I have to admit I was ready to pack in the season, bench Dawes and Addea-Wasu and go with the youth movement. I am very happy to admit I was wrong. Now, Dawes was playing awful basketball all around. The team looked like they would be offensively challenged so my feeling were justified at the time. This team is really starting to look like the team Sha coaching in JC during the Elite 8 run. Cutting to the basket for easy buckets. Timely 3 pointers. Relentless defense. They have been a bit sloppy of late with turnovers but some of those have been due to trying to slip passes into tight windows. Last night was the best our offense has looked in as far as i can remember. Yes we've had more prolific offenses based on 1 shooter (Powell, Hazell, IW) but the way we are moving the ball has been a pleasure to watch. WE consistently have 4 or 5 guys near or above double figures. This team is learning how to play off eachother and we have that GOTO guy in Richmond when we need a bucket. The scary thing is I don't think we're peaking yet. If what we saw out of EHE last night is something he can do consistentlly, pulling the center out to guard him on the perimeter, it's going to open up the lane for Richmond even more. He doesn't seem to need much space as he seems to make himself open any time we need a bucket with relentless probing and crossing over and stepthrough. Hopefull Sha can keep them hungry and focused with a next game is the only game mentality. We do that I think will have more NCAA wins in this season than we've had since Sha was manning the point.
Happy to eat Crow
- Thread starter PirateFan94
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Has anyone put the In Sha We Trust t shirts in the Onward Setonia website?
We should all buy.....it would be a tribute to the job he is doing along with funding for the future.
We should all buy.....it would be a tribute to the job he is doing along with funding for the future.
I know there were some on this board questioning if Sha was over his head. I think he's putting those thoughts to rest. I know NIL is going to be an issue but Winning will help overcome that. Maybe we won't get the 5* recruits but with coaching we can land some of the borderline 3/4 star recruits and be confident Sha can coach them up a level. I don't think last year's team bought in the way this group has. I think they are starting to believe in the system.
It’s not really eating crow. Those feelings came from watching some of the worst possible basketball that we could play and completely wasted talent and minimal effort from the team. The turn around from Sha and this group has been nothing short of incredible. The discipline change, the effort change, and the mindsets changed out of the blue. Credit all around. Sha has brought a lot of happiness and good memories over the last 4 weeks
Coming into the season the consensus was SHU was probably going to be a bubble team. Using that baseline, the season can broken down into two 9 game stretches IMO.
Games 1-9 (frustrating under performance)
Games 10-18 (incredible over performance)
At some point we’ll probably revert to the mean and have a mediocre stretch where we lose some winnable games. When that happens, I hope the board remembers that these guys are good enough to get hot again.
Regardless of what happens the rest of the way, we’ve been lucky to have witnessed one of the most exciting stretches of SHU basketball these past 5 weeks. Let’s hope there’s much more excitement to come.
Games 1-9 (frustrating under performance)
Games 10-18 (incredible over performance)
At some point we’ll probably revert to the mean and have a mediocre stretch where we lose some winnable games. When that happens, I hope the board remembers that these guys are good enough to get hot again.
Regardless of what happens the rest of the way, we’ve been lucky to have witnessed one of the most exciting stretches of SHU basketball these past 5 weeks. Let’s hope there’s much more excitement to come.
Coming into the season we were not thought of as a bubble team. Many here including me thought if we were a bubble team it would be a good season. We are more than a bubble team now. I don't think we go 6-1 in our next seven games, but if we can stay healthy this team can do some damage. If the bench continues to contribute a little more each game, that will help too.
That wasn't the consensus at all. Picked 9th in the league is not a bubble team, it's a NIT team at best. Seton Hall was not supposed to be any kind of factor in the Big East, which was the general consensus both among fans and outside observers as well. Even the folks with the most blue-tinted glasses on this board thought they could finish 6th at BEST.
What Shaheen and the team have accomplished in the last month is remarkable. I've never seen anything like it in my time as a SH fan. Just going to enjoy the ride from here because what we're seeing is rare and special. If this continues through March, he will be the runaway winner of Big East COY and a legit contender for national COY.
revert to the mean with this hot shooting… but there’s no reverting to the mean with intensity and hustle. That can remain constant (pending no injuries)
Maybe it just took some time for the many new pieces to gel. I get it, we all got nervous but some of the negative takes were way over the top. Remember, Sha has more basketball knowledge in his pinky than all of us have combined.
Speak for yourself. There were more than a few of us on here who believed this team had the potential to be in the mix for a bid - regardless of where the coaches picked us - It was just a matter of consistency from the key guys.
What we’ve seen in this current stretch is nothing short of incredible. I’m just cautioning the glass half empty crowd that were more than likely going to come back down to earth at some point, and if that happens it doesn’t mean the sky is falling.
My biggest point is that I truly don't think in his first year he had the buy in from the team. They'd run the weave the revert to one on one. Only guy capable of that was Richmond and he went down. This year I think they see that if they execute the offense and play at high intensity on defense they can beat anyone. The difference between this team and the team Sha brought to the elite 8 is that he truly has much more talent here. I was one of the biggest critics of Dawes early this year and for good reason. He wasn't doing what he was brought here to do...shoot. I think him cutting out a lot of his step back 3's has helped as well as him not driving out of control. He is very good on catch and shoot or a pump and sidestep 3. The wild shots where he goes one on one to create a 3 is where he got in trouble. I also noticed last night in the huddle Sha was much more relaxed. He wasn't screaming. He was more calming them down even after several consecutive turnovers in the early first half. I think this is important because when you constantly yell it loses impact. Team eventually tunes you out but when it's on occacion, it resonates as ok I got to listen, coach is pissed.
Funny quote from the SJU board: "We have a decided advantage on the glass"
Final rebounding margin: Hall 49-28
TOUGHNESS!
Final rebounding margin: Hall 49-28
TOUGHNESS!
Doesn't change the fact that the consensus was this team wouldn't be a factor. There are always a handful of opinions that go the other way, but we're talking about the consensus here.
For the six weeks, it actually looked bleaker than the consensus. Since then it has been a turnaround even the most positive fan would never have predicted.
It was the consensus, at least among those in the know. Read Zags’ season preview I’ve linked below. He predicted 19-13 (10-10). A bubble team. Couldn’t find Carino’s preseason article but I believe he predicted something similar, maybe had SHU going to the NIT.
Seton Hall looking to overachieve in Shaheen Holloway’s 2nd season
Seton Hall was picked ninth in the Big East, but Shaheen Holloway's group is hoping to overachieve in his second season as coach at his alma mater.
Seton Hall basketball 2023-24: reasons to hope and mope, must-see games, our prediction
With a solid nucleus led by ace guard Kadary Richmond, the Pirates are confident in Shaheen Holloway's 2nd year. Can the other pieces fall into place?
www.app.com
We’re never going to get national media attention before the season (hence 9th in the coaches poll) but if the two media personalities most plugged into the program were both predicting we’d be a bubble team, I’d call that a consensus over the negative crowd on this board lol.
SHU was squarely on the bubble last year until Richmond went down. With 3/5 starters coming back, really was silly for anyone to think we wouldn’t be in the mix this year. You’re right though that even the most optimistic couldn’t have seen us competing for a conference title.
Edit: found Carino’s preseason article.
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Can't read Carino's due to a pay wall. But I'll trust the coaches, national writers, and majority of our own fans in forming a consensus over two writers who might not be true homers in the sense of the word, but certainly benefit from painting an optimistic picture.
By the way, national media attention has absolutely zero to do with the coaches poll. That's the coaches voting, not media.
By the way, national media attention has absolutely zero to do with the coaches poll. That's the coaches voting, not media.
I posted a few “shots” at Sha and things that concerned me. Thing I’ve heard and how many non competitive games we had in 1+ years
Right now I’m mostly wrong and it’s great. Apologies to Sha
Any super insider have any info? I almost feel as if some kind of meeting/intervention/mediation must have happened
The buy-in and demeanor have been different and so improved..in the end it doesn’t matter just win but there must have been something to switch it
Right now I’m mostly wrong and it’s great. Apologies to Sha
Any super insider have any info? I almost feel as if some kind of meeting/intervention/mediation must have happened
The buy-in and demeanor have been different and so improved..in the end it doesn’t matter just win but there must have been something to switch it
Not sure if it was the turning point, but I know the players had a meeting after the RU game. Then we beat Monmouth and Mizzou and then the BE season happened. Coincidence? Combined with Sha and the staff constantly coaching them up.
