Rutgers’ Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper brimming with confidence

Star Rutgers freshmen Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper take a shot at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby:

Q: Would you buy a ticket to watch Ace play basketball?

Harper (seated in chair): Yeah, of course! He’s my guy. But if he’s not offering it, I’m gonna buy it. But we’re so close I feel like my name should just kinda be on the list already.

Q: Would you buy a ticket to watch Dylan play basketball?

Bailey (seated on floor): Yeah, of course I would, but if he’s playing good, I’m just gonna leave at halftime.

Harper: If I’m playing good? Why?

Bailey: ’Cause he plays good all the time. I already know what’s gonna happen at the end, so …

Harper: (Laugh)

Q: What’s gonna happen at the end?

A: He’s gonna have at least 25 or 30. So if he has a bad game, I’m gonna be watching (laugh).

Q: Let’s say you don’t get a free ticket. Why would you buy a ticket to watch Ace play?

Harper: Have you seen him play? I’m asking you a question.

Q: I’ve seen clips.

Harper: Google him. Ace Bailey.

Bailey: Don’t play like that, don’t play like that.

Harper: If you click any highlight and watch the first three highlights, I promise you’re buying a ticket.

Q: How would you describe the way he plays?

Harper: Like T-Mac [Tracy McGrady]. He plays like T-Mac. Or Kevin Durant.

Bailey I can say both.

Harper: But he gets to his pull-up, not a lot of moves, it’s really 1-2, huh, huh, getting your shot. And then look, it’s his special catch in the post, single look dead in your eyes and shoot it right in your face. That’s called the Ace Bailey.

Q: Which NBA player does Dylan remind you of?

Bailey Cade Cunningham.

Harper: My dawg.

Q: You like that comparison?

Harper: My favorite player, 6-6, 6-7 point guard. A couple of my coaches don’t like that that’s my favorite player, but since my eighth-grade year, he was a junior in high school, I watched him play for the first time, I mean, I just fell in love with his game ever since.

Bailey I’ll take probably Dylan over Cade ’cause I can see Dylan with a better like mid-post game.

Q: What is it about his game that would make you want to buy a ticket?

Bailey He’s unique, bruh. Like you don’t see a lot of 6-7, 6-8 guards that do what he do. And he’s big, too, so it’s like he’s bumping the big, getting to the lane, he shoots right over the small guards — it’s unique, not a lot of people can do that.

Q: How tall are you?

Harper: 6-7, 6-8. Nah, I’m 6-6, 6-7.

Bailey: (Laughing).

Harper: I’m 6-5 on a bad day. Like right now, I’m 6-5.

Q: The pressure of great expectations on you?

Harper: For me, I don’t think there’s no pressure. I think I’ve been in the quote-unquote spotlight for quite a bit now since like two, three years ago, ever since my name kinda got on the map. So just for me, just keep my head down, just like blocking out the outside noise just knowing the only thing important was in front of us and that’s the team getting better every day.

Bailey: I feel like there’s no such thing as pressure, it’s in your head. I don’t really look at it as a word ’cause that’s something somebody thinks or might say as an excuse. It’s just in your head, you’re just supposed to go out there and just play the game. So there ain’t no such thing as pressure to me, just like go out there and have fun.

Q: How would you describe his on-court mentality?

Harper: A dawg. I think once he gets in that mode of like no one can like stop me and no one can guard me, it’s very hard to stop him, ’cause he’s about 6-10 — he’s 7-foot before he cut his hair but he’s 6-10 now — but he really gets to his spot, rise up, so like once he gets in that mentality that, “I’m a dawg, no one will stop me” and will get a stop on the other side of the floor, he’s very hard to play.

Bailey Animal. Same thing he said, once he gets in that mode, can’t do [anything] with him. … And he could guard, too, he can guard 1 through 4, 1 through 5. Once he gets in that mode it’s hard.

Q: How would you describe your on-court mentality?

Bailey: All seriousness, I’d say a dawg, too. When it’s time to go it’s go time.

Harper: I think leader to start off, like trying to be the best leader I could be because as a point guard, you gotta know 1 through 5 position, what they all do, stuff like that, so just knowing everything and being the most prepared, but once you get into the game, that’s what’s turned on, you gotta like switch your mindset to just no friends on the court, it’s just you and your four other people on your team, just your brothers.

Q: What about having a bull’s-eye or target on your back?

Bailey: Who cares?

Harper: Yeah, who cares? I know what it’s like to be the person that’s hunter more than the hunted. I’ve always had that, “I’m gonna hunt people” mentality. Even when I got to this quote-unquote top people I never lost that, I’m still going after people. It’s cool, like you can quote-unquote hunt me but I’m gonna come right back at you.

Bailey: I know people out there that’s probably still better than me, so I know I got bull’s-eyes on other people still. It’s always people that’s working so I know there’s probably people overseas or somewhere that’s probably still better than me right now, so I’m still just grounded and keep working.

Q: Where do you think you need to improve most?

Bailey: I’d say verbally for sure, on defense. More communication with my teammates putting ’em in better spots for them to execute, and stuff like that.

Harper: Just being more of a leader, I think, directing stuff, having that voice to say like in the huddle, like bringing people together, just being the overall best teammate and point guard I could be, and just be aggressive and be myself.

Q: What drives you?

Harper: Just the motivation of want to get better, I think. Feeling yourself get better I think is the best feeling in the world for me. Going to the gym, you can feel like when you’re making more shots, in a better rhythm, stuff like that, so that’s really what motivates me. We’re in college right now, but the ultimate goal obviously is to make it to that next level and be one of the greats, but you gotta stay where you’re at right now and just keep grinding.

Bailey: My mom for sure … people back home in my city [Chattanooga, Tenn.]. It’s very, very hard in my city just for people like me to make it out. So I know I can represent my city, me telling people where I’m from, I know they’re proud back home, they tell me all the time — “Tell ’em where you’re from, tell ’em you’re not from Georgia” — so I know there’s people from back home that’s looking up to me, kids, people’s kids, little sisters and brothers.

Q: What is so tough about getting out of Chattanooga?

Bailey: People die every day in the city so it’s like for me, to stick to what I’m doing and make my momma [Ramika] proud, let her know that I didn’t go down that road … and just let her know, my city knows we still got hope in it.

Q: How is your game different from your father’s Ron and your brother Ron Jr.’s?

Harper: We all can make shots, I think we all do everything well, but what sets me apart I guess being a bigger guard, being a bigger vocal point to the team, but like my dad was a point guard, too, so that’s hard to say. … What sets me apart from them? I don’t know ’cause we all play defense. I guess my brother’s more of a wing, he’s more like off the ball, I’m more on the ball. My dad earlier in his career was more off the ball until he got hurt. So I think we all have different things that we do but we’re all similar in some way.

Q: What made it so special to follow in your brother’s footsteps at Rutgers rather than going to a blue blood?

Harper: Just stay home, just giving back to the people that gave their all to me when I was younger, probably. For them to be able to come down, watch me play, is just really special. The coaching staff knows me for a while since freshman year.

Q: What did your father tell you about Michael Jordan and that Bulls group?

Harper: I got no damn clue — I’m sorry, I’m playin’ around.

Bailey: (Laughing on floor).

Harper: He just said they all worked hard in practice, they didn’t take no days off. They just all followed each other and trusted each other. They all had the same goal and that was winning.

Q: If you were gonna fix Dylan up with a blind date, what would you tell the girl about him?

Bailey: Man, you gotta be respectful. You gotta respect him, you gotta be able to cook, you gotta be able to clean, just be there to support him, in his bad days and good days, not just when you seeing him doing good in life. Men really need females when we’re at our lowest ’cause that’s when most people leave, so I say be there at his lowest, and just be yourself.

Q: When have you ever been at your lowest?

Bailey: Even people at the top have bad days, ’cause they gotta take care of people back home. I have my lowest here and there. Getting homesick, I might be low, I miss my mom, I ain’t never been this far away from my mom this long, so I can say I get sad about that. Family members I might miss, I might get sad about that … bad practice, bad game or something like that.

Q: What gives you a low moment?

Harper: I mean, we’re all humans at the end of the day, it’s not like robots. As a regular person, you’re gonna have a bad day. Sometimes you might not feel like going to the gym a couple of times or you might not feel like getting out of your bed. You might have a bad practice yeah but like you’re with all your brothers, like it’s still fun at the end of the day, you’re not gonna knock yourself down just ’cause you had one bad practice, you’re gonna regroup, and they’re gonna help you regroup.

Q: How would you describe Ace off the court?

Harper: He’s very caring and giving. I think he gives a lot when he doesn’t have to all the time. He’s always gonna do the right thing no matter what.

Q: How would you describe Dylan off the court?

A: I see Dylan do the same thing. Helping others when they probably don’t even need help.

Q: Personal goals for this season?

Harper: Don’t lose a game at the RAC. Big Ten champ. A personal goal for me is just to get better every day, just to see improvement from the stuff I did wrong the day before and just keep stacking days.

Bailey: Same thing he was just saying, don’t lose a game at the RAC, be a better person off the court and on the court. I’m already a good person, I just want to be more respectful to people and just being like a great teammate.

Q: What would you tell another top prospect about Rutgers?

Harper: Man, Coach [Steve] Pikiell will love you, he will put the ball in your hands, he’s gonna do whatever he gotta do for you to be successful, and the rest of the coaching staff, they’re all gonna make sure and look out for you, not only on the court but off the court.

Bailey They’re gonna be there to walk you through some things, ’cause you might be young, but you gotta be able to be coachable too ’cause they’re gonna get on you at the same time. It’s love. They’re gonna cuss you out in the film room. But you gotta be able to be coachable and take that in.

Q: What do you like best about this Rutgers team?

Harper: Our bond. I think our chemistry. None of us hates on each other, we all know we’re all equal. We need 1 through 12, 1 through 15 to win. From Day 1, we all walked in that locker room, sat down in them chairs and we were all just laughing, having a good time.

Bailey: Man, chemistry off the court, what he said, man. When people were talking about it, they feared our chemistry in the court, they didn’t think it was gonna work out ’cause everybody was new. But we be with each other 24-7.

Harper No one’s ever alone.

Q: So the chemistry off the court helps the chemistry on the court?

Bailey: For sure. If you don’t have the chemistry off the court, it’s not gonna be there on the court.

Q: How much damage can this team do?

Harper: A lot.

Bailey: I got a question for you: How much do you think we can do?

Harper: Sky’s the limit for us. I think we’re gonna have a great season, shock a lot of people. We’re gonna just have trust in Coach Pike and trust in our teammates and we’re gonna trust in ourselves and pull out big games.

Bailey: The sky’s the limit for sure. Once we get what we need to get done, and we know what we need to fix, so once we fix that, it’d be super hard for teams to stop us.

Q: Three dinner guests?

Harper: LeBron James; Michael Jackson; Kevin Hart.

Bailey: Kevin Durant; Hunxho; Richard Pryor or Bernie Mac.

Q: Does he make you laugh?

Harper: Yeah, all the time.

Q: Does he make you laugh?

Bailey: Yeah, he makes me laugh.

Q: Is he funnier than you?

Harper: Yeah, he’s funnier than me. He’s funny for no reason. I try to be funny to be funny. He’s funny just doing his own thing.

Q: Favorite movie?

Harper: I’m not a big movie guy, I like shows.

Bailey: If it was a basketball movie, I’d do “Love & Basketball,” but if it’s like a movie of all time, it would be “Blue Chips.”

Q: Favorite actor?

Harper: Who’s the dude that be doing his own stunts? It’d be the craziest stunts ever. He flew off the building with a motorcycle.

Bailey: I say Will Smith.

Harper: Tom Cruise!

Q: Favorite actress?

Bailey: Gabrielle Union.

Harper: She plays on Prison Break [Sarah Wayne Callies].

Q: Favorite rapper?

Harper: NoCap.

Bailey: Hunxcho.

Q: Favorite meal?

Harper: Lamb chops by far.

Bailey: Rotel. My mom makes it the right way.

Q: Do you view yourself as the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft next year?

Bailey That’s not my decision I can make … I can see myself just trying to step in and be a leader, to a team that really needs that. I can’t really say that’s my decision right now, and I’m not focusing on that right now, I’m in college. All my vision and goals is right now. I can’t look forward ’cause I might miss out on what’s going on right now.

Q: What would you tell an NBA general manager about why they should draft Dylan Harper?

Harper: You’re gonna get a winner. Mostly being a winner, just being a leader, and just showing people that I could adapt with playing with other people.

Q: What would you tell an NBA general manager why they should draft Ace?

Harper: ’Cause he’s one of a kind. They always got them one-of-a-kind prospects that’s gonna change a basketball game, he’s one of those guys. You won’t see a lot of 6-10 guys catching the ball, being a guard, get in the post, bump off fade. Then, you’re gonna get a great teammate, and you’re gonna always get a laugh out of him. He’s never gonna be low-energy, he’s always gonna be high.

Q: What would you tell an NBA GM about why they should draft Dylan?

Bailey: What he said, you’re gonna get a winner, you’re gonna get a dawg out of him. Great leader, he’s gonna put players in their position to be great and execute, he can read the floor well on both sides. I can tell unicorn ’cause you don’t get that many people that can do what he do.

Q: What would you tell an NBA GM about why they should draft Ace Bailey?

Bailey: I’m very energetic … I love to compete. I love to push players. I just love the game of basketball.

Q: Your message to Rutgers fans?

Bailey: I love you guys, man, thanks for the support. I mean, that support is strong, I hear it not just on the court, I hear it off the court walking to class, going to get something to eat.

Harper: It’s gonna be a big year. I mean, season for the making. I don’t think Rutgers basketball seen something like this since when my brother was here, the tournament team, and the 1970 team. I think we’re gonna be one of them teams that are gonna make an impact on Rutgers basketball and cement our name in it.

Bailey We’re gonna change the culture, it’s gonna be something they call red bloods now.

Q: Oh, instead of blue bloods?

Bailey Blue bloods might still be out there, but it’s gonna be something called red bloods.

Q: What do you want your basketball legacy to be?

Harper: A winner. Competitor. And just I always give 100 percent on the court, and I give the most to my teammates, that’s the biggest things.

Bailey: I’m a competitor. A dawg. And a winner. I like to win.