So, what was your favorite Dylan Harper moment? How about Ace Bailey’s? (pause). Yeah, that’s what I thought—neither offered great moments in a disappointing season for Rutgers basketball. So, what’s next for the Scarlet Knights? (answer at the end of this commentary)
Dylan Harper announced on ESPN last week that he would enter the NBA Draft. He is projected to be the #2 pick. It won’t be long until Bailey announces the same intentions. It was a one-and-done arrangement for those two at Rutgers, and it ended badly for them.
Seeing those two flop at Rutgers brought awful memories of the late Eddie Griffin’s time at Seton Hall. Those two weren’t malcontents like Griffin, but all three couldn’t elevate their teams. Griffin imploded along with Seton Hall in his one-and-done forgettable tenure in the 2000-2001 season.
Harper and Bailey did not elevate Rutgers to anything after underachieving at 15-17 with an 8-12 Big Ten conference record–and with no improvement from 15-17 (7-13) the previous season.
Ace Bailey (4) and Dylan Harper (photo courtesy Sports Illustrated)
However, individually, the Rutgers freshman duo did well. Harper was named third-team All-Big Ten to the all-freshman team after averaging 19.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.4 steals this season. He broke the freshman scoring record at Rutgers while finishing as the fifth-best scorer in the Big Ten. Bailey averaged 17.6 points per game and 7.2 rebounds for Rutgers.
This is all good for them, but ultimately, they offered little to overall team success. It’s hard to blame Harper and Bailey. Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell deserves criticism for all this. He wasted two seasons by getting them to sign rather than building the team or coaching those two to play team basketball.
You can argue that Pikiell was the wrong coach to coach one-and-done players and that Rutgers was the wrong place for both. Ultimately, Rutgers got what it paid for, which should be a lesson for both Pikiell and Rutgers. This program is not good enough to win and nurture one-and-done players simultaneously.
Interestingly, neither seemed bothered by the losses during the entire season. You would think it would be frustrating for them, and it was clear they were using Rutgers as a pit stop for the NBA.
Ironically, as good as those two did individually, I am unsure if they are ready to play in the NBA. They have no idea how to play defense and must do a better job running an offense. Plus, their shooting could use work. So, there’s no guarantee that Harper and Bailey will be great at the NBA. Cooper Flagg’s, they are not.
The outcome puts Pikiell under pressure for the first time as Rutgers coach, and the question is whether he can put Humpty Dumpty back on the wall–and even that statement is overreach. The Scarlet Knights haven’t had a winning season since 2022-23, when the team went 19-15 (20-10), and Pikiell is only seven games over .500 in nine seasons in New Brunswick. The Knights are performing more like they did in the first three years of Pikell’s tenure (2016-2019, 44-54) than when the team had four consecutive winning seasons from 2019-2023.
Whatever comes next, Harper and Bailey won’t be part of it. So now the Scarlet Knights return to familiar business–trying to build a consistently winning program.
