3/5/2022 basketball Edit

Ron Harper Jr. reflects on his career at Rutgers ahead of Senior Day

Richie O'Leary • TheKnightReport

Publisher

Although it’s technically still unknown if this Sunday’s game will be the last time Ron Harper Jr. dons a Rutgers Basketball jersey inside of Jersey Mike’s Arena, the program will treat it as such as they will honor him among a group of five players in a pregame Senior Day ceremony.

Luckily enough the media was able to catch up with Harper to preview the upcoming ceremony to talk about his four year experience with the Scarlet Knights program and talk about his top moments, future plans and more.

“It’s crazy really, it’s everything I really ever dreamed of,” Harper said on his experience at Rutgers. “When I first came on my unofficial visit and sat down with coach (Steve) Pikiell in his office, which was at the RAC at the time, he brought me through what he thinks I could be here and what the team could look like in a few years and then I saw it all happen before my very eyes. I’m just happy to be a part of it. I’ve seen this program make strides in the right direction and I’ve always said the biggest thing I want when I leave is that I want kids from New Jersey to think it’s cool to go to Rutgers again and I think I’m doing just that.”

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The Franklin Lakes, New Jersey native went on to talk a little more in detail about getting more New Jersey kids to play for Rutgers.

“Ever since I got here we got more Jersey kids like Cliff (Omoruyi), Paul (Mulcahy) and they are great players off to great careers,” said Harper. “We have a lot of talent in New Jersey so I just want to see our kids stay home and make Rutgers a serious choice when they end up committing. Being from New Jersey I take a lot of pride in that and I try to be like a pioneer so to say.”

Despite being listed as a four-star recruit coming out of high school, Harper was a bit underrated early on as he only earned a few offers before making some big leaps his junior to senior year.

“Being underrecruited is definitely hard,” Harper said. “I felt I was on the same status or skill level as all of those top players in the country. I felt like when I had that chance I would show those guys what I could do and I never ended up getting all the offers or stars until very late in my career, but none of that ever mattered to me. In high school I was underrecruited, my whole Bosco team was underrecruited, but we did a lot of winning together. I came here with a new set of underrecruited guys and we did a lot of winning here too.”

When Harper originally came to the banks, the Scarlet Knights were coming off a 15-19 (3-15) season, where the program finished dead last in the Big Ten Conference. However in his first season they saw a four spot jump as they finished 10th in the conference and it only went up from there.

“Coach (Steve) Pikiell said it best, now in February and March everyone is talking about us,” he said. “My freshman year I couldn’t pay you guys to write something about us. We are going to be talking about the recruiting class next season and who the non conference opponents are for next year. Just to see that people are still interested in Rutgers Basketball come March and we are fighting for a top four seed in the Big Ten Tournament and a bid in the NCAA Tournament, it all just shows how much work we put in as a program.”

This past offseason Harper Jr. decided to declare his name for the 2021 NBA Draft, but did not sign with an agent which meant he could return to the program should he decide to.

So he received his scouting reports from various NBA front office members and made the decision to return for one more season and he’s very happy with that decision.

“One-hundred percent,” Harper Jr. said., “I’m very content with my decision to come back. Above all, me coming back was never about me personally or the stats, accolades, or any of that. It was about me coming back to be a part of a special team. I would say these guys are a special group of guys and just being around them in the summer during the process and I just wanted to be around them for one more year and that’s what ultimately made me come back. I love these guys and what we’ve done together is incredible, we had great triumphs this year, ups and downs and it’s just been a crazy season, the craziest since I’ve been here for sure. This season is everything I thought it could be and I’m glad I made that decision to come back.”

Now what’s next for Harper? Because of the 2020-21 season not counting towards eligibility (COVID year), Harper technically can return to the banks for one more run for the 2022-23 season. However that decision still hasn’t been made.

“I don’t really know, I only have a couple more with these guys and that’s more important to me compared to what I’m going to be doing in the future,” Harper stated. “So I’m going about it like it is the last one because it is the last one I’m going to have with this group. Who knows what the future holds, I’m just looking forward to finishing strong with these guys who sacrificed so much to be here. We’ve kind of all seen this program grow in a lot of ways, so I’m taking it day by day and taking it all in.”