PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The most inspired student section sign of this college basketball season appeared at Rutgers in early January. It read, “Rank Us Cowards,” a dare to the voters in the Associated Press poll to include the Scarlets Knights for the first time since 1979.
It has been a season of awakening at Rutgers, where the most improbable story in all of college basketball is unfolding with a quintessential Jersey flair. A program that for decades has been haunted by a toxic mix of scandal, losing and conference realignment punchlines has emerged as the sport’s unlikely darling.