The goal is clear for Bryce Dortch as he enters his first season with Rutgers: winning a national championship.
“The goal is keeping the main thing the main thing and that is winning a championship and not letting the outside noise get to us,” Dortch said. “All of us want to win, I want to win a national championship.”
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With the likes of Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, among others, the hype is as high as it has ever been for Rutgers and Dortch believes that pressure will only make them better.
“There are expectations because we know how good we are, but pressure builds diamonds and we’ve all been here before and just want to win,” he said. “It affects but we don't look into that, we just look at our main goal which is winning national championships.”
Dortch was tasked with going one-on-one with Bailey in last Friday’s drills and, despite Bailey proving to be a lot to handle, he believes the challenge will improve his game as well.
“It's a challenge, but that's what I came here for,” Dortch said. “He's a great player and going to make some tough shots, but ultimately is getting me better too.”
Dortch committed to Rutgers back on June 13 with offers from UMass, Providence, Virginia Tech, Marquette, Texas A&M, and others.
“I'd say we all just clicked since the first day,” he said regarding his relationship with the team. “It's all been laughs and jokes, but we have a collective goal, we just want to win.”
He also discussed what it was like going from a wide-eyed recruit to an official Scarlet Knight.
“It's just great to work, I couldn’t wait to get to it,” he said. “When I saw all of it it was surreal, seeing it as a recruit was a lot different, and I was like ‘this is home and I can't wait.’”
Dortch explained how his time at Brimmer & May helped him prepare for the college game.
“I think if I came here straight out of high school I’d get pushed around a lot more,” he said. “The pace is a little bit faster but it’s fun though, I’m having a great time.”
He also described the lessons he has learned so far.
“Just learning the college terms like being in the gap and staying on your line,” Dortch said. “But always playing hard. The end of the possession never getting up and getting out of your stance was part of the main thing.”
When it comes to what Dortch provides the Scarlet Knights, he prides himself on being an asset on both sides of the ball.
“I've been watching a lot of Jared Vanderbilt, two-way guys like that offensively,” he said. “Just running in transition, using my speed in transition, and trying to develop my handle to be more of an on-ball type of guy.”
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