With the recent announcements of the 2019 NBA awards, here at The Knight Report, we decided to have some fun and make up our own award predictions for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights men’s basketball team’s upcoming 2019-20 season.
The list of awards includes Most Valuable Player, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Teammate of the Year.
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER -- JACOB YOUNG
We've been saying it on the message board since even before TKR took over the site, Young has the potential to be a VERY special player at Rutgers. The sit out year was extremely beneficial for Young to work on his shooting, decision making, adding muscle and more. Even before all that, Young has shown his scoring potential back during his Texas days.
Honorable mention: Geo Baker
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER -- SHAQ CARTER
Last year, it was pretty obvious that Caleb McConnell deserved this award after some really nice games during conference play. This year, we predicting that Shaq Carter will be the team's most improved player. The loss of Eugene Omoruyi and with Mamadou Doucoure coming off a pretty serious back injury, Carter will see an increase in minutes this year. This offseason, we've seen highlight tapes of a more athletic Shaq Carter so far, and not to mention, it looks like he has learned a couple post moves too. Expect a big year from Carter.
SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR -- MONTEZ MATHIS
Coach Steve Pikiell can go a billion ways with the starting lineups and rotations with this roster, especially because of the number of the guards. Picking the top sixth man, or bench player, was tough. I don't know how Pikiell with formulate the starting five -- and it could change throughout the year -- but for this piece, we decided to go with Mathis. He possesses a unique ability to get to the rim and score at will. Last season alone he managed to have double digit scoring in 13 out of 31 games and that number should only jump higher this season.
The added floor spacing with the new 3-point line distance should allow Mathis to be able to drive more to the hoop.
Honorable mention: Shaq Carter
DEFENDER OF THE YEAR -- MYLES JOHNSON
Last season Johnson split minutes right down the middle with Shaq Doorson at the center position. This year he should see a large increase in minutes, which should only help my case for him being named the Scarlet Knights defensive player of the year.
Last year, Johnson had seven double digit scoring games and likely would've had even more, if it wasn't for foul troubles. Don't forget Johnson was only a redshirt freshman last year, so he still has plenty of time to develop. If he does end up developing as we here at TKR expect him too, his 0.7 blocks per game could go up quite a bit.
Honorable mention: Montez Mathis
TEAMMATE OF THE YEAR -- GEO BAKER
This season will be a very interesting one for Baker, he will likely like move to the two guard thus making him play off ball more. This in turn could help his shooting percentages on the year and make him even more of a deep threat than he was last year. Some might ask what does this have to do with being TOTY? Well Baker has shown time and time again, he is willing to do whatever it takes to win, whether that is dishing it off more, taking less shot, playing less minutes or even moving positions. Not too mention he has that captain like attitude and helps make others on the team better just by being there.
Honorable mention: Ron Harper Jr.
