Rutgers is going dancing, well, sort of.
The Rutgers men's basketball team has been selected to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 29 years since the 1990-1991 season, at least according to College Basketball insider Jon Rothstein on his Youtube show "Stuffed with Jon Rothstein".
On Tuesday afternoon, Rothstein revealed his 2020 NCAA men's basketball bracket to help honor all the hard work some of these teams have put in.
In the bracket, Rothstein had Rutgers awarded with a No. 10 seed playing seventh-seeded Colorado in the Midwest Region in the first round of the tournament. That game would have been in Greensboro, N.C. The winner of the game would have taken on the winner of second-seeded Duke and 15th-seeded North Dakota State.
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The Regional final would have been in Indianapolis, ironically the sight of the Big Ten.
It was a spectacular year for the Scarlet Knights, who went 20-11 (11-9 within the Big Ten) during the regular season including a crazy 18-1 at the RAC in Piscataway that featured 10 sellouts including nine in a row to close out the home slate.
Fourth-year head coach Steve Pikiell's squad finished in a tie for fifth in the standings and earned the No. 8 seed in the Big Ten Tournament after being predicted to finish in 12th in the preseason polls.
Rutgers recorded 20 wins during the regular season for the first time in 37 years since the 1982-83 campaign. Rutgers reached the 20-win mark overall since 2003-04 and had the most conference victories in 29 years when it reached the NCAA Tournament. Of their 18 home wins, the most in program history and in the country this season, the Scarlet Knights defeated four ranked teams, all by double digits.
They also notched their first winning season since 2005-06 and were ranked for the first time earlier this year in 41 years since the final Associated Press Poll in 1978-79 (No. 18). Rutgers was No. 24/No. 25 and No. 25/25 in the Jan. 20 and Jan. 27 polls, respectively. It was ranked or receiving votes for seven weeks this season.
As Rothstein says, "Steve Pikiell. Pounding Nails."
Following the cancellation of the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament, Pikiell says his guys were really down.
“Obviously, you know, there was about 14 minutes before tip-off when we found that the (Big Ten Tournament) was being cancelled. The guys were crushed,” Pikiell told TKR on Friday. “I thought we were playing really well (heading in after wins over Maryland and Purdue). We had a great week of practice, too. We were locked in. At that time, we didn’t know about the NCAA Tournament. I was thinking well this tournament is done, but we have another one. We’d be ready for that. I kind of heard that the NCAA was going to take a deep breath. Back at the hotel, the guys -- the seniors -- were disappointed. By the time we landed, (the NCAA Tournament being cancelled) was all over social media. I didn’t break any news to the guys. Like anything nowadays, they find out everything first. We didn’t have everyone on the plane. Some went home with their families. There were like six of them on the plane coming back.
“We were disappointed that the season was over. At one moment we were warming up getting ready to play a game. It was a tough, crazy day. I don’t know how I could put it into words.”
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisWasky.
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