In my final profile of the year I will focus on the team. After a slow start in the Big East the Hall came on strong and was probably playing the best ball of any conference team not named Villanova heading into the tournament at MSG. For the season I gave the Hall a B+
Strengths: No secret here. The heart of this team lied in the middle as Angel Delgado dominated inside during his breakout year on his way to earning first team all conference honors and the Haggerty award. That award gave the Hall back to back winners as departed sophomore Isaiah Whitehead took home the trophy in 2016.
Angel didn't do it alone as Khadeen Carrington and Desi Rodriquez formed a strong offensive trio as each has scored over a 1000 points and counting in their careers.
The PG position, a worry in the preseason was ably handled by 5th year grad transfer Madison Jones. And the Hall got positive contributions from the bench in Myles Power and Mike Nzei.
Most every opposing coach mentioned the toughness and determination of Seton Hall after playing the Pirates and that clearly was this team's calling card.
Weaknesses: Depth and foul shooting.
The Hall came into the season with questions off the bench. An issue that was exacerbated by Ish Sonogo's uneven year as the 6-8 PF struggled all season with various injuries.
Also, the Pirates lost their backup SF Veer Singh who left the team after the first semester, their potential backup center who was dismissed from the squad in December for not attending classes and PG Jevon Thomas who had issues in his time at the Hall leading to a suspension and eventually to his quitting the team.
Because of the above the Pirates played short most of the year with only Nzei and Powell giving the team anything off the bench.
The other major issue was foul shooting with the Hall connecting on a meager .643 clip one of the worst percentages in all of college basketball.
Bottom Line: The season was slipping away as the Pirates were near the bottom of the league at the beginning of February with a 3-6 record. But a strong 7-2 finish including the last four conference games in a row vaulted the Pirates to a final 10-8 record, good for a 3rd place tie.
Willard did a great job as this team could have easily thrown in the towel during their poor conference start. But they did not as evidenced by their strong finish and play in the conference tournament where they were the only team they gave Nova a run for their money leading most of the way but losing down the stretch.
This SHU team was flawed and after losing three players, including Thomas who the staff anticipated would be their starter at the all important PG position, it took a great effort by all the remaining players to turn around the season in February finishing with 21 wins and a second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.
I gave the team a B+ for their efforts and would have graded them higher if the were able to hold their lead against Nova and or won their first round game in the Dance against Arkansas.
Comments?
Strengths: No secret here. The heart of this team lied in the middle as Angel Delgado dominated inside during his breakout year on his way to earning first team all conference honors and the Haggerty award. That award gave the Hall back to back winners as departed sophomore Isaiah Whitehead took home the trophy in 2016.
Angel didn't do it alone as Khadeen Carrington and Desi Rodriquez formed a strong offensive trio as each has scored over a 1000 points and counting in their careers.
The PG position, a worry in the preseason was ably handled by 5th year grad transfer Madison Jones. And the Hall got positive contributions from the bench in Myles Power and Mike Nzei.
Most every opposing coach mentioned the toughness and determination of Seton Hall after playing the Pirates and that clearly was this team's calling card.
Weaknesses: Depth and foul shooting.
The Hall came into the season with questions off the bench. An issue that was exacerbated by Ish Sonogo's uneven year as the 6-8 PF struggled all season with various injuries.
Also, the Pirates lost their backup SF Veer Singh who left the team after the first semester, their potential backup center who was dismissed from the squad in December for not attending classes and PG Jevon Thomas who had issues in his time at the Hall leading to a suspension and eventually to his quitting the team.
Because of the above the Pirates played short most of the year with only Nzei and Powell giving the team anything off the bench.
The other major issue was foul shooting with the Hall connecting on a meager .643 clip one of the worst percentages in all of college basketball.
Bottom Line: The season was slipping away as the Pirates were near the bottom of the league at the beginning of February with a 3-6 record. But a strong 7-2 finish including the last four conference games in a row vaulted the Pirates to a final 10-8 record, good for a 3rd place tie.
Willard did a great job as this team could have easily thrown in the towel during their poor conference start. But they did not as evidenced by their strong finish and play in the conference tournament where they were the only team they gave Nova a run for their money leading most of the way but losing down the stretch.
This SHU team was flawed and after losing three players, including Thomas who the staff anticipated would be their starter at the all important PG position, it took a great effort by all the remaining players to turn around the season in February finishing with 21 wins and a second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.
I gave the team a B+ for their efforts and would have graded them higher if the were able to hold their lead against Nova and or won their first round game in the Dance against Arkansas.
Comments?
