Rutgers wasn't predicted to do much in 2007-08, and in that sense the team met expectations. It took a victory over Seton Hall in the regular-season finale just to get the squad out of sole possession of last place, as the team ended up tied with South Florida for 15th.

Coach Fred Hill realized when he took over the program two years ago that the Scarlet Knights were far from being a college basketball juggernaut. The school realized that Hill made his reputation as a recruiter, and hoped that he would bring in the talent the team needs to compete in the Big East.

Recruiting has been solid, so Hill's fulfilled that end of the bargain. He's gotten quality players to come to the school over the past two seasons. But that hasn't resulted in wins, and the upperclassmen have had a difficult time adjusting to the Hill era, and he to them.

The junior class had an especially rough time of it in 2007-08. JR Inman lost his starting job during midseason before getting it back for the stretch run, as did Anthony Farmer. Jaron Griffin lost playing time to freshman Earl Pettis, and Courtney Nelson was academically ineligible for the second semester.

Hill's big challenge as he prepares for the 2008-09 season will be managing both the youngsters and the veterans. A weakness of the 2007-08 season was that, depending on the individual perspective, either the upperclassmen never bought into Hill's system this season or Hill never gave them a chance and cast his lot with the newcomers at their expense. He'll need to get every bit of talent out of every player he has if he wants to improve next year, but without improved communications it could be another long and frustrating year for both players and fans.

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