1. Since last season when SHU did not play Rutgers I have been reading opinions from both sides. Mostly uninformed and emotional based on school rooting preference.
Let's set the record straight.
SHU initially balked at playing Rutgers for obvious reasons. They saw it as unfair that they would have to play Rutgers twice on the road and lose the homecourt advantage in-between due to the Covid virus. A reasonable assumption. Thus they had discussions with Rutgers to tentatively play them last season on December 6, with the key word being tentatively.
Then SHU got a late call from Penn State offering an immediate H/H with the first game to be played that year at Penn State on Dec 6 and only Dec 6, with no fans and then a return trip the following year to the Rock. A game now pushed back to 2022. Seton Hall understandably jumped on this as they felt that no deal was made and the talks with Rutgers was nothing more than that, talk, a discussion with no agreement. Rutgers for their part thought differently and believed the date was basically agreed upon.
In short I can understand both sides and since I obviously wasn't involved in the discussions it's impossible to say who was right and who was wrong.
But here's where SHU could have handled the situation better. There was no call to Rutgers that the game was off and instead the school found out about the game on the Internet when announced by Penn State.
Did SHU have an obligation to call Rutgers? Of course not, in their eyes the game was never scheduled. But should they have called? That's up to our readers to determine. I can only say for me, yes, it was the right thing to do.
And to add... the consensus coming from Rutgers fans that the Pirates were afraid to play the Scarlet Knights is nonsense. Willard's scheduling these last few years shows no fear in scheduling anyone. The issue had nothing to do with fear and if communications were handled better by the Pirates there would not be the hard feelings coming from the Hall's southern rival.
Let's set the record straight.
SHU initially balked at playing Rutgers for obvious reasons. They saw it as unfair that they would have to play Rutgers twice on the road and lose the homecourt advantage in-between due to the Covid virus. A reasonable assumption. Thus they had discussions with Rutgers to tentatively play them last season on December 6, with the key word being tentatively.
Then SHU got a late call from Penn State offering an immediate H/H with the first game to be played that year at Penn State on Dec 6 and only Dec 6, with no fans and then a return trip the following year to the Rock. A game now pushed back to 2022. Seton Hall understandably jumped on this as they felt that no deal was made and the talks with Rutgers was nothing more than that, talk, a discussion with no agreement. Rutgers for their part thought differently and believed the date was basically agreed upon.
In short I can understand both sides and since I obviously wasn't involved in the discussions it's impossible to say who was right and who was wrong.
But here's where SHU could have handled the situation better. There was no call to Rutgers that the game was off and instead the school found out about the game on the Internet when announced by Penn State.
Did SHU have an obligation to call Rutgers? Of course not, in their eyes the game was never scheduled. But should they have called? That's up to our readers to determine. I can only say for me, yes, it was the right thing to do.
And to add... the consensus coming from Rutgers fans that the Pirates were afraid to play the Scarlet Knights is nonsense. Willard's scheduling these last few years shows no fear in scheduling anyone. The issue had nothing to do with fear and if communications were handled better by the Pirates there would not be the hard feelings coming from the Hall's southern rival.
