Here's JP's Q&A
Q: What was it like working with Angel Delgado?
It was great. He’s such a great and humble kid. He always wanted to learn. He always wanted to get better. He did a lot in his time here for the program so it was great to get a chance to see that and work with him.
Q: What was the aspect of his game he improved most during his time at Seton Hall?
I think he became a good low-post scorer. He was pretty basic on the low block, the fact that he would always use his right hand, and his go-to move was always that little right-handed jump hook over his shoulder. But as a big guy, you really only need one post move. He became a very effective low-post scorer for us.
Q: What can you tell us about the new frontcourt players?
They’re very different than the guys we’ve had in the past, very different from Angel (Delgado). Honestly, we’re not going to be able to replace Angel’s rebounding. He was an unbelievable, once-in-a-lifetime rebounder.
Romaro Gill is a very skilled basketball player, a unique basketball player. He can do a lot of things, for his height, people shouldn’t be able to do. He does it in kind of a funny way at times but he’s a very effective player.
He can do a lot of things. He has very good perimeter skills. He’s very good at shooting the basketball and I think he’s going to be a terrific player. I think Romaro improved greatly in his sit-out year. I think it really benefited him. He’s going to give us a different dimension, a guy that plays above the rim both on the offensive and defensive ends.
Darnell (Brodie) is a big and strong physical kid. A year of prep school really helped his development. He’s been working very hard on the court and in the weight room and his body looks terrific. We’re really excited about the low post presence Darnell is going to give us.
Ike Obiagu is a sit-out kid who’s going to help us in practice every day. In terms of his length and his shot-blocking ability, making it hard for guys to score and making them adjust their shots and giving us a good simulation of what’s its going to be like when we play Kentucky on Dec. 8 (at Madison Square Garden) because they have guys who block shots like him.
I think Taurean (Thompson) is going to have a great year for us. It certainly helped that he got a chance to practice with us last year. He’s a lot different than the guys we’ve had in the past. He’s really skilled on the perimeter and extremely athletic. He’s going to have a very good year for us. He’s a very good weapon on the offensive end.
Q: What was it like working with Ismael Sanogo?
I think Ish improved tremendously (at Seton Hall) and I tell people this all the time, Ish’s best days of basketball are ahead of him, in my opinion, just because he was never really, even in high school, relied on as a guy to score a lot of points. He’s an extremely hard worker and just by sticking with it he’s going to get better and better every day.
Q: What do you expect from the returning frontcourt players?
I think Mike’s (Nzei) going to have a great year. I think he’s going to give us more scoring than he has in the past. He’s someone that we’re going to rely on a little more now that Angel’s gone. I think Mike can really come into his own this year and he’s really excited about it.
He’s been in the gym late at night and he’s got this internship with Cantor Fitzgerald in New York City 11 hours of the day, but he’s still trying to find time to get in the gym at night or on weekends. He’s really excited about trying to have a great year and trying to go to his fourth straight NCAA tournament.
I think Sandro (Mamukelashvili) is going to have to take a big step for himself and for us. He showed flashes. He had a good game at Xavier and a good game against Villanova. Now it’s got to come together for him. And I’m excited about it. I’m excited to see where he can go. Last year it was tough (for him), playing behind Angel and kind of being in and out of the game, but I think he’ll be able to play through some more things than he did this past year and I think he can help us.
Q: How are new assistants Tony Skinn and Duane Woodward fitting into the mix?
It’s been a really smooth transition for both of those guys. I think they’ve gained instant respect from the players, which is the most important thing.
Just based on their basketball resumes and their backgrounds, Duane being an all-Big East player and Tony taking George Mason to the Final Four…they were kind of the first ones to do it in my era of playing and watching basketball that I can remember, a team coming out of nowhere and going to the Final Four.
What they accomplished on the basketball court speaks for itself. And something we really pride ourselves on (as coaches) is getting in the gym and spending a lot of time with our guys. They’re good on the court with everyone, not just guards.
They bring a great amount of positive energy and a great amount of enthusiasm to each workout and I think they’re going to be very good recruiters because they’re hungry and they work at it. … People respect guys that were really good basketball players who work really hard in this profession to try to better themselves and to put a great product on the court for the universities they’re working for.
We lost two great guys in Shaheen (Holloway) and Fred (Hill) and we weren’t looking for one specific thing, for a guy to check one box. We were looking for guys to check multiple boxes and we felt like we hit two home runs.
Q: How will this year’s team be different than recent ones?
I think we’re going to be more athletic. Will that translate to more wins? I don’t know. So many games the last few years have been so close. The group we had just found ways to win games at the end, games where it didn’t look like we were going to win until there were five seconds left.
I’m excited to see what this year brings. We’ve got so many guys that are new or guys that are stepping into bigger roles. So I’m excited to see what happens when the lights go on.
Q: When did you know you wanted to be a coach? Was it when you were at Seton Hall as a player?
I don’t think I ever really had that moment. I think it was my 25th birthday and I was having dinner with Coach (Kevin) Boyle and I kind of felt my professional career had run its course and it wasn’t really going anywhere. He said, ‘why don’t you come in and be a substitute teacher and work with guys and do all this stuff you would be asked to do at a college program and see if you like it? There’s not going to be any pressure.’
He gave me a lot of responsibility and I’m grateful for that.
Q: How has it been making the NCAAs as both a player and assistant coach?
It’s been great every time. Just having an open practice and seeing the NCAA tournament court, that’s an unbelievable feeling. The program is in a great place and we certainly want to keep it in that place and be looked upon as an NCAA tournament team year in and year out.
As a player you go out and play and watch a little film. You don’t realize all the stuff that goes into it, the film (study), the breakdowns, the scouting. You don’t realize all the time, energy and effort that goes into that and looking back I feel like we had a great coaching staff to help get us to the tournament for two years and I realize they were putting in that same amount of effort back then.
I do have a photo in my office (as a player) where it looks like I’m trying to rip Channing Frye’s arm off his shoulder (while going for a rebound in the NCAAs).
Q: What was your FDU experience like?
Working for Greg (Herenda) was great. He gave me a lot of responsibilities. … We still talk pretty frequently, once or twice a month we talk. We’ve remained pretty close. That was obviously a terrific staff I was on.
Q: What do you think of the 2018-19 Seton Hall team?
I’m really excited. We’ve got a a really challenging schedule for a team that’s got a a lot of new pieces but I’m excited to see these guys battle and play for one another. It’s an extremely close group that we have and even though it’s new names on the court, the identity that (the previous) group (of seniors) created isn’t going to go anywhere.
I think we certainly gained other programs’ respect. I remember Archie Miller, who’s now at Indiana, saying Seton Hall plays as tough and physical as any team in America. And that’s our staple.
Comments
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
Q: What was it like working with Angel Delgado?
It was great. He’s such a great and humble kid. He always wanted to learn. He always wanted to get better. He did a lot in his time here for the program so it was great to get a chance to see that and work with him.
Q: What was the aspect of his game he improved most during his time at Seton Hall?
I think he became a good low-post scorer. He was pretty basic on the low block, the fact that he would always use his right hand, and his go-to move was always that little right-handed jump hook over his shoulder. But as a big guy, you really only need one post move. He became a very effective low-post scorer for us.
Q: What can you tell us about the new frontcourt players?
They’re very different than the guys we’ve had in the past, very different from Angel (Delgado). Honestly, we’re not going to be able to replace Angel’s rebounding. He was an unbelievable, once-in-a-lifetime rebounder.
Romaro Gill is a very skilled basketball player, a unique basketball player. He can do a lot of things, for his height, people shouldn’t be able to do. He does it in kind of a funny way at times but he’s a very effective player.
He can do a lot of things. He has very good perimeter skills. He’s very good at shooting the basketball and I think he’s going to be a terrific player. I think Romaro improved greatly in his sit-out year. I think it really benefited him. He’s going to give us a different dimension, a guy that plays above the rim both on the offensive and defensive ends.
Darnell (Brodie) is a big and strong physical kid. A year of prep school really helped his development. He’s been working very hard on the court and in the weight room and his body looks terrific. We’re really excited about the low post presence Darnell is going to give us.
Ike Obiagu is a sit-out kid who’s going to help us in practice every day. In terms of his length and his shot-blocking ability, making it hard for guys to score and making them adjust their shots and giving us a good simulation of what’s its going to be like when we play Kentucky on Dec. 8 (at Madison Square Garden) because they have guys who block shots like him.
I think Taurean (Thompson) is going to have a great year for us. It certainly helped that he got a chance to practice with us last year. He’s a lot different than the guys we’ve had in the past. He’s really skilled on the perimeter and extremely athletic. He’s going to have a very good year for us. He’s a very good weapon on the offensive end.
Q: What was it like working with Ismael Sanogo?
I think Ish improved tremendously (at Seton Hall) and I tell people this all the time, Ish’s best days of basketball are ahead of him, in my opinion, just because he was never really, even in high school, relied on as a guy to score a lot of points. He’s an extremely hard worker and just by sticking with it he’s going to get better and better every day.
Q: What do you expect from the returning frontcourt players?
I think Mike’s (Nzei) going to have a great year. I think he’s going to give us more scoring than he has in the past. He’s someone that we’re going to rely on a little more now that Angel’s gone. I think Mike can really come into his own this year and he’s really excited about it.
He’s been in the gym late at night and he’s got this internship with Cantor Fitzgerald in New York City 11 hours of the day, but he’s still trying to find time to get in the gym at night or on weekends. He’s really excited about trying to have a great year and trying to go to his fourth straight NCAA tournament.
I think Sandro (Mamukelashvili) is going to have to take a big step for himself and for us. He showed flashes. He had a good game at Xavier and a good game against Villanova. Now it’s got to come together for him. And I’m excited about it. I’m excited to see where he can go. Last year it was tough (for him), playing behind Angel and kind of being in and out of the game, but I think he’ll be able to play through some more things than he did this past year and I think he can help us.
Q: How are new assistants Tony Skinn and Duane Woodward fitting into the mix?
It’s been a really smooth transition for both of those guys. I think they’ve gained instant respect from the players, which is the most important thing.
Just based on their basketball resumes and their backgrounds, Duane being an all-Big East player and Tony taking George Mason to the Final Four…they were kind of the first ones to do it in my era of playing and watching basketball that I can remember, a team coming out of nowhere and going to the Final Four.
What they accomplished on the basketball court speaks for itself. And something we really pride ourselves on (as coaches) is getting in the gym and spending a lot of time with our guys. They’re good on the court with everyone, not just guards.
They bring a great amount of positive energy and a great amount of enthusiasm to each workout and I think they’re going to be very good recruiters because they’re hungry and they work at it. … People respect guys that were really good basketball players who work really hard in this profession to try to better themselves and to put a great product on the court for the universities they’re working for.
We lost two great guys in Shaheen (Holloway) and Fred (Hill) and we weren’t looking for one specific thing, for a guy to check one box. We were looking for guys to check multiple boxes and we felt like we hit two home runs.
Q: How will this year’s team be different than recent ones?
I think we’re going to be more athletic. Will that translate to more wins? I don’t know. So many games the last few years have been so close. The group we had just found ways to win games at the end, games where it didn’t look like we were going to win until there were five seconds left.
I’m excited to see what this year brings. We’ve got so many guys that are new or guys that are stepping into bigger roles. So I’m excited to see what happens when the lights go on.
Q: When did you know you wanted to be a coach? Was it when you were at Seton Hall as a player?
I don’t think I ever really had that moment. I think it was my 25th birthday and I was having dinner with Coach (Kevin) Boyle and I kind of felt my professional career had run its course and it wasn’t really going anywhere. He said, ‘why don’t you come in and be a substitute teacher and work with guys and do all this stuff you would be asked to do at a college program and see if you like it? There’s not going to be any pressure.’
He gave me a lot of responsibility and I’m grateful for that.
Q: How has it been making the NCAAs as both a player and assistant coach?
It’s been great every time. Just having an open practice and seeing the NCAA tournament court, that’s an unbelievable feeling. The program is in a great place and we certainly want to keep it in that place and be looked upon as an NCAA tournament team year in and year out.
As a player you go out and play and watch a little film. You don’t realize all the stuff that goes into it, the film (study), the breakdowns, the scouting. You don’t realize all the time, energy and effort that goes into that and looking back I feel like we had a great coaching staff to help get us to the tournament for two years and I realize they were putting in that same amount of effort back then.
I do have a photo in my office (as a player) where it looks like I’m trying to rip Channing Frye’s arm off his shoulder (while going for a rebound in the NCAAs).
Q: What was your FDU experience like?
Working for Greg (Herenda) was great. He gave me a lot of responsibilities. … We still talk pretty frequently, once or twice a month we talk. We’ve remained pretty close. That was obviously a terrific staff I was on.
Q: What do you think of the 2018-19 Seton Hall team?
I’m really excited. We’ve got a a really challenging schedule for a team that’s got a a lot of new pieces but I’m excited to see these guys battle and play for one another. It’s an extremely close group that we have and even though it’s new names on the court, the identity that (the previous) group (of seniors) created isn’t going to go anywhere.
I think we certainly gained other programs’ respect. I remember Archie Miller, who’s now at Indiana, saying Seton Hall plays as tough and physical as any team in America. And that’s our staple.
Comments
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
