By Zack Cziryak
Seton Hall senior guard Al-Amir Dawes is focused on making his last season his best one and believes the Pirates are already off to a better start than 12 months ago.
In his fifth year playing college ball and second at Seton Hall, Dawes believes the current Pirate squad assembled for the 2023-2024 season is in a better spot chemistry-wise than last year’s team, which reached 10-10 in the Big East conference but was knocked out of both the Big East Tournament and National Invitation Tournament’s first rounds in one point defeats.
"We've got good team chemistry right off the bat. We're meshing together really nice, better than last year I would say,” Dawes noted after completing the final day of summer session workouts last week. “Competing every day, getting better skill wise, knowing each other better. Like I said, we're better connected than last year. So, you know it's going to be a great season. You know we'll just take it day by day, just working every day."
Meshing a team together has arguably never been tougher in college basketball between immediate eligibility out of the transfer portal and Name, Image & Likeness opportunities for players, in addition to this final year of players being able to utilize a fifth “COVID” year.
Shaheen Holloway returned to his alma mater as head coach last season and immediately put together a squad that had only five holdovers from the Kevin Willard era. One year later the Pirates sport another team with only five holdovers from the previous season, this time in Dawes, Dre Davis, Jaquan Sanders, JaQuan Harris and Kadary Richmond, the last of whom is the only player to have worn a Seton Hall jersey for multiple seasons.
That is part and parcel in college basketball these days, particularly for a new head coach recruiting players to fit his style and put his stamp on a program. For Newark, N.J. native and The Patrick School alumnus Dawes, who has known Holloway since he was a child, this team has been able to bond better than last year’s edition at the same time.
"For this year we just like to hang out with each other more,” he said. “On the court we know each other's skills, we know each other's pros and cons. We like to go after each other, good constructive criticism, we're taking that as a brother-to-brother talk. We're doing a lot of things that we didn't do last year as far as just taking that constructive criticism from one another and always taking it as a good sign of our brothers being there for us."
Dawes, alongside co-captains in Richmond and Davis, will help lead a Seton Hall team welcoming at least six newcomers, including two freshmen. They’ve done their best to impart what to expect of Holloway’s style to the newcomers.
"I think the captains … gave the team the blueprint of how he is before everything kicked off and we did a good job just communicating to help the other guys understand where he's coming from and how he coaches," Dawes said.
While Dawes got his first experience of playing under Holloway last year, he was well prepared on what to expect based on his long relationship with the Seton Hall legend.
"I knew what I was coming into because we used to work out when I was younger as well,” he said of Holloway, who attended The Patrick School (then St. Patrick’s) himself. “So, all his passion, his energy, his feel for the game, I understood it and I knew that was going to be the same. So, transferring here and playing for him I just knew that he would be the same way, he would have that same passion.”
One newcomer that has stood out to Dawes has been junior center Elijah Hutchins-Everett. The Orange, N.J.-native transferred from Austin Peay who is known for more of a stretch game with a nice “touch on his shot” and being offensively sound, but has been putting in work down low this summer.
“He came in and lost 20 pounds trying to get in better shape and be a brutalizer down there on the block,” Dawes said, "I like him a lot".
Of the returning players, Dawes feels rising sophomore Sanders has improved and is ready to take that next step.
Dawes, who led the Pirates in scoring in his first season in South Orange, N.J., expects to continue progressing after a year reacclimating to Jersey following three years as a Clemson Tiger in South Carolina.
"This year what's different is that I'm ready. I feel like I'm back to who I was coming into college, being a senior in high school, and I'm ready to play [that way] again. And show our Jersey fanbase, our Pirate fanbase, what I got in store for them and what, as a team, we've got in store for them."
Dawes will have the ball in his hands more this year than last, noting he is focused on driving to serve as both a facilitator and to create his own shots, and has been focusing more on pick-and-rolls.
"I'm doing a lot of pick-and-roll drills, having reaction coming off of screens, looking at the big guy, seeing what he's going to do, whether he's in drop, whether he's icing it...just doing a lot of things in pick-and-roll situations,” he said.
The Pirates will likely face an even tougher Big East that sports the reigning national champions in the University of Connecticut and a rejuvenated Saint John’s program with the return of Head Coach Rick Pitino to high major D1 basketball.
"I know it's going to be very intense, very physical, and I know it's going to be a lot of high IQ basketball day in and day out as far as games. I know every team is going to bring it, it's not going to be a cakewalk for us and we're ready for that. Coach Sha is picking our brains day in and day out in practice, giving us different strategies and giving us different things to work on as far as what teams are going to bring."
Helping to build Holloway’s culture and success in South Orange is top of mind for Dawes and the Pirates, and while he won’t experience it as an active player, the recently announced practice facility is something that will help.
"It's definitely good for both the program and the school. I feel like this is vitally important. It will bring in new and better recruits year after year and it's definitely something we needed. It'll allow us to get better moving forward year after year. A great decision, and I can't wait to see it,” he said. But for now as another season approaches, Dawes remains focused on this year and making it one Pirate fans will remember.
"It's going to be a different year this year,” he said. “My guys, we're working and we're going to make this a fun season. Support us and be there at all our games. We need you to be our best”
