To say Rutgers came into the season with low expectations would be underselling how low things got for the men's basketball program during the 2015-16 season. The program was now on its third coaching staff in five years, and most were at best skeptical of the new pieces the roster had been infused with.
Fast forward nearly two months and there's been significant contributions from players returning from injury, transfers and freshman. An 11-2 out of conference slate has left a majority of fans optimistic, if not skeptical. The schedule was set up for early success, with a four game onslaught beginning just before Santa Claus was set to arrive.
Rutgers finished out of conference play with a loss at a good Seton Hall team, a game in which they controlled for close to 30 minutes. The average fan seemed content with the loss, although disappointed. Then came a visit to Wisconsin, a team most national writers had picked to win the B1G jumped out to an early lead; Rutgers was unable to close the gap, although they never gave up.
Two games from now the Scarlet Knights will visit Michigan State, a perennial league power. Sandwiched in-between what may very well be Rutgers most important game of the season.
Many fans view the New Years Day matchup with Penn State at home as a winnable game, one Rutgers needs to win if they plan to carry on the positive momentum of their out of conference success.
It's the gift and the curse of expectations.
Fans are willing to get excited about victories over teams you're "supposed to beat" when it hasn't always been that way in recent memory. Now that Rutgers has looked competent in November and December, we're all waiting for the Scarlet Knights to take the next step.
In a way the team can't be blamed one bit for this, it's human nature to want more. Almost every opinion we express is based on our preconceived notion of the matter at hand. It's tough to be disappointed when your expectations are low, its once they're raised we get into trouble.
In life we constantly spend our days trying to balance our logic and emotions. Being a sports fan is fueled by emotion, we feel blue when our team loses and ecstatic when they win. It's often tough to see the bigger picture, and justifies the love we shower our teams with when they're winning and the vitriol we spew when they're losing.
This isn't a call for logic, it's just an attempt to explain why just the second conference game of Rutgers season may just be their most important.
With a loss Rutgers would sit at 11-4, a year removed from a seven win season. It's easy for us to justify losses to Seton Hall and Wisconsin, who most would agree are better teams at this point.
The team is sitting on back to back losses, a third against a beatable opponent and the tide starts to turn. The Big Ten is difficult, even a "winnable" home game comes against a quality opponent that KenPom has ranked 105th in the nation.
A win would calm the fan base, while a loss would fuel the naysayers who all along were quick to dismiss Rutgers fast start because of their soft schedule. None of this is fair to a team and a program first learning how to succeed on the B1G level.
Then again, there's no such thing as "fair" in sports. As an athlete if you're willing to soak up the positive attention when things are going well, you damn sure better be able to deal with the negative attention that comes with losing.
It's a balancing act; never get too high, never get too low.
My head is telling me this is just another game, one stop in a process that is expected to take close to 100 games.
My heart tells me win "or else".
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