By all accounts, the younger brother is better. He is quicker. He is more of a classic point guard. And he can get his shot off faster without losing any accuracy.
So the changing of the Rutgers point guard this season from the departed Geoff Billet to his younger brother, Todd, seems like it would make the Scarlet Knights a better team, except for one thing: Todd is a freshman.
But third-year Rutgers coach Kevin Bannon will trust in Todd to try to bring the program to a place Geoff and fellow departee Rob Hodgson couldn’t quite reach last season: the NCAA Tournament.
It might not happen this season, but it appears it will soon. And, Rutgers fans, when it does, as a televangelist might say: Todd will show you the way.
Because, along with improved rebounding, the key for the Scarlet Knights to go from the NIT (which is where they lost in the second round last year) to the NCAAs is the 18-year-old, 6-foot-0 point guard.
“You look at the position I’m playing and I think that is a fair thing to say,” said Todd, whose brother is a 22-year-old assistant coach at Monmouth.
Todd chose Rutgers over schools like Virginia, Notre Dame and Villanova, because he’s seen what Bannon’s done. While only missing about 10 games in Geoff’s four years as a starter, Todd saw how Bannon has turned what once was an empty RAC to a place that attracted its highest average attendance (7,256 per) and an arena-record eight sellouts.
They came because the 42-year-old Bannon provided the school with its first winning season (19-13) since 1992. They would’ve made the NCAAs if they hadn’t lost five of their last six leading up to the tournament.
“There was a bad taste,” said Bannon, a Verona, N.J., native. “We sort of ran out of gas at the end. But, overall, it was the next step.”
Bannon wants to play up-tempo because his team is deep. With his youthful roster (eight of 12 scholarship players are freshman or sophomores), he plans on using nine or 10 players per game.
Three starters return from last season’s team. They are 6-5 sophomore Dahntay Jones (a Big East All-Rookie selection last year), 6-6 sophomore Rashod Kent (who has lost 20 pounds and will move from center to power forward) and the recently appointed captain, 6-5 Jeff Greer (who has been sidelined somewhat by an ankle injury, but is expected to be ready for the opener vs. Rider Saturday).
In the middle, 6-10 redshirt freshman Eugene Dabney will start. He is coming off a knee injury and will be looked upon to lead a center committee that will also include 6-11 senior Alvydas Tenys and 6-9 freshman Kareem Wright. The bench is led by energetic senior rebounder Joe Salvi (whose ‘fro is the best hair in college hoops).
There is no doubt the big guys must rebound, but if Rutgers is to take that next step – the NCAA Tournament – it will be because Todd Billet is all he is cracked up to be.
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