Beatty brings up-tempo style to new-look O

It is really hard to transition to an up-tempo offense without a point guard that can effectively run it.
The Rutgers men’s basketball team ran into that problem last year. Without a true pass-first, open-floor point guard — Anthony Farmer was better suited for the halfcourt set — the Scarlet Knights floundered between halfcourt ball screens and sloppy transition play that often led to turnovers.
Enter James Beatty.
“We want to push the ball and push the tempo,” the junior point guard said. “We want to play fast and that’s how I like to play. I like to play up-tempo style in the open court, being able to use all my abilities. I think it’s going to benefit my game a lot.”
To run the Knights to the style he really wants to — often referring to his vision as that of a North Carolina-style offense — RU head coach Fred Hill Jr. admittedly needed to first find a viable point guard.
Hill recruited the pieces to run the floor and excel in the open court over the previous two seasons. Now it was just a matter of finding the point guard that can run the offense.
“James brings the natural ability of a pass-first point guard, someone who really sees the floor and understands the game, a guy that really has a great feel for the game, really sees the floor,” the fifth-year head coach said. “[He’s] a little bit of a better shooter than I anticipated [and] he can knock down open shots. He’s good off the dribble and off ball screens, which is something we do a lot of. He makes everyone on the floor better.”
College Hoops Update ranked Beatty as the top point guard available after spending two years at Miami-Dade Junior College, which was ranked as high as third in the nation last season. The Wilmington, N.C. native was enticed by the opportunity to come to the Banks and compete for the starting spot right away.
“Certain schools already had established point guards at the top level, some even in this conference, but I saw an immediate opening at Rutgers because of the graduation of Anthony Farmer,” Beatty said. “So that kind of brought me along to Rutgers.”
Powerhouse programs — including Kentucky and a majority of the Big East schools — came calling and Beatty, who said he wanted to go to a Division I school right away had he been able to qualify academically, took until July to make his final decision.
The process was not easy, and that fellow junior and established guard Mike Coburn was on the roster only further complicated things. More of a scoring-style combo guard, Coburn was the heir apparent to Farmer’s position as the primary ball handler in the backcourt.
“I knew that nothing was going to be given to me and I would have to work for everything I got, so no, I didn’t expect to be the starting point guard right away,” Beatty said. “I knew I had to earn it. But I wouldn’t really say it’s like a competition because at the end of the day we’re playing for the same team. I would say it’s just making each other better.”
Perhaps the final missing piece to the Knights’ puzzle, Beatty joins a hungry group of players that is eager to take RU out of the conference cellar. His talkative style and on-court leadership fits well into a young team that is growing by the day.
“He’s in a similar situation to myself,” said junior forward Jonathan Mitchell, who is eligible this season after sitting out under NCAA transfer regulations. “We have two years left of eligibility and we want to win. His competitive fire fuels us every day in practice, and hopefully it can trickle over into the game.”
Beatty already has a date circled on the Knights’ calendar.
“Going back to North Carolina, my hometown, I’m definitely looking forward to that game and playing against those guys,” he said. “That’s where I grew up, watching ACC basketball. So that’s going to be a challenge for me.”
Before Beatty and the rest of the Scarlet Knights can look ahead, Nov. 14 remains the focus. RU’s season opener, at home against Marist, gives the team a glimpse of where it stands talent-wise and just how effective the newly-implemented up-tempo style can be.
“J.B. is a run-and-gun point guard,” Mitchell said. “He loves to make the extra pass. I think our team is going to excel in that situation.”

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