Part 1
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
By JP Pelzman
Like the rest of us, longtime Seton Hall radio analyst Dave Popkin does not know exactly what would have happened to Seton Hall in the NCAA Tournament That Never Was.
But he is 100 percent certain about something that eventually must happen for the program.
Now that superstar and All-American guard Myles Powell has played his last game as a Pirate, Popkin said in an exclusive interview with PirateCrew.com that no Seton Hall player should wear No. 13 ever again.
“I think his number should definitely be retired,” said Popkin, who has been broadcasting Pirates basketball alongside Gary Cohen since the 2003-04 season. “I think he’s arguably on the Mount Rushmore of Seton Hall basketball along with P.J. (Carlesimo), Walter Dukes and Terry Dehere.
“Plus, he conducted himself with class and led the team to what would have been four consecutive NCAA tournaments. I think he was the best player on the team from his sophomore year on and when he comes back, it’s going to be a reaction like we haven’t seen from Seton Hall fans at The Rock.”
As for The Hall’s forever-unfinished season, Popkin predicted a Sweet-16 caliber-team in this space a year ago, and his projection certainly seemed to be on target. Most bracketologists had Seton Hall (21-9, 13-5 Big East) pegged for a No. 3 seed in the NCAAs and first-weekend spot in the cozy Albany, N.Y. bracket before the coronavirus pandemic led to the unprecedented cancellation of the tournament.
As for The Hall’s long-term 2020 NCAA prognosis, Popkin said, “I thought that it did not have the rebounding and three-point shooting consistency to win six straight games against NCAA tournament teams.”
However, he believes the Pirates’ chances for NCAA success would have been helped by their ability to win on the road. They were 7-2 away from home in the Big East.
“The numbers showed that they played better on the road,” he said, “especially Powell. They had more of an underdog, hard-nosed mentality on the road, and that’s something that’s hard to prove but that’s just what I felt. They did not mind going into the hostile environments of the Big East and playing in front of sold-out crowds. I really think it didn’t bother them at all and that’s a special quality in a team.
“And that’s why I didn’t care where the team got sent in the NCAAs, whether it was Albany or West Yabip. I think they were mentally strong enough to play in any gym regardless of the number of Seton Hall fans there. I thought the draw was way more important than the venue.”
In other words, as much as fans had wanted their beloved Pirates to play at nearby Madison Square Garden in the East Regional had they advanced that far, Popkin believes it would have been more advantageous for the Pirates to have played a finesse team in the Sweet 16 in Houston, for instance, rather than a dominant rebounding squad at the Garden..
Besides not having a proper finish, another difficult thing about the abrupt halt to the season for Popkin was having to say goodbye so quickly to a group of not only quality players, but quality people.
Popkin said, “I thought it was the best Seton Hall team since I've been there and I loved covering them. They were my favorite team. The guys were very approachable, good citizens, clutch players (who made) big comebacks, so the season itself, until the unceremonious ending, was a joy.”
Why was this group so much fun to be around?
“They were older guys,” Popkin replied, referring to the veteran nature of the team, “and they were more adult than your normal college basketball players. (Romaro Gill) had experienced life and he’s a good student. And you see the outreach they had done, not only to fans but to the community in general. Powell signed for over two hours at one event and he always makes time for little kids after the game. Sandro (Mamukelashvili) was fantastic with children and any fans. They would talk to us on the road. Romaro Gill is the first college basketball player who’s ever borrowed books from me. They have depth. They obviously cared about each other and about Kevin (Willard).”
And that attitude carries over to the court, Popkin said.
“Sometimes you see teams that are out there just hunting shots,” he noted, “and for the most part, I felt like these guys were unselfish and were playing for each other and just wanted the season to go on. They wanted to be around each other and that was refreshing.”
Popkin said, “I think it was one of (Willard’s) best coaching jobs, considering the injuries to Powell and Sandro, to win the Maryland game, which he called the best (victory) of his career on the post game show, and to keep the team in first place all year in the Big East regular season despite that disruption to the rotation and losing his two best players for a period of time.
“(It) showed not only his coaching acumen, but that the staff has done a great job recruiting, and that they had guys that could step in and fill the void. If you add those things together, along with the player development that he and the staff have continually been excellent at, it all adds up to a very good coach.
All these (players) get better under his watch. Three-star players become four-star players. The four-star players like Powell become five-star players. And you get guys who come that should not be pro players and they leave and they play professionally somewhere (overseas).”
As Popkin alluded to, the masterpiece for Willard and his staff, and a turning point in the season, occurred on Dec. 19 when the injury-ravaged Pirates upset visiting Maryland. The Hall had lost Powell to a concussion in a blowout defeat at Rutgers five days earlier, and Mamukelashvili to a fractured wrist in a loss at Iowa State six days prior to the game in Piscataway.
“Everybody thought the sky was falling and Kevin completely changed the way that he coached that (Maryland) game,” Popkin recalled. “That game was in the low 50s. This was a team that had been scoring (77) points a game. He almost went Dean Smith four corners and took the air out of the ball. And because they played (Quincy) McKnight and (Anthony) Nelson so much, they didn’t turn the ball over, they made smart passes and they limited their exposure in the game. I was not surprised that they won the game because they had played well at Maryland the year before.
“And I thought that Maryland was on par with Seton Hall, not a better team, so it wasn’t shocking to me. But it was a jubilant moment because I felt that game really turned the season around.”
But the biggest victory of 2019-20, to Popkin and many others, was the one that was 26 years in the making. When Seton Hall beat Villanova, 70-64 at the Wells Fargo Center on Feb. 10 for its first road win over the Wildcats since 1994, “it was a huge feather in their collective cap,” Popkin said. “I felt like after that game there were not many teams in the country that were clearly better than Seton Hall. When you go on the road and beat a Villanova team that arguably has four future NBA players on it, that’s a big one.”
Popkin is looking forward to his annual summer camp for aspiring sports announcers, which had been held at Montclair State University for the past 17 years. It will be a virtual camp this year because of the coronavirus but Popkin still is very excited about the event.
“Well, if there’s no fans (for now),” he joked, “we’ll still need announcers, so it’s a field you should still go into, I hope. It’s been a wonderful experience to see the kids come out of their shells and learn the skills of becoming broadcasters.”
Brooklyn Nets radio analyst Tim Capstraw is the co-director of the camp, which will be held the last week of July. Details are available at https://www.sportsbroadcastingcamp.com/.
Popkin said, “We have an amazing list of speakers lined up--Gary Cohen, Ian Eagle, Sarah Kustok, Chris Carrino, Kenny Albert, Jared Greenberg and more. My advice to (aspiring sportscasters) is there’s no substitute for preparation, teamwork, being kind to everyone and taking the job seriously and professionally and not like a fan.
“The rest of it is God-given talent,” he added. “Some people can do it and some people can’t. But if you can control the controllables, and be ready for the opportunities that you get, sometimes you can make your own luck.
Popkin added, “The first thing I always tell the kids with radio broadcasting is the four most important words are score, situation, left and right. If you cover that, you’ll know what’s happening in the game and where the ball is.
“Is it on the left side, is it on the right side, are they moving from left to right, is he shooting with his left hand or his right hand? If you use those modifiers, people can understand what’s happening in the game, and I try to drill that into the kids.”
Also, be prepared to work your way up.
“Work for free or work for cheap or go to Sioux City, Iowa like I did and pay your dues. You're not going to step into the Yankees booth and replace John Sterling immediately. You have to go and get reps and that's what I tell them."
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
By JP Pelzman
Like the rest of us, longtime Seton Hall radio analyst Dave Popkin does not know exactly what would have happened to Seton Hall in the NCAA Tournament That Never Was.
But he is 100 percent certain about something that eventually must happen for the program.
Now that superstar and All-American guard Myles Powell has played his last game as a Pirate, Popkin said in an exclusive interview with PirateCrew.com that no Seton Hall player should wear No. 13 ever again.
“I think his number should definitely be retired,” said Popkin, who has been broadcasting Pirates basketball alongside Gary Cohen since the 2003-04 season. “I think he’s arguably on the Mount Rushmore of Seton Hall basketball along with P.J. (Carlesimo), Walter Dukes and Terry Dehere.
“Plus, he conducted himself with class and led the team to what would have been four consecutive NCAA tournaments. I think he was the best player on the team from his sophomore year on and when he comes back, it’s going to be a reaction like we haven’t seen from Seton Hall fans at The Rock.”
As for The Hall’s forever-unfinished season, Popkin predicted a Sweet-16 caliber-team in this space a year ago, and his projection certainly seemed to be on target. Most bracketologists had Seton Hall (21-9, 13-5 Big East) pegged for a No. 3 seed in the NCAAs and first-weekend spot in the cozy Albany, N.Y. bracket before the coronavirus pandemic led to the unprecedented cancellation of the tournament.
As for The Hall’s long-term 2020 NCAA prognosis, Popkin said, “I thought that it did not have the rebounding and three-point shooting consistency to win six straight games against NCAA tournament teams.”
However, he believes the Pirates’ chances for NCAA success would have been helped by their ability to win on the road. They were 7-2 away from home in the Big East.
“The numbers showed that they played better on the road,” he said, “especially Powell. They had more of an underdog, hard-nosed mentality on the road, and that’s something that’s hard to prove but that’s just what I felt. They did not mind going into the hostile environments of the Big East and playing in front of sold-out crowds. I really think it didn’t bother them at all and that’s a special quality in a team.
“And that’s why I didn’t care where the team got sent in the NCAAs, whether it was Albany or West Yabip. I think they were mentally strong enough to play in any gym regardless of the number of Seton Hall fans there. I thought the draw was way more important than the venue.”
In other words, as much as fans had wanted their beloved Pirates to play at nearby Madison Square Garden in the East Regional had they advanced that far, Popkin believes it would have been more advantageous for the Pirates to have played a finesse team in the Sweet 16 in Houston, for instance, rather than a dominant rebounding squad at the Garden..
Besides not having a proper finish, another difficult thing about the abrupt halt to the season for Popkin was having to say goodbye so quickly to a group of not only quality players, but quality people.
Popkin said, “I thought it was the best Seton Hall team since I've been there and I loved covering them. They were my favorite team. The guys were very approachable, good citizens, clutch players (who made) big comebacks, so the season itself, until the unceremonious ending, was a joy.”
Why was this group so much fun to be around?
“They were older guys,” Popkin replied, referring to the veteran nature of the team, “and they were more adult than your normal college basketball players. (Romaro Gill) had experienced life and he’s a good student. And you see the outreach they had done, not only to fans but to the community in general. Powell signed for over two hours at one event and he always makes time for little kids after the game. Sandro (Mamukelashvili) was fantastic with children and any fans. They would talk to us on the road. Romaro Gill is the first college basketball player who’s ever borrowed books from me. They have depth. They obviously cared about each other and about Kevin (Willard).”
And that attitude carries over to the court, Popkin said.
“Sometimes you see teams that are out there just hunting shots,” he noted, “and for the most part, I felt like these guys were unselfish and were playing for each other and just wanted the season to go on. They wanted to be around each other and that was refreshing.”
Popkin said, “I think it was one of (Willard’s) best coaching jobs, considering the injuries to Powell and Sandro, to win the Maryland game, which he called the best (victory) of his career on the post game show, and to keep the team in first place all year in the Big East regular season despite that disruption to the rotation and losing his two best players for a period of time.
“(It) showed not only his coaching acumen, but that the staff has done a great job recruiting, and that they had guys that could step in and fill the void. If you add those things together, along with the player development that he and the staff have continually been excellent at, it all adds up to a very good coach.
All these (players) get better under his watch. Three-star players become four-star players. The four-star players like Powell become five-star players. And you get guys who come that should not be pro players and they leave and they play professionally somewhere (overseas).”
As Popkin alluded to, the masterpiece for Willard and his staff, and a turning point in the season, occurred on Dec. 19 when the injury-ravaged Pirates upset visiting Maryland. The Hall had lost Powell to a concussion in a blowout defeat at Rutgers five days earlier, and Mamukelashvili to a fractured wrist in a loss at Iowa State six days prior to the game in Piscataway.
“Everybody thought the sky was falling and Kevin completely changed the way that he coached that (Maryland) game,” Popkin recalled. “That game was in the low 50s. This was a team that had been scoring (77) points a game. He almost went Dean Smith four corners and took the air out of the ball. And because they played (Quincy) McKnight and (Anthony) Nelson so much, they didn’t turn the ball over, they made smart passes and they limited their exposure in the game. I was not surprised that they won the game because they had played well at Maryland the year before.
“And I thought that Maryland was on par with Seton Hall, not a better team, so it wasn’t shocking to me. But it was a jubilant moment because I felt that game really turned the season around.”
But the biggest victory of 2019-20, to Popkin and many others, was the one that was 26 years in the making. When Seton Hall beat Villanova, 70-64 at the Wells Fargo Center on Feb. 10 for its first road win over the Wildcats since 1994, “it was a huge feather in their collective cap,” Popkin said. “I felt like after that game there were not many teams in the country that were clearly better than Seton Hall. When you go on the road and beat a Villanova team that arguably has four future NBA players on it, that’s a big one.”
Popkin is looking forward to his annual summer camp for aspiring sports announcers, which had been held at Montclair State University for the past 17 years. It will be a virtual camp this year because of the coronavirus but Popkin still is very excited about the event.
“Well, if there’s no fans (for now),” he joked, “we’ll still need announcers, so it’s a field you should still go into, I hope. It’s been a wonderful experience to see the kids come out of their shells and learn the skills of becoming broadcasters.”
Brooklyn Nets radio analyst Tim Capstraw is the co-director of the camp, which will be held the last week of July. Details are available at https://www.sportsbroadcastingcamp.com/.
Popkin said, “We have an amazing list of speakers lined up--Gary Cohen, Ian Eagle, Sarah Kustok, Chris Carrino, Kenny Albert, Jared Greenberg and more. My advice to (aspiring sportscasters) is there’s no substitute for preparation, teamwork, being kind to everyone and taking the job seriously and professionally and not like a fan.
“The rest of it is God-given talent,” he added. “Some people can do it and some people can’t. But if you can control the controllables, and be ready for the opportunities that you get, sometimes you can make your own luck.
Popkin added, “The first thing I always tell the kids with radio broadcasting is the four most important words are score, situation, left and right. If you cover that, you’ll know what’s happening in the game and where the ball is.
“Is it on the left side, is it on the right side, are they moving from left to right, is he shooting with his left hand or his right hand? If you use those modifiers, people can understand what’s happening in the game, and I try to drill that into the kids.”
Also, be prepared to work your way up.
“Work for free or work for cheap or go to Sioux City, Iowa like I did and pay your dues. You're not going to step into the Yankees booth and replace John Sterling immediately. You have to go and get reps and that's what I tell them."
