The email about Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper arrived a few hours before the NBA Draft, and it echoed the sentiments of more than a few Rutgers basketball fans regarding this historic occasion for the Scarlet Knights.
“I don’t understand all the praise,” it read. “This season was an incredible embarrassment.”
“I don’t get it.”
Because their one season at Rutgers yielded a losing record, there seems to be a feeling of indifference or worse among the much of the faithful about these two becoming top-five draft picks – an unprecedented achievement for a New Jersey college basketball program.
If you can’t separate the magnitude of that from the shocking disappointment of a 15-17 season, or appreciate the fact that these guys will only call Rutgers their alma mater in an age of incessant school-hopping, then here’s another thing to think about.
There are potentially $60 million reasons why Rutgers fans should get behind Ace Bailey’s and Dylan Harper’s fortunes.
One day, not too long from now, one or both of them could be bankrolling the basketball program’s roster.
Don’t scoff. Stuff like this is already happening elsewhere. Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry is the assistant general manager for the men’s and women’s basketball programs at his alma mater, Davidson College.
Curry will “start an eight-figure fund for both the men and women’s programs,” ESPN reported earlier this year.
In March, Oklahoma hired alum and NBA All-Star Trae Young as an assistant general manager for its men’s basketball program and announced his $1 million donation to the program.
Last offseason, NBA star James Harden made what was reported as a “high six-figure” donation to help his alma mater Arizona State land forward Jayden Quaintance, who decommitted from Kentucky.
“I wanted to be a part of helping the team and the school get players,” Harden told Front Office Sports, “and if NIL is the problem, then I can help with that.”
The reporter who wrote the Harden story, Westfield native Alex Schiffer, thinks this could be the start of a trend – especially now that, unlike most current pros, Harper and Bailey benefitted from NIL during their time in college.
“With the way the NBA’s (salary) cap is going, it wouldn’t surprise me if either of those guys is making $60-million plus a year in a couple of years with their second contracts if they live up to the hype,” Schiffer said. “A month’s interest on that contract, a game check – they give that to Rutgers and that can go a really long way.”
Rutgers has to do its part, continuing to cultivate the relationships. That’s something head coach Steve Pikiell and his staff have been very good at. You see former players around the program all the time – at practices, at games, dropping by Pikiell’s office.
“Ron (Harper Jr.) is back all the time,” Pikiell said after the draft. “Caleb (McConnell) is coming back in a couple of weeks, which I love. Aundre Hyatt’s back right now; he’s going to play in France. These guys (Bailey and Dylan Harper) are part of our family, too. I’m looking forward to seeing them play a lot, which I will as much as I can, but I’m also looking forward to them coming back and sharing their lessons with our younger guys.”
Count on it, both players said before the draft.
“That’s home for me,” Dylan Harper said. “I’m tight with the coaching staff. I’ll definitely be returning.”
When Bailey threw out the first pitch before the New York Mets’ game June 24, he bought and signed Mets jerseys for Rutgers staffers who accompanied him to Citi Field. It’s a thoughtful gift, probably the first of many.
“I plan on going back and watching my fellow teammates and the new teammates there whenever I can,” he said.
Much has been said and written about Rutgers Athletics’ financial struggles, how it lags peers in the funding department. In this new pay-for-play era, the results on the court reflect that.
“Rutgers hasn’t exactly been on the cutting edge of NIL,” Pikiell said recently.
Bailey and Harper could change that with the stroke of a pen, and not 20 years from now, either.
“It’s the biggest gift that Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper can give Rutgers, given that it didn’t work out in their one year here,” Schiffer said. “If you’re Steve Pikiell and you’re the coach at Rutgers when these guys are getting paychecks like that, that’s the hope.”
After the draft Pikiell was asked about that possibility.
“They will be great – they’ll give back to their community,” he said. “Hope they sign many, many contracts. They’re generous people and good people – and that (the idea of them donating) is never anything I think about. Rutgers, though, really benefitted from these two guys being here. And I appreciate them.”
Given just how deep their pockets are going to be, Rutgers fans should appreciate them, too.
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers basketball: Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper could soon fund the team