PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
The definitive source for all PirateCrew news.
By JP Pelzman
As Seton Hall takes a well-deserved breather, this is as good a time as any for some observations following the Pirates’ Big East-opening victory over St. John’s, and looking ahead to the scheduled road opener against Marquette on Thursday. As we all have seen already, all college hoop schedules will be quite fluid.
Mamu becoming dominant.
For awhile, one of the narratives on the inside of the program was the hope that senior stretch four Sandro Mamukelashvili would realize just how good he is, especially now that he doesn’t have to defer to the departed Myles Powell.
That attitude is beginning to show, if Friday’s 32-point performance against the Johnnies is any indication.
“I loved the way he was talking in the huddle,” coach Kevin Willard said after the game. “As he’s getting in shape and getting more comfortable with the role I’m asking him to do, I think he’s just growing into that player I knew he would be.”
Willard has said several times this fall he believes Mamukelashvili is the best player in the country, praise he used to have for Powell. The difference, he says, is Powell already believed it. He still has to convince Mamukelashvili somewhat.
“I think I can be an All-American,” Mamukelashvili said Friday. “I think I have the talents to be an All-American. I just have to continue to bring it every day and show I can be that guy.”
For now, he hopes soon that Seton Hall will furnish a cutout of his father to put in the stands “so I can wave to him.”
Molson showing his toughness.
Sixth man Takal Molson shot 9-for-12 from the foul line Friday, all in the final 5:10, had five rebounds and two assists, and generally displayed the same toughness and grit as he did in two seasons at Canisius before sitting out last season as a transfer.
Even a pair of untrained eyes such as mine could notice Molson’s tight defense while watching a Seton Hall practice session. Yet most aspects of his game don’t jump out at you, except for his willingness to have the ball in his hands at crunch time. But the whole of Molson's game is more than the sum of the parts, and it is no wonder Willard has had him on the floor when games are in the balance.
“I think that’s the best compliment you can give me,” Molson said Friday when it was relayed to him that Willard has said he has a “junkyard dog” mentality. Molson added, “I’m totally fine with that.”
Let them play.
Let's make this clear that Willard was not responding to Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s comments that the season should be shut down, shortly after his team lost for the second time this season to a Big Ten team at an empty Cameron Indoor Stadium.
But it’s clear these words came from the heart. These Pirates don’t want a shutdown.
Been there, done that.
“I’ll tell you what’s tough mentally,” Willard said, “is to take the game away from them, to be on the bus when the Big East tournament is canceled, to be on the bus when the NCAA tournament is canceled, and deal with 13 kids when their dreams have been ripped apart."
“The thing I've done with my guys,” he added, “is I’ve communicated with them 24/7 about every little thing that’s going on and I listen to them. They want to play games. They want to play. I want to coach. They want to play. If they had told me, ‘hey, we don’t want to play,’ then we wouldn’t be playing. Because I want to do what they want to do. I'm always that way.”
Willard, in his 11th year at Seton Hall, continued, “I think the games have been more competitive than they were last year. I think all these kids are so glad to be back playing. It's not easy. It's hard (with all the protocols) and there are going to be more cancellations. … It's not an easy time in this country right now.”
True. And it’s hard for me to see how shutting down college hoops somehow will improve things. Although the view probably is different for someone who already has made bazillions of dollars and sits in an ivory tower somewhere in the research triangle of North Carolina. And who also doesn’t have a consensus lottery pick on his roster at the moment.
Aiken update.
It's still unclear when grad transfer point guard Bryce Aiken, who crumpled to the floor with a sprained right ankle in the opener, will return.
“I think he would be back, if it was just the ankle,” Willard said. “I’m just being super careful with the young man.”
The problem, Willard indicated, is that he also wants to make sure Aiken gets enough practice reps so that his surgically-repaired left knee is good to go once he returns to action.
One ingredient still missing for St. John’s.
Give Seton Hall’s perimeter defense a lot of the credit Friday for St. John’s 4-for-21 (19%) performance from beyond the arc. But even though that was well below the Red Storm’s usual performance, it continues to be a weakness. St. John’s, which visits Georgetown on Sunday night, is hitting 29.8% from long distance while permitting 36.2% Mike Anderson, in his second year at the helm in Queens, is doing a good job in recruiting the right kind of players to fit his up-tempo, pressing system. But for the Red Storm to really make a move in next few years, he needs to find a shooter whom opponents must respect. Otherwise, a lot of the transition opportunities his pressure defense sets up will go unfulfilled.
Seton Hall now has won 10 of the last 13 games in that series, and for that trend to change, the Red Storm needs a three-point specialist.
Scouting Marquette.
The Golden Eagles have started 4-2 in the post-Markus Howard era and are scheduled to visit Creighton on Monday night. Marquette lost, 69-60 at UCLA on Friday night, in a game in which the Golden Eagles shot 56% from the field in the first half and then went cold after halftime, going 0-for-11 from three-point range in the second half.
Ohio State transfer forward D.J. Carton scored 18 points in that game, and is averaging 10.3. Shooting guard Koby McEwen leads the team with 15.3 ppg and is hitting 43.3% from long distance. The paint still is patrolled by bruising 6-9, 245-pound senior Theo John, who averages 8.2 rebounds and only seems to have been at Marquette since Big East associate commissioner John Paquette was an undergrad. Expect him to be guarding Mamukelashvili a lot.
Marquette seems to be a bit less stagnant on offense without Howard. Thus far, the Golden Eagles are averaging 13.7 assists on 24 made baskets per game, as opposed to 13.5 and 25.3 last season. Let's see if that trend continues against The Hall.
