Rutgers University Scarlet Knights

Gym: Louis Brown Athletic Center (Rutgers Athletic Center, the “RAC”)

Location: multiple campuses in and around New Brunswick, NJ

Conference: Big 10

Conference Championships: 4

Tournament Appearances: 6

Final Four Appearances: 1

Opponent: Florida State University

If you grew up or live in New Jersey, Rutgers is all around you. As our one big state university, it draws students from all over the state, and I doubt there are many New Jersey high school classes sending more graduates to a different four year school. Being from New Jersey means having tons of friends, family, acquaintances, co-workers, teachers that are students, alumni, or took classes at some point. It means that if college was a path you took, you probably at least seriously considered going to Rutgers. It means seeing Rutgers bumper stickers, flags, hoodies every time you leave your house (and for a good chunk of New Jerseyans, it doesn’t even take that much). I guess this was all a long-winded way of saying Rutgers is a special place to folks from Jersey whether they went there or not.

Rutgers is an amazing university and you’ll get a great education regardless of what you go for, although it didn’t always have a great reputation back home. Rutgers does attract kids from all 50 states and plenty of international students, over an enrollment of almost 70,000 across the three schools. Rutgers has three separate schools; Rutgers-Newark and Rutgers-Camden, which are primarily commuter campuses, along with the main campus at New Brunswick; and don’t be confused between the two other Rutgers schools, which are sometimes referred to as Rutgers “campuses”, and the handful of physical campuses that make up Rutgers-New Brunswick. Rutgers-New Brunswick alone hosts 50,000 students.

Rutgers has been around virtually forever. Established originally as Queen’s College, it is old enough to have operated under a Royal charter for the first decade of its existence, one granted by Benjamin Franklin’s son William (who was the Royal Governor of New Jersey at the time). It’s the eighth oldest college in the United States, and was only one of nine colleges chartered in the United States prior to the American Revolution. It actually retained the name Queen’s College into America’s infancy, being renamed Rutgers after Revolutionary War figure Colonel Henry Rutgers donated to the school in 1825. It remained a private institution into the twentieth century.

I don’t know how much of Rutgers’ less than stellar reputation had to do with their athletics, which was notoriously inept for generations (at least their revenue sports), but opinion seemed to shift rather swiftly about the university as a whole in New Jersey when a Greg Schiano led Rutgers football team exploded with an 11-2 season in 2006. They reached as high as #7 in the AP Poll, finishing the season at #12. Never before and not since has a single team galvanized the entire state and gotten so many people behind them in New Jersey. New Jersey is a very fragmented sports state, with fans of New Jersey teams (which, we only have one major professional one left), New York teams (of which there are multiple in every major sport), and Philly teams. But in 2006, everyone was talking Rutgers football, and the excitement was palpable. Everyone remembers where they were when #15 Rutgers famously beat #3 Louisville (I watched from an Atlantic City hotel room), and everyone remembers the name Jeremy Ito, who hit the game winning field-goal with only a handful of seconds left. After missing a first kick that was called back on a marginal offsides penalty, Ito drilled the second attempt to give Rutgers one of its biggest athletic triumphs in their history. There was more anticipation leading up to that game than probably any other sporting event in New Jersey sports history (rivaled only by the Devils Stanley Cup appearances and triumphs). However, what we all thought was the beginning of a new era of Rutgers athletics turned out to be a high-water mark, at least to this point. Despite spending much of its history in major conferences, Rutgers has had a difficult time finding sustained success.

Rutgers basketball isn’t an exception. The hoops team has only appeared in the AP Poll in 4 different seasons, clustered in a 5 year period in the late 70’s. Their greatest success came in 1976, reaching the Final Four before losing to Michigan at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. Michigan would go on to lose to Indiana and give Bob Knight his first national championship. The team has spent the years since in relative obscurity, having not made a tournament appearance since 1991, finishing every year under .500 for more than the past decade. 12 Scarlet Knights have made it to the NBA, most notably New Jersey native Roy Hinson, who also played in New Jersey for the Nets. Rutgers spent time in the Atlantic 10, the Big East, and was shuffled around in the most recent wave of realignment before miraculously getting scooped up by the Big Ten.

Despite generations of struggles for Rutgers athletics, they do hold one of the most important distinctions in American sport; Rutgers is the birthplace of college football, hosting nearby Princeton in the inaugural game in November of 1869. The football and basketball programs are steeped in history, both of which have competed in over 100 seasons in their respective sports, fitting for one of the oldest non-Ivy League colleges in the country.

One of the coolest parts of this whole experience was how it came together. The night before the game, which was on a Tuesday, I was biding my time in a Brooklyn apartment where I was staying in between a few shifts I was working up in the area. I was chatting on the r/collegebasketball Discord server as I often do, when one user offered a free ticket to this game to anyone who might be able to make it. I just happened to be traveling home to Philadelphia from New York after that work day, a trip which swings you right through New Brunswick. After a short conversation, he offered me the ticket, and we made arrangements to meet the next evening. I had an awesome time, and was lucky enough to hang out with a die-hard Rutgers sports fan who chatted with me about Rutgers and college basketball all game. Hopefully we’ll catch another game in the future!

The Outlook

Rutgers was set to host Florida State as a part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Both teams were coming in 5-0, the Seminoles’ wins over George Washington and Colorado State the most notable of the wins between the two teams. Rutgers had played a particularly weak schedule, and had only beaten Central Connecticut by 4 points in their home opener. Neither team was ranked, but Florida State was coming off a 2016-17 in which they reached as high as #6 in the AP Poll, and sent two players to the NBA in the 2017 draft. Forward Jonathan Isaac went sixth overall to the nearby Magic, and guard Dwayne Bacon was drafted in the second round by New Orleans. Florida State was slightly favored by ESPN going into the game.

The hiring of Steve Pikiell has energized Rutgers fans and made them optimistic for the future of the program. The former Stony Brook coach, who brought the Seawolves from a program struggling to transition to division one to an America East powerhouse, has redefined the culture around Rutgers basketball, and has given Scarlet Knights fans a reason to believe putting a competitive team on the court for Big Ten basketball could happen sooner rather than later.

All that being said, despite being familiar with the school and having seen a number of games on television, I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of atmosphere and attendance.

The Town

Rutgers’ expansive umbrella stretches across the state of New Jersey, from Newark in the northeast to Camden in the southwest. Both of those campuses are primarily commuter schools that sponsor their own non-division one athletics. Rutgers’ main campus, which is actually five campuses anchored around New Brunswick, is in Middlesex County in Central Jersey. The center of all of the mayhem is what’s called College Ave. Campus, which makes up much of, and is very much woven into, downtown New Brunswick. It’s the oldest part of the school, home to all of the oldest buildings, university administration, things like that. I’m also told it’s the center of the university’s nightlife, with plenty of bars, fraternities, parties, and live music options. The stadiums, however, are both located across the Raritan River to the east; the football team plays their home games on Busch Campus, and the RAC is located on adjacent Livingston Campus.

College Ave. Campus

I got into the area with plenty of time to kill before the game, so I decided to head right into New Brunswick and walk around the city and campus. One thing I’ve noticed about New Brunswick the handful of times I’ve been downtown, is that it at times can feel like a big city despite having a relatively small downtown area and population. It can be pretty congested and traffic can drag, parking is difficult, and people are usually hustling along the sidewalks. Don’t forget, it is in New Jersey; people have no problem being direct. I did manage to find a metered parking spot right on Easton Ave., one of the main roads in the town. It was only a few hours until the meter enforcement ended, so I was able to pay a few bucks and leave my car there all night, which was pretty convenient.

A newer facility on College Ave. Campus

I got there in the late afternoon, and there wasn’t much sunlight left, so the first thing I did was walk around the College Ave. Campus. It’s a wonderful campus with tons of trees, green space, and beautiful architecture. You can describe it as an urban environment, but it is very much laid out on the classic college campus template. A lot of the buildings are older stone structures, about 3 or 4 stories, but there are a few modern facilities that tower up above the rest of the grounds. It was finals time during the fall semester, and tons of students were buzzing around. There was a lot of energy around the campus. From there, I ventured more into New Brunswick proper away from the cluster of Rutgers facilities, went into a cool basement record store, and explored some city blocks. New Brunswick is very much your typical college town, and aside from the hospitals and municipal buildings, pretty much everything downtown that isn’t a Rutgers facility exists mostly for Rutgers students, family, and alumni. The entire town is covered in scarlet “R”s, and students are everywhere. There are pretty much two or three blocks where all of the eateries and bars are located, most of the action just next to the campus.

After killing a few hours touring the area, I sat in a café and made arrangements to meet the guy who had the tickets. Livingston Campus where the RAC is located is not really walking distance from College Ave., so he arranged to pick me up downtown. It was about 10 or 15 minutes to get over to Livingston and into the RAC parking lot. By this point, it was totally dark outside, and I couldn’t really see much of that campus. I’m told it used to be one of the less exciting parts of the school, but in recent years has added more residents and facilities.

Frat house right on College Avenue

Rutgers is a fun place to spend some time, and New Brunswick is a great place to have to kill a few hours. There are plenty of bars and restaurants to go to before a game, but remember, unless you’re particularly adventurous, walking from there to the RAC isn’t an option.

Facilities/Logistics

Getting to Rutgers is pretty simple. It’s located right along the New Jersey Turnpike, a major New Jersey highway that essentially connects New York to Philadelphia. Its central location in the state makes it easily accessible to most New Jerseyans (in fact, as of the 2010 census, neighboring East Brunswick was the geographic center of the state’s population), as well as New York and Philly. Public transit also services the area, with a train stop along one of the New Jersey Transit lines a block from College Ave. Parking can be tough if you’re building an itinerary like mine, but if you only plan to go to the RAC, you won’t have to fight for a spot, and you’ll only spend a couple of minutes, even parking in the back, to get yourself from your car into the building.

The view that greets you as you enter the court area.

The RAC, which stands for Rutgers Athletic Center (although it’s now officially called Louis Brown Athletic Center, it’s almost always referred to as the RAC), is an imposing modernist building constructed in the late 70’s. It is a trapezoidal shaped building, with the two longer sides of the facility sloping inward to meet the roof. This makes not only for an interesting looking building, but has some great effects on the acoustics, which we’ll talk about later. Its gray stone façade is reflective of the era in which it was built, the dreary aesthetic of a period in architecture when efficiency and pragmatism reigned supreme. Once inside, the facility isn’t quite as strikingly unique. After you get your tickets scanned and go through the entrance, you walk out onto somewhat of a lofted platform that overlooks the entire court area from the baseline of one end of the gym. Two large stands along the sidelins rise steeply up to the rafters, and a small section on the opposite baseline houses the student section. Two pretty empty hallways run underneath each sideline stand, bringing you to your respective section. The whole place holds about 8,000 people. The RAC might not be the Palestra, but it’s a cool, aging building that the Rutgers community really seems to love.

A view of the steep stands

Fortunately, I didn’t have to deal with the process of finding tickets. The person who brought me to the game has a season ticket package which, as far as I understand, works similarly to getting a standby seat on a flight. He doesn’t have a regular seat, and doesn’t know where he’ll be sitting until he gets his electronic ticket scanned going into the game. It admits two people, which is something I’ve never seen before. Parking was $10.

Concessions seemed pretty run-of-the-mill, but I didn’t get anything or really take a good look at the menus. Beer isn’t served at the RAC. I did quickly grab a sticker to add to my growing game day memorabilia collection from a tiny apparel booth right in the concourse below our seats. There were at least two or three more places to get Rutgers swag with a more substantial selection in different parts of the arena.

Before the stands filled out

The Atmosphere

The attendance for this game is listed by ESPN as being under 4,900, about 60% of the RAC’s capacity. If there was political office at stake with those numbers, I’d be demanding a recount. The place was electric from start to finish, and if the RAC was only about half full, I don’t think I could handle it at capacity. Rutgers fans were tuned in from the opening tip, and the closely contested nature of the game meant the place was loud for 40+ minutes.

We had an obstructed view of the student section

What was cool for me about being there, and one thing that I hadn’t really considered, was that, obviously, most fans at the game were from Jersey. The crowd had the same kind of energy and attitude you feel at Devils games and other Jersey sporting events, and it was pretty special for me because I hadn’t experienced that particular brand of energy at a basketball game since the Nets left for Brooklyn. I’m not a Rutgers alum or Scarlet Knights fan, but I really felt at home at the RAC.

The student section was totally full, practically overflowing. Again, on the theme of Jersey sports fans, it’s hard to find a more passionate bunch. These kids were all involved, all standing throughout the game, all belting out “Let’s go Rutgers” at the top of their lungs. Student attendance is up over the last few seasons according to the Asbury Park Press, helped by a more competitive team and organized efforts by the school and basketball team to get them out. Apparently, last season Coach Pikiell would canvas the students himself, dropping by frat houses with sandwiches and pizza. For those of us who did the whole broke student thing, if a coach dropped by and gave you a free sandwich, you’d probably be at every game whether they were in last place or not.

Below is a video of one of the loudest moments in the RAC that night. It includes the Rutgers fight song (which is an excerpt from a Rutgers song called “The Bells Must Ring”), and an “R-U” chant. Sorry about the formatting (and the vertical orientation; my old phone put everything in landscape and sometimes I forget I have to turn this one), having to split it up through Twitter, but technology doesn’t really agree with me and there was no other way I was able to get the video off my phone. I almost scrapped it entirely, but I thought it needed to be a part of this piece.

One thing I did notice was that there was a slight disconnect between the Riot Squad, the group that organizes the student section, and the general student section behind them. The Riot Squad was frequently active with an arsenal of chants, often in accord with the cheerleaders, sometimes started on their own. However, the general student section, as loud as they were, only participated in a couple of the chants, and didn’t get going quite as much as the Riot Squad did. It seems like the Riot Squad is set a little lower, perhaps in a separated but directly adjacent section of bleachers, and this might be a cause of the rest of the students being less active. It seems like a simple problem to fix, and as Rutgers students keep coming out to games in greater number, I’m sure they’ll get everyone more involved (which, when they do get that section making noise more frequently, will only add to their intense home court advantage).

Now, this next thing I’m about to bring up doesn’t take anything away from Rutgers fans, but the volume in the building is aided, as I mentioned earlier, by the trapezoidal shape of the building. The students sit directly below one of these walls, which slopes so steep, I saw some students reaching up and playing with the bottom of the banners which hang off that part of the ceiling. Acoustics like that just magnify the energy of the building, and help people get even more involved in the game.

There, as expected, wasn’t much of a Florida State presence in the building, aside from a small group behind their bench and a spattering of individuals throughout the crowd. I think I got mistaken for a ‘Noles fan a few times, though, as the only thing I had to wear that weren’t work clothes in my car was a crimson sweatshirt. Thankfully I didn’t end up covered in someone’s leftover nachos.

The atmosphere overall was fantastic, especially as the second half wore on and Rutgers got as close to within 3 points of Florida State with less than two minutes left. Fans were hyped, loud, plugged in, and someone sitting behind us threw so many insults towards the court, he even put me to shame.

The Game

The game was outstanding. It was back and forth until midway through the second half when Florida State built a lead it would keep to the buzzer. Florida State is definitely a more talented group, but they struggled to hit their shots early, and Rutgers worked hard on the defensive side of the ball and on the glass to keep themselves in the game. The game was in the balance until the Seminoles extended their lead to 6 with 30 seconds to play. The biggest lead either team had was 8. Florida State ended up winning 78-73.

Florida State would go on to beat #5 Florida a week after their trip to Jersey, and find their way into the poll before conference play. They’re sitting un-ranked at 13-5 at the time of the writing of this section. Rutgers didn’t have quite as talented of a roster, but did go on to upset #15 Seton Hall at home a few weeks later in the Garden State Hardwood Classic, and would bring #4 Michigan State to overtime in January.

Conclusion

I had a really good time at this game. Like I said before, downtown New Brunswick is a great place to kill a couple of hours, and game day at the RAC is tons of fun. A good town, a unique building, loud, passionate fans, and an increasingly competitive basketball team all make for a great game day experience at Rutgers. If you live in New Jersey, there is no reason not to come out to see this Scarlet Knights team. Our Nets are gone, the team and atmosphere get better every year, and Rutgers competes in a Big Ten conference that is one of the best in basketball. The ability to get a reasonably priced ticket to see teams like Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Wisconsin every year is a luxury that more people should be taking advantage of. And for fans of other Big Ten teams, if you haven’t yet made the trip, I would do it sooner rather than later; your squads are having a tougher and tougher time getting out of Piscataway with a win.

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On Deck: Temple University