Rutgers very optimistic early press continues as Joe Lunardi puts the Scarlet Knights as one of his first four out. Very interesting. I would have assumed that the pundits and pollsters would consider Rutgers a "show me" team. Lots of optimism here, and a chance to surpass that. Let's see what Rice's boys can do.

Another day, another positive projection for Rutgers basketball. For those keeping track, here are the two rankings: BP: 1. UL 2. SU 3. Pitt 4. Marquette 5. ND 6. GT 7. RU 8. Cincy 9. Nova 10. SHU 11. USF 12. SJU 13. DePaul 14. UConn 15. Providence Pomeroy: 1. SU 2. UL 3. ND 4. Pitt 5. Cincy 6. Marquette 7. GT 8. UConn 9. RU 10. Nova 11. USF 12. Providence 13. SHU 14. SJU 15. DePaul

Rutgers fans will like this result: the BP statistical model has Rutgers finishing seventh in the Big East with a 10-8 record. 43rd nationally means a decent shot at the NCAA tournament given all of the autobids. Specifically, Rutgers should be a little better defensively, but make significant improvements on offense. Other rankings of note are that this model loves Pitt with Woodall healthy and adding Steven Adams, and (justly) hates UConn, who were given far too much credit in the BE preseason poll. It seems a little too low for Cincy, but I definitely agree with giving USF a lower ranking.