https://setonhall.rivals.com/
By JP Pelzman
The time was shortly past noon EST on March 12. It was the day after NBA player Rudy Gobert had tested positive for coronavirus.
It was the day major competitive team sports in America, as we know them, died. At least for the time being.
Seton Hall alumnus John Fanta, FOX Sports commentator and Big East Shootaround host, could hear the constant pinging of his phone, as conference tournaments fell like so many dominoes as text messages flooded in.
And then Fanta saw one from Seton Hall’s soon-to-be First-Team All-American, superstar guard Myles Powell.
Fast forward to July--Fanta is walking and talking on a sultry summer day in his native Cleveland, but the chill still is apparent in his recollection.
“The text says, ‘I don’t want to play. I'm afraid to play tonight.’
“That’s when it hit me,” Fanta told PirateCrew.com. “We're talking about 18-to-22-year-olds, and when you’re that age, you’re not afraid of anything. You're fearless. You're at an age where you’re trying to make your path, create your path, and for Myles Powell at that point, there was nothing he wanted more than to compete for a Big East championship and advance as far as he could in his and his team's quest for a national championship. This kid would do anything to play.”
Fanta recalled Powell pouring in 37 points in 34 minutes in a narrow loss to Michigan State the previous November despite a sprained ankle suffered merely five days before.
“He's fearless,” Fanta said. “That’s when it hit me this (virus) isn’t something to mess around with.”
Of course, it eventually led to a sad first for the NCAA--the first-ever cancellation of March Madness, and thus the abrupt end of Seton Hall’s (and everyone else’s) season. How far does Fanta think Powell and the Pirates could have advanced in The Tournament That Never Was?
“I think they could have won the whole thing,” Fanta replied. “I really do. They were so unique to play (against). The players around Powell elevated their game so well. You had Mamu (Sandro Mamukelashvili), who was such a versatile 4 or 5, and you had Romaro Gill, who was one of the best shot-blockers in the country."
“If you had never played Seton Hall,” he said, “it took time learning how to beat them.”
Thus, getting away from Big East teams was going to be a huge help.
Fanta continued, “You were going to need really good three-point shooting to beat them because you were going to have a mighty hard time finishing at the rim. That’s why Creighton matched up so well and why Villanova beat them at The Rock, because they were on fire from three."
“I think they had what it took to go all the way.”
As for the upcoming season, don’t look now, but Fanta believes prodigal son Connecticut can be a contender in its first season back in the Big East after a seven-year hiatus following the breakup.
“You don’t expand your conference for the sake of expansion,” he said. “You expand it because the suitor makes sense. There are few things that make more sense in college athletics than UConn in the Big East--their brand, the security blanket they give to attendance at Madison Square Garden for the Big East tournament and the fact that, sure, they’ve had a couple of tough years, but people seem to forget it was only six years ago they won the national championship."
“They can win at the highest level, and they’ve shown us that over the years. They're going to be a factor in this league. James Bouknight is a Big East Player of the Year candidate. They have really good wing play collectively. They bring in a top-25 class, they return over 70 percent of their scoring, and they bring in the second-best recruiting class in the Big East Conference. The metrics line up.”
“Now it comes down to whether Danny Hurley can make it come to fruition. I think they’re going to be very interesting in the frontcourt. The Big East hasn’t had outstanding big man play. Seton Hall actually threw a wrinkle into the league last year with their 7-footers. And that’s why I still think Ike Obiagu can play a role because at the end of the day, he’s still seven feet tall.”
As for the Huskies, Fanta said, “I see a frontcourt that could be tough to handle for some other teams in the league. They're tough, they’re hard-nosed.”
He was referring to returnee Akok Akok and freshman Adama Sanogo, who narrowly chose UConn over The Hall.
St. John’s lost LJ Figueroa (14.5 ppg), who transferred to Oregon in May. Worse yet, his procrastination apparently resulted in Monmouth’s Ray Salnave going to DePaul as a grad transfer after it seemed he was poised to make the short trip north to Queens.
“It hurts,” Fanta said, “but not as much as people think because this is a system program and they have a JuCo All-American, Vince Cole coming in. Bookmark that name, because you’re going to be hearing a lot about him. He can score the basketball.”
Fanta also noted that Julian Champagnie, the All-Metropolitan area Rookie of the year, averaged 13.6 points and 7.6 rebounds in St. John’s final 10 games.
“I like Mike Anderson and where he’s got this program going,” Fanta said, suggesting the Red Storm could be an outside contender for the NCAAs although, “I don’t know if they’re ready for the NCAA tournament yet. St. John’s has not won an NCAA tournament game since 2000. I think that drought is going to end under Mike Anderson. It really appears for the first time in awhile there’s some competency in place in Queens. They've got something going there. They've got a connection. The AD and the head coach are working together. They've got things going in the right direction.”
He sees the Red Storm finishing around sixth or seventh.
Fanta pencils Providence into the fifth slot.
“They need good point guard play,” he said, and coach Ed Cooley’s team hopes to get it from Saint Joseph’s transfer Jared Bynum, who sat out 2019-20 and will have three years of eligibility."
Still, Fanta adds, “Providence is only going to go as far as David Duke and A.J. Reeves take them. It's time for Duke and Reeves to take this team and lead this team. They haven’t been able to fully live up to the recruiting hype and until they do, Providence isn’t going to be a great team. I think they can be, if those two play to their full level.”
Providence dug itself a hole last season with a lackluster non-conference performance, but roared back in February and was on pace for an at-large NCAA bid.
Fanta's opinion? “They've got to get off to a better start.”
By JP Pelzman
The time was shortly past noon EST on March 12. It was the day after NBA player Rudy Gobert had tested positive for coronavirus.
It was the day major competitive team sports in America, as we know them, died. At least for the time being.
Seton Hall alumnus John Fanta, FOX Sports commentator and Big East Shootaround host, could hear the constant pinging of his phone, as conference tournaments fell like so many dominoes as text messages flooded in.
And then Fanta saw one from Seton Hall’s soon-to-be First-Team All-American, superstar guard Myles Powell.
Fast forward to July--Fanta is walking and talking on a sultry summer day in his native Cleveland, but the chill still is apparent in his recollection.
“The text says, ‘I don’t want to play. I'm afraid to play tonight.’
“That’s when it hit me,” Fanta told PirateCrew.com. “We're talking about 18-to-22-year-olds, and when you’re that age, you’re not afraid of anything. You're fearless. You're at an age where you’re trying to make your path, create your path, and for Myles Powell at that point, there was nothing he wanted more than to compete for a Big East championship and advance as far as he could in his and his team's quest for a national championship. This kid would do anything to play.”
Fanta recalled Powell pouring in 37 points in 34 minutes in a narrow loss to Michigan State the previous November despite a sprained ankle suffered merely five days before.
“He's fearless,” Fanta said. “That’s when it hit me this (virus) isn’t something to mess around with.”
Of course, it eventually led to a sad first for the NCAA--the first-ever cancellation of March Madness, and thus the abrupt end of Seton Hall’s (and everyone else’s) season. How far does Fanta think Powell and the Pirates could have advanced in The Tournament That Never Was?
“I think they could have won the whole thing,” Fanta replied. “I really do. They were so unique to play (against). The players around Powell elevated their game so well. You had Mamu (Sandro Mamukelashvili), who was such a versatile 4 or 5, and you had Romaro Gill, who was one of the best shot-blockers in the country."
“If you had never played Seton Hall,” he said, “it took time learning how to beat them.”
Thus, getting away from Big East teams was going to be a huge help.
Fanta continued, “You were going to need really good three-point shooting to beat them because you were going to have a mighty hard time finishing at the rim. That’s why Creighton matched up so well and why Villanova beat them at The Rock, because they were on fire from three."
“I think they had what it took to go all the way.”
As for the upcoming season, don’t look now, but Fanta believes prodigal son Connecticut can be a contender in its first season back in the Big East after a seven-year hiatus following the breakup.
“You don’t expand your conference for the sake of expansion,” he said. “You expand it because the suitor makes sense. There are few things that make more sense in college athletics than UConn in the Big East--their brand, the security blanket they give to attendance at Madison Square Garden for the Big East tournament and the fact that, sure, they’ve had a couple of tough years, but people seem to forget it was only six years ago they won the national championship."
“They can win at the highest level, and they’ve shown us that over the years. They're going to be a factor in this league. James Bouknight is a Big East Player of the Year candidate. They have really good wing play collectively. They bring in a top-25 class, they return over 70 percent of their scoring, and they bring in the second-best recruiting class in the Big East Conference. The metrics line up.”
“Now it comes down to whether Danny Hurley can make it come to fruition. I think they’re going to be very interesting in the frontcourt. The Big East hasn’t had outstanding big man play. Seton Hall actually threw a wrinkle into the league last year with their 7-footers. And that’s why I still think Ike Obiagu can play a role because at the end of the day, he’s still seven feet tall.”
As for the Huskies, Fanta said, “I see a frontcourt that could be tough to handle for some other teams in the league. They're tough, they’re hard-nosed.”
He was referring to returnee Akok Akok and freshman Adama Sanogo, who narrowly chose UConn over The Hall.
St. John’s lost LJ Figueroa (14.5 ppg), who transferred to Oregon in May. Worse yet, his procrastination apparently resulted in Monmouth’s Ray Salnave going to DePaul as a grad transfer after it seemed he was poised to make the short trip north to Queens.
“It hurts,” Fanta said, “but not as much as people think because this is a system program and they have a JuCo All-American, Vince Cole coming in. Bookmark that name, because you’re going to be hearing a lot about him. He can score the basketball.”
Fanta also noted that Julian Champagnie, the All-Metropolitan area Rookie of the year, averaged 13.6 points and 7.6 rebounds in St. John’s final 10 games.
“I like Mike Anderson and where he’s got this program going,” Fanta said, suggesting the Red Storm could be an outside contender for the NCAAs although, “I don’t know if they’re ready for the NCAA tournament yet. St. John’s has not won an NCAA tournament game since 2000. I think that drought is going to end under Mike Anderson. It really appears for the first time in awhile there’s some competency in place in Queens. They've got something going there. They've got a connection. The AD and the head coach are working together. They've got things going in the right direction.”
He sees the Red Storm finishing around sixth or seventh.
Fanta pencils Providence into the fifth slot.
“They need good point guard play,” he said, and coach Ed Cooley’s team hopes to get it from Saint Joseph’s transfer Jared Bynum, who sat out 2019-20 and will have three years of eligibility."
Still, Fanta adds, “Providence is only going to go as far as David Duke and A.J. Reeves take them. It's time for Duke and Reeves to take this team and lead this team. They haven’t been able to fully live up to the recruiting hype and until they do, Providence isn’t going to be a great team. I think they can be, if those two play to their full level.”
Providence dug itself a hole last season with a lackluster non-conference performance, but roared back in February and was on pace for an at-large NCAA bid.
Fanta's opinion? “They've got to get off to a better start.”
