Ron Harper Jr.: Rutgers basketball 'runs through the family blood now'
Ron Harper Jr. remembers being an underrated high school basketball recruit at Don Bosco Prep, wondering if any high-major coaches would be interested in recruiting him. One was, for sure.
Rutgers basketball’s Steve Pikiell.
“When he called my phone when my phone wasn’t ringing,” Ron said, “that made me feel like a special dude.”
Now Ron’s younger brother Dylan Harper – whose phone was ringing off the hook with coaches from Duke, Kansas and everywhere in pursuit – is following in Ron’s footsteps after committing to Pikiell and the Scarlet Knights Wednesday.
“Rutgers basketball – I think it’s safe to say it runs through the family blood now,” Ron told reporters Wednesday, shortly after Dylan’s announcement.
It was a full-circle moment for Ron, who as an All-Big Ten wing help build Rutgers from the ashes and now plays for the Toronto Raptors’ G League affiliate.
“As a brother, it’s crazy,” he said. “As a brother, when I think about it actually happening, it takes me back across a lot of years. It takes me back to fighting in the basement, playing basketball, us being there with each other in the gym.
“It’s crazy that it all worked out.”
Although Ron emphasized that Dylan made his own choice, there’s no doubt the big brother’s success under Pikiell on and off the court impacted the recruitment.
“Stuff like that matters. If I went there for four years and never got any better, why would he go there?” Ron Jr. said. “Those were the toughest four years of my life. The coaches were always there for me, taking care of me, making sure the players are good. Coach Pikiell really cares about his players.”
In retrospect, Pikiell’s recruitment of Ron Jr. as a two-star prospect in those dark early years of his tenure has become the stuff of legend.
“That’s something I hold near and dear to my heart, Coach Pikiell taking that chance on me when not even many coaches – not any – did,” Ron said. “It was him, and the coach from Nebraska (Tim Miles). That was it. I’m so grateful to have the relationship I have with him – me and him are family now and he’s going to get the chance to coach my younger brother. He’s going to have a lot on his hands, but I know Coach Pikiell is the right guy for it.”
His reference Pikiell having “a lot on his hands” is about Rutgers bringing on the third-ranked recruiting class in the country next year. That’s not a position Pikiell, who has made a career of coaching up underrated grinders, has been in before.
“He’s always talked about flipping the script,” Ron Harper Jr. said. “When I went on my first unofficial visit he had these pieces of paper – where Rutgers was at before he got there and where Rutgers was at after. He said, ‘We’re flipping the script about Rutgers basketball. One day they’re going to respect us. One day we’re going to have the best home court in the world.’”
Pikiell has three shelves in his office – one for an NCAA Tournament ball, one for a Final Four ball and one for a national championship ball. Harper and the 2020-21 squad broke through and delivered Rutgers’ first NCAA Tournament berth in 30 years.
“I wish I could have filled more for him, but I know he’s in good hands now with Dylan,” Ron said of Pikiell. “I aways knew he would flip the script. Nobody in the world deserves this more than him.”
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: As Dylan Harper commits to Rutgers basketball, Ron Harper Jr. thrilled
