The new NET Rankings are pretty brutal for N.J.’s Division 1 teams

The first edition of the NET Rankings came out on Monday — and they were pretty brutal for New Jersey’s Division 1 teams.
Rutgers ranks 86th, Princeton 137th, Saint Peter’s 184th and Seton Hall 200th.
Monmouth is at 297, FDU 338 and NJIT 353 out of 364 teams.
Columbia (8-0), which owns the longest active winning streak in the country, is ranked at 76 — ahead of every team in the Garden State.
The NET replaced the RPI prior to the 2018-19 season as the primary sorting tool for evaluating teams for the NCAA Tournament.
At this point, only Rutgers (5-3), which features projected top-3 NBA Draft picks Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, appears to have a shot at the Big Dance thanks to playing in the loaded Big Ten Conference.
“Rutgers didn’t add any quality wins in non-conference play, but proved that they won’t be an easy out and still have a relatively high ceiling with their dynamic freshmen,” New Jersey-based bracketologist Brad Wachtel told NJ Advance Media.
“Plenty of resume-building opportunities exist in the Big Ten, so I’m not overly concerned about the lack of quality wins so far. Overall, it’s an encouraging sign that 12 of 18 Big Ten teams are currently in the top 50 of the NET.”
After going 1-2 at the Players Festival in Las Vegas, Steve Pikiell’s group will open Big Ten play Saturday at Ohio State, ranked 12th in the NET.
“You have to have a journey,” Pikiell said following his team’s loss to Texas A&M on Saturday. “We have a whole new starting five. This isn’t like we’re bringing back seven veterans who played a lot of minutes. We’re depending on our freshmen to do a lot of things for us. … When we play well, we can play with anybody. You go on the road, it’s a whole different ballgame. You’ve got to play well. …
“You’ve got to go through the journey. [The] journey makes you hardened and makes you tougher. You learn some things about yourself. You try to go back and devour some film, get guys kind of focused on the next obstacle, which isn’t going to get any easier.”
As for Seton Hall (4-4), the struggling Pirates already have three losses to mid-major opponents — Fordham, Hofstra and previously winless Monmouth — and are playing in a Big East Conference that appears down at the moment and has just one team (Marquette) in the Top 30 of the NET. The Hall is already 2-2 against Quad-4 opponents.
The good news is that because the conference is down, Seton Hall should be able to pick up some wins in league play thanks to its gritty defense — even as its offense continues to be among the worst in the nation.
The bad news is that Marquette (No. 6) is the only team currently in the Top 30 of the NET. Two-time defending champion UConn is next at 38, followed by St. John’s at 42 and Butler at 45.
“It’s definitely going to be tough sledding for Seton Hall,” Wachtel said. “And that might be an understatement. Not only did they falter in non-conference play, but the Big East in general didn’t pick up many quality wins. As a result, limited opportunities exist (Marquette, UConn, St Johns, Butler being the best). The Pirates are the only high-major team to suffer two Q4 losses already.”
The Hall plays host to former Pirate big man and assistant coach Grant Billmeier and NJIT (1-7) on Wednesday and the status of fifth-year guard Dylan Addae-Wusu (flu) is still day-to-day. After the NJIT game, the Pirates on Sunday host Oklahoma State (4-2), ranked No. 123 in the NET.
Princeton (6-3) has a Quad-2 opportunity against St. Joe’s (5-2, No. 133 NET) Tuesday night and also faces Rutgers Dec. 21 at the Prudential Center.
But they will have to win the Ivy League Tournament to make the Big Dance.
“Princeton was a player in the at-large conversation for a while last season, but that won’t be the case this season as the opportunities just aren’t there for them,” Wachtel said.
Brian Fonseca contributed reporting.
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.