Only longtime Rutgers' men's basketball fans remember the 1991 NCAA Tournament game against Arizona St. in Atlanta. On March 15 of that year, the Scarlet Knights fell to the Sun Devils 79-76, beginning the steady downswing that would lead to the eventual end of the Bob Wenzel era on the banks of the ol’ Raritan.
That was the last time that RU played in the NCAAs. To put the drought into perspective, current assistant coach Craig Carter ran the point for that squad.
Fast forward to the summer of 1997 and cue the entrance of a slick, sharp basketball mind in Kevin Bannon.
With thick New Jersey roots, Bannon was seen as a potential savoir for a program that had quickly slipped into mediocrity (later on, this would be the same “tag” given to football head man Greg Schiano, women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer and recently appointed men’s coach Freddie Hill).
Even I got caught up in all of the Bannon hype. The guy could coach, plain and simple. The schematic genius of his sets was evident to even those with the most amateurish eye for the game (I was nine-years-old at the time and still getting a firm grasp on the game).
Add that to a successful first campaign that was marked by RU’s first ever trip to the Big East tournament semifinals (courtesy of Geoff Billet’s infamous “Shot and a Cheer” against Georgetown at MSG) and the hype around Bannon was just beginning.
Growing up and following the art of recruiting only made me understand how powerful Kevin Bannon could make the RU men’s basketball program. Recruiting only enhanced Bannon’s nearly perfect image.
He signed Dahntay Jones, a highly-touted local product who would finish his career at Duke (thanks to Bannon’s antics), as well as Todd Billet (who would finish his career at Virginia because of an awful decision to fire his brother Geoff as an assistant).
However, near misses on future Duke star Jay Williams and Notre Dame standout Troy Murphy gave Scarlet Knights fans a great deal of fools' gold excitement.
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