Perhaps The Weirdest Part Of 2020 - Rutgers Basketball Is .... Good And They'll Remind You About It On Twitter

Reags12/15/2020 1:25 PM

Let me be more clear. Rutgers basketball is like Final Four good. They aren't just good. They are that good. This doesn't even have anything to do with the win at Maryland specifically. It's not like I think Maryland is that good, even if they were 2.5 point favorites over Rutgers. It's watching them play. It's the win over Syracuse, it's kicking the ass of all the inferior opponents and it's the fact you just watch them play. And that's credit to Steve Pikiell, who is a goddamn star in the coaching world. He was awesome at Stony Brook and he now has Rutgers as a legit team two years in a row.

That shouldn't happen. That doesn't happen. Even with the loaded recruiting base in Jersey - seriously, they just have to go to The Patrick School, Roselle Catholic, St. Joe's, etc - and get the 2nd and 3rd best players. That's what you have to do at Rutgers to build up the recruiting. And for those Rutgers fans that want to yell that they were good last year. They were. They were likely an NCAA Tournament team. But do you know how many times Rutgers has made the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back years? Once. 1975-1976. It also just happened to be the year they made a Final Four.

Back to this year's team. Geo Baker, who was hurt and missed three games before last night, gets a ton of pub. Rightfully so. But the person everyone should be talking about is Ron Harper Jr. He legit has a chance to be the third best player in the Big 10 behind Luka Garza and Ayo. I'm not talking NBA prospect or anything like that. Just this year he's going to be the 3rd best player in the Big 10. He's already the 8th best player in the country according to KenPom stats. He's currently top-150 nationally in 3pt percentage, 2pt percentage, true shooting percentage, effective field goal percentage, turnover percentage, shots and ORtg. In other words.

This team does rely on defense. They currently are 12th nationally in defense, a year after finishing 6th. They run this intense man-to-man that's reliant on rotations and protecting the paint. They don't gamble and force turnovers, they rather force you into a tough shot and use clock. The difference Rutgers has than most just true defensive teams is the star in Harper and Baker along with some help, mostly Paul Mulachy. The guy might have my favorite bio in the country too: