Jersey Mike’s Arena and Cameron Indoor Stadium will have something in happen once the college basketball season tips off in November.
Both arenas will be crawling with NBA scouts.
Rutgers features two of the top three projected NBA picks via ESPN.com in freshmen Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, while Duke features the projected No. 1 overall pick in Cooper Flagg along with projected No. 6 selection Khaman Maluach, who just competed with South Sudan in the Paris Olympics.
“Rutgers and Duke are ground zero [for NBA scouts],” one veteran NBA scout told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday. “They have the best players.”
Multiple scouts and coaches say Bailey looks awesome for Rutgers. Harper hasn’t been cleared yet for contact following a knee procedure in June.
It’s too bad the powers that be couldn’t set up a Rutgers vs. Duke game at Madison Square Garden or another venue because that would’ve garnered blockbuster TV interest and drawn virtually every NBA executive to inspect the talent first-hand.
“The next two drafts bode very well for American players,” ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla told NJ Advance Media. “Because Cooper Flagg has been so exposed and rightfully so, don’t dismiss that Rutgers may have two of the top three players picked in June. There’s an American Renaissance coming in 2025 and 2026.”
Rutgers opens the season Nov. 6 at home against Wagner and will face its first major tests at the Players First Tournament in Las Vegas. The Scarlet Knights will face Alabama, Notre Dame and Houston Nov. 26-29. Alabama and Houston are projected top-5 teams by ESPN.com.
“Next year it will be impossible to get [Rutgers] tickets – for everyone,” the NBA scout told NJ Advance Media in January. “Their recruiting class will have every scout in the NBA at their games.”
Want to bet on College Basketball?
See the best NJ Sports Betting sites
As for Duke, they open the non-conference Nov. 4 against Maine (Flagg’s home state) at Cameron Indoor Stadium, and will also face Kentucky, Arizona and preseason No. 1 Kansas in November.
While Duke is a projected Top-10 team, Rutgers is at No. 25 per ESPN with high hopes of a March Madness run.
“We’re going to be better (than the Fab Five)!” Harper told NJ Advance Media at the time of his commitment. “Y’all should be excited. We’re going to be a force to be reckoned with. In my eyes, ain’t no team in the country better than us. Our goal is definitely the national championship. Definitely.”
Jalen Rose, an original Michigan Fab Five member who was the emcee for Harper’s commitment, said he, too, is looking forward to seeing what the Scarlet Knights do next season.
“I’m looking forward to special things happening with Rutgers,” Rose said, per Steve Politi of NJ Advance Media, “Now you’ve got to seize it.”
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription.
Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.
