At any time when and wherever Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey had been enjoying basketball, be it throughout the highschool season or on the AAU circuit, they may nearly all the time rely on one particular person being within the stands for them.
Rutgers males’s basketball head coach Steve Pikiell.
Pikiell and others from the Rutgers program had been a mainstay in gyms for every of them all through the years. They may’ve been enjoying a sport on the moon and Pikiell would’ve discovered a method to be there.
Loyalty has all the time mattered for Bailey, and Rutgers was one of many first applications to succeed in out to him. As he soared within the recruiting rankings and presents poured in from the likes of Kentucky and Kansas, Pikiell and Rutgers had been nonetheless there, as they’d all the time been.
It stood out, so he dedicated to hitch the Scarlet Knights in January of 2023, effectively over a yr earlier than his highschool commencement. Following an additional time win over Ohio State, Bailey entered the Rutgers locker room to inform Pikiell he was committing.
Pikeill threw his arms round him and pointed at his crew, which showered Bailey with cheers and ruffled his hair after they realized what had occurred.
“He’s a really real man,” Bailey says of Pikiell. “He cares. Not simply on the court docket however off the court docket, he’s gonna be sure to’re effective off the court docket additionally.”
Pikiell is getting into his ninth season main a Rutgers program he’s introduced from the Huge Ten’s basement to high half finishes and NCAA match appearances. He’s taken down AP No. 1 ranked groups and brought the Knights to back-to-back March Insanity berths for the primary time because the Seventies.
He says the ready listing to get tickets on the Rutgers Athletic Heart, now often called Jersey Mike’s Area, is about 1,400 folks. When he arrived at Rutgers, he’s undecided they may’ve gotten 1,400 college students within the stands.
However he’s the final man to take credit score for that change.
“The top coach will get method an excessive amount of credit score,” Pikiell says. “We’ve the Riot Squad, we now have a advertising and marketing crew, our band is superior they usually’re into it. We’ve cheerleaders and dance groups and their households come. It takes everybody, actually.”
That mentality extends when he’s requested about recruiting Bailey and Harper, the 2 five-star freshmen that may hope to steer the Scarlet Knights to new heights this upcoming season. He took time to emphasise the opposite three freshmen, praising Lathan Sommerville’s method, Bryce Dortch’s motor and Dylan Grant’s athleticism.
“My workers did a improbable job,” Pikiell mentioned of the recruiting course of. “All of them wished to play with one another.”
That rise performed a component in Rutgers touchdown Bailey and Harper, two five-star freshmen with potential futures within the NBA. This system already had a path to Harper after his older brother, Ron Harper Jr., spent a number of years starring in Piscataway.
The household side performed a giant position with Harper and Pikiell takes time to emphasise how nice the Harper household has been in his program. Harper Jr. spends loads of time round Piscataway and nonetheless makes use of Rutgers’ services when he must get a exercise in, as do loads of different Scarlet Knights alumni.
“We wished him to know that we might deal with him the identical method we took care of his brother,” Pikiell mentioned. “Blessed that he gave us that chance.”
With Bailey and Harper round, NBA scouts have been spending loads of time on the RAC to soak up practices and scrimmages. The 2 even spent a day understanding with NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo at a Nike Basketball occasion in New York Metropolis.
Bailey lists Antetokounmpo as being amongst his NBA position fashions together with Kevin Durant, Paul George and Jayson Tatum.
The 2 will likely be on the subsequent degree, every is projected as a lottery choose as excessive because the top-5 vary for the 2025 NBA draft. However earlier than that, they’ll look to have a season to recollect with Rutgers.
