Looking ahead: There’s nowhere to go but up for Rutgers

9:01 PM ET

It’s never too early to look at what’s to come. During the next few weeks, we will give you a peek at what’s ahead for teams in the Power 5 conferences and some other teams that are expected to be players on the national scene. Next up: Rutgers.

For those keeping score – and really, at this point, who isn’t? — he is Coach No. 5 in the past 15 years, following, in order, the coach who made players strip for missed free throws; the coach who was snowed out of one of his own games; the coach who was fired for losing his cool at a baseball game; the coach who was fired for losing his cool in general; and the coach who lied about his college diploma.

So if Steve Pikiell can make Rutgers anything but a slap to the forehead, he will have achieved wildly, because, let’s face it, making fun of the Scarlet Knights has been easier than shooting fish in a barrel. The program has been a how-to in dysfunction, its ability to embarrass itself only slightly outdone by its skill at finishing dead-dog last in the standings.

Steve Pikiell will try to improve a Rutgers team that went 1-17 in the Big Ten last season. AP Photo/Tim Roske

Which begs the question: Is Pikiell crazy? Nine days after leading Stony Brook to its first NCAA tournament, the coach agreed to become the boss at Rutgers. Presumably it was …

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