Where to start? Where to start?
1. Well, when a player is honored prior to the tip off for scoring 2000 points maybe there!
2. Fortunately this will not be Custer's last stand as he will be doing our next game as well.
3. This is true as the news was being shared in the post game. Commissioner Jay Wright (not sure how much of this was said tongue in cheek by the coach) has told Custer he does not want to see him Feb 8th.
4. Damn, my strategy of going where Powell isn't didn't work last night. Instead the horde of reporters surrounded Gill the moment he came into the room. It did give me a chance to go one on one with Rhoden for 4 minutes and with Powell for one question before the swarm came over to him.
5. Re Powell. The one question. How does it feel to walk into the post game and not have everyone instantly surround you? Huge smile. "Could not be happier. That's my roommate."
6. Re Rhoden. Asked him a lot of questions. Here's his answers...
A. Hitting that first three really got me going. Gave me a boost of confidence
B. That is one hell of a physical team we played tonight.
C. Yes, knowing that Providence was going to focus on Myles all night we worked in practice with me floating around the basket and in the paint. Got a lot of easy baskets doing that.
D. My left finger (pinky) is taped up and it bothers me when I have time to think about it. In the game I don't but on the foul line I do.
E. Maybe I play less minutes when Sandro comes back but it's going to help the team so I don't even think about that.
7. Comedy act? Jerry C tried to complement Willard on tying PJ's Big East win total. Willard (as happy as I have seen him in a post game in quite some time) went into what can be best described as a failed stand up routine trying to explain (the math) on how his feat doesn't match PJ's because we now play more games in the Big East season than back then. When that didn't make sense he tried to salvage the 'skit' but it was too late.
A for effort. D- for execution.
8. On a negative note...the defense was outstanding with the Friars shooting 35.9% from the field. Unfortunately 1/3 of Providence's points came on 2nd chances as the result of 19 offensive rebounds.
Imagine what their shooting percentage would have been if the Pirates cleaned their own boards?
9. Unsung hero.
His name wasn't mentioned once in the post game and that was a mistake. Shavar Reynolds played as efficient a 13 1/2 minutes as any former walkon at the Hall has ever played. His defense was a bitch. His 2 assists beauties as they led to easy layups. And his shot from the arc near the first half buzzer gave the Hall a 4 point lead and closed out a 6-0 run. After that the Pirates never led by less than 3 points.
10. Pick your poison.
Wow, no 3's from Powell. In fact his 6 shots from the field was quite a testament. Both to Cooley's game plan and to Myles maturity in not forcing the issue. It was clear that the Providence coach was not going to let the Hall's star player beat him. But there were consequences to that strategy and those consequences came in the form of the Hall shooting 57.8% from the field.
11. Mamugate
After saying all week that Sandro would probably come back in the DePaul game KW backtracked yesterday noting although Mamu's injury was entirely healed he has not practiced yet and won't until this coming week. His fear? Sandro falling and not having the strength in his wrist area to not re-injure himself.
Hard to know with Willard's track record on injury status where to go here.
12. Did SHU win one 50/50 ball last night? No sure if they did. Credit the men of Cooley for playing with such intensity.
13. The spread depending on where you got the info fluctuated between 8 1/2 points and 9 1/2 points. The final score 73-64. Nuff said.
14. Too good to be true?
A few days ago Kenpom...SHU #8. This morning? #11.
15. Cale had a terrible offensive game. His stats tell no lies. But he did have 2 very important layups. One on a drive in the first half through contact after Providence took their first (1 point) lead in the game and then late in the second half off a missed shot when the Friars were trying to get back into the game.
16. Didn't like Cooley's strategy in the last minute or so of the game. The Pirates with the ball up 5 and SHU still in the one and one. Both Cale and Rhoden were on the court yet instead of instantly fouling one of them Cooley allowed the Hall to run off 30 seconds and the result was a Q layup. Game, set, match, Pirates.
17. I disagree with those that are saying Powell isn't 100% back. In fact unlike previous games Willard let Powell play through media timeouts. And his only major rest after playing a team leading 34 minutes was around the 8 minutes mark in the second stanza when he was pulled and SHU played so well he got about a 10 minutes break on the bench.
My take. If Powell was having issues he would gave gotten more rest in the first half, but instead he played the majority of those 20 minutes not having the media break help him out except once.
Yes he's banged up a little. But you can say that about every single player on the team. It's a long grueling season.
18. The Ro Report
After the horde dissipated I had him all to myself for about 4 minutes.
The result.....
A. Yes, I have worked on my hands catching the ball all season. Any improvement is a credit to coach Grant. He's great with us.
B. I can't seem to get more than 17 points in a game.
C. Blocks or dunks? Doesn't matter whichever means more to winning.
D. I am so comfortable now and yes I don't have to think anymore on the court. I know where I have to be and what I must do.
E. No, I don't have to make eye contact with the guards. We are so comfortable with each other now that they know I will roll to the basket and I always want the ball thrown up to the rim as I will go get it.
19. Staying with Gill. This young man once so shy talking to the media with a voice barely audible and his eyes seldom making contact now is turning into a confident quote machine.
Ro is now most definitely saying more than "Ro says no".
20. Never, and I am including the Hall's run to the Big East title at MSG have the post games been this much fun. I so wish our readers had the privilege attending that I do.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
1. Well, when a player is honored prior to the tip off for scoring 2000 points maybe there!
2. Fortunately this will not be Custer's last stand as he will be doing our next game as well.
3. This is true as the news was being shared in the post game. Commissioner Jay Wright (not sure how much of this was said tongue in cheek by the coach) has told Custer he does not want to see him Feb 8th.
4. Damn, my strategy of going where Powell isn't didn't work last night. Instead the horde of reporters surrounded Gill the moment he came into the room. It did give me a chance to go one on one with Rhoden for 4 minutes and with Powell for one question before the swarm came over to him.
5. Re Powell. The one question. How does it feel to walk into the post game and not have everyone instantly surround you? Huge smile. "Could not be happier. That's my roommate."
6. Re Rhoden. Asked him a lot of questions. Here's his answers...
A. Hitting that first three really got me going. Gave me a boost of confidence
B. That is one hell of a physical team we played tonight.
C. Yes, knowing that Providence was going to focus on Myles all night we worked in practice with me floating around the basket and in the paint. Got a lot of easy baskets doing that.
D. My left finger (pinky) is taped up and it bothers me when I have time to think about it. In the game I don't but on the foul line I do.
E. Maybe I play less minutes when Sandro comes back but it's going to help the team so I don't even think about that.
7. Comedy act? Jerry C tried to complement Willard on tying PJ's Big East win total. Willard (as happy as I have seen him in a post game in quite some time) went into what can be best described as a failed stand up routine trying to explain (the math) on how his feat doesn't match PJ's because we now play more games in the Big East season than back then. When that didn't make sense he tried to salvage the 'skit' but it was too late.
A for effort. D- for execution.
8. On a negative note...the defense was outstanding with the Friars shooting 35.9% from the field. Unfortunately 1/3 of Providence's points came on 2nd chances as the result of 19 offensive rebounds.
Imagine what their shooting percentage would have been if the Pirates cleaned their own boards?
9. Unsung hero.
His name wasn't mentioned once in the post game and that was a mistake. Shavar Reynolds played as efficient a 13 1/2 minutes as any former walkon at the Hall has ever played. His defense was a bitch. His 2 assists beauties as they led to easy layups. And his shot from the arc near the first half buzzer gave the Hall a 4 point lead and closed out a 6-0 run. After that the Pirates never led by less than 3 points.
10. Pick your poison.
Wow, no 3's from Powell. In fact his 6 shots from the field was quite a testament. Both to Cooley's game plan and to Myles maturity in not forcing the issue. It was clear that the Providence coach was not going to let the Hall's star player beat him. But there were consequences to that strategy and those consequences came in the form of the Hall shooting 57.8% from the field.
11. Mamugate
After saying all week that Sandro would probably come back in the DePaul game KW backtracked yesterday noting although Mamu's injury was entirely healed he has not practiced yet and won't until this coming week. His fear? Sandro falling and not having the strength in his wrist area to not re-injure himself.
Hard to know with Willard's track record on injury status where to go here.
12. Did SHU win one 50/50 ball last night? No sure if they did. Credit the men of Cooley for playing with such intensity.
13. The spread depending on where you got the info fluctuated between 8 1/2 points and 9 1/2 points. The final score 73-64. Nuff said.
14. Too good to be true?
A few days ago Kenpom...SHU #8. This morning? #11.
15. Cale had a terrible offensive game. His stats tell no lies. But he did have 2 very important layups. One on a drive in the first half through contact after Providence took their first (1 point) lead in the game and then late in the second half off a missed shot when the Friars were trying to get back into the game.
16. Didn't like Cooley's strategy in the last minute or so of the game. The Pirates with the ball up 5 and SHU still in the one and one. Both Cale and Rhoden were on the court yet instead of instantly fouling one of them Cooley allowed the Hall to run off 30 seconds and the result was a Q layup. Game, set, match, Pirates.
17. I disagree with those that are saying Powell isn't 100% back. In fact unlike previous games Willard let Powell play through media timeouts. And his only major rest after playing a team leading 34 minutes was around the 8 minutes mark in the second stanza when he was pulled and SHU played so well he got about a 10 minutes break on the bench.
My take. If Powell was having issues he would gave gotten more rest in the first half, but instead he played the majority of those 20 minutes not having the media break help him out except once.
Yes he's banged up a little. But you can say that about every single player on the team. It's a long grueling season.
18. The Ro Report
After the horde dissipated I had him all to myself for about 4 minutes.
The result.....
A. Yes, I have worked on my hands catching the ball all season. Any improvement is a credit to coach Grant. He's great with us.
B. I can't seem to get more than 17 points in a game.
C. Blocks or dunks? Doesn't matter whichever means more to winning.
D. I am so comfortable now and yes I don't have to think anymore on the court. I know where I have to be and what I must do.
E. No, I don't have to make eye contact with the guards. We are so comfortable with each other now that they know I will roll to the basket and I always want the ball thrown up to the rim as I will go get it.
19. Staying with Gill. This young man once so shy talking to the media with a voice barely audible and his eyes seldom making contact now is turning into a confident quote machine.
Ro is now most definitely saying more than "Ro says no".
20. Never, and I am including the Hall's run to the Big East title at MSG have the post games been this much fun. I so wish our readers had the privilege attending that I do.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
