PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
The definitive source for all PirateCrew news.
This is part 2 of my two-part interview with Jaden Daly, who does a fine job of running the Daly Dose of Hoops blog. In this installment, we talk about Shaheen Holloway’s staff and his perception around the MAAC. Also, Jaden gives us his early look at the Seton Hall women’s basketball team for next season, and we discuss the NCAA chances for Rutgers, St. John’s, Villanova (post-Jay Wright), and, of course, the Pirates.
J.P. Pelzman: In terms of assistants, what does Rasheen Davis bring to the table? I know Sha has a lot of trust in him.
Jaden Daly: I've known Rasheen Davis for almost 10 years, since he was with Steve Masiello at Manhattan. He's a man who builds relationships. He will get to know you and your family before he pays attention to what your game is like and how you are on the floor. That is going to make him an elite recruiter at this level. Rasheen Davis is going to be someone who is going to have Seton Hall in play for a lot of top 100, top 200 prospects just because of his ability to connect with young men.
It's almost at the level of Sha’s ability to connect with these young men. He will take an interest in you and what you’re interested in and use that to help evaluate what he’s looking for on and off the floor. His ability to build relationships is something that Seton Hall hasn’t had on staff for a long time. I really can’t remember an assistant that Kevin (Willard) had, other than Sha, that was as good with that. Rasheen is going to be for Sha what Sha was for Kevin. I really believe that.
JPP: As for Ryan Whalen, Jerry Carino has compared him to John Dunne on Louis Orr’s staff in terms of advance scouting and gamer-planning.
JD: That's an apt comparison. Ryan Whalen, being the son of a coach, you kind of pick those things up in utero, so to speak. I saw that with Jared Grasso, when he was at Iona, to now being the head coach at Bryant. You're so immersed in the game at an early age and it gives you a leg up compared to some of your competitors.
Ryan's ability to break teams down and use what he sees on film, constructively, to his team’s benefit, is, I don’t want to say unparalleled, but it’s unique at this level. I don’t know if you can go across the Big East and find another assistant like a Ryan Whalen. Maybe a Tom Moore with Dan Hurley at UConn but other than that, I don’t see it.
JPP: How did you see Sha’s relationship with the other head coaches in the MAAC? What did they think about him and the job he did?
JD: Sha had a good relationship with almost everyone. King Rice at Monmouth always spoke very highly of Sha and almost likened him to a little brother, so to speak. There are a lot of parallels there--both were highly touted prep athletes, both African-American head coaches looking to make a name for themselves in that league.
Carmen Maciariello at Siena was very effusive in his praise for Sha. Rick Pitino praised him publicly. Steve Masiello was always very complementary of Sha. The MAAC coaches have always known what Sha can do and him getting the Seton Hall job was almost a testimonial to it. It's almost as if the MAAC knew he wouldn’t be very long for that league.
JPP: We now know that Dec. 11 will be the date for the Seton Hall game at Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights obviously did OK in the transfer portal, not great. St. Bonaventure point guard Kyle Lofton would’ve been a game-changer, but he went to Florida instead. Do you see the NIT as Rutgers’ ceiling?
JD: I actually see the NIT as Rutgers’ floor. I think if (Steve) Pikiell gets more out of Cliff Omoruyi and Paul Mulcahy, especially now that Ron (Harper Jr.) and Geo (Baker) are gone, if Caleb McConnell can produce a little more offensively, I think Rutgers is a bubble team. I'm not going to definitively say they will be a Tournament team because there are a lot of variables. As we mentioned, Cliff, Caleb, Paul, this year, Dean Reiber is probably going to be what Cliff was as a freshman with Myles Johnson in front of him.
(Reiber) can be the X-factor. If he develops on schedule, Rutgers could be really good. And I also want to see what Cam Spencer, the transfer from Loyola (Maryland) does. If he can score at the same clip he did in the Patriot League and granted, the Patriot League and the Big Ten are two different animals, it’s apples and oranges.
But if he can score 13 or 14 points a game, and take some of the stress off Mulcahy and McConnell, Rutgers could be back in the Tournament. But I'm looking to see how much everything falls into place before I make such a presumptive assessment.
