PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
The definitive source for all PirateCrew news.
By Tyler Calvaruso
After months of uncertainty, Seton Hall is finally less than a week away from beginning a highly- anticipated 2020-21 season.
Before diving into a conference schedule that is primed to be competitive as ever, the Pirates will first navigate yet another tough non-conference slate put together by Kevin Willard. Like past years, Willard did not back away from challenging his team in non-conference with high-profile matchups against Louisville and Baylor, as well as tough road trips to Rhode Island and Penn State.
How will Seton Hall kick off the post-Myles Powell era? Let’s take a crack at predicting how the Pirates will fare in non-conference play before the Big East gauntlet begins.
Nov. 27 – Seton Hall @ Louisville
Seton Hall kicks off its 2020 season with an immediate challenge, hitting the road to take on a talented Louisville team on minimal preparation after just ending quarantine on Monday. This isn’t your typical veteran Cardinals squad, though, as Chris Mack is tasked with 75% of his team’s scoring and 66% of the rebounding from 2020 graduated.
Gone are Jordan Nwora, Dwayne Sutton, Steven Enoch and Ryan McMahon – four players that had Louisville positioned for a deep run last March before COVID-19 struck. Now, it’s on former McDonald’s All-American swingman Samuell Williamson (4.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 15.5 mpg in 2019-20), classmate David Johnson (6.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg in 2019-20) and two graduate transfers, former Radford star Carlik Jones (20 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 5.5 apg in 2019-20) and San Francisco’s Charles Minlend (14.5 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.8 apg, one spg in 2019-20).
Jones and Minlend are not household names right now, but that is bound to change this season. Both were all-conference players in their respective leagues last season and bring a propensity for scoring to Louisville. Williamson and Johnson, meanwhile, have the talent to take the jump Mack expects them to in expanded roles. There’s also 6-foot-11, 250-pound Malik Williams (8.5 ppg, 6.1 rpg in 2019-20) manning the paint and taking on leadership responsibility, and redshirt freshman Jae’lyn Withers, who Mack is high on.
Had Jay Scruggs not bolted straight from junior college to the NBA, Louisville would boast a much more dangerous squad, so Seton Hall dodges a bullet in that regard. With that being said, Louisville cannot be slept on. The Cardinals might not be the preseason Top 25 team they were a year ago, but are still a dangerous, well-coached group.
For Seton Hall, it is going to come down to controlling the tempo and taking care of the ball. Remember, this is a team that still must establish an offensive identity with Myles Powell, Quincy McKnight and Romaro Gill gone. Kevin Willard is going to run a lot of his offense through Sandro Mamukelashvili in the paint, but what does that mean for the Pirates in terms of tempo? Will Willard look to slow things down? Or will he allow Bryce Aiken and company to run free on the break? Regardless of what happens there, ball control is going to be the biggest key against Louisville. Aiken is a heady point guard, so the Pirates should be fine with him as their lead guard – even as he reacclimates to game speed and adjusts to a new offense. If things go awry, though, Louisville is going to have an advantage.
I have a hunch turnovers won’t be an issue and the offense will look better than expected on Friday. The instant offense Powell brought to the table won’t be available this season and Seton Hall is going to have to find ways to score in crunch time, but Louisville is dealing with the same issue and the Pirates are a superior defensive team. Willard has said time and time again that he thinks this could be one of his best defensive teams he’s had at Seton Hall, and I expect that to be enough for the Pirates to eke out a nailbiter to kick off the season.
Seton Hall 64, Louisville 60
(Editors note. Minlend and Williams are injured and will not play)
Nov. 29 – Baylor @ Seton Hall
It’s a shame fans won’t be allowed into the Prudential Center for this one, as the Rock would have been rocking at a new level with No. 2 Baylor (hopefully) coming to town on Sunday afternoon.
Baylor’s trip to Newark presents Seton Hall with a chance to defeat a top-two team for the first time in program history, but do not count on that happening. Other than Villanova, Baylor is the best team the Pirates will play this season and, frankly, it isn’t even close.
2019-20 was essentially a dream season for the Bears and things could somehow be even better for Scott Drew’s program this season. Big 12 Most Improved Player Freddie Gillespie and conference Sixth Man of the Year Devonte Bandoo have departed, but Baylor still returns almost its entire core from a team that had all five starters earn All-Big 12 honors and three players on the conference’s All-Big 12 defensive team.
Point guard Jared Butler’s decision to return the school makes Baylor a legitimate national title contender. The first-team All-Big 12 selection led the Bears in scoring last season with 16 points per game and was efficient running Drew’s offense, seldom turning the ball over. Dynamic two-guard Macio Teague (13.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.9 apg) also returns, as do Davion Mitchell (9.9 ppg, 3.8 apg, 2.7 rpg) and Mark Vital (6.6 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.8 apg, 1.7 spg). Tristan Clark returns from injury and slides back into the starting lineup with the hope being he can return to putting up all-conference worthy numbers as he did before hurting his knee in January 2019.
My thoughts on the outcome of this game have more to do with how highly I think of Baylor than my opinion of Seton Hall. The Pirates have a lot to figure out in non-conference play, while Baylor already has the pieces in place. I would not be surprised if the Bears run away with this one. If that happens, it will be a valuable learning experience for Seton Hall – much like its road loss to Nebraska two years ago.
Baylor 78, Seton Hall 61
Dec. 2 – Seton Hall @ Rhode Island
Rhode Island lost guard Jeff Dowtin and forward Cyril Langevine to graduation, as well as Tyrese Martin (UConn), Mekhi Long (Old Dominion) and Jacob Toppin (Kentucky) to transfer this offseason. That means Seton Hall will roll into Kingston to begin December and have an easy time against Rams, right?
Wrong.
David Cox and company reloaded this offseason and are prepared to feature a 10-man rotation in 2020- 21. Leading the charge is All-American candidate Fatts Russell (18.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 4.6 apg, 2.9 spg in 2019-20), who pulled out of the NBA Draft to return for his senior year. Russell is the heart and soul of Rhode Island’s program, but he has a dangerous running mate in the backcourt who doesn’t garner much national attention in Jeremy Sheppard, who averaged 17.1 points per game and shot over 44% from three last season. The only other returning starter is junior Jermaine Harris (5.3 ppg, three rpg in 2019-20), but the Rams boast a talented group of transfers in brothers Makhi Mitchell (three ppg, 3.3 rpg, 9.3 mpg in 2019-20) and Makhel Mitchell (one ppg, 1.3 rpg, 6.8 mpg) from Maryland. There’s also Syracuse transfer Jalen Carey, a name Seton Hall fans are very familiar with, and Malik Martin, who averaged nine points per game at Charlotte last season.
Rhode Island stunned Seton Hall at the Barclays Center three years ago, setting the tone by tallying 50 points in the first half. Could another upset in store? I do not see it. This is another game where Seton Hall’s defense prowess shines through and gets the job done. Russell and Sheppard are a scary backcourt duo, but the Pirates have the personnel to lock in and slow them down. This could also be a matchup where Seton Hall’s offense turns in a high-output performance, as Rhode Island’s pace of play will lead to an increased number of possessions.
Seton Hall 76, Rhode Island 69
