NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – To say Rutgers’ time in the Big Ten has been a pleasant experience for their basketball program would be outright wrong.
From 2014 to 2018, the Scarlet Knights went a combined 7-47 in conference play. Head coach Eddie Jordan guided his team the best he could through what some call the toughest conference in Division-I college basketball. Nevertheless, Jordan was fired after a 7-25 record in his third season in charge.
Steve Pikiell was hired to replace Jordan, and tasked with trying to get some footing in a conference that features historic college basketball programs, such as Michigan State, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State – do I need to keep going?
Any college basketball enthusiast knows how good the programs in the Big Ten are. If you are not, then take the following into consideration – those four schools have been to a combined 37 Final Fours.
You’re telling me Steve Pikiell, the former head coach of Stony Brook, was supposed to put a relatively new team in the Big Ten into relevancy?
In 2018, two mediocre seasons into his tenure, Pikiell led the Scarlet Knights to their first two game win streak in conference play after wins against Nebraska and Penn State.
He did it by creating a culture defined by toughness and getting his guys to push themselves every single day. Rutgers then went on to beat Indiana to add another win to their streak.
For the first time in years, there was excitement growing in New Brunswick for their basketball team. The program had not had a winning record since the 2003-04 season, when the school had been members of the Big East conference.
The Rutgers Athletic Center, better known as the RAC, had sold out three games in one season, after having not done so once in over a decade. People actually wanted to go watch their team play!
When asked about their newfound success in an interview after their previous win against Penn State, Coach Pikiell gave credit to everyone but himself. “It’s a team effort. We just have a lot of great people … they really respect our young kids, and how hard they’re playing, the team, and the kinda effort that we give,” said Pikiell.
What Coach Pikiell understands that better than anyone is that building a great program and culture cannot be done by one singular person. Pikiell says, “It takes everyone at a university, from the president to the athletic director, you know, to build a program. I’m just really proud. … we’re heading in a good direction.”
However, to build a program and find success, you still have to recruit and develop well. It starts with getting the guys in your home state, and New Jersey has absolutely no shortage of high school basketball talent.
Ron Harper Jr., son of former NBA Champion Ron Harper Sr. and New Jersey native, knows this pretty well. “I accomplished a lot in high school, but I left a lot on the table.” The competition in that state is ruthless.
So ruthless, in fact, that Harper Jr. was left criminally under-recruited by Division-I college programs. The first offer he got was from his dad’s alma mater, the Miami University Red Hawks, and did not even come until the conclusion of his junior year of high school.
His first power conference offer came from the lowly Nebraska Cornhuskers, who have also been struggling in the Big Ten. Once he got his offer to Rutgers, who was closest to his home, he committed to their program.
Prior to being recruited by Rutgers, however, Harper Jr. did not even consider going to a school near his hometown. In October 2020 interview, Harper Jr. stated, “I always told myself I was gonna go somewhere far away from home for college, like to experience new things.”
But when he got the opportunity to stay in-state and play for Coach Pikiell, he was sold. He continued on this thought in the interview, saying, “I feel like it was the right choice for me and my basketball career, and you know I feel like were thriving here at Rutgers and I’m happy to be a part of it.”
Harper Jr. was completely right. This was the best step for his career, because Coach Pikiell knew what he was doing when it came to developing players. As a freshman in the 2018-19 college basketball season, Harper Jr. played on a Scarlet Knights’ team with only four upperclassmen on it. This gave him plenty of an opportunity to get time on the court and gain experience.
He averaged 7.8 points per game (PPG) on below average efficiency in his first year as a college basketball player, but really took that next step in his sophomore season.
He improved in almost all statistical categories his second season under Coach Pikiell, and became a much better, more efficient shooter. Harper Jr.’ 2019-20 campaign went so well that he led Rutgers to being ranked in the AP Poll for the first time since the 1978-79 season.
Harper Jr., who was not even seen as a top 150 player in his graduating high school class, led a program to being nationally ranked for the first time in 40 years, while in a tough conference The Scarlet Knights would have made the NCAA Tournament that year for the first time since 1991, according to Tim Krueger.
Had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic, that streak would have been broken. Rutgers came back knowing how good they could be this year and have been taking full advantage of it. Harper Jr. has taken another step forward, averaging career highs in many categories.
His parents also played an influential role in his attitude towards development, but it was not easy for him to start out. Harper Jr. talked about this in an RVision Short, saying “Definitely growing up I kind of struggled with the criticism from my mother and father.”
As years went on and he started to see himself with a chance to play in college, he started to realize why they could be so hard on him. “…as you grow older, and you start to understand where they’re coming from, you start to appreciate their harsh words and support more.”
His growth was even commended by former Michigan Hall of Fame coach John Beilein. Coach Beilein said, “I coached against him when he was a freshman, not a big part of our scouting report. Today, it would be all about our scouting report, playing against him.”
That is not to say this year has not challenged the Scarlet Knights team. After being ranked as high as the 11th in week six of the AP Poll, they dropped five of their next six games. That losing streak put their NCAA Tournament hopes in jeopardy. Following that skid, they then went on a four-game winning streak.
As of today, they are sitting on the right side of bracket projections and looking more and more likely to make March Madness. Was that included in Ron Harper Jr.’s goals for the year? I am sure it was, but he said he wanted to just lead this team to victory every time he stepped on the court.
“Personal accolades come to teams that win, and you know, I just wanna be a leader,” Harper Jr. explained, “and I want to lead this team to victory night in and night out, and everything else will take care of itself.”
Rutgers still have games scheduled to be played against 15th ranked Iowa on Wednesday, February 10th and 3rd ranked Michigan February 18th.
If the Scarlet Knights want to pick up two signature wins against high-level competition, Ron Harper Jr. will need to be the leader his family and Coach Pikiell developed him to be.
Edited by Ryan Brokamp
Cullinane Portfolio 