If Cliff Omoruyi returns for one more year with Rutgers basketball, then the expectation is that the Scarlet Knights become a contender for the Big Ten championship as well as a run in the NCAA Tournament.
That’s the projection from Rapheal Davis, the Big Ten Network analyst who believes that there is a convincing argument to be made for Omoruyi to return to Rutgers. An All-Big Ten selection, Omoruyi averaged 10.4 points per game this season.
He also averaged 8.3 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game.
Following last week’s regular-season finale, a loss to Ohio State at Jersey Mike’s Arena, Omoruyi sounded like he was going to leave Rutgers. Davis, a former standout at Purdue and now an analyst with the Big Ten Network, believes that Omoruyi should return for a final season at Rutgers.
“In today’s world, it’s never goodbye,” Davis told Rutgers Wire last week.
“I think obviously the world we live in, anything can happen. I don’t know Cliff. I don’t know. his family situation.. I don’t know much about him. But I know what I’d be thinking (that) if I had a chance to come back and play with NIL and I can play with two guys that are coming in and have a real chance to win the Big Ten championship and then go for a run to the Final Four – I think I would come back.”
Davis is referring to Omoruyi partnering with incoming freshmen Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, both five star players.
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Already, three Rutgers players have entered the transfer portal, with guard Derek Simpson the most noticeable player set to leave the program. Were Omoruyi to return and not leave for the NBA or enter the transfer portal, Davis thinks Rutgers could be special.
Omoruyi was an All-Big Ten honorable mention.
“So I think the Cliff next season with a guy like Ace Bailey and a guy like Dylan Harper…I think he just goes back to being just a really, really good defender, an NBA-level defender,” Davis said.
“And then he becomes just a lot better on offense He won’t be asked to do as much because they have guys around him that can create for him. I think Cliff is one of those guys who is an NBA player when he has NBA players around him. I think next season he’ll have a couple around him.”