It was a big day for Rutgers basketball as Caleb McConnell was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
“He absolutely deserves it, I don’t even think it was close,” Baker said. “Just seeing him get the award was really special, everyone was so excited.”
Each of Rutgers’ other starters earned conference recognition as Harper Jr. was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team while Baker got Third Team. Paul Mulcahy, McConnell, and Cliff Omoruyi were Honorable Mentions too.
“I think it just shows how good of a team we are,” Baker continued. “We have a really good veteran group, one day it’s one guy’s day, and another day it’s another guy’s day and that’s the special thing about our team.”
As Rutgers heads into the Big Ten Tournament with the double-bye as the fourth seed, its highest seed ever, Baker is appreciative of how far the program has come since he first donned the scarlet and white.
“I think you have to earn your respect and with 12 wins and fourth place in the conference we definitely earned our respect,” he said. “I don’t think anyone looks at Rutgers the way they used to, I think the perception has definitely changed but again we had to earn that it wasn’t just given to us.”
However, Baker still views this team as having a chip on its shoulder and will go into the tournament with an underdog mentality.
“I think it just has to do with our past not just at Rutgers but before Rutgers,” he explained. “I think that’s just the identity we’ve had all our lives not just through college so I think that’s what we’re used to and comfortable with.”
And much like anything in his collegiate career, Baker feels they have a good shot at winning it.
“If you know me then you know I’m always confident that we can win it,” he said. “I’m always confident in myself and my team and this year’s no different, I feel like we have a good chance to win it.”
Despite having wins against teams in the upper half of the Big Ten, Rutgers has also suffered some head-scratching losses. However, Baker believes college basketball’s unpredictability is one of the things that makes the sport so unique.
“I think a lot of people on the outside don’t understand how hard it is to win in college basketball,” he said. “That’s why I think March Madness is so special because it’s just a one-game elimination and you have no idea what could happen.”
Baker also feels those early-season struggles helped shape them into the squad they are now.
“We took those losses and we learned from them, we could have easily laid down and said the season’s over because that’s what everybody else was saying” he continued. “We have a great coach who understands the ups and downs of basketball and great veterans who understand the same thing.”
While going into Indianapolis as the fourth seed comes with a lot of pressure, Baker feels not much has changed considering how crucial the end of the regular season was for his team.
“I don’t know if anything’s really changed because if you think about the last two games of the regular season it was kind of win or go home too,” he said. “But we want to win a Big Ten championship and we feel like we’re in a good position to do that.”
Although Rutgers currently appears to be in good standing when it comes to its March Madness chances, Baker knows he can only control what is placed in front of him, and right now that includes a shot at a conference championship.
“At the end of the day it’s up to the committee,” he said. “I think when you look at all the rewards that our guys got it would be hard to leave us out of the tournament. But right now our focus is on getting to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament and then to the championship.”
As somebody who has been a part of the program’s resurgence from the beginning, the moment where Baker thinks things started to feel different was following the team’s 82-75 loss to Purdue in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament in 2018.
“What I remember most is the Purdue game just because it was such a high-level game even though we lost the game,” he said. “I always had the belief that we were going to break through and be something special but I really think that Madison Square Garden kind of gave everybody else the belief.”
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