Rutgers’ Dylan Harper continues to make a buzzer-beater case for the No. 1 NBA draft pick

Cooper Flagg entered the college basketball season as the favorite to go first in the 2025 NBA Draft, but officially has a challenger in Dylan Harper.

The Rutgers guard turned heads again on Saturday with a stunning 3-pointer, capping his 24-point performance against Seton Hall with a 66-63 win. With 6.4 seconds left, Harper received the throw-in, took the ball up the court and fended off his defender enough for him to get a clean look at the basket.

The game was familiar to anyone who watched Harper’s brother Ron Harper Jr. play for Rutgers three years ago, when he was a second-team All-Big Ten selection. The elder Harper made a similar shot to defeat No. 1 Purdue

What’s special about Dylan’s shot is that it’s part of a meaningful conversation about who goes first in the NBA draft.

Harper was the talk of the town entering the season as the Rivals’ No. 3 recruit in the class of 2024 and has exceeded all expectations so far. Entering Saturday, he led all Power Four players in scoring with 23.4 points per game, along with 5.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.

Against Seton Hall, he took the lead in the second half and scored 18 points in a back-and-forth thriller. Ace Bailey, another top-three recruit, also scored 21 points and seven rebounds and, along with Harper, accounted for 68.2% of the Scarlet Knights’ points.

Notably, Harper also shot 4 of 7 from 3-point range, further improving his weakness early in the season. Through the first seven games of the 2024-25 season, Harper shot 8 of 29 from distance (27.6%). In the four games since, he is 12 of 26 (46.2%).

Combo guards who are 6 feet tall and can score from anywhere tend to do well in the NBA, although those skills may not be enough to surpass Flagg’s promise. In 10 games with Duke, the 17-year-old has looked like the type of all-rounder the NBA covets, and his youth makes him a strong bet to improve even further as he approaches drinking age.

The best thing that can be said about Harper is that he turned the discussion of a flag slam dunk’s top pick into a real debate. And barring disaster, he will overtake James Bailey, selected sixth overall in 1979 as the first NBA draft pick in Rutgers history.