3/21/2022 basketball Edit

Three Final Thoughts on Rutgers Basketball's 2021-22 season

Craig Epstein • TheKnightReport

Staff Writer

Rutgers Basketball’s rollercoaster of a season came to a stop following its 89-87 2OT loss to Notre Dame in the First Four game in Dayton, Ohio.

Here are three final thoughts on the season….

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Culture Changers

At this point enough has been written about Geo Baker, Ron Harper Jr., and Caleb McConnell to fill up the Great Wall of China. However, if their matchup against Notre Dame was the last time they will all have suited up for the Scarlet Knights, it cannot be understated how big of a role the three played in revitalizing the program.

“I wanted to be the kid that started the trend, go to Rutgers and you can go to the NCAA Tournament and I feel like I did a good job of that,” Harper Jr. said after the game. “But it never would have been possible without the guys to my left, my right, and the guys in the locker room.”

Harper Jr. would go on to discuss his time as a Scarlet Knight.

“Growing up all I ever wanted was somebody to respect me, somebody to tell me I’m good enough and I found it here at Rutgers,” he said. “I found a group of guys that believed in me and trusted me. That’s all I could ever ask for.”

Coming in at a time when the Scarlet Knights were viewed as one of, if not the, worst power five spots in the country, the trio was able to turn a laughingstock into a rising stock. Whether it was through multiple Big Ten honors, countless classic moments, or being the ones to end the program’s 30-year NCAA Tournament drought, the three have earned their place in the pantheon of Rutgers greats.

History Makers

In the last couple of years, it feels as though every step the Scarlet Knights have taken has been marked by some sort of historical achievement. Whether it is Baker or Harper Jr. passing somebody on the all-time scoring list or the program making back-to-back trips to the Big Dance for the first time since 1975-76, the bar has been set to a new height and aspirations have turned into expectations.

“Geo was the 400th ranked recruit in the country, no one expected him to even play in the Big Ten and he ended up having an elite career,” head coach Steve Pikiell said. “Ron’s an All-American and Caleb was the defensive player of the year in the league. Those guys just kept improving, kept fighting for the program, and kept fighting for themselves. I’m really proud and their best basketball is ahead of them.”

Just this year alone, Rutgers became the first unranked team to defeat four straight ranked foes along with earning its highest-ever seed in a conference tournament. While the season did not end the way the Scarlet Knights wanted it to, it only makes sense they went out on one last historical note: being a part of the first-ever double-overtime game in First Four history.

Pioneers

Although history is written by the winners and the Scarlet Knights never reached their goal of hoisting an NCAA championship over their heads, they won in more ways than one. Not only did they help turn Jersey Mike’s Arena (formerly known as the RAC) into one of the biggest home-court advantages in the nation, but they restored hope to a fanbase that felt it ran out of it long ago.

“We started something special up here, it’s like sitting next to the three pioneers,” Harper Jr. said. “We did it three years in a row, I don’t care what anybody says. COVID happened but we would have been right there in the mix. We did that three years in a row and not a lot of schools can say they did, especially after not making this for 30 years.”

At the end of the day, Rutgers is not a program with blue blood running through its veins or the type of team that will put a stranglehold on the NY/NJ area. But for the first time in a long time these players made it cool to be a Scarlet Knights fan and to say history will look at them fondly is a safe assumption.