This five part series will chronicle the past four years and will touch on the individual seasons following the commitments of Isaiah Whitehead and his fellow class of 2018 teammates.
At the conclusion of each season I will attach a grade for head coach Kevin Willard.
2018
Relevant Kenpom stats at the conclusion of the season
#26 Seton Hall (8 seed) BE 22-12 10-8
Conference-only offense 6th
Conference-only defense 8th
3 way tie for 3rd in final league standings
Lost in first round of Big East tournament to Butler 75-74
Lost in second round of the NCAA to Kansas 83-79
Final RPI
# 31
Before any review can be completed regarding the 2018 Seton Hall season we must go back to the spring of '17. There, like the previous year Seton Hall fans were on the edge of their seats wondering if again the star of their team, Angel Delgado in this case, would forgo his eligibility and enter his name in the NBA draft.
Complicating the matter was an agency, Roc Nation, telling Delgado that similar to the previous year they would be able to secure the star center a guaranteed contract like the one signed by past teammate Isaiah Whitehead, now with the Brooklyn Nets.
That information flew in the face of NBA scouts and their like who not only didn't believe Delgado would get a guaranteed contract but questioned if there was any interest at all in the big man.
Enter the Hall's coaching staff led by Kevin Willard and assisted by Fred Hill, both having connections to the NBA. With their aid Delgado was given facts not promises and made to understand his best course of action regarding his basketball future was to go back to school, work on what was needed for him to play at the next level and just as important, be the first member of his family to earn a sheepskin.
Once the decision was made Angel made two calls to share the news. The first to his girlfriend who supported his coming back to Seton Hall and the second to his head coach who had received a similar call last year from Isaiah Whitehead before changing his mind and declaring for the draft.
This time however there would not be a last minute change in thinking and Willard, the staff, and all Hall fans let out a sigh of relief. The Pirates were locked and loaded. The upcoming season could not get here fast enough.
Expectations.
Daniel Webster defines the word as such......
noun
a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future.
a belief that someone will or should achieve something.
There wasn't a more appropriate word to describe how everyone connected with the Pirate program felt. And really why wouldn't they? Seton Hall was returning the senior trio of Angel Delgado, Khadeen Carrington and Desi Rodriquez. The former two choices on the preseason all conference first team.
Add in fellow senior Ish Sanogo, a glue guy and one of the best defenders in the league along with rising sophomore Myles Powell, sharp shooter extraordinaire and the expectations in South Orange were through the roof.
Even the national media, not always supportive of the small catholic school's basketball program got caught up in the fever and had the Pirates ranked in their top 20. Something not seen in South Orange to begin a season since the early days of Tommy Amaker with his #1 recruiting class back at the turn of the century.
Finally October came and the start of the season so eagerly anticipated began and as expected not with a whimper but with the anticipated bang as the Hall roared out of the gate winning 9 of their first 10 games. The lone defeat being a one point buzzer beating loss to Rhode Island and future UConn coach Dan Hurley.
The highlight of the first ten games for the Hall was an undressing of top 10 Texas Tech at the Garden, 89-79, in a game where with less than a minute left the Pirates were up 15 before Tech scored the last 5 points against the Pirate bench.
The love being shown the team was legitimate. Seton Hall was as good as anticipated and expectation, even from the most optimistic fan were being met if not exceeded.
Or were they?
After demolishing St Peter's at Walsh the team headed down south to face another NJ team, rival Rutgers led by second year coach Steve Pikiell.
Rutgers was considered nothing more than just another stop on the runaway train the Pirates were becoming. And right on script the Hall took an early double digit lead and clearly only the final score would be in question.
But something happened that Saturday in New Brunswick, something that would be repeated multiple times the rest of the season. The Hall lost their way playing with little energy and more importantly a lack of composure. A double digit lead eventually became a tie game with under 10 minutes to play before seemingly order was restored with the Pirates going on an 8-0 run and building a comfortable lead. But the lead was anything but conformable and from that point to the ending buzzer it was the Scarlet Knights that made all the plays pulling out a shocking 6 point victory.
The Hall was stunned. Clearly the loss hurt, especially against a neighborhood rival. But was it just a blip on the radar or something more ominous.
Five games and five victories later Pirate fans got what they thought was their answer. Seton Hall had 'one of those games'. A shocker indeed, but it happens to most all teams and the good ones get past the loss and move forward to bigger and better things.
But as the season played out the Rutgers game was not just a misstep but instead a harbinger of things to come.
After defeating Big East rival Butler the record stood at 14-2, 3-0 in conference and the team was challenging for top 10 national status. But unknown at the time that would be the high point of the regular season as the Hall preceded to lose 7 of their next 10 games dropping out of the AP top 25, but more importantly bringing into question the unthinkable, is the Hall playing themselves out of an NCAA tournament bid?
As seems to be the case with every recent Willard team Seton Hall rebounded and played their best ball down the stretch winning 4 of their final 5 conference games with the only blemish being a 1 point OT loss to the #1 team in the nation, Villanova. A game played with Desi Rodriquez sidelined and Ish Sanogo injured late in regulation turning an ankle.
The regular season once seemingly so bright had ended with a very disappointing record of 21-10, 10-8. But at least the Pirates seemed to have righted the ship playing the final weeks as they began the year with focus and determination.
The Hall had disappointed but they now had a second chance for redemption. The post season beckoned.
Standing in the way of that second chance was the Butler Bulldogs, a team the Hall has dispatched twice during the regular season. Once without offensive star Desi Rodriquez. But the third time was not the charm and in a game that went down to the wire the result was a near buzzer beating loss by the slimmest of margins, 1 point on a put back with a few ticks left on the clock by the Bulldogs man mountain the appropriately named Tyler Wideman. The loss being a staggering 9th for a team that was considered preseason #2 in the conference by the league coaches.
At the conclusion of each season I will attach a grade for head coach Kevin Willard.
2018
Relevant Kenpom stats at the conclusion of the season
#26 Seton Hall (8 seed) BE 22-12 10-8
Conference-only offense 6th
Conference-only defense 8th
3 way tie for 3rd in final league standings
Lost in first round of Big East tournament to Butler 75-74
Lost in second round of the NCAA to Kansas 83-79
Final RPI
# 31
Before any review can be completed regarding the 2018 Seton Hall season we must go back to the spring of '17. There, like the previous year Seton Hall fans were on the edge of their seats wondering if again the star of their team, Angel Delgado in this case, would forgo his eligibility and enter his name in the NBA draft.
Complicating the matter was an agency, Roc Nation, telling Delgado that similar to the previous year they would be able to secure the star center a guaranteed contract like the one signed by past teammate Isaiah Whitehead, now with the Brooklyn Nets.
That information flew in the face of NBA scouts and their like who not only didn't believe Delgado would get a guaranteed contract but questioned if there was any interest at all in the big man.
Enter the Hall's coaching staff led by Kevin Willard and assisted by Fred Hill, both having connections to the NBA. With their aid Delgado was given facts not promises and made to understand his best course of action regarding his basketball future was to go back to school, work on what was needed for him to play at the next level and just as important, be the first member of his family to earn a sheepskin.
Once the decision was made Angel made two calls to share the news. The first to his girlfriend who supported his coming back to Seton Hall and the second to his head coach who had received a similar call last year from Isaiah Whitehead before changing his mind and declaring for the draft.
This time however there would not be a last minute change in thinking and Willard, the staff, and all Hall fans let out a sigh of relief. The Pirates were locked and loaded. The upcoming season could not get here fast enough.
Expectations.
Daniel Webster defines the word as such......
noun
a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future.
a belief that someone will or should achieve something.
There wasn't a more appropriate word to describe how everyone connected with the Pirate program felt. And really why wouldn't they? Seton Hall was returning the senior trio of Angel Delgado, Khadeen Carrington and Desi Rodriquez. The former two choices on the preseason all conference first team.
Add in fellow senior Ish Sanogo, a glue guy and one of the best defenders in the league along with rising sophomore Myles Powell, sharp shooter extraordinaire and the expectations in South Orange were through the roof.
Even the national media, not always supportive of the small catholic school's basketball program got caught up in the fever and had the Pirates ranked in their top 20. Something not seen in South Orange to begin a season since the early days of Tommy Amaker with his #1 recruiting class back at the turn of the century.
Finally October came and the start of the season so eagerly anticipated began and as expected not with a whimper but with the anticipated bang as the Hall roared out of the gate winning 9 of their first 10 games. The lone defeat being a one point buzzer beating loss to Rhode Island and future UConn coach Dan Hurley.
The highlight of the first ten games for the Hall was an undressing of top 10 Texas Tech at the Garden, 89-79, in a game where with less than a minute left the Pirates were up 15 before Tech scored the last 5 points against the Pirate bench.
The love being shown the team was legitimate. Seton Hall was as good as anticipated and expectation, even from the most optimistic fan were being met if not exceeded.
Or were they?
After demolishing St Peter's at Walsh the team headed down south to face another NJ team, rival Rutgers led by second year coach Steve Pikiell.
Rutgers was considered nothing more than just another stop on the runaway train the Pirates were becoming. And right on script the Hall took an early double digit lead and clearly only the final score would be in question.
But something happened that Saturday in New Brunswick, something that would be repeated multiple times the rest of the season. The Hall lost their way playing with little energy and more importantly a lack of composure. A double digit lead eventually became a tie game with under 10 minutes to play before seemingly order was restored with the Pirates going on an 8-0 run and building a comfortable lead. But the lead was anything but conformable and from that point to the ending buzzer it was the Scarlet Knights that made all the plays pulling out a shocking 6 point victory.
The Hall was stunned. Clearly the loss hurt, especially against a neighborhood rival. But was it just a blip on the radar or something more ominous.
Five games and five victories later Pirate fans got what they thought was their answer. Seton Hall had 'one of those games'. A shocker indeed, but it happens to most all teams and the good ones get past the loss and move forward to bigger and better things.
But as the season played out the Rutgers game was not just a misstep but instead a harbinger of things to come.
After defeating Big East rival Butler the record stood at 14-2, 3-0 in conference and the team was challenging for top 10 national status. But unknown at the time that would be the high point of the regular season as the Hall preceded to lose 7 of their next 10 games dropping out of the AP top 25, but more importantly bringing into question the unthinkable, is the Hall playing themselves out of an NCAA tournament bid?
As seems to be the case with every recent Willard team Seton Hall rebounded and played their best ball down the stretch winning 4 of their final 5 conference games with the only blemish being a 1 point OT loss to the #1 team in the nation, Villanova. A game played with Desi Rodriquez sidelined and Ish Sanogo injured late in regulation turning an ankle.
The regular season once seemingly so bright had ended with a very disappointing record of 21-10, 10-8. But at least the Pirates seemed to have righted the ship playing the final weeks as they began the year with focus and determination.
The Hall had disappointed but they now had a second chance for redemption. The post season beckoned.
Standing in the way of that second chance was the Butler Bulldogs, a team the Hall has dispatched twice during the regular season. Once without offensive star Desi Rodriquez. But the third time was not the charm and in a game that went down to the wire the result was a near buzzer beating loss by the slimmest of margins, 1 point on a put back with a few ticks left on the clock by the Bulldogs man mountain the appropriately named Tyler Wideman. The loss being a staggering 9th for a team that was considered preseason #2 in the conference by the league coaches.
