New Men’s Basketball’s Co-Captain Brings Ivy League Degree and Proven Leadership Skills to Rutgers

Among the new students generating buzz on the men’s basketball team this year, Zach Martini stands out in his own way with a unique resume.

He is already a college graduate, having earned his degree from Princeton University where he majored in English. And, despite hardly knowing his new teammates since official practice began in June, the fifth-year senior was named co-captain last month. He brings the leadership skills he developed during his senior year at Princeton, when he was captain of the Ivy League championship team.

It didn’t take long for head coach Steve Pikiell to realize he would have an experienced leader in the program.

“He was talking about that in the recruiting process,” Pikiell said from his office. “Nobody in the recruiting process talks to you about leadership skills. None. After being here with our guys since training camp on June 9, he’d already reached out to the freshmen. So not only did he talk it but he walked it, too. On and off the court he’s an actual example of what Rutgers University should want. And he loves our business program here.”

Martini’s basketball career playing the game he loved nearly ended his junior year, when a pre-season game collision resulted in a collapsed lung. He would miss six weeks of practice, returning to the lineup that December.

“It was crazy,” he said. “A lot of pain. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through.”

The 23-year-old who grew up in Warren, N.J., still loves a plethora of things, including movies and football. His theses junior and senior years displayed his interests off the court.

During his junior season at Princeton he wrote about dystopian literature.

“It’s about messed up society, a very autonomous lifestyle,” he explained at the time. “I’ve kind of been drawn to uncanny types of movies and books. My 12th-grade teacher introduced me to (novelist) Franz Kafka from the 1920s. There’re weird scenarios, dream-like people interacting with strange people.”

His senior thesis was, “A similar weird landscape, I’d say. I wrote about a phenomenon called ‘The Uncanny.' It’s a concept by Sigmund Freud; when something that is familiar seems unfamiliar. That could be a face, an environment. Like deja vu. You get that feeling sometimes that you’ve been there before; looks familiar but something’s strange about it.”

He is now working toward a master's in finance at Rutgers Business School.

Although no thesis is required, he does have a challenging class load: a 3-hour class in investment analysis, a 3-hour class in introduction to research and quantitative methods, as well as a class in corporate finance and two classes in economic analysis.

So why Rutgers?

“It made a lot of sense,” Martini said, relaxing in a soft chair in the film room at the RWJBarnabas Health Athletic Performance Center. “Coach was the first to reach out to me in the transfer portal, and that meant a lot to me.

“I got to meet everyone including football coach Greg Schiano and see this awesome facility. The other thing is that this would be a highly anticipated season with the freshmen class and returning players. And just to be a leader on this team is an awesome opportunity,” he said. “Too good to pass up.”

The same could be said about Pikiell’s decision.

“He’s the best cutter on the team; he goes full speed, blocks out, sets great screens, which are not sexy stats. His leadership, cutting, boxing out, diving for loose balls, they all are things that don’t show up on the stat sheet. And he makes free throws, threes, and can rebound.

“People ask me to possibly describe him. I say he’s a Navy Seal. He can do anything,” Pikiell said. “You could drop him off in any setting and he can survive. Put him in a game and if he has to guard a 7-footer, he’ll guard the 7-footer. He figures stuff out, and he survives and thrives.”

Martini certainly thrived at Princeton, where the Tigers not only won three regular season Ivy League championships but also reached the Sweet Sixteen his junior year.

Rutgers hasn’t been to the Sweet Sixteen in 45 years.

“What’s really exciting is I have that experience,” Martini said about advancing in the NCAA tournament. “We have the talent, the work ethic, and we’re jelling well for guys who just met two-three months ago. And it’s not every day you get to play with two (NBA) lottery picks.

“But just trying to teach them what I know is such a cool opportunity. Even though I’m a new face, I can bring a lot of things over from Princeton. I know what I do. I know how to win. I know what sacrifices you need to make to win.”

Martini, 6-foot-7, 235 pounds, attended the first two home football games and couldn’t get over the crowds. Used to watching Ivy League home games in front of maybe 7,000, he was amazed to see more than 40,000 at SHI Stadium.

“There were just so many people, so many students,” said Martini, whose brother is a senior on the Cornell football team. “It’s not what I’m used to, and it’s really exciting.” 

He expects Big Ten games at Jersey Mike’s Arena to also be exciting, as well as road trips to places like Purdue, Indiana, Michigan, Oregon, Ohio State and Nebraska.

“How cool is that?” he said with a big smile. “I mean, I’ll never get to Nebraska again!”

Where he’ll go with his master’s is anyone’s guess.

Unlikely to be drafted into the NBA, Martini can envision playing in Europe for a few years. He would also like to live in London, a city he’s visited a couple of times.

“There’s something familiar yet strange about that. I have a fascination about that,” he said. “It’s been pretty constant in my mind. What I’d do there, I don’t know.”

Whatever he does, chances are he’ll be leading.