In no particular order
1, The defense never rests.
As noted so often here, defense and hard work travels well. It did yesterday. Well, after about 10 minutes when the Pirates saw that Marquette's game plan was to not attack in the paint and instead kick out to shooters, taking a page out of the Jay Wright book of offense.
2. Mass substitutions? Again?
Well yeah, when the talent dictates bad decisions become good ones. The turning point of the game came when Willard brought in four subs at nearly the same time when Marquette went on their 7 point run to tie the game near the 14 minute mark.
The result? Reynolds and Nelson led the charge that resulted in 11 straight Pirate points.
3. Speaking of Reynolds.............had the chance to get to him first in the post game as all the reporters did what they always do, head to Myles Powell.
Asked him if this was his best game. With a smile he said yeah, maybe.
Asked him if what we saw today, his face guarding Howard and denying him the ball, was what he does with Powell in practice? He said every day.
Asked him about his big three point shot in the second half and he said scoring used to be exciting for him, but no more.
Then asked him (jokingly) about his one screw up, missing the second shot from the arc, and with a HUGE smile he said no one is perfect.
4. Following up on the Reynolds face guarding.............eventually I got to Powell and asked him about Shavar doing that to him in practice and he said now everyone knows what I have to go through every single day.
5. The optimist will point out that Seton Hall is 4-0 in the Big East. The pessimist will counter that those four opponents have 3 combined conference victories.
Line me up with the former.
6. What the hell is Samuel thinking passing up an open three pointer? Wait, he drove through traffic for a viscous dunk? Never mind.
Oh yeah, his swat on Howard was pretty impressive too.
7. Staying on Howard. That kid has MAJOR game. But in the second half he was gassed. Those old enough to remember Bill Bradley will hark back to his running like the Tasmanian Devil all over the court to get open for shots. Same with Howard. But the combination of Q and the Reynolds left him exhausted in the second half and after shooting lights out in the early stages of the game finished 8-22 from the field.
8. It wasn't said outright but reading between the lines it was clear in the post game feelings were that Howard plays the refs and often gets calls that no one else gets. That said, it was unanimous in the praise and admiration that Markus Howard garnered after the game from the Pirates.
9. It was also clear that Seton Hall does not like Marquette. Again, it wasn't said per se. But you didn't have to have Sheldon Cooper's IQ to figure it out.
10. The Mamu Report
What Willard said...he'll be back in February.
What Willard meant....you have to be an idiot to believe anything I say about injured players.
He did offer this. Cat scan today. MRI Monday.
11. They're called free throws guys.
14-26. C'mon, if you want to advance when it counts in March you can't dance to the beat of that drummer.
12. Conversely, 6 turnovers to Marquette's 14 leading to +14 points in a game with the final score being 69-55. Hmmmm.
13. This might sound sacrilegious, but Myles Powell is not playing like the first team All American we all know he can be. When queried Willard sort of agreed saying that Powell is playing at maybe 85% right now and should not be playing more than 30 minutes a game.
Hyperbole? Maybe, but just a little.
Willard did finish by noting that Powell is starting to play better in practice and he believes we are going to see Clark Kent taking off the glasses off very soon. OK, he didn't say those exact words, but something similar.
14. There was a Eugene Teague sighting at the game. Such a fierce competitor on the court, but a gentle giant off of it.
Through a mutual acquaintance I spoke to him on the phone two years ago for about 20 minutes. Well spoken and just a nice guy. Was looking to play in a summer league and I got him in touch with Bryan Caver.
15. 2000 points.
It's coming but what a shame it will probably be on the road.
That said the road will be at the World's Most Famous Arena so maybe that's fitting.
Advanced congrats to Myles Powell.
16. Anna, Anna, Anna.
How on earth can such a diminutive person blow the roof off a building as large as the Rock?
I feared for those standing under the video screen at halfcourt while she was singing.
17. Depth, depth and more depth.
Sandro goes down, Myles goes down, and SHU responds with 6 straight victories. You don't do that on a supposed one man team.
18. I wish we played against a team every game with a real center. The twin towers are making life offensively miserable for our opponents. Hell, I was talking to Gill while he was standing up and thinking how the heck can any human being shoot over this guy?
That said, the Creightons and Novas will minimize the impact of our bigs, so thank God we play those 4 games late in the season when Mamu will be back.
19. Willard made a point saying he feared that Cale and Q might have down games because of the defensive effort they put out against Xavier. Especially Cale who was absolutely gassed after playing Marshall so well.
That and playing on short rest coming back from a road trip is tougher on players than the average fans understands.
20. Willard offered this. He likes to mass substitute because those players play together in practice and know each other well.
My retort.....absolutely, if the situation dictates AND you have the talent. In the past we did not. Now? well did you watch the game yesterday?
Bonus
21. Yesterday was a game we had to win to compete for the conference title. Wednesday is one you don't 100% need to do that. BUT, it's a hell of a chance to throw down the gauntlet.
SHU has never been 5-0 in the conference. That possibly exists in a few days.
Bonus 2
22. SHU is now at #13 in Kenpom. Its all time high.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
1, The defense never rests.
As noted so often here, defense and hard work travels well. It did yesterday. Well, after about 10 minutes when the Pirates saw that Marquette's game plan was to not attack in the paint and instead kick out to shooters, taking a page out of the Jay Wright book of offense.
2. Mass substitutions? Again?
Well yeah, when the talent dictates bad decisions become good ones. The turning point of the game came when Willard brought in four subs at nearly the same time when Marquette went on their 7 point run to tie the game near the 14 minute mark.
The result? Reynolds and Nelson led the charge that resulted in 11 straight Pirate points.
3. Speaking of Reynolds.............had the chance to get to him first in the post game as all the reporters did what they always do, head to Myles Powell.
Asked him if this was his best game. With a smile he said yeah, maybe.
Asked him if what we saw today, his face guarding Howard and denying him the ball, was what he does with Powell in practice? He said every day.
Asked him about his big three point shot in the second half and he said scoring used to be exciting for him, but no more.
Then asked him (jokingly) about his one screw up, missing the second shot from the arc, and with a HUGE smile he said no one is perfect.
4. Following up on the Reynolds face guarding.............eventually I got to Powell and asked him about Shavar doing that to him in practice and he said now everyone knows what I have to go through every single day.
5. The optimist will point out that Seton Hall is 4-0 in the Big East. The pessimist will counter that those four opponents have 3 combined conference victories.
Line me up with the former.
6. What the hell is Samuel thinking passing up an open three pointer? Wait, he drove through traffic for a viscous dunk? Never mind.
Oh yeah, his swat on Howard was pretty impressive too.
7. Staying on Howard. That kid has MAJOR game. But in the second half he was gassed. Those old enough to remember Bill Bradley will hark back to his running like the Tasmanian Devil all over the court to get open for shots. Same with Howard. But the combination of Q and the Reynolds left him exhausted in the second half and after shooting lights out in the early stages of the game finished 8-22 from the field.
8. It wasn't said outright but reading between the lines it was clear in the post game feelings were that Howard plays the refs and often gets calls that no one else gets. That said, it was unanimous in the praise and admiration that Markus Howard garnered after the game from the Pirates.
9. It was also clear that Seton Hall does not like Marquette. Again, it wasn't said per se. But you didn't have to have Sheldon Cooper's IQ to figure it out.
10. The Mamu Report
What Willard said...he'll be back in February.
What Willard meant....you have to be an idiot to believe anything I say about injured players.
He did offer this. Cat scan today. MRI Monday.
11. They're called free throws guys.
14-26. C'mon, if you want to advance when it counts in March you can't dance to the beat of that drummer.
12. Conversely, 6 turnovers to Marquette's 14 leading to +14 points in a game with the final score being 69-55. Hmmmm.
13. This might sound sacrilegious, but Myles Powell is not playing like the first team All American we all know he can be. When queried Willard sort of agreed saying that Powell is playing at maybe 85% right now and should not be playing more than 30 minutes a game.
Hyperbole? Maybe, but just a little.
Willard did finish by noting that Powell is starting to play better in practice and he believes we are going to see Clark Kent taking off the glasses off very soon. OK, he didn't say those exact words, but something similar.
14. There was a Eugene Teague sighting at the game. Such a fierce competitor on the court, but a gentle giant off of it.
Through a mutual acquaintance I spoke to him on the phone two years ago for about 20 minutes. Well spoken and just a nice guy. Was looking to play in a summer league and I got him in touch with Bryan Caver.
15. 2000 points.
It's coming but what a shame it will probably be on the road.
That said the road will be at the World's Most Famous Arena so maybe that's fitting.
Advanced congrats to Myles Powell.
16. Anna, Anna, Anna.
How on earth can such a diminutive person blow the roof off a building as large as the Rock?
I feared for those standing under the video screen at halfcourt while she was singing.
17. Depth, depth and more depth.
Sandro goes down, Myles goes down, and SHU responds with 6 straight victories. You don't do that on a supposed one man team.
18. I wish we played against a team every game with a real center. The twin towers are making life offensively miserable for our opponents. Hell, I was talking to Gill while he was standing up and thinking how the heck can any human being shoot over this guy?
That said, the Creightons and Novas will minimize the impact of our bigs, so thank God we play those 4 games late in the season when Mamu will be back.
19. Willard made a point saying he feared that Cale and Q might have down games because of the defensive effort they put out against Xavier. Especially Cale who was absolutely gassed after playing Marshall so well.
That and playing on short rest coming back from a road trip is tougher on players than the average fans understands.
20. Willard offered this. He likes to mass substitute because those players play together in practice and know each other well.
My retort.....absolutely, if the situation dictates AND you have the talent. In the past we did not. Now? well did you watch the game yesterday?
Bonus
21. Yesterday was a game we had to win to compete for the conference title. Wednesday is one you don't 100% need to do that. BUT, it's a hell of a chance to throw down the gauntlet.
SHU has never been 5-0 in the conference. That possibly exists in a few days.
Bonus 2
22. SHU is now at #13 in Kenpom. Its all time high.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
