3/19/2023 basketball Edit

Final Three Thoughts on Rutgers Basketball's 2022-23 season

Craig Epstein • TheKnightReport

Staff Writer

It was a tough end of the season for Rutgers Basketball as it fell to Hofstra 88-86 in OT in the first round of the NIT. The Scarlet Knights also missed out on a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament which would have been a first in program history.

Here are three thoughts on the 2022-23 season....

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A HISTORIC COLLAPSE

Following Rutgers' 61-55 victory over Michigan St., the Scarlet Knights seemed to not only be waltzing their way into the big dance, but making a run at a Big Ten title too. However, that game also saw the loss of Mawot Mag due to a torn ACL and, from that point forward, Rutgers could never recover.

"We had some unbelievable highs and some tough games," Pikiell said after the loss to Hofstra. "We lost Mawot and these guys know what kind of soldier Mawot is and we lost him in the middle of a run at the end with no practice time. So we had to kind of figure out our team again at that point in time and had to figure it out when we were playing our toughest stretch of basketball."

Not only did the Scarlet Knights finish the season 3-8 without Mag, but they looked like a completely different team as well. Whether it was a lack of offense, taking a step back on defense, or whatever metric one wants to look at, one thing that cannot be disputed is the fact that Rutgers' collapse can be traced back to when Mag went down at Madison Square Garden.

WHAT IF?

Perhaps the toughest part about this season for the Scarlet Knights is the fact it can be marred with a ton of "what ifs?"

What if they had never lost Mag? What if they did not blow a 10-point lead to Minnesota in the final minute? What if, in spite of everything, the selection committee decided to put them in?

"Our goal every year is to go to the NCAA Tournament," Pikiell said following his team being left out of the tournament. "It felt like we certainly did enough, it's a tough job the selection committee has and unfortunately they felt like it wasn't good enough."

However, in sports (much like in life) if one starts playing the what-if game they will drive themselves mad with all of the possibilities it can create. At some point, the word "what if" needs to become "what is" otherwise the journey forward will only get that much harder.

A NEW SET OF EXPECTATIONS

With everything that happened in such a rollercoaster of a season, it is worth remembering that there was a time not that long ago when a first-round exit in the NIT would have been met with thunderous applause. Now, not only does Rutgers go into each year with March Madness aspirations on its mind, but anything less is viewed as a disappointment.

"I'm blessed to have this job and blessed that they took a chance on Rutgers," Pikiell said. "I wasn't selling what we're selling right now when I went to visit with these guys. We had not had a winning season in a long time, we were 3-33 in the Big Ten, and these guys believed in us."

Thanks to the likes of Geo Baker, Ron Harper Jr., Myles Johnson, Caleb McConnell, and Paul Mulcahy, the mindset of the Scarlet Knights and their fans have been shifted. Now, the table has been set and the future can be written by other generations who will look to take the program to even greater heights.