(Mel Evans | AP Photo)
PISCATAWAY — If it was possible, Steve Pikiell would've taken the lone vote his Rutgers men's basketball team received Monday in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and declined it.
The Scarlet Knights coach was admittedly concerned that the buzz his team had generated from its early-season success would be a detriment for a program that hadn't played a team ranked in the top-185 of the Pomeroy College Basketball ratings.
Despite starting the season 4-0 for the first time in 16 years, Rutgers remained unproven and Pikiell knew it.