Is Rutgers back?

The Scarlet Knights men’s basketball team rode a 30-year tournament drought before returning to the NCAA tournament in 2021.

Five-Star Freshman:

The team has continued its upward climb since then, and recently landed five-star freshmen, and projected top NBA draft prospects, Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey who made their spot on the roster for this 2024-2025 season.

Harper stepped right onto the court as if he had been playing in the Jersey Mike’s Arena all his life and to some extent he had been. The Ramsey, New Jersey native was never far from campus so he’d get shots up while his older brother led the program, Ron Harper Jr., to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances.

In the Scarlet Knights’ season opener, Dylan Harper put up 20 points, adding four assists and three steals. In Monday night’s action against Saint Peter’s, he excelled again in the scoring department formulating 24 points on a 47% shooting average as well as six rebounds.

Despite Harper's exciting start, one player will not lead a team to a NCAA Championship, (Unless your name is Zach Edey).

This is where Ace Bailey makes his way into the team's broiling new chemistry. The two are no strangers to being on the court together. Last summer, Harper and Bailey both competed at USA Basketball’s 2023 U19 Men’s National Team Training Camp before playing together at other grand tournaments throughout the summer season.

Both players announced earlier this week that they have signed endorsement deals with Nike building their relationships and endorsements off the court with one another.

Despite this, the 6-foot-10 agile player has not made his way to the court yet this season due to injury. After sitting out the first game, fans were hopefully watching Bailey shoot around in warm-ups this past Monday just for the freshman to not see any action.

It is unclear when the top recruit will make his formal debut, but this is where the rest of the team comes into play, literally.

Fellow Newbies:

Harper and Bailey weren’t the only two added to the roster this season. The current Rutgers roster lists six other freshmen on their 15-person team- Bryce Dortch, Dylan Grant, Nate Freisthler, Lathan Sommerville, Peter Noble and Max Fradkin.

This brings a new pool of talent including Grant who came as the No.1 ranked recruit from the state of Michigan and Somerville who stands at 6-foot-10 as a power center allowing other heights on the team to expand and shoot out wide.

The Returners:

With last year's early first-round Big Ten tournament exit, and just under .500 finish the season was deflating. However, the Scarlet Knights return a handful of players to bring in the experience and knowledge such as redshirt senior Jeremiah Williams and sophomore Jamichael Davis who both got active minutes and a handful of starts in last year's season.

All eyes are on the Scarlet Knights for the first time in a long time. Pre-season polls have the team seeded seventh out of the 18 conference teams already exceeding their expectations from last season.

Players such as Ace Bailey are already receiving votes for the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, and both Bailey and Harper are receiving countless votes for Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

Only time and buzzers will provide the Scarlet Knights’ actual outcome, but they are certainly a team to watch for this season both in conference and for postseason deep runs.

Bronwyn Liber is a second-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email brl5354@psu.edu.