Zack Cziryak
Trove correspondent
You mention Shaheen Holloway learning to navigate the media. Some media members have lamented about the availability or lack thereof from Holloway and his program. What was your experience in Year 1?
"His availability to me was fine all along. He always told the truth and I would say, sometimes, he was a little ornery after games because it's five minutes after a loss and he's got to talk to us live on the air and sometimes he doesn't want to talk about a particular player or a particular positive that we bring up if he still has all the negatives from the game in his head that are fresh to him. It's a tough spot and I just think that as he goes along in the job he'll get more comfortable. He's obviously a smart and talented guy and he got good experience dealing with the media in his Saint Peter's run and I think it really captured the imagination of college basketball fans across the country with his candor. I think it'll be fine."
From where you're sitting, you're a member of the media, but you also work with and for Seton Hall. How do you (and Gary) strike a balance? Is there always a line you’re walking?
"No doubt about it. Learfield and Seton Hall hire us and we're there to do a job for them and to promote the program and to report what happens at the game. We're not there to do too much editorializing and make it a sports talk show. There are podcasts and columnists and other people that can do that. We obviously have some credibility after doing it for 20 years together and seeing the team every game for that amount of time, so I think when we do give an opinion it should carry some weight, but we're not looking to rip anybody. And while we don't root for the team on the air, it makes it a lot more pleasurable on the plane ride back when we win on the road and and everybody's happy and getting milkshakes. It's like you're part of the team, but you're not. And you really have to maintain some objectivity and professionalism."
“You've been in the media through a lot of things, one of the biggest being COVID. Are we back to pre-COVID times in sports coverage? Are there still regulations or policies that have lingered, or have just been adopted, post-COVID?
"I think that we're 90% of the way back to pre-COVID times. I think that there are some Major League teams that are still using that excuse or just looking to save money and keeping announcers back in the studio for road games. You're seeing networks more often have their announcers and/or production crew in a studio somewhere for live games, which does not serve the viewer and the listener. I am all in favor of access on site and in press conferences. How much people want to let reporters walk up to a player in the locker room after the game, I think, is a case-by-ase basis, but by and large mostly that and that opened up also. I hope we never go back to 2020 and 2021. I still wear a mask on the plane, but other than that, I think that gratefully, that my life as a sports reporter has gone back to the way it was prior to March 2020."
Getting into the team, which of the returning players are you most interested to see and which of the incoming players, either freshmen or transfer, are you most excited to see?
"The biggest question mark is Kadary Richmond and how much he will develop and how healthy he'll be. He's a first team All Big East candidate when he's right and and I'm hoping that he has a big year and is able to lead Seton Hall into the top half of a very tough conference. Without that, I think it could be difficult with this roster because there are not a ton of ball handlers. You could see Isaiah Coleman, he's just a freshman and still raw obviously, but he could see some time at the point - they say he's a very good playmaker and slasher that can create. So, that's an option."
"I definitely want to see Dre Davis, and if he's able to stay healthy, I think he could lead the Big East in scoring. I really think that he has that knack, just a natural ability to put the ball in the basket, which many players do not have. He can score at all three levels and you don't need to necessarily draw up a play for him; he can score within the flow of the game. And it was a huge difference for the team when he was not in there last year and I don't know that anybody knew that coming in. He had a rep as a defensive player, a good glue guy. To me, he was the most reliable scorer on the team, along with maybe Al-Amir Dawes, and he missed almost half the season, which probably kept them out of the NCAA tournament. So, I'm hoping for a big season from Dre Davis."
"They say that Jaquan Sanders has worked on his body and is going to see more minutes. He's obviously a very good shooter and, you know, decided to stick it out at Seton Hall and let this coaching staff develop him. So that is somebody they need. They need somebody to make three-point shots. The team shot less than 33% from downtown last year and he's a guy that can shoot it at probably 40%. So, if he can play enough defense and do enough other good things on the court I would expect him to see some time."
"And then the other thing is just all the new faces. Half the roster is new; many of them are transfers. You just have to wonder, as a lot of them transfer up from mid-major to high major, do their stats translate, does their ability translate and can they be rotation players on a Big East team? Those are some of the questions and some of the things that I'm looking forward to seeing."
