Musings from the Rock
Don't let the final score fool ya, Professor Willard let loose the mad (bench) scientist in him and the result was a 25 point blowout morphing into a 12 point one.
Oh, and BTW Seton Hall's reward for the final score was dropping 3 spots in Kenpom. Further evidence as to why I don't put a lot of stock into their power ratings.
I know that the Jaspers hit 7 of their first 8 shots but I don't think the Hall's defense was that bad and over the course of the game that proved out.
In fact SHU's D is improving game by game although maybe not as much as Kevin Willard noted in the presser when he praised it in a superlative narrative.
Tip of the hat to the crowd for showing up on a deary holiday weekend. Doubtful the announced attendance of 8,001 was accurate as far as who was in the building but it was close.
The negative? Where were the students?
Mutual admiration society between Willard and Steve Masiello in the presser. The two could not stop saying enough nice things about each other ending with Willard stating there's a good chance that the two schools will play a H/H in the near future.
Play of the game? The obvious choice was the behind the back pass by Mamukelashvili, but to me because of degree of difficulty I'm going with Desi Rodriquez' halfcourt bullet pass on the move to Myles Powell deep in the corner by the Manhattan bench. Powell caught the long bomb and then in the same motion threw up a high arching shot that hit nothing but net.
Once again Angel, maybe slightly justified this time let his emotions get the better of him turning a jump ball situation into something much more. My problem though after watching the replay was with Myles Powell not Angel. Those defending what he did by noting he was swiping at the ball are way off base. The play was whistled dead for about a second before he swung his arm/hand hard over Zane Waterman's right shoulder. His subsequent push of another Manhattan player was also unnecessary and the Pirate's star guard is very lucky all he got was a flagrant 2 foul leading to his ejection from this one game.
BTW, kudos to the 3 man crew of Corbett, Lindsey and Szelc for handling the the fracas so well.
Staying with Powell...It was very evident how important he is to this team yesterday. Without him in the lineup in the second stanza the offense came to a grinding halt. Sure Willard mixed and matched with a big lead but clearly without Powell's offensive skills the team did not look the same.
The good, the bad and the ugly. That's what you get with most all freshmen. The talented ones have no problem executing plays culminating in oohs and aahs from the crowd but they will also sprinkle in a bunch of head scratching plays as well. And yesterday the talented Seton Hall trio of Walker, Mamu and Cale did just that. Consistency and loss of focus is their enemy early in their college careers.
Willard said this in the press conference about the situation with Sanogo....
"I'll be honest with you: I don't know when he'll be back, and that's my honest truth. I'm going to evaluate the situation after Christmas. We come back and we practice Christmas, I'll evaluate on the 26th. Right now, I'm in no rush. You have to act a certain way at this university, you have to respect the program, you have to respect the university, and you have to respect your teammates. And when you don't do all three, that's a huge issue with me. He's a senior, this is -- if you don't get it, I don't know. The timetable is nothing, it's not like he's back tomorrow. That ain't happening."
But to me it wasn't the words that were chilling to Pirate ears it was the tone. There was no sympathy or disappointment in the way Willard expressed himself instead his words came from anger. That tells me that there very well could have been more than just Ish doing what he initially did. Time will tell how this plays out but I'm not sure what Ish can do to play Thursday and probably even (slightly) beyond that.
Seton Hall has to work on their free throw shooting defense as the Jaspers coming into the game shooting around 67% were a perfect 7-7 from the stripe.
Shades of St John's past? Last season the Hall was destroying the Red Storm by well over 20 points late in the game. Then when Willard went deep into his bench with about 3-4 minutes to play Mullin kept his starters on the court and pressed to the end chipping the final margin to 13. Act two was yesterday with the circumstance being nearly identical in the Hall's 12 point victory.
The opponent's bank seems to always be open when playing the Pirates. For the fourth time in out of conference play the Pirates watched a wild shot smash off the backcourt and deposit itself into the basket for a three point play.
As Jordan Walker was flashing his potential Eron Gordon was struggling mightily throughout the game. Glimpses of the Pirate's future?
Speaking of the above combo was anyone as surprised as I was when Carrington needed his first blow and it was the diminutive guard from the Patrick School that shed his warm ups?
More and more liking the potential of this team if they can get past the nonsense that plagued them this week. Willard tried to make light of it (except for the Ish part) in the presser in a strange back and forth between he and NY Post writer Zack Braziller, but it was clear he was just being defensive and this past week starting with the Rutgers game has weighed heavily on him.
One final thought....can't wait to see Ish and Walker in the future on the defensive side of the ball moving forward. Hell might not have more fury then watching those two do their thing in unison.
Last words....Merry Christmas to all our readers from Tom, Zack, Colin and myself. Your membership allows us to continue working for Rivals and trying to do our best to keep you informed about the program we all love, Seton Hall basketball.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
Don't let the final score fool ya, Professor Willard let loose the mad (bench) scientist in him and the result was a 25 point blowout morphing into a 12 point one.
Oh, and BTW Seton Hall's reward for the final score was dropping 3 spots in Kenpom. Further evidence as to why I don't put a lot of stock into their power ratings.
I know that the Jaspers hit 7 of their first 8 shots but I don't think the Hall's defense was that bad and over the course of the game that proved out.
In fact SHU's D is improving game by game although maybe not as much as Kevin Willard noted in the presser when he praised it in a superlative narrative.
Tip of the hat to the crowd for showing up on a deary holiday weekend. Doubtful the announced attendance of 8,001 was accurate as far as who was in the building but it was close.
The negative? Where were the students?
Mutual admiration society between Willard and Steve Masiello in the presser. The two could not stop saying enough nice things about each other ending with Willard stating there's a good chance that the two schools will play a H/H in the near future.
Play of the game? The obvious choice was the behind the back pass by Mamukelashvili, but to me because of degree of difficulty I'm going with Desi Rodriquez' halfcourt bullet pass on the move to Myles Powell deep in the corner by the Manhattan bench. Powell caught the long bomb and then in the same motion threw up a high arching shot that hit nothing but net.
Once again Angel, maybe slightly justified this time let his emotions get the better of him turning a jump ball situation into something much more. My problem though after watching the replay was with Myles Powell not Angel. Those defending what he did by noting he was swiping at the ball are way off base. The play was whistled dead for about a second before he swung his arm/hand hard over Zane Waterman's right shoulder. His subsequent push of another Manhattan player was also unnecessary and the Pirate's star guard is very lucky all he got was a flagrant 2 foul leading to his ejection from this one game.
BTW, kudos to the 3 man crew of Corbett, Lindsey and Szelc for handling the the fracas so well.
Staying with Powell...It was very evident how important he is to this team yesterday. Without him in the lineup in the second stanza the offense came to a grinding halt. Sure Willard mixed and matched with a big lead but clearly without Powell's offensive skills the team did not look the same.
The good, the bad and the ugly. That's what you get with most all freshmen. The talented ones have no problem executing plays culminating in oohs and aahs from the crowd but they will also sprinkle in a bunch of head scratching plays as well. And yesterday the talented Seton Hall trio of Walker, Mamu and Cale did just that. Consistency and loss of focus is their enemy early in their college careers.
Willard said this in the press conference about the situation with Sanogo....
"I'll be honest with you: I don't know when he'll be back, and that's my honest truth. I'm going to evaluate the situation after Christmas. We come back and we practice Christmas, I'll evaluate on the 26th. Right now, I'm in no rush. You have to act a certain way at this university, you have to respect the program, you have to respect the university, and you have to respect your teammates. And when you don't do all three, that's a huge issue with me. He's a senior, this is -- if you don't get it, I don't know. The timetable is nothing, it's not like he's back tomorrow. That ain't happening."
But to me it wasn't the words that were chilling to Pirate ears it was the tone. There was no sympathy or disappointment in the way Willard expressed himself instead his words came from anger. That tells me that there very well could have been more than just Ish doing what he initially did. Time will tell how this plays out but I'm not sure what Ish can do to play Thursday and probably even (slightly) beyond that.
Seton Hall has to work on their free throw shooting defense as the Jaspers coming into the game shooting around 67% were a perfect 7-7 from the stripe.
Shades of St John's past? Last season the Hall was destroying the Red Storm by well over 20 points late in the game. Then when Willard went deep into his bench with about 3-4 minutes to play Mullin kept his starters on the court and pressed to the end chipping the final margin to 13. Act two was yesterday with the circumstance being nearly identical in the Hall's 12 point victory.
The opponent's bank seems to always be open when playing the Pirates. For the fourth time in out of conference play the Pirates watched a wild shot smash off the backcourt and deposit itself into the basket for a three point play.
As Jordan Walker was flashing his potential Eron Gordon was struggling mightily throughout the game. Glimpses of the Pirate's future?
Speaking of the above combo was anyone as surprised as I was when Carrington needed his first blow and it was the diminutive guard from the Patrick School that shed his warm ups?
More and more liking the potential of this team if they can get past the nonsense that plagued them this week. Willard tried to make light of it (except for the Ish part) in the presser in a strange back and forth between he and NY Post writer Zack Braziller, but it was clear he was just being defensive and this past week starting with the Rutgers game has weighed heavily on him.
One final thought....can't wait to see Ish and Walker in the future on the defensive side of the ball moving forward. Hell might not have more fury then watching those two do their thing in unison.
Last words....Merry Christmas to all our readers from Tom, Zack, Colin and myself. Your membership allows us to continue working for Rivals and trying to do our best to keep you informed about the program we all love, Seton Hall basketball.
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
