9 assists per game over four seasons. That ability to find teammates turned into a six-year career in the WNBA before moving into coaching.
It’s no surprise then that when prompted about the most important hole Rutgers filled this offseason, it went straight to Ivey and sophomore transfer Lauryn Swann.
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“We finally have a true point guard here,” Washington told reporters at Rutgers media day. “I think their leadership on the court, the way they’re driving this train has been really really good so far and I think it’s only going to get better the more practice we have.”
Swann is a piece of those building blocks with three years of eligibility, including the upcoming 25-26 season. Ivey only has this season and the ability to step in and make an impact on day one.
Washington is making the most of that one season.
“I’m trying to kind of like, pick her [Washington’s] brain to understand what exactly she wants me to do and how to run the offense. She gives me pointers all the time. The things that she used growing up and her playing style when she played in the league as well,” Ivey said at Big Ten media day. “We watch a lot of film together just so I can so that I can understand where she’s coming from.”
Off-court connection
Lester and Ivey represented the team in Chicago at media day and they told The IX Basketball that there are team organized events to build chemistry between players, but most of the work is organic. Players hang out, grab food and watch movies together voluntarily. “It’s never forced, and we just enjoy each other’s presence,” Ivey told The IX Basketball.
Some of those relationships came naturally because of previous connections. Ivey came from Boston College and used a relationship with former Eagles teammate Nene Ndiaye to get the junior forward to join her at Rutgers.
Both Ivey and Ndiaye had help picking the Scarlet Knights from their former teammate turned Rutgers transfer JoJo Lacey. When Ivey talked to Lacey, who had a career-best final season at Rutgers in points and rebounds, the former Scarlet Knight gave her “nothing bad” about the program. Lacey even asked Ivey, “Well, why not come to Rutgers?”
With a sign-off from a former teammate turned Rutgers player and a strong relationship already between Ivey and Ndiaye, the two gave their relationship one more season.
“She’s [Ndiaye] a great person, great person to be around, great personality on the court,” Ivey said at Rutgers media day, while laughing. “You guys are going to love her. Full of energy, rebounding queen, defensive queen, everything you could think of.”
Jan 11, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Boston College Eagles forward Nene Ndiaye (0) shoots over Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard KK Bransford (14) in the first half at the Purcell Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Rutgers brought in former teammates and players close to New Jersey, like Queens native Swann and graduate guard Faith Blackstone from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Then there are players from not so close to New Jersey, like forwards Ndiaye and Yacine N’Diaye, who both come from Senegal.
Although they are not related, there is a kinship between the two Senegalese bigs. Nene already entered with that bond to Ivey and former Rutgers guard Lacey, an important connecting considering the over 3,800 miles of distance between the forward and her home country. Yacine did not have that entering this season or for her past two seasons at UNC Greensboro. That intra-country relationship matters.
“It feels like home in so many ways,” N’Diaye said at Rutgers media day. “Having her [Nene Ndiayer] by me, it’s mean everything. So, basically, I’m not homesick like I used to be.”
On-court translation
At this point, it’s a lot of good feelings and relationship forming for Rutgers. Things will change on Nov. 3 when the Scarlet Knights open their season against the Wagner Seahawks, and the challenge will hit another level on Dec. 6 when their Big Ten play opens against the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Rutgers lost their top six scorers and top five rebounders from last season. The latter is especially difficult for the Scarlet Knights, who were fourth in the Big Ten in rebounds per game (39.2). Washington addressed it with four new players standing at least 6’1.
“We have a lot of people who can change light bulbs without a ladder,” Washington joked with reporters.
Janae Walker, in her second season at Rutgers and third overall, keeps in touch with former standout rebounders Destiny Adams and Chyna Cornwell. At 6’3, Walker has the height to compete with most of the bigs in the Big Ten but last year struggled with conditioning. Walker dropped 25 pounds in the offseason as a means to put her full attention on the game in front of her instead of worrying about her breathing as she ran down the court.
Walker also benefited from the foundation built by Adams and Cornwell off the court. The mentoring began before the two left. From the outside looking in, the word surrounding the Rutgers program is drama; however, it’s anything but, for the people inside of it.
“If I had an off day, there was a text message waiting for me after practice, just to keep my head up,” Walker said at Rutgers media day. “The biggest thing is they just encouraged me not to give up.”
This new-look Rutgers sounds like a team that embodies that “not giving up” attitude. It resembles both that resilience and a hefty dose of patience.
“When you bring in eight new players, that takes some time to figure out in this environment, different roles, how are you going to respond?” Washington said. “And so, we’re going to be patient to let that let that come together so that we get the best out of every single player on our team.”
The positive energy emitting from every player, an environment of renewal and strong connections fostered belief in this roster. A winning belief.
“It’s gonna be great,” Lester said to The IX Basketball. “I think we’re gonna do really well. I think we’re gonna surprise a lot of people.”
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