Had the opportunity to go to an intimate event where PJ was speaking along with Derek Coleman. After the Q&A session PJ sat at my table (the guys running the event knew I was a Seton Hall guy so they hooked me up) so I wasable to pick his brain about Seton Hall and wanted to pass along a few tidbits.
1) This is talked about often so I wanted to get the story straight from the horse's mouth so here is how PJ says the recruitment of Andrew Gaze went down. Said he first saw him in 1986 when he was coaching the Big East All-Stars. They went to Australia that summer and played 8 games against the National Team, which Andrew was on. Either a year or two later - back then teams could only play one exhibition game and it had to be against an international team - the Big East booked the Melbourne Tigers to play 8 of the 9 teams…Georgetown was playing Russia in an ABC televised game… Gaze went off for more than 40 points in 5 of the 8 games, including against Seton Hall in a game at South Mountain Arena. After the game, PJ was at the hotel across the street talking with Andrew's dad who said if Andrew wants to play for the Hall, he would be all for it. Andrew said he was interested but it remained open ended. PJ credited Assistant Coach John Carroll for staying on top of it and noted that Andrew should have played 2 or 3 years at Seton Hall and going to the Final 4 was one of the worst things that could have happened because Andrew became a celebrity back home saw how much money he could make.
2) Believes Honey Russell should have been coach of the century not him.
3) Thinks George Blaney got screwed at Seton Hall. Said he was a great coach but didn't get support from the administration outside of athletics.
4) He expects that Adrian Griffin will get a pro job would said it wouldn't surprise him knowing Adrian that he would go back to Seton Hall to coach.
5) Said Danny Hurley would "definitely go back" to Seton Hall to coach. Said the situation back then he played was difficult and in retrospect Danny probably should have gone away for college but no question he would coach Seton Hall.
6) Said he would have gone back for the Oregon job a few years ago but they didn't want him because they were skeptical of how long he would coach because of his age. Said otherwise he isn't interested in college. Said the NBA is all about basketball while in college very little has to do with actual basketball.
7) Said he thought the 92 team was going to win the national championship and the Western Kentucky game is a bigger regret than the Michigan championship game. Said there is always one game in the NCAAs you need to win when you don't play well and that was the game and if they had gotten through it, the team would have won the whole tournament.
8) Believes Kevin Willard can get it turned around. Saw a lot of similarities with what is going on at Hofstra right now. Said Kevin has a lot of good young players.
9) Mark Bryant and Jerry Walker are favorite players from Seton Hall. Talked about Jerry Walker going up against Dikembe Mutumbo and Alonzo Mourning and killing them both. Said Jerry got the most out of what he had.
10) Found out Luther was leaving Seton Hall from Luther's agent. Said it was a selfish agent that led to him leaving. If he stayed there was a chance he would have gotten it together though that isn't a guarantee.
This post was edited on 2/28 11:55 AM by setoniansource
1) This is talked about often so I wanted to get the story straight from the horse's mouth so here is how PJ says the recruitment of Andrew Gaze went down. Said he first saw him in 1986 when he was coaching the Big East All-Stars. They went to Australia that summer and played 8 games against the National Team, which Andrew was on. Either a year or two later - back then teams could only play one exhibition game and it had to be against an international team - the Big East booked the Melbourne Tigers to play 8 of the 9 teams…Georgetown was playing Russia in an ABC televised game… Gaze went off for more than 40 points in 5 of the 8 games, including against Seton Hall in a game at South Mountain Arena. After the game, PJ was at the hotel across the street talking with Andrew's dad who said if Andrew wants to play for the Hall, he would be all for it. Andrew said he was interested but it remained open ended. PJ credited Assistant Coach John Carroll for staying on top of it and noted that Andrew should have played 2 or 3 years at Seton Hall and going to the Final 4 was one of the worst things that could have happened because Andrew became a celebrity back home saw how much money he could make.
2) Believes Honey Russell should have been coach of the century not him.
3) Thinks George Blaney got screwed at Seton Hall. Said he was a great coach but didn't get support from the administration outside of athletics.
4) He expects that Adrian Griffin will get a pro job would said it wouldn't surprise him knowing Adrian that he would go back to Seton Hall to coach.
5) Said Danny Hurley would "definitely go back" to Seton Hall to coach. Said the situation back then he played was difficult and in retrospect Danny probably should have gone away for college but no question he would coach Seton Hall.
6) Said he would have gone back for the Oregon job a few years ago but they didn't want him because they were skeptical of how long he would coach because of his age. Said otherwise he isn't interested in college. Said the NBA is all about basketball while in college very little has to do with actual basketball.
7) Said he thought the 92 team was going to win the national championship and the Western Kentucky game is a bigger regret than the Michigan championship game. Said there is always one game in the NCAAs you need to win when you don't play well and that was the game and if they had gotten through it, the team would have won the whole tournament.
8) Believes Kevin Willard can get it turned around. Saw a lot of similarities with what is going on at Hofstra right now. Said Kevin has a lot of good young players.
9) Mark Bryant and Jerry Walker are favorite players from Seton Hall. Talked about Jerry Walker going up against Dikembe Mutumbo and Alonzo Mourning and killing them both. Said Jerry got the most out of what he had.
10) Found out Luther was leaving Seton Hall from Luther's agent. Said it was a selfish agent that led to him leaving. If he stayed there was a chance he would have gotten it together though that isn't a guarantee.
This post was edited on 2/28 11:55 AM by setoniansource
