‘Making Rutgers cool’: How 2 future top-5 choices are attempting

• Jeff Borzello, ESPN

  • Personnel WriterNov 26, 2024, 08:30 AM ET Close Basketball recruiting expert. Joined ESPN in 2014.
  • Graduate of University of Delaware.PISCATAWAY, N.J.– On

display in Steve Pikiell’s office on the 4th floor of Rutgers ‘Athletic Performance Center are three basketball-sized glass display cases.The bottom one, on the wall behind where the Rutgers men’s basketball coach sits, is labeled” NCAA Competition.” There’s a ball inside honoring Rutgers’win over Clemson in the 2021 competition, the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 1991 and their very first win because 1983. The other two cases are empty. One is significant”Last Four”; the other,”Championship game.” Editor’s Picks 2Related Pikiell had them constructed when he took control of the program in

2016, when the Scarlet

Knights hadn’t

had a winning season in more than a years and hadn’t completed above.500 in conference play in 25 years. Ever since, Pikiell has actually directed Rutgers to a pair of NCAA competition looks and its first top-25 ranking in more than 40 years. However as those unoccupied cases show, he has loftier goals still unsatisfied.”We’re getting dusty,” Pikiell informed ESPN in late November. “We require to fill a couple more.”Which brings us to this season.

The Scarlet Knights earned a preseason top-25 ranking for simply the second time because 1979, thanks to the addition of Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, 2 of the top 3 employees in the 2024 high school class and projected top-five picks in next summer season’s NBA draft.It’s unusual for the central New Jersey school to have one player as embellished as Bailey or Harper, let alone 2. Now the trick will be measuring up to that potential. Rutgers won its very first 4 games

versus mid-major challengers but fell out of the AP Top 25 with a loss to Kennesaw State. Now, it deals with the most difficult stretch of its schedule: the Players Age Festival– consisting of games versus Notre Dame and Alabama– and a trip to Ohio State in just the next 12 days. It will go a long method towards figuring out whether the group Pikiell has built around his two stars has a possibility to fill those glass cases. “Dylan and Ace can do things that typical people don’t do,”he stated. “Then we have guys around them that can do some things. So if we can put all of it together, we’re pretty exciting, I believe. “THE VERY FIRST TIME Bailey and Harper teamed up was April 2023, on a Professional athletes of Tomorrow grassroots group at the Tip-Off Classic in Atlanta.Bailey had actually spent three years using the spring and summertime AOT group and had simply dedicated to Rutgers 3 months before, becoming the highest-ranked recruit in program history.Harper, meanwhile, had not devoted to a school yet, though Rutgers was high up on his list of possible locations: His older sibling, Ron Harper Jr., was a two-time All-Big Ten choice and one of the winningest players in the past 40 years of Rutgers basketball. Bailey and Harper had actually collaborated a little in USA Basketball, however Bailey saw a chance to reveal Harper what it would imply for them to pair up at AOT. He told program director Damon Wilson, who had actually understood people in Harper’s circle for many years, that he wished to welcome Harper to fly down for a weekend.And the two elite hires right away clicked.”That s– was fun,” Bailey stated.”The entire health club was simply eyes on us, too. Knowing the whole fitness center was coming in to see us, just to place on a program, doing what we do best, and after that we’re playing together. It’s simply enjoyable.”” He told me from the first day, he stated the ball is in your hands. Like, I’m going to rely on you,”Harper added.” So that really hit me since, the trust he has in me, I understand that I got just as

much in him.” While a groin concern obstructed Harper later in the weekend, onlookers saw more than enough from the 2 stars to suggest the capacity for a high-level duo in the future. “When Ace committed, it resembled, dang, he’s coming here,”said Harper( left)

.”He’s from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and he believes in the program. Why should not I?” Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images” All of us saw it was natural,”Wilson stated.

“There was no selfishness, there was no,’ I want to try to outdo you, I’m going to show you.’They were passing the ball to one another. They were pushing each other. Encouraging each other, it was like they were playing together permanently. The chemistry was there. They had the makings of an unique duo.”Wilson included that the off-court relationship in between Bailey and Harper likewise developed throughout that weekend in Atlanta.”It was more so the bonding that occurred beyond the games,”he stated.”Hanging out, going to supper, listening to

music, talking. Investing a whole weekend together, that’s where they grew. I feel like at that point, that’s when Dylan relied on Ace. And with the bond these two had, they ended up relying on each other. “From that point on, Bailey played a crucial role in recruiting Harper to Rutgers. Bailey wasn’t calling Harper everyday with a sales pitch, but the 2 players continued to build a relationship.”I spoke to Dylan, however we didn’t discuss basketball all the

time, “Bailey said.” Monitoring on his psychological, examining his family. … I know everybody else remains in his ear about where you going, what you doing and all that. So I wasn’t trying to be among those pests.”For Harper, the greatest eye-opener was a lot more simple: a top-five hire from no place near New Jersey dedicating to Rutgers. For context, before Bailey and Harper committed, Rutgers had actually signed just 6 total top-100 potential customers because ESPN’s recruiting database began in 2007- with just one

player ranked inside the top 50, in-state guard Mike Rosario in 2008.”We have a lot of excellent players here, but when Ace devoted, it resembled, dang, he’s coming here,”Harper said.”He’s from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and he believes in the program. Why should not I– a kid that’s been around the program for about all my life, my bro was here and just I know all the ins and outs, I understand all the terrific individuals that are here. … So why not come here and do what he did?” EVERYBODY AROUND THE Rutgers program discuss Bailey’s infectious energy, and it’s on complete display screen as he bounces into practice the day before Rutgers is set to host Merrimack, shaking hands with everyone on the coaching staff and singing Kurtis Blow’s 1984 traditional, “Basketball. “”… I like the pick-and-roll, I like the give-and-go …”While Harper isn’t as spirited as Bailey, he’s not far behind his classmate as what Pikiell calls an “energy provider.”The two freshman stars are aggressive in a 2-on-1 drill. They’re engaged while running the Scarlet Knights ‘zone offense. They complete initially and second in a post-drill

full-court sprint.They might be projected to be the 2nd and 3rd picks in ESPN’s mock draft, but there’s a clear motivation to leave a tradition at Rutgers before they go pro.” Me and Ace and the rest of the team, we can do something very big that people have not seen in New Jersey in a long time,” Harper stated. “We can make this a school [where]

people, not simply from Jersey but out of Jersey, wish to come here and do what we did … changing the culture and just making Rutgers cool, I guess. Why can’t another recruit come and do the very same thing we’re doing?”Part of that procedure was Pikiell putting the pieces around his 2 stars to take advantage of their 10 months with the Scarlet Knights.Only 3 players returned from last season– led by leading scorer Jeremiah Williams and Jamichael Davis, Bailey’s high school colleague– however Pikiell landed four veterans from the transfer website, including NEC Player of the Year Jordan Derkack from Merrimack.Having two headliners at the top of the roster can be a present and curse when it pertains to recruiting out of the portal. Some players will naturally be concerned about readily available shots and minutes.

Sometimes there are character problems or ego clashes with players who had so much hype at the high school level.But Pikiell utilized Bailey and Harper at the top of his sales pitch last spring: Come play with 2 top-five choices. Come practice and play in front of NBA scouts and executives on a daily basis.For Williams, who is entering his fifth year of college basketball and has been around 3 various programs, it didn’t take long to recognize the skill upgrade in Piscataway.”For Ace, the very first days we began playing, I got some of those ‘Oh s–‘minutes pretty typically from him,”Williams said.” And that was our very first time being around him, very first time seeing how he plays, just the plays he was able to produce. And for Dylan, when he came back, something that stood out to me was his maturity. He has a great presence about himself. … I learned a lot from them. They bring energy to me and they keep that youth and help impart it in me.” In 2023, Pikiell’s

Scarlet Knights earned their first NCAA competition win considering that 1983. Now he has actually set his sights even higher. Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images THROUGH FIVE games of the young season, Rutgers ‘ceiling is still something of a mystery. There have actually been positives: Four wins to begin the season over mid-major opponents, each by double digits.” The out-of-bounds plays work better now,”Pikiell joked before recently’s game against Merrimack.Harper is balancing 19.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists. Bailey, after missing the very first two games of

the season due to the fact that of an injury, had 17 points in his launching and then went for 23 points and 10 rebounds versus Merrimack– consisting of a shot that only a choose couple of

18-year-olds worldwide can make.”He is various,”Merrimack coach Joe Gallo said of Bailey.”There are some shots that he made that you might refrain from doing anything about. He is as excellent of a player as

I have actually ever coached against. “However after leaving the boundaries of Jersey Mike’s Arena– the RAC, as it will be forever known by hoops diehards– and its 68 consecutive sold-out home games, Rutgers and its freshman phenoms received a hard introduction to the unpredictability of college basketball.The Scarlet Knights went to Kennesaw State, a game arranged as a homecoming for Bailey, and lost 79-77. They trailed by as many as 21 points in the second half, then simply two on the last ownership. Bailey brought it up the left side of the flooring, however rather of driving to the basket or looking for his own shot, he picked up his dribble and tried a cross-court pass to a teammate that was intercepted by Kennesaw. “Ace is a good player, and you got to live through these opportunities and live through a few of these experiences,”Pikiell said after the loss.”I have a lot of faith in him. … He is a great player, and so are the remainder of the guys on my team,

and we will recuperate.”Now, not just do the Scarlet Knights require to rebound from Sunday’s loss, they need to do it while also adjusting to a huge action up in competitors. The Players Age Celebration in Las Vegas starts today, with Rutgers facing Notre Dame on Tuesday, Alabama on Wednesday and a to-be-determined challenger Saturday. And then there’s a road trip to Ohio State to start Huge Ten play next weekend.”You got to leave the mat. This is a huge boy league and we’re playing Notre Dame and Alabama and whoever else, so we do not have a great deal of time to sympathize with ourselves, “Pikiell said. “We got to figure it out.” Does the Kennesaw State loss spiral into a longer losing streak and alter the narrative surrounding the team? Or do the Scarlet Knights reveal willpower and that they can take on the best teams in Vegas?It’s a stretch that some Rutgers players have actually circled around on their calendars, a chance to make a statement on a nationwide stage. If the Scarlet Knights are to come out the other side with the expectations they had this preseason, much of it will boil down to their 2 leading scorers, their 2 future lottery picks and possibly

their two most interesting characters, Bailey and Harper.”We’re blessed to have them here for a year, “Pikiell stated.”And we smile a lot more.”