Every time and wherever Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey had been taking part in basketball, be it throughout the highschool season or on the AAU circuit, they might nearly all the time depend 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 might’ve been taking part in a recreation on the moon and Pikiell would’ve discovered a approach to be there.
Loyalty has all the time mattered for Bailey, and Rutgers was one of many first applications to achieve out to him. As he soared within the recruiting rankings and gives 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 affix the Scarlet Knights in January of 2023, nicely over a yr earlier than his highschool commencement. Following an extra 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 staff, 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 courtroom however off the courtroom, he’s gonna be sure you’re effective off the courtroom additionally.”
Pikiell is coming into his ninth season main a Rutgers program he’s introduced from the Huge Ten’s basement to prime half finishes and NCAA event 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 checklist to get tickets on the Rutgers Athletic Middle, now often called Jersey Mike’s Area, is about 1,400 individuals. When he arrived at Rutgers, he’s unsure they might’ve gotten 1,400 college students within the stands.
However he’s the final man to take credit score for that change.
“The pinnacle coach will get approach an excessive amount of credit score,” Pikiell says. “We now have the Riot Squad, now we have a advertising and marketing staff, our band is superior they usually’re into it. We now have 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 can 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 employees did a improbable job,” Pikiell stated 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’ amenities when he must get a exercise in, as do loads of different Scarlet Knights alumni.
“We wished him to know that we might care for him the identical approach we took care of his brother,” Pikiell stated. “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 probably be on the subsequent stage, 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.