Michael Karas/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK
Rutgers (!) has now landed two top-3 overall men’s basketball recruits in the class of 2024.
Dylan Harper is spurning the Duke Blue Devils to stay home and try to build a college basketball winner at the most unlikely of schools. Harper has committed to Rutgers, where his father Ron Harper and brother Ron Harper Jr. also starred during their college days. It’s the biggest recruiting win in program history for the Scarlett Knights. Harper is rated as the No. 2 player in the class of 2024 behind Duke-bound forward Cooper Flagg.
Rutgers men’s basketball has somehow now landed two of the top-three recruits in the class of 2024. The Scarlett Knights already had a commitment from Airious ‘Ace’ Bailey, a 6’8 wing out of Georgia ranked as the No. 3 player in his class.
Dylan Harper has been mentioned as a top prospect in the 2025 NBA Draft behind Flagg. He gives Rutgers a 6’5 lefty guard who can make plays out of the pick-and-roll, drain pull-up jumpers, and defend bigger guards with his strong frame. While not an elite run-and-jump athlete, Harper’s polished floor game could make him a star at the college level as a freshman. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke Harper’s commitment:
Don Bosco (N.J.) Prep guard Dylan Harper — the No. 2 prospect in the ESPN Class of 2024 — is committing to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, he tells ESPN. Harper is making public that decision at the @Fanatics offices in New York shortly. pic.twitter.com/lJxtxmcFtQ
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 6, 2023
Harper picked Rutgers over Duke, Auburn, Kansas, and Indiana. We had Harper ranked as the No. 9 NBA prospect in high school basketball today earlier this year.
Harper is the star at New Jersey prep powerhouse Don Bosco High. Bailey was already the highest-ranked recruit to ever commit to Rutgers. Now he’ll share the floor with an even more highly-touted freshman. Harper and Bailey are ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in their class behind Flagg by both ESPN and 247 Sports.
Rutgers broke a 29-year NCAA tournament drought when the program made the tournament in 2021. The Scarlett Knights danced in March again the following season, but missed the NCAA tournament last year with a 15-12 record. Head coach Steve Pikiell has been with the program since 2016 and is on his way to building a powerhouse for next season. Rutgers is 5-2 to begin this year at the time of Harper’s commitment.
Seeing Rutgers land top players is one of the wilder college basketball recruiting stories in recent memory. Before the class of 2024, Rutgers’ last top-50 recruit came in 2008.
Rutgers now has commitments from the No. 2 and No. 3 prospects in the 2024 class and the No. 2 overall recruiting class in the country.
Before this class, Rutgers had landed just six total ESPN 100 prospects since 2007. Only one was ranked in the top 50: Mike Rosario in 2008.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) December 6, 2023
Rutgers
I repeat…RUTGERS has landed 2 of the top 3 recruits in the 2024 college basketball freshmen class.
Steve Pikiell is out here doing work. pic.twitter.com/wIzBWyLZrO
— Nick Yeoman (@NYeoman) December 6, 2023
We’ll update this story as it develops.
