Getting excited for the NIT was liking taking a spoonful of cherry cough syrup as a child. Yet by the time everyone got to their seats in the RAC, it was like eating your favorite donut. Something about this place. The passion and charm runs effusive. Forget the players, imagine as a fan getting your heart ripped out on Selection Sunday and picking yourself off the mat and showing up in short notice in those numbers last night. Dare I say best atmosphere since Indiana even with only 5k and students showing too. It was great to sit down in the 100s again last night and those sections were more a superfan area than normally. See because last night you saw the heart and soul of the fanbase. Many familiar faces from old NIT runs back in the 80s, 90s and 2000s. No it wasn't a NCAA tourney game but it might as well been. Caught up in the moment, more basketball, cheering your school on. The RAC gave their all to try and push Rutgers over the finish line last night.
Alas it was not to be. Rutgers would fall short 88-86 in overtime against a Hofstra squad that showed pluck and aplomb. Rutgers played hard but not hard enough. The defense was some of the worst seen all year long. The effort was there but not sure the hunger was. That was understandable. Hofstra made a barrage of unlikely jumpers and 3 and seemed to get every bounce or board. It was their Super Bowl. Give them all the credit in the world. They won their conference yet saw Charleston get all the headlines all year long and the spoils of going to the NCAA tournament at their expense. Hofstra deserved it. Derek could have hit that shot and they could have played 10 overtimes and in my opinion Rutgers was never going to win this game.
A microcosm of the season. Exhilarating and exuberant wins and stupendous and shattering defeats. On the cusp of their goals only to have the rug pulled out from under them time and time again. Was losing a 5 point lead with 27 seconds surprising in the least bit. It is sabotage I tell ya. The soaring wins brought with them a bag full of booby traps. Rutgers could not sustain success last night just as they could not all year long. Ambushes in wait. 16-8/8-4 to start the year, thoughts of a 4/5 seed line sank like the Titanic and that is not an exaggeration. The Mag injury sent Rutgers into a death spiral. Even thought they fought valiantly at times to stave off, there was simply not enough in the tank to pull from. Rutgers lost 6 times at the RAC, 4 in a row, and 3 of the last 4 losses were not even to a NCAA schools. Rutgers had nothing left to give last. Do not get fooled by the offensive showing. That is not the Rutgers game and it masked what we all knew about this team deep down inside. Its unfortunate. Whether it was the early season injuries, the Mag injury, or the Minnesota loss, it was one thing after another. The basketball gods whimsy giving them pleasure. One last cruel joke as they toyed with the Rutgers community on Selection Sunday.
Yet Rutgers is on solid footing. We can all complain about Pike's recruiting holes and some of his stubborn strategy and his inability to figure things out to get this team to achieve their NCAA goals but no one can say he and the staff did not work their asses off. Pikiell is doing it the right way in a world of college basketball where doing it wrong sometimes gets applauded. Watch that press conference from last night. The emotion from Pike who is usually very flat and composed says a lot. The effusive honest praise by his players should always be remembered. Ron and Geo were the darlings of the program who got all the attention for putting the program on the map. Caleb McConnell though was the epitome of the soul of the program. Unheralded and bouncing back from all kinds of obstacles and injuries including a horrid stretch to start the 2021-2022 season that had many here wanting to see him ride pine and for good reason. Picking himself off the mat to become the greatest defensive player in Rutgers history for two years in a row alone puts him on what is becoming a suddenly crowded Rutgers Mount Rushmore.
As a fan its been a rollercoaster The highs were replaced by too many lows. 8 losses in the last 11 games. 4 straight losses at the RAC. A blindside on Selection Sunday. Pretty tough for a fan to keep bouncing back from that. The Hofstra loss was disenchanting. Yet is provided the needed closure for not only the staff and players but the for the fans. Last night was a therapy session for all of us. One last shot at showing appreciation for this snake bitten team. One last time to cheer the hell out of them. Be Proud Rutgers Nation. Held off on a recap last night because did not quite know my thoughts. Yet this morning I am at peace. Closure has come to me. Every new beginning comes from some others beginning's end. This era of RU basketball came to a close last night and in some ways it needed to and that is okay. The NCAA tourney is a great love of mine. I know I can start filling out brackets. I know I will get sucked into the games. For the program Rutgers did not make the NCAA this year after 2 straight years (really 3) of making it. It is fair to criticize. This is big boy basketball and Pike is now getting the big money. I can understand why this year is a failure in some people's eyes. We all are disappointed. Yet Rutgers is not going anywhere. The biggest recruits are yet to come. Pike had a rag tag bunch very close this year. A group who was greater than the sum of its parts. With a little more talent and a lot more depth there will be more exciting times to come.
