By John Fanta, 89.5 WSOU Assistant Sports Director
Consistency.
If there's a word that sums up the direction that the Seton Hall women's basketball program wants to go in, that's the one.
The Pirates have formed a foundation, and the goal in the future is to reload.
This summer, Tony Bozzella and his staff have done exactly that.
On the recruiting trailway, Seton Hall has received two crucial 2016 commitments in as many weeks from Richmond Heights HS (OH) guard Deja Winters and Kearney High School (NE) wing Skylar Snider.
Those two add on to two others who have committed to the program for 2016 in Saint Frances Academy (MD) product Tyeisha Smith, who committed earlier this month, and Pensfield High School's (NY) Ali Fitzgerald, who committed in November.
Smith is described as a combo guard with really good scoring potential. She averaged 12 points, three rebounds, and two steals per game in her junior season. With four members of the backcourt in the 2016 class, it's clear that Bozzella is doing everything he can to replace the likes of a backcourt that saw three players in Ka-Deidre Simmons, Daisha Simmons, and Tabatha Richardson-Smith all score at least 17 points per game this past season, making Seton Hall only one of two programs to achieve that feat in the country.
Heading into this upcoming season, Richardson-Smith is expected to carry the scoring load and lead the way for the reigning regular season BIG EAST champs, who will once again be in the top-half of the league.
Projected Starting Line-Up for The Hall:
G Aleesha Powell (Iona transfer, now eligible), G Shakeena Richardson (Florida State transfer), SF Tabatha Richardson-Smith, F Tiffany Jones, and C Lubirdia Gordon.
This summer has also been a successful one for the Pirates in the classroom.
Tony Bozzella tweeted this from his account, @TonyBozzella.
How about this!!!@SHUWBB finished with a 3.56 team GPA this summer!!Highest in over a decade..championships + Academic excellence!#whynotSHU
Before I go on about the academic success, if you aren't following @TonyBozzella or @BozzellasBlazer, you're doing it all wrong.
Bozzella had this to say about the summer achievements.
"In our continued development of a basketball program, first and foremost, we want to establish the expectations of our student athletes. As a staff we have determined that as a priority and led by our outstanding academic advisor Matt Geibel and his wonderful staff we have formed a great resource for our players. In addition to that, the fantastic support by our Athletic Director, Pat Lyons, towards our new academic center and resources has given our student athletes every resource to succeed. I am so proud of our players who are champions on and off the court."
One Last Thing
Walking out of Allstate Arena when the BIG EAST Championship concluded last March, some had told me that Seton Hall should be enjoying its upcoming NCAA Tournament berth because the success the program was having was rare. While success has arrived after a dark period for the program, I don't think we're in for any sort of decline. That's not the standard that the Pirates hold themselves to. A 28-win season is something historic. I'm not going to write that the Pirates are expected to achieve that feat again. With a challenging schedule, that's a lot to ask. But it's unfair to say that The Hall is going to take a drop-off. Seton Hall will once again contend for a BIG EAST title behind a conference player of the year candidate in Richardson-Smith. With what has gone on this summer, nothing tells me the plan to contend year after year is going to take a drop-off.
Speaking of the BIG EAST, the conference has yet to release a site for the conference's women's basketball championship. Stay tuned for more on that and the Pirates...
Follow John Fanta on twitter @John_Fanta and @WSOUSports.
http://www.wsou.net/news/shuwbbnotebookrecruitingclassandsummersuccess.cfm#.VdshcZe85Vd
