The last time the Rutgers and Seton Hall basketball teams both made the NCAA Tournament was 1991.

The last time they appeared in the same Associated Press Top 25 poll was . . . never.

Both are in play right now, and there is one common denominator.

Pat Hobbs.

“This is what you want,” Hobbs said Tuesday night, as fans were streaming into the RAC to watch the Scarlet Knights’ beatdown of 20th-ranked Penn State. “This is what you want for Rutgers. This is what you want for the state of New Jersey.”

It’s been a wild school year for Hobbs, who opened a $115 million multisport practice facility, fired his failed football coach and endured widespread criticism during the roller-coaster homecoming courtship of Greg Schiano. Right now, as the guy who planted the seeds for New Jersey’s college basketball renaissance, he’s feeling a deserved sense of satisfaction.

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It was Hobbs who hired Kevin Willard from Iona to Seton Hall in 2010. And it was Hobbs who picked Stony Brook’s Steve Pikiell to take over Rutgers’ downtrodden program in 2016.

Though successful at the mid-major level, neither coach was in huge demand when Hobbs offered them jobs. He’s got a good basketball mind, he saw something in them, and he was right.

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“I’m not surprised at what Steve is doing,” Hobbs said. “You saw the consistency at Stony Brook. Once he got it going there, he kept it going; he kept a great culture there and that’s part of the excitement here. You see these kids diving for loose balls at the end of games when they’re up significantly. He’s building it the right way.”

Speaking broadly, there are two ways for a new coach to approach a struggling program. The less scrupulous way is to treat the holdover players like commodities, force a major roster turnover and fill the void with mercenaries. Pikiell and Willard chose the other way, to work with what they inherited, take some lumps, find culture fits and under-the-radar talents, and mold everyone in their own image through time and sweat.

“People don’t understand how hard a job Kevin was handed,” Hobbs said. “You have to have patience.”

The fruits will be on display Saturday. Rutgers (12-3 overall, 3-1 Big Ten) takes a six-game winning streak to equally hot Illinois and seems poised to end a 29-year NCAA Tournament drought. Seton Hall (11-4 overall, 3-0 Big East), which is tracking toward a top-four seed and localized placement in the Big Dance, will host an explosive Marquette squad before a crowd of 12,000-plus in Newark.

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“I had many special years at Seton Hall; I want them to win every night except when they’re playing Rutgers University,” Hobbs said. “But what is good about Seton Hall being where they are right now and us being on the rise: People say you can’t recreate Tobacco Road. Now we’ve got the Turnpike.”

Hobbs’ contributions to that go beyond picking the coaches. He infused Rutgers basketball with resources, including the desperately needed practice facility, after years of neglect. Pikiell returned the favor in November, as Hobbs was getting hit from all sides amid the Schiano negotiations. Pikiell could have stayed out of it or offered standard-issue support, but he wanted to go farther.

“He’s going to go down as one of the best athletic directors Rutgers has ever had,” Pikiell told reporters then. “And I hope you print that and quote me on that and understand the job that he has done in the last four years."

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Their bond is important. If Pikiell’s profile continues to rise, some athletic department flush with cash and in need of a coach is going to sniff around. As the annual carousel swings, the coach-AD relationship is a crucial factor in coach retention. Exhibit A: Willard passed up a huge raise from Virginia Tech in no small part because of his bond with Pat Lyons (who also was hired by Hobbs).

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Hobbs’ ups and downs at Rutgers, especially regarding football, have been well-documented. But the hardwood renaissance on the banks has his fingerprints all over it, and the irony is not lost on him that Rutgers’ postseason-resume metrics get a boost each time Willard’s Pirates win a big game, which is happening often.

“I walked in here with one of our alums and they said, ‘It’s just all happening,’” Hobbs said Tuesday. “What I love is there is a buzz.”

After Tuesday’s game, Penn State coach Pat Chambers lauded the RAC’s “great atmosphere” and added, “Congrats to Pikes and Pat Hobbs for creating this environment.”

Coaches praise opposing coaches all the time. But crediting an opposing AD?

Pretty telling.

Rutgers (12-3, 3-1) at Illinois (11-5, 3-2)

Saturday, noon (Big Ten Network)

Three keys for Rutgers:

1. Win the battle of the boards. Rutgers has been crushing teams on the glass, but Illinois leads the Big Ten in rebounding margin thanks to 13.3 offensive boards per game. The fight for positioning should be fierce.

2. Take an early lead. The Illini are coming in with a ton of juice after crushing Purdue and winning at Wisconsin, so the crowd will be amped. Rutgers has overcome slow starts in the past two games. Would be harder this time.

3. Keep Myles Johnson on the court and involved. The sophomore center has been smart about fouls lately, but road whistles are different. His presence against 7-foot standout Kofi Cockburn (15.0 ppg, 9.1 rpg) is an absolute must.

Marquette (11-4, 1-2) at Seton Hall (11-4, 3-0)

Saturday, 4 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)

Three keys for Seton Hall:

1. Keep Quincy McKnight out of foul trouble. Marquette All-American Markus Howard is averaging 28 points per game in Big East play, but the bigger, tougher McKnight shut him down twice last year.

2. Defend the 3-point line and funnel Marquette inside. The Golden Eagles shoot a Big East-leading 40 percent from deep. With 7-foot-2 Ro Gill anchoring the paint, the Hall leads the league in blocks at six per game.

3. Feed off the crowd, but stay cool. Roughly 13,000 fans are expected, and there is no love lost between these squads after last March’s contentious Big East Tournament semifinal. Things could get chippy again.

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.