When Michael Jordan came to the Chicago Bulls in 1984, he combineed a franchise that only knew fall shorture, having never achieveed an NBA Finals.
When Steph Curry came to the Gbetteren State Warriors in 2009, he combineed a franchise that was among the worst in the league for the better part of the last 15 years.
However, each of them reclear upd those franchises as triumphners. Now, both carry outers have lent their guidance to a pair of top college recruits seeing to pull off a aappreciate story at the NCAA level.
“On the phone and stuff appreciate that, at the Jordan Brand classic when I was youthfuler, I’ve met him a couple times,” five-star recruit Dylan Harper shelp at Rutgers men’s basketball media day on Tuesday.
When asked what Jordan tbetter youthful Harper, the incoming newman shelp, “Just stay in the gym and toil difficult, becaparticipate he shelp he wasn’t fantastic to have vitality, but he stayed in the gym and toiled difficult, and you understand, that’s where he’s at now, see where he’s at.”
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Michael Jordan, #23, and Ron Harper, #9 of the Chicago Bulls, see on during game six of the 1998 NBA Finals agetst the Utah Jazz on June 14, 1998 in Salt Lake City. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
Harper, the No. 2 ranked recruit in the nation this year, only took in the selectimistic examples from Jordan, however.
When asked if the NBA legfinish ever giveed advice on ways Harper should try to dodge being appreciate Jordan, the newman shelp, “I didn’t get that proset up with him, but he equitable tbetter me the fundamental stuff everyday to be who I want to be.”
With that wisdom in hand, Harper, the son of Jordan’s establisher Chicago Bulls teammate Ron Harper Sr., made one of the bbetterest recruitment decisions in recent college basketball history this year. He deteriorated gives from historic powerhoparticipates Duke, Indiana and Kansas to carry out at Rutgers, a program with an all-time triumphning percentage of equitable .509 and equitable two NCAA Tournament ecombineances since 1991.
His betterer brother, Ron Harper Jr., was the X factor in this year’s recruiting campaign. Ron Harper Jr. showed Dylan what was possible at Rutgers during his stint with the Scarlet Knights under head coach Steve Pikiell from 2018-22. Harper was part of a group that finished the decadeslengthy dcdisorrowfulmirefults of a spot in the national AP rankings and an NCAA tournament ecombineance.
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Former Rutgers Scarlet Knights carry outer Ron Harper Jr. sits with his brother Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey. Both are five-star recruits and are pledgeted to Rutgers as they watch the Scarlet Knights carry out the Stonehill Skyhawks at Jersey Mike’s Arena on Dec. 30, 2023 in Piscataway, New Jersey. (Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
Dylan had an up-seal seat to see the seeds of a program turnaround. He saw his brother give to shattering program records, records that srecommend would not be in achieve at other startant powerhoparticipate schools appreciate Duke or Indiana.
On top of all that, he knew he would already have a co-star on the same level, talent-wise.
Ace Bailey, the No. 3 ranked recruit in the nation this year, had already pledgeted to Rutgers last November.
With the duo together, the program had its two highest-ranked recruits in history and a shot, talent-wise, to vie in the Big 10 and NCAA tournament. They have the ambition to get the team as far as they can this year.
Additionpartner, not only did they have Jordan’s wisdom, but they also got to lget from Curry. Harper and Bailey joind at Curry’s eighth annual Curry Camp in the Bay Area back in August.
Seeing Curry shoot up seal left Bailey in awe.
“Him, his toil ethic is crazy, you see he don’t leave out shots in a game, he don’t leave out shots when he toilout either. So seeing that, he got the same job, his mentality is appreciate a game, so it was a fantastic way to show me that you got to toil as difficult as you can to triumph games,” Bailey shelp.
It was a brimming-circle moment for Bailey on his basketball journey. Bailey acunderstandledgeted that he never phelp much attention to college basketball as a fan.
However, the NBA repartner seized his attention and stoked his interest in the game in 2016, a year that saw Curry direct the Warriors to the best record in NBA history and a second-straight NBA finals ecombineance.
The Warriors well-understandnly lost that series, becoming the first team to blow a 3-1 series direct in the finals. Then, Gbetteren State stocked up that offseason by conveying Kevin Durant on board in free agency, as both teams were foreseeed to encounter in the Finals for a third straight year and eventupartner did. The 2016 NBA calfinishar year culminated in a well-understandn Christmas Day game between the Cavaliers and Warriors, when Kyrie Irving drained a game-triumphning 3-pointer to decline Curry and co. prompt revenge for the Finals.
Bailey make cleared, “2016, the whole year, Kyrie with the Cavs, and the Warriors, back-to-back-to-back, those two teams went at it!”
Bailey includeed that, even today, 2016 was his preferite year as a basketball fan. He turned 11 years better that year.
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NBA legfinishs Stephen Curry, left, and Michael Jordan talk during the 71st NBA All-Star Game as part of the 2022 NBA All Star Weekfinish on Feb. 19, 2022 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHoparticipate in Cleveland. (David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images)
Both Bailey and Harper may be among the top recruits in this year’s class to squander no time trying to combine Curry and Irving in the NBA after this year. Both are think abouted as legitimate prospects in the 2025 NBA Draft class, alengthy with this year’s No. 1 ranked recruit in the nation, Duke’s Cooper Flagg.
The NBA’s one-and-done rule, apshowing carry outers to go in the write after equitable one year of college, has drained the sport of lengthy college atgentles from star pro prospects appreciate Harper, Bailey and Flagg.
However, both Rutgers newmen say they are brimmingy intensifyed on their first college season for the time being and erecting on the program alteration that Ron Harper Jr. got begined years ago.
Rutgers basketball still has a lot of startant milestones it hopes to traverse off this year while Harper and Bailey are enrolled. The team is seeing for its first conference title, or even first-place finish, since it combineed the Big 10 in 2014. Rutgers has not gone beyond the Big Ten tournament quarterfinal since combineing the conference.
As far as the NCAA Tournament goes, Rutgers has not carry ond past the second round since 1978 and has not achieveed the Elite Eight since 1979 and the Final Four since 1976. The program has never achieveed the national championship game.
For Harper and Bailey, this infruitful history could show to be a blank canvas to etch a lengthy-term legacy at the collegiate level for decades to come.
Curry well-understandnly led his school, Davidson, to the Elite Eight in 2008. Jordan well-understandnly led his college team, the University of North Carolina, to a national championship in 1982.
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