DAYTON, Ohio — There were two zeros at the center of this devastating NCAA Tournament loss to Notre Dame for the Rutgers basketball team. The first was on the front of Geo Baker’s jersey, the one he pulled over his head in agony when the Fighting Irish survived in double overtime on Wednesday to end his unforgettable college career.
The second zero was in the box score. That glaring goose egg was the sum total of points that Rutgers got from its bench — not just in this 89-87 loss in the First Four to the Fighting Irish, but in the 84-74 defeat in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals against Iowa. And if you move past that disappointment from these final two losses and begin to focus on what comes next, that second zero looms large.
“We built so much,” forward Caleb McConnell said after midnight in Dayton. “Just take basketball and statistics out the window, the stuff we did here — it’s going to last forever.”
That is the hope, of course. McConnell, Geo Baker and Ron Harper Jr. signed up for this team when it was a Big Ten bottom feeder and are likely leaving after back-to-back March Madness appearances. That, given the struggles of this program for the three decades that preceded this run, is an accomplishment that no one can take away from them.
But the forever part is no guarantee. In many ways, what comes next — proving that this program can compete, and win, every March — is as hard, if not harder, than what the Scarlet Knights did over this much-celebrated run.
Steve Pikiell ended the 2021-22 season with the same boast from the preseason: “By far my very best team. By far my best team.” Take him at his word that it was, that the four straight victories over ranked opponents and the double bye in the Big Ten Tournament was proof that this group eclipsed the five Pikiell teams that can before it.
Still: What his “best team” accomplished this season needs to become the floor for his program going forward, not the ceiling. This is the baseline now. The days of judging Rutgers basketball against its woebegone past, against what Eddie Jordan and Fred Hill Jr. and the rest failed to do under far inferior conditions, are over.
Pikiell has eight years on a newly extended contract that will pay him $29 million. He has a sparking practice facility, a proven track record of developing players and a hungry fan base that has turned his home arena into one of the most difficult places to play. He has everything he needs to win here, and win consistently.
Which leads us back to that second zero. Can even the most optimistic Rutgers fan not look at the players returning for 2022-23 and not expect this team to take a step back?
Assuming everyone returns — and that’s never a safe assumption in this era of player movement — Rutgers will have an elite center in Cliff Omoruyi and a two-year backcourt starter in Paul Mulcahy. After that, the Scarlet Knights will either need contributors on this team, like sophomore forward Dean Reiber, to take a big step in production, or count on finding potential starters, such as Lafayette center Neal Quinn, in the transfer portal.
Maybe Jaden Jones is a hidden gem waiting on the Rutgers bench. Maybe one of the high school players in Pikiell’s latest recruiting class will become the next program cornerstone. The best programs move seamlessly from one group to the next. It is unrealistic to think that Rutgers won’t have bad years — Notre Dame hadn’t reached the tournament since the 2016-17 season before eliminating the Scarlet Knights — but playing meaningful games in March is the expectation.
“This group of seniors definitely set the standard for Rutgers basketball, but I can’t wait to see the next generation of Scarlet Knights break the barriers we couldn’t find a way to get through,” Baker said in a lengthy social media post on Thursday. “I know the young guys and coach Pikiell are eager to prove they can be the ones to do it.”
They’ll have that opportunity now. With the departures of Baker, Harper and McConnell, Pikiell has the all-important lure of playing time when he tries to recruit for the future. Does the recent success make Rutgers a destination for top players in the portal? Will it make it easier for Pikiell to beat out the blueblood programs for the very best players? We’ll find out soon.
All of this is a good problem to have. Rutgers has waited forever for a player like Baker to change the culture. The recruits that follow him won’t have to hear about the decades-long NCAA Tournament drought or take a bet on a sleeping giant. They’ll know what’s possible in Piscataway.
That’s why it’s not hard to envision Baker’s No. 0 rising to the rafters in Jersey Mike’s Arena someday. In the meantime, Rutgers fans are forgiven if they see that other zero in the box score and wonder about sustaining this success.
MORE FROM STEVE POLITI:
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The search for Luther Wright, once N.J.’s greatest hoops talent
‘It felt like somebody died.’ How COVID sacked a great Rutgers season
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Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.
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