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 this report I will attach a grade for head coach Kevin Willard.
2015 - 2018
Average relevant Kenpom stats at the conclusion of the the last 4 years
# 47.25
Overall record 84-48
Big East record 38-34
Conference-only offense 6.75
Conference-only defense 5th
Big East Tournament record 4-3
NCAA Tournament record 1-3
Final RPI average
# 50.75
It all began on a mid summer day back on July 16th 2013 when a lightly recruited young man living just a couple of miles from the Seton Hall campus orally committed to the school of his dreams, Seton Hall. Ish Sanogo a then 6-4 1/2 power player, one who had been on Seton Hall's campus on numerous occasions, the first time puzzling our head coach Kevin Willard who did not even know who he was showed enough moving forward that Willard decided to take a chance on him and offer a schorlarship.
No one knew at the time but Ish as he became known to the Pirate faithful would grow 3 inches over the summer prior to attending Seton Hall and by his sophomore year become one of the best defenders in the league, earning 1st team all conference honors that second year as the Hall shocked the basketball world upsetting two nationally ranked top 5 teams to win the Big East championship at Madison Square Garden.
One down.
A month to the day that Ish pledged the Hall a more well known player, in fact one of the best big men in the country did the same. Angel Delgado who many felt was Kentucky bound instead committed to the Pirates giving Kevin Willard his highest rated player to date.
Kentucky was the early favorite once it became known that they 'stached' the rising senior down south to play his final high school year. But after his commitment to the Pirates and once the scholastic basketball year began Delgado did not see the court time expected and mid season decided to move back to the metro area and finish his last games at the Patrick School playing for Chris Chevannes.
Two down.
Next up, a short 3 weeks later Khadeen Carrington decided to board the Pirate ship. Carrington, known as Deeno to his friends was a rising star in Brooklyn. An unpolished scorer with a ton of potential who actually earned POY status at the end of his senior season over the nationally rated Isaiah Whitehead. More on him later.
Three down.
At this point Willard had brought in his best recruiting class to date. But as they say you ain't seen nothing yet. A week and a day after the Carrington commit star NY guard and one of the highest rated players in the country Isaiah Whitehead from Brooklyn was going to made his announcement at Lincoln high.
The day before it was a near certainty that the 6-4 guard would stay in the city and commit to the hometown Red Storm of St John's. But unknown to most all that night Whitehead who was coming to college as a package deal with his high school coach Tiny Morton was told by then Johnnies coach Steve Lavin that Morton would not be hired as an assistant opening the door for the Hall to swoop in and garner one of the most important players in modern Seton Hall history.
That was confirmed the following afternoon when at 4PM Whitehead donned a Pirate hat with friends and family seated behind him.
Four down.
That ended the early signing period but Seton Hall was far from done.
Whitehead as noted played his high school ball at Lincoln for Tiny Morton who was going to join his stud guard the next season at the Hall. But Morton had more than just one star player on his team.
Desi Rodriquez from the Bronx, a 6-3 center wanted to play at a higher level and hopefully by doing so earn a college scholarship and become the first person from his family to get a degree. But to do that he had to sacrifice and not just on the practice court. Rodriquez decided to make the long trek to play for Tiny Morton at Lincoln. That was very difficult at first because he had to awake every morning at the break of dawn to attend Lincoln. But fortunately he became very close to Whitehead and his mom and Desi was invited to live with the two making life for him a lot less difficult.
Fast forward a year later and Desi now 6-5 and still growing was playing second fiddle to his good friend on the Railsplitters nationally ranked team. Second fiddle, but not without displaying the potential that would eventually make him the fifth high school star to commit to the Hall.
Early in Rodriquez' final season Lincoln was playing in a Christmas tournament in Florida and Seton Hall dispatched assistant coach Fred Hill to watch Isaiah Whitehead play, but to also get a final glimpse of the Bronx star.
Hill was impressed by the play of Rodriquez and upon his return back home told Kevin Willard that Rodriquez was a Big East talent and on December 23rd the Seton Hall program got a Christmas present in the form of the athletic but sometimes mercurial future small forward. Rodriquez would sign 4 months later in the spring of 2014.
5 down.
Many believed that Seton Hall's five man class would end the team's recruitment but Willard and the staff had seen an athletic big man they liked and their interest quiet at the time bore fruit when the athletic but very raw 6-7 power player Mike Nzei, a 3 star recruit based on potential closed out the Pirates recruiting that season when he committed to the school May 19th.
6 down.
Kevin Willard had now secured one of the highest ranked classes in the history of Seton Hall and not a moment too soon as the young head coach was on the hot seat due to his lack off on court success in South Orange.
The class however did not come without some controversy as Willard to ensure his two highest commitments, Whitehead and Delgado, had to hand out two coaching jobs, one to the aforementioned Morton and a second to Oliver Antigua who had close ties to the Dominican born Delgado.
Neither of the two coaches stood at the Hall for long as first Morton left after his initial year in South Orange to go back to Lincoln and then Antigua left to join his brother Orlando who was named head coach of the USF Bulls in 2014.
Conclusion
As each individual season was chronicled previously I will now sum up the 4 year span.
The title of this segment was Bittersweet and those two words were chosen for a reason. There were many ups and downs for Willard, his staff and the 6 players profiled above. The initial promise made by Whitehead and his fellow classmates was their goal to put Seton Hall basketball back on the basketball map. Mission accomplish. In fact it was accomplished in year two by winning the Big East tournament.
Further accomplishments were back to back to back invites to the NCAA tournament. Something not seen at the Hall since the years of legendary coach PJ Carleisimo.
The first victory in the Dance since Louis Orr roamed the sidelines in South Orange.
Three straight seasons a SHU player was named honorable mention All American.
Two Haggerty Awards. One for Whitehead the other given to Delgado.
A conference COY award earned by Kevin Willard.
And finally all 6 recruits with the exception of Whitehead who departed after his sophomore season for the NBA earning their diplomas.
Fine achievements every one. But were they enough? Were the expectations, at a fever pitch 4 plus years ago met?
The above accolades would say yes they were. But looking closely. Looking at the overall Big East record. Looking at the tournament records, both in conference and in the NCAA's, the obvious doesn't seem so obvious anymore.
Seton Hall brought in a super six class. One that was going to take them to heights unknown for so many Pirate fans. But when looking back and examining closely the accomplishments of the teams and their head coach good, even very good doesn't line up with the potential expected. The key word being expected.
Was too much asked of these 6 young man in particular?
Some may say yes and laud them for what they did and not criticize them for what they didn't do.
I look at this differently and saw parts that other than maybe a year or so never were equal to the whole. Never mind exceed it.
Why? That was discussed in previous stories so I will stand by those comments.
Bottom line...these 6 young men did so much for the program and the Pirate faithful we'll forever be indebted to them. But there will always be a feeling that they could have done, should have done even more.
With that thought in mind I feel the past 4 years graded out to a C for our head coach. Many, many highs but also a lot of disappointments. In short a Bittersweet 4 years at the Hall.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
COMMENTS.
At the conclusion of this report I will attach a grade for head coach Kevin Willard.
2015 - 2018
Average relevant Kenpom stats at the conclusion of the the last 4 years
# 47.25
Overall record 84-48
Big East record 38-34
Conference-only offense 6.75
Conference-only defense 5th
Big East Tournament record 4-3
NCAA Tournament record 1-3
Final RPI average
# 50.75
It all began on a mid summer day back on July 16th 2013 when a lightly recruited young man living just a couple of miles from the Seton Hall campus orally committed to the school of his dreams, Seton Hall. Ish Sanogo a then 6-4 1/2 power player, one who had been on Seton Hall's campus on numerous occasions, the first time puzzling our head coach Kevin Willard who did not even know who he was showed enough moving forward that Willard decided to take a chance on him and offer a schorlarship.
No one knew at the time but Ish as he became known to the Pirate faithful would grow 3 inches over the summer prior to attending Seton Hall and by his sophomore year become one of the best defenders in the league, earning 1st team all conference honors that second year as the Hall shocked the basketball world upsetting two nationally ranked top 5 teams to win the Big East championship at Madison Square Garden.
One down.
A month to the day that Ish pledged the Hall a more well known player, in fact one of the best big men in the country did the same. Angel Delgado who many felt was Kentucky bound instead committed to the Pirates giving Kevin Willard his highest rated player to date.
Kentucky was the early favorite once it became known that they 'stached' the rising senior down south to play his final high school year. But after his commitment to the Pirates and once the scholastic basketball year began Delgado did not see the court time expected and mid season decided to move back to the metro area and finish his last games at the Patrick School playing for Chris Chevannes.
Two down.
Next up, a short 3 weeks later Khadeen Carrington decided to board the Pirate ship. Carrington, known as Deeno to his friends was a rising star in Brooklyn. An unpolished scorer with a ton of potential who actually earned POY status at the end of his senior season over the nationally rated Isaiah Whitehead. More on him later.
Three down.
At this point Willard had brought in his best recruiting class to date. But as they say you ain't seen nothing yet. A week and a day after the Carrington commit star NY guard and one of the highest rated players in the country Isaiah Whitehead from Brooklyn was going to made his announcement at Lincoln high.
The day before it was a near certainty that the 6-4 guard would stay in the city and commit to the hometown Red Storm of St John's. But unknown to most all that night Whitehead who was coming to college as a package deal with his high school coach Tiny Morton was told by then Johnnies coach Steve Lavin that Morton would not be hired as an assistant opening the door for the Hall to swoop in and garner one of the most important players in modern Seton Hall history.
That was confirmed the following afternoon when at 4PM Whitehead donned a Pirate hat with friends and family seated behind him.
Four down.
That ended the early signing period but Seton Hall was far from done.
Whitehead as noted played his high school ball at Lincoln for Tiny Morton who was going to join his stud guard the next season at the Hall. But Morton had more than just one star player on his team.
Desi Rodriquez from the Bronx, a 6-3 center wanted to play at a higher level and hopefully by doing so earn a college scholarship and become the first person from his family to get a degree. But to do that he had to sacrifice and not just on the practice court. Rodriquez decided to make the long trek to play for Tiny Morton at Lincoln. That was very difficult at first because he had to awake every morning at the break of dawn to attend Lincoln. But fortunately he became very close to Whitehead and his mom and Desi was invited to live with the two making life for him a lot less difficult.
Fast forward a year later and Desi now 6-5 and still growing was playing second fiddle to his good friend on the Railsplitters nationally ranked team. Second fiddle, but not without displaying the potential that would eventually make him the fifth high school star to commit to the Hall.
Early in Rodriquez' final season Lincoln was playing in a Christmas tournament in Florida and Seton Hall dispatched assistant coach Fred Hill to watch Isaiah Whitehead play, but to also get a final glimpse of the Bronx star.
Hill was impressed by the play of Rodriquez and upon his return back home told Kevin Willard that Rodriquez was a Big East talent and on December 23rd the Seton Hall program got a Christmas present in the form of the athletic but sometimes mercurial future small forward. Rodriquez would sign 4 months later in the spring of 2014.
5 down.
Many believed that Seton Hall's five man class would end the team's recruitment but Willard and the staff had seen an athletic big man they liked and their interest quiet at the time bore fruit when the athletic but very raw 6-7 power player Mike Nzei, a 3 star recruit based on potential closed out the Pirates recruiting that season when he committed to the school May 19th.
6 down.
Kevin Willard had now secured one of the highest ranked classes in the history of Seton Hall and not a moment too soon as the young head coach was on the hot seat due to his lack off on court success in South Orange.
The class however did not come without some controversy as Willard to ensure his two highest commitments, Whitehead and Delgado, had to hand out two coaching jobs, one to the aforementioned Morton and a second to Oliver Antigua who had close ties to the Dominican born Delgado.
Neither of the two coaches stood at the Hall for long as first Morton left after his initial year in South Orange to go back to Lincoln and then Antigua left to join his brother Orlando who was named head coach of the USF Bulls in 2014.
Conclusion
As each individual season was chronicled previously I will now sum up the 4 year span.
The title of this segment was Bittersweet and those two words were chosen for a reason. There were many ups and downs for Willard, his staff and the 6 players profiled above. The initial promise made by Whitehead and his fellow classmates was their goal to put Seton Hall basketball back on the basketball map. Mission accomplish. In fact it was accomplished in year two by winning the Big East tournament.
Further accomplishments were back to back to back invites to the NCAA tournament. Something not seen at the Hall since the years of legendary coach PJ Carleisimo.
The first victory in the Dance since Louis Orr roamed the sidelines in South Orange.
Three straight seasons a SHU player was named honorable mention All American.
Two Haggerty Awards. One for Whitehead the other given to Delgado.
A conference COY award earned by Kevin Willard.
And finally all 6 recruits with the exception of Whitehead who departed after his sophomore season for the NBA earning their diplomas.
Fine achievements every one. But were they enough? Were the expectations, at a fever pitch 4 plus years ago met?
The above accolades would say yes they were. But looking closely. Looking at the overall Big East record. Looking at the tournament records, both in conference and in the NCAA's, the obvious doesn't seem so obvious anymore.
Seton Hall brought in a super six class. One that was going to take them to heights unknown for so many Pirate fans. But when looking back and examining closely the accomplishments of the teams and their head coach good, even very good doesn't line up with the potential expected. The key word being expected.
Was too much asked of these 6 young man in particular?
Some may say yes and laud them for what they did and not criticize them for what they didn't do.
I look at this differently and saw parts that other than maybe a year or so never were equal to the whole. Never mind exceed it.
Why? That was discussed in previous stories so I will stand by those comments.
Bottom line...these 6 young men did so much for the program and the Pirate faithful we'll forever be indebted to them. But there will always be a feeling that they could have done, should have done even more.
With that thought in mind I feel the past 4 years graded out to a C for our head coach. Many, many highs but also a lot of disappointments. In short a Bittersweet 4 years at the Hall.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
COMMENTS.
