JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Rutgers coach Eddie Jordan received some good news relating to Kerwin Okoro last Friday.
And now he’s hoping for more good news about J.J. Moore and Junior Etou later this week.
“Hopefully the end of the week but who knows?” Jordan told SNY.tv Monday afternoon at St. Anthony High School where he was recruiting.
“Obviously, J.J. is eligible, it’s just his waiver. And Junior is a qualifier, it’s just about his experiences over in Africa. And that’s it.”
Moore, a 6-6 Pitt transfer, is hoping to play immediately this year, just like Okoro, who was cleared Friday when the NCAA reversed course after initially declaring him ineligible this year upon his transfer from Iowa State.
Etou is a 6-7 Bishop O’Connell (Va.) big man who is facing questions about his amateurism status.
Rutgers is currently at 12 scholarship players with the addition of the 6-5 Okoro, who Jordan believes can help out in the backcourt and as a wing defender.
He is basically the fourth guard behind Myles Mack, Jerome Seagears and D’Von Campbell.
“Kerwin is the next guy with guard skills that we’re trying to develop more of,” Jordan said. “He’s a natural small forward so he’s going to help us defending bigger guards. That’s going to one of the major roles of his.”
Jordan said he’s given Mack and Seagears, now juniors, the “green light” if they have an open shot.
“You get a shot, you take the shot,” he said. “We’re not running plays. We just want you to play basketball in this concept. And I told them, ‘Look, max out your 3-point attempts. If you’re behind the line and you’ve got space, let it go.’ So we’ll see what that turns into.”
As for the frontcourt, Jordan likes the development of 6-9 redshirt sophomore Greg Lewis.
“Greg Lewis is coming along pretty well,” Jordan said. “He’s been hurt for two years. His progress is pretty remarkable. So we have Wally [Judge] and Greg at center. Kadeem [Jack] could play some third center for us.
“If [Jack’s] motor is running 100 percent he plays above everybody else. He really does. We just got to get his motor at 80 percent at least. He understands that.”
Rutgers has three commits for 2014 in guards Mike Williams and Bishop Daniels and forward D.J. Foreman. Williams and Daniels were on campus this past weekend for their official visits.
The Scarlet Knights will spend this year in the American Athletic Conference before heading to the Big Ten in 2014.
Like Louisville, Rutgers will spend only one year in the American.
“We don’t want to disrespect anybody in our conference so we’ll address the Big Ten when we get there,” Jordan said.
