Regional Sports

Baker will be remembered fondly

Photo: USA Today Sports

After Rutgers took a 63-60 loss to Houston in the Midwest Region second-round game on Sunday evening, Rutgers senior guard Geo Baker spoke to the media on a Zoom call. He reflected on what went wrong in Rutgers’ final five minutes and he mused whether he will be remembered as a winner.

Of all the quotes that stood out to me, it was Baker wondering whether he will be remembered as a winner. Either he spoke in a self-deprecating manner or he spoke out of frustration in the heat of the moment.

It’s hard to tell here because he did not take this loss well. It’s likely his final year at Rutgers, and he wanted to do more than just make the NCAA Tournament. He knew he had a chance to take Rutgers to the Sweet 16 with Rutgers taking a 58-49 lead over Houston with 4:33 to go in the game. With Houston making shots, Rutgers relied on him to provide an answer, and he didn’t get it done. He turned the ball over, and Marcus Sasser finished it up by making two free throws after being denied a layup on a Ron Harper Jr. foul.

Baker doesn’t have to worry. Rutgers fans will remember him as a winner just for being one of Steve Pikiell’s recruits who built this Rutgers basketball program from the ground up. It was Baker that took a chance to play at Rutgers as a recruit from New Hampshire. He tasted defeat along with victories in his four-year tenure at Rutgers.

He scored the first points (a 3-pointer) and last five points of Rutgers’ first NCAA Tournament game since 1991, and he created his own shining moment by shooting a crucial 3-pointer that broke a 55-55 tie against Clemson along with scoring a decisive layup with 10 seconds left. There’s no way Rutgers fans won’t appreciate it.

I don’t know if his jersey will ever be retired. I will say this: No one will ever wear his number again for what he meant to the Rutgers basketball program. That’s the ultimate compliment he can get.

We won’t see the last of Baker. He is a Scarlet Knight for life. He will attend functions. He will be rooting the Knights on at the RAC. Who knows? Maybe he could be Pikiell’s assistant coach one day here.

Baker symbolized what makes a Pikiell-coached team. Like Baker, players need to be hard-nosed, versatile and fearless. A player that needs to be committed to the program. A player that must hate losing the way he did. A player who will be hard on himself.

The New Hampshire kid maximized the most out of his talent as a Scarlet Knight. There’s no question he is streaky as a shooter. Say this about him: He makes the big shots when he has to. He showed that against Clemson. He has done that against Big Ten teams during his tenure.

It makes it so surprising when Baker turned the ball over when Rutgers needed him to come through after Houston took a 61-60 lead. The moment was there for him, and he flopped.

But he should not be remembered for that. Not for what he meant to this program. Looking at his body of work, he did too much good for anyone to even think about his turnover.

No one is hard as himself than Baker is. He said he will never forget it for the rest of his life. He felt like he put the Knights down when in reality, his teammates did not exactly do a good job of playing defense down the stretch.

It’s too bad he won’t have another shot of this. Yes, he can return next year because he can exercise the extra year of eligibility after coronavirus canceled the NCAA season last year. But don’t bet on it. From watching him on the Zoom presser, he appeared as he gave it all he had. He seemed drained. Four years can be a long time, especially at Rutgers.

Honestly, Baker has nothing to prove at Rutgers. He did everything he intended to do when he signed on. He helped build the program back to respectability. He took the program to the tournament and won a tournament game.

Happy endings are hard to come by in sports. Most of the time, players leave with a sour taste of defeat.

It doesn’t take away what Baker accomplished here. His legacy was completed long before Friday night. If anything, Friday night enhanced his legacy.

If he made that shot against Houston to win the game on Sunday, not only would he be a legend, but he would have his jersey retired up in the rafters at the RAC.

Despite the miss on Sunday, he shouldn’t have to buy a drink or food ever again at Tavern of George for what he meant to this Rutgers basketball program.

 

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