Rutgers’ March Madness experience could be useful in First Four battle with Notre Dame

Steve Pikiell and Rutgers, with experience from last March, could have decided edge Wednesday against Notre Dame. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

Forget about the setting and the play-in nature of Wednesday’s game. Consider the stakes and how the environment favors Rutgers.

The Scarlet Knights, once again in the NCAA Tournament, arrive in yet another situation where their backs are against the proverbial wall Wednesday, with former Big East rival Notre Dame standing between a trip to San Diego and first-round opponent Alabama. For a team whose calling card is thriving off adversity, this latest dose — coming in Dayton for the First Four — plays right into Rutgers’ wheelhouse. And when you add last year’s skirmishes with Clemson and Houston into a showdown with a Notre Dame team that has yet to taste March Madness on this stage with its current complement, the scales tip even further toward Piscataway.

“I think experiences always help you,” head coach Steve Pikiell assessed as Rutgers (18-13) embarks on a second straight dance in the field of 68, and what would have been an unprecedented third in a row if not for the pandemic. “We have a team with four players that have been through a lot. This group has had to win a lot of games. It's been three years, too. They've had their backs against the wall. We played a lot of different styles, a lot of different teams, so I think — anytime — experience really helps you in these kinds of situations.”

“It's a different type of mentality,” Geo Baker said as he contrasted the regular season approach to what now lies on the horizon. “We understand that this could potentially be our last game. Everyone's just real locked in and focused, and the good part is we've been here before. We all understand what it takes. We don't want to get too ahead of ourselves. Right now, we just want to stay focused on one game, and that's Notre Dame.”

While Notre Dame’s players — with the exception of Yale transfer Paul Atkinson — will be making their NCAA Tournament debuts, their head coach knows the March terrain, and their opponent, intimately.

“I know this Rutgers program well,” head coach Mike Brey said Tuesday. “I know the game is not in the RAC. I've got some bad nightmares coming out of there. Steve Pikiell is one of the most gifted coaches in our profession. (I was) always impressed with him, impressed with the toughness and how hard his group plays.”

Brey, in his 22nd season at the helm of the Fighting Irish and the owner of two regional final appearances, was well aware of Pikiell even during his early days in South Bend, from the Rutgers skipper’s time on Karl Hobbs’ staff at George Washington, Brey’s alma mater. So when the Rutgers job opened in 2016 and a high-profile figure in New Jersey shared an update on the search process, the Notre Dame coach offered his opinion, which has manifested itself multifold over the past half-dozen seasons.

“You know a little bit of my relationship with Chris Christie,” Brey recalled, citing the former New Jersey governor. “When he called me and said we have a chance to get this guy Pikiell from Stony Brook, I said, ‘send the plane and give him 10 years, this guy will stabilize it and then he'll build it.’ And he absolutely did.”

“He's an old-school, throwback coach, and he's got one heck of a tough team that's tough like him. There was a consistency and a stability. He is who he is every day, and certainly, it's what Rutgers needed at the time. It’s been magical for them. And again, I've had a lot of Big East flashbacks watching their team play, seeing clips from the RAC. Tough guys, physical guys, old guys.”

Rutgers’ physicality and veteran nature suggests the Scarlet Knights could be in a position to assert themselves Wednesday, with the relentlessness that defined last March’s run perhaps making a return appearance as well.

“All of our guys, I think, don't want the season to end,” said Pikiell. “This has been a great group for me to work with. They've rarely had a bad practice, they get along great, so for me, I don't want this season to ever end. This group has certainly been a special group to coach and very unselfish group, so the experience of the tournament will definitely help us.”