Rutgers MBB OOC schedule is soft, so what?

Day	Date	Opponent	Site	Time	TV
Friday	Nov. 10	CCNY	RAC	TBA	TBA
Sunday	Nov. 12	Central Connecticut State	RAC	TBA	TBA
Tuesday	Nov. 14	Cleveland State	RAC	TBA	TBA
Sunday	Nov. 19	Coppin State	RAC	TBA	TBA
Tuesday	Nov. 21	Bryant	RAC	TBA	TBA
Friday	Nov. 24	East Carolina	RAC	TBA	TBA
Tuesday	Nov. 28	Florida State (Big Ten/ACC)	RAC	TBA	TBA
Thursday	Dec. 7	NJIT	RAC	TBA	TBA
Saturday	Dec. 9	Fairleigh Dickinson	RAC	TBA	TBA
Tuesday	Dec. 12	Fordham	RAC	TBA	TBA
Saturday	Dec. 16	Seton Hall (GS Hardwood Classic)	RAC	TBA	TBA
Friday	Dec. 22	Stony Brook	RAC	TBA	TBA
Thursday	Dec. 28	Hartford	RAC	TBA	TBA

The schedule is soft...

The Rutgers MBB OOC slate won't help give the media or fans any indication of how they'll fare during B1G play, but it will help a team still trying to find an identity and learning how to maximize each others abilities continue to grow.

13 home games, 1 against a non-division 1 opponent, most against teams who finished the 2016-17 campaign either close to or in the bottom third of the KenPom rankings. It's not pretty, it's not exciting, but it's exactly what a team and a staff still very early in the process of a difficult rebuild needs.

My initial reaction was most likely the same as yours...OOF.

The opponents may give us more insight into the current state of the program than the actual games themselves. While the staff is working hard with its current players, and doing everything they can to bring in more talent, they know they're not close to where they want and expect to be in the future.

You don't test yourself before you're ready, you'll fail every time. The schedule is set up to protect the program, but more importantly to protect the players. Early season OOC blowouts to other high major programs brings negativity that would work to destroy the foundation that's been built to this point.

Coaches need their players to buy in, every rep in practice matters, they need their kids to believe that what they're being taught leads to success. Losses take their toll, blowouts are crippling.

You schedule to put your team in the best possible position to succeed at a high major, you don't need the money from buy games. It's only year two under the new coaching regime and Rutgers just let us know there's a ton of work left to be done to get the program competing at a high level in the B1G.