As Rutgers’ senior class looks back, it also looks ahead with renewed vigor

Rutgers’ senior class (L-R: Geo Baker, Nick Brooks, Mamadou Doucoure, Myles Johnson, Luke Nathan and Jacob Young) was recognized on senior night Wednesday in RAC season finale. (Photo by Ben Solomon/Rutgers Athletics)

The first noticeable harbinger came nearly three years ago.

Under the backdrop of a sold-out Madison Square Garden, Rutgers began its public image rehabilitation. The butt of national jokes and recipient of more blows than a Mike Tyson sparring partner, the Scarlet Knights shocked the college basketball world with a run to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Conference tournament, and came seven points shy of a semifinal appearance.

Mike Williams and Corey Sanders led that Rutgers team, with three freshmen who would later play significant roles in the rebirth on the banks contributing as well: Myles Johnson, Mamadou Doucoure, and a rail-thin guard out of New Hampshire named Geo Baker, whose 25 points in that quarterfinal loss to Purdue was perhaps the brightest light being shone on a future with an abundant and effervescent glow. 

“I think you’re getting a dose of what we can be,” head coach Steve Pikiell proudly declared in his postgame press conference on March 2, 2018. “And we’re going to get better and better.”

Three years later, Pikiell has been vindicated handsomely, multiple times over. Baker and Johnson, roommates since their arrival in Piscataway, have led the way along with Jacob Young after he transferred in from the University of Texas. Doucoure has remained an unsung role player. Juniors Ron Harper, Jr., Montez Mathis and Caleb McConnell are as much a part of the core as anyone, and sophomore Paul Mulcahy has earned cult hero status as a do-it-all warrior. When all that gets added up, its sum validates that what the pandemic stole from this blue-collar outfit last year is being forcefully taken back as the Scarlet Knights meander the final curves of a road that will, barring an unexpected collapse, lead to a destination not seen by the State University of New Jersey since 1991.

The NCAA Tournament.

“I mean, it’s a dream come true,” walk-on Nick Brooks conceded after Wednesday’s emotionally charged victory over Indiana, a win prefaced by the sextet of soon-to-be graduates being honored on senior night at the RAC. “I told Coach Pikiell the first day I got here that that was the goal and I was willing to do anything to accomplish it, regardless of what it was.”

“We’ve seen the lows of the lows, and I feel like we’ve seen the highs of the highs,” Baker said, reflecting on just how far he and his teammates had come. “I feel like we’ve just progressed as the years have gone on, we’ve stayed together, we’ve stuck to our goals. We came here to change the culture. That’s what we all set out to do when we first got here, and I feel like we’ve done it. I feel like we’ve achieved that, but there’s still more that we can do as well.”

Those who have seen Pikiell’s preferred style of architecture are not surprised by the level at which it has come to be recognized, nor at the amount of effort put into even the slightest nuances of each facet of the game since he was brought to Rutgers by athletic director Pat Hobbs to resurrect a dormant basketball program on the heels of seemingly building one from scratch over 11 years at Stony Brook, where he ushered a transitioning Division I operation into a model of consistent success that culminated in bringing an America East Conference championship to Long Island in 2016. Five years later, the transformation extends beyond the hardwood, as Johnson shared in a humorous anecdote.

“There was a picture floating around before the game on Twitter of me and Geo when we first got here: I was a circle and he was a stick,” the gentle giant quipped. “Just building off that, looking at us now, we’ve made so many steps in the right direction. As a program, we were kind of at the bottom at the beginning and now, we may not be at the top, but we’re on our way, just moving the ball forward and putting the ball in motion for the future generations.”

“I think it just shows how hard this program works,” said four-year walk-on stalwart Luke Nathan, arguably Rutgers’ most energetic player. “This group of guys, these coaches, we set out from day one to change the culture and I think we did that. We put ourselves in a spot to contend for championships, and we’re going to keep this thing moving.”

Two regular season games — on the road against Nebraska and Minnesota, respectively — remain before Rutgers takes part in the Big Ten tournament and, presumably, plays to bolster its NCAA Tournament seeding. But before any of that becomes canon, the man responsible for overseeing the ascension paused to wax nostalgic about the accomplishments already in tow, an uncharacteristic move for an established grinder who already has one eye on the next day’s game film once the present day’s final buzzer sounds.

“They’ve raised this program to a place — and I said to them, it’s a real compliment — where they expect you to win every game,” Pikiell proclaimed, a beaming grin serving as a testimonial for his satisfaction. “Before they got here, we didn’t win many games, and those guys did the work there.”

“They’ve gone through everything, too. They’ll go out into the world now and do great things, because they’re tough. They’re resilient, they got through a ton of obstacles. Every one of them was on a different journey: Geo at 145 pounds, Myles redshirting his first year and doing the great things, and Douc has just been as good a Rutgers guy as I could coach. Jacob Young has improved so much, all four of those guys have improved so much. Luke Nathan’s just a special kid. Nick Brooks, a special kid. It’s a special group, it really is, and I want to keep them playing for a while.”

Nothing Rutgers has set its mind to over the past three years since that memorable run in New York has gone unfulfilled. And if this group has its way, the long-awaited payoff will only grow richer.