PISCATAWAY -- In the weeks after Rutgers fired basketball coach Eddie Jordan, speculation swirled about the team's best player transferring to another school.

But Corey Sanders, fresh off garnering an honorable mention on the All-Big Ten Team, said he never seriously considered a transfer despite the bond he formed with the head coach who recruited him.

"There was nothing to that,'' Sanders said following a recent offseason workout. "Rutgers is my team. I'm the point guard, and I have to be a leader. That's what I live for. Rutgers is where I wanted to be.''

Well, sort of. After all, Sanders did test the NBA waters, working out in Miami "for a couple of weeks,'' he said, "just to see how I was looking and to train with people who have been around NBA talent.''

Ultimately, Sanders withdrew his name for this summer's NBA Draft and returned to Rutgers, where he began forming a bond with new Scarlet Knights coach Steve Pikiell.

"The draft process was pretty good for me,'' Sanders said, "but I just wanted to come back and finish what we started.''

Testing the NBA waters, he said, proved to be a valuable experience.

"We worked on a lot of stuff,'' he said. "My trainer thought I was one of the best guards in the draft, with a lot of potential, but I want to be able to know when I leave here that I'm a solidified pick and that a team wants me. So I just felt that coming back, working with Coach Pikiell and the new staff is going to help me in the long run.''

Sanders has made a favorable impression on Pikiell, a former lead guard himself, who is well-regarded in basketball circles for his player development. In the four-plus months since taking over a program that won just one game in the Big Ten last winter, Pikiell has hired a top-flight assistant staff, overhauled the strength and conditioning program, and snagged five commitments on the recruiting trail (including four players set to contribute next season).

But he conceded his first order of business was getting the best player on his roster to buy in to everything he was implementing.

"Corey has come right on board,'' Pikiell told NJ Advance Media following a recent offseason workout. "He's in the gym now more, and he's learning now how to work and how to be a leader. This kid is 19 years old and still young in his basketball. But he's been blessed with some unbelievable DNA. He's got a lot of talent.''

A ballyhooed recruit from Lakeland, Fla., who was known for a series of YouTube videos that showed off his dunking skills and uncanny dribbling, Sanders lived up to the hype for the most part as a freshman last winter.

He was one of just two freshmen nationally to average 15.5-plus points, 4-plus assists and 1.7-plus steals per game (the other was LSU's Ben Simmons, who was picked by the Philadelphia 76ers with the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft).

But he also showed immaturity, getting benched on occasion by Jordan and drawing a two-week suspension for an unspecified violation of team rules.

Overall, he led Rutgers in scoring 12 times, posted 22 double-digit scoring games and averaged 15.9 points, 4.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals for a team that finished 7-25.

"Definitely not satisfied at all,'' Sanders said. "We didn't get off to a hot start last year so I wanted to come back and redeem myself with the fans, with my new coach and my teammates who just want to work.''

To that end, Sanders says he's dedicated himself to offseason training like never before in an effort to, he said, reach the "next level'' of his game.

"I'm just pushing myself and my teammates to get better,'' Sanders said. "Trying to improve my basketball IQ, my ball-handling, my shooting, and how I run the team. I want to improve and show those guys at the next level that I can play point guard in the NBA and run a team.

"Everything they want to see in a point guard, I want to show them. That's my goal right now, is to get in here and work and improve on everything.''

For Sanders, the time he has spent inside the weight room has been equally important. He admittedly got worn down late in the season due to the length of the season and the physical nature of the Big Ten.

Sanders, who says he is now tipping the scales at 182 pounds after ending last season at 175, has seen the impact that improved conditioning has on his game.

"I went home for a week (in June),'' Sanders said, "and my friends and family were like, 'it looks like you got bigger. It looks like you've been in the weight room.' ''

Smiling, Sanders added: "I wasn't hearing that last year.''

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.