The laughs were predictable. The smirks were expected. The insults were inevitable.
Ron Harper Jr. knew staying home to play at Rutgers would be met with insults.
“I always told people I was going to Rutgers to win, and I remember going on away games my senior year, I would get the ‘Rutgers sucks’ chants and all that nonsense,” the Franklin Lakes, N.J., native recalled this week over Zoom from Indianapolis.
Harper, the son of five-time NBA champion Ron Harper, didn’t care what anyone else thought. Neither did Geo Baker. Or Myles Johnson. Or any of the others core members of this gritty, defense-first team. They believed in Steve Pikiell’s vision. They believed in Rutgers. They were convinced — no, they knew — they could win.
Friday night, that belief will pay off in the form of the state school’s first NCAA Tournament game in 30 years.
“I tell our team all the time, you have a chance to create history just by being here,” Pikiell said as 10th-seeded Rutgers prepared to meet No. 7 Clemson in a Midwest Region first-round game.
Following the 2015-16 season, Pikiell inherited a program with very little going for it. It was coming off a 1-17 season in the Big Ten and 10 straight losing years.
He had just finally broken through at Stony Brook, reaching his first NCAA Tournament in his 11th season as a Division I head coach. He could’ve waited for an easier job, a spot more conducive to success.
But where others saw a career-killer, Pikiell saw promise and potential. Rutgers (15-11) was building a new practice facility. It was a strong academic school. It was in arguably the premier basketball conference in the country.
“ ‘I want this job and I’ll do it the right way,’ ” athletic director Pat Hobbs recalled Pikiell saying. “Anybody I asked about Steve [said he was a] man of integrity. He’s honest, you’ll never have to worry about your program.”
It was difficult to attract highly regarded prospects initially, so Pikiell had to find diamonds-in-the-rough. In his first full recruiting class, he landed commitments from Baker, who was ranked 414th in his class according to 247Sports.com, and Johnson (371st). The following class was led by Harper (175th).
Johnson, a Long Beach, Calif., native who has become one of the Big Ten’s top big men, came to Rutgers in part because of its engineering program. Harper, the team’s leading scorer at 15.4 points per game, liked the idea of staying home and helping to build something rather than merely joining a winner.
It took time, though. The Scarlet Knights showed glimpses of promise by reaching the 2017 Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals at the Garden in Pikiell’s second season. But the following year, progress was minimal, going from three conference wins to seven and yet another sub.-500 season. That year, the seeds were really planted, though. Baker began to emerge as a difference-maker in the backcourt. Johnson and Harper got their feet wet. Point guard Jacob Young joined the program for his sit-out year after transferring in from Texas.
It all began to click last season, when the Scarlet Knights would’ve been a tournament team had the COVID-19 pandemic not wiped out the postseason. Rutgers built off that success this year. It was ranked as high as 11th. It beat Michigan State for the first time and won at Indiana and Minnesota, two more program firsts. It owns a win over No. 1 seed Illinois. In the Scarlet Knights’ first five years in the Big Ten, they were 16-76. The last two years, they are 21-19.
Now comes another first for this group: the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s really satisfying to get here,” Harper said. “We got recruited here to win, we got recruited here to get to the NCAA Tournament, to break streaks, to set records, and we’re just doing that.
“Friday we get the opportunity to do it all over again.”
Keys to victory
The Harper Show
When Rutgers was at its best early in the year, Ron Harper Jr. was its top player. The junior wing seemed to find his shot late in the season after significant midseason struggles. The Scarlet Knights went 11-5 when he scored at least 13 points.
- Contain Simms
Clemson has only one double-digit scorer. Forward Aamir Simms leads the Tigers in scoring, assists and is one of their best 3-point shooters. Keep the multi-talented 6-foot-8 senior under control and Clemson will struggle on the offensive end.
- Attack the basket.
Clemson lacks a rim protector. It blocks just 2.9 shots per game, tied for 192nd in the country. Rutgers can’t settle for jumpers. Rutgers has to use its size and physical prowess to control the paint.