BEHIND ENEMY LINES: Q&A with AlwaysADragon.com's Dan Crain
The Rutgers men's basketball program is sitting at 2-0 after two quick wins against Bryant and Niagara to open the season. After two days of rest, the team is set to be back in action on Wednesday night when the Drexel Dragons come to town.
To learn more about the Drexel Basketball program, TKR spoke with AlwaysADragon.com chief editor Dan Crain.
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It looks like Drexel lost their top three scorers from last season, how hard has it been to replace those guys and which players should Rutgers fans watch out for on the offensive end?
It’s never easy to replace three big scorers, especially with the mix of scorers that Drexel lost this offseason in Alihan Demir (14.8ppg), Troy Harper (15.8ppg) and Trevor John (11.9ppg). Now when it comes to replacing that production, it will be an all out team effort.
It is still pretty early into the season, so there are a couple of questions about the team still, especially when it comes to scoring and minutes. The one thing we do know is that senior Zach Walton has been stepping up lately. He recently dropped 22 points against Abilene Christian, 15 of which came in the second half + overtime. Along with Walton, Drexel also returns a couple other solid pieces. Those pieces include the reigning CAA rookie of the year, point guard Camren Wynter, and walking double double machine, James Butler. The team in total goes twelve deep, and has two notable freshman, sharpshooter Mate Okros, and 6’9” playmaker TJ Bickerstaff.
Judging by the numbers former Naval Academy forward James Butler has been the teams leading scorer so far, what can you tell us about his game?
I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong end of a bar fight with that guy. JB has hit the weight room hard this offseason. He could have scored at will against Niagara, just by virtue of being bigger and stronger than their bigs. Last year at Rutgers he was stymied by a very large Scarlet Knight front court, but this year with more muscle he should be able to better contend. When watching him play, he won’t overwhelm you with his athleticism, but he will hurt you with his size, positioning and smarts of the game.
What about the Drexel defense, what kind of defense do they usually run and how effective has it been so far this season?
Head Coach Zach Spiker likes to show man to man and stick to it as best as possible. He will change up the look in small doses depending on how the game is going. The Drexel backcourt hasn't shown any intense pressures yet this year, but when he has used it in the past, it has been effective.
Noticed that Drexel has one former New Jersey guy in RS-sophomore Tim Perry Jr out of Cherry Hill, how has he been progressing so far?
Unfortunately, Tim Perry has spent much of his time at Drexel banged up and it looks like he will miss the game at Rutgers. In the past he has proved that he could be a significant asset for the Dragons. However the Dragons New Jersey ties go beyond Perry. In recent history the Dragons also had former point guard Frantz Massenat out of Trenton Catholic (Now playing professionally in Spain) and Bashir Mason from St. Benedict’s High School (Now Head Coach at Wagner).
After losing to Rutgers by 29 points last year, is there any chance this years game would be any different?
There is every chance. In last year's game, Rutgers got past Drexel by shooting the lights out and using their dominant size in the interior. It was Scarlet Knights best shooting performance of the season. There is no reason to expect Rutgers to shoot over 50% from three again on Wednesday night and the interior guys that gave the Dragons fits, Shaq Doorson and Eugene Omoruyi are both gone.
On the flip side, Drexel’s top three scorers are gone. So there has been a ton of turnover from both sides. It is two brand new teams out there this year, with some familiar faces, more than a rematch.
To be clearer about it, last year the starting lineups measured out at:
Rutgers: 6-foot-4 / 6-foot-5 / 6-foot-7 / 6-foot-10 / 7-foot
Drexel: 5-foot-9 / 6-foot-1 / 6-foot-3 / 6-foot-9 / 6-foot-8
You can see where the height and length of Rutgers caused issues for Drexel. Now combine that with the Scarlet Knights hot shooting last year and the game was never in question. This year the go to five from each team look more like:
Rutgers: 6-foot-4 / 6-foot-4 / 6-foot-7 / 6-foot-7 / 6-foot-10
Drexel: 6-foot-2 / 5-foot-11 / 6-foot-6 / 6-foot-9 / 6-foot-8
With much more length this year, it doesn’t seem likely the things that Rutgers used to dictate the game last year, will be the Scarlet Knights path to victory this year.
Prediction on who wins and why?
Rutgers should be about a 16 point favorite or so and they are a major conference team going up against a mid major team that was picked eighth in their conference. The pick should be Rutgers and the pick is Rutgers. What Steve Pikiell is doing in Piscataway is very impressive, as evidenced by the amount of fresh talent playing for the tri-state area team this year. Couple that with the continued development of some great players like Geo Baker and Ron Harper, it is all very Impressive.
Drexel has some exciting freshman and solid veterans that should help them finish above their pre-season poll eighth place finish. The Dragons’ now have the size and athleticism to contend with higher conference opponents. The talent is there, but with a young team, Zach Spiker’s squad still feels a year behind Rutgers on the development curve.
