PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
The definitive source for all PirateCrew news.
1. You beat who?
How the hell did this team ever beat Temple on the road. A team who just beat Rutgers?
2. Bookends.
The good news. Wagner hit their first (17 seconds in) and last (at the buzzer) 3 point shots in the first half.
The bad news. In-between they were outscored 35-16
3. 4 games in.
And I still don't have a clue how good this team is.
4. The right stuff.
After the St Peter's game Bashir Mason refused to attend the post game news conference. A far cry from Wagner's Donald Copeland who patiently and with great thought answered every single question thrown his way.
5. Staying with Copeland.
I asked him what difference did he see from the holdover players from last season when he was an SHU assistant. He noted that each one of them was playing much harder singling out Jackson and Samuel for being “more assertive and more physical.”
6. My buddy Danny.
As I was walking out of the arena after the post game I ran into the scorekeeper (only know his first name, Danny). He says to me what do you think the official attendance was? I say official, I do not know. But maybe 3,000 fans were in attendance. He said the last thing he did in the box score was list the attendance. It was 8,011.
7. Kudo to SHUMikechine.
He was right. In the Treasure Chest game you do not need to watch it. Just wait for the end and pick the chest that tilts in the opposite direction from the other two.
8. Momentum? What momentum?
When a team scores 5 points in the last 3 seconds of the half you expect them to build on that, especially as they have the ball to open up the second stanza. But it didn't happen as Copeland answered my question saying we wanted to build on that and thought we could get back in the game. But they blew us out to begin the second half and it was game over.
9. KC is not pretty.
Clearly after watching him Ndefo is not going to be a well oiled offensive machine. Quite the opposite. Can't shoot, turnover prone, terrible from the free throw line, never goes left and is awkward as all hell. But somehow though sheer force of will he finishes with decent offensive stats.
10. Chicken or the egg?
Did Dawes' defense spur on his offense or did his offense spur on his D? I'll go with the former.
11. Size matters.
And so does athleticism. Seton Hall was just too quick, too big ,too athletic on defense for Wagner who struggled all game long to even get off a shot.
12. Say what?
I though the team, especially the starters played with great energy throughout the game. But when I asked Sha, the perfectionist, didn't agree. Saying he wanted the team to play with more juice.
Any more juice and we could have opened up our own Tropicana stand.
13. Put a fork in it.
Jaquan Sanders had a brutal game. Had 4 turnovers, each one careless, in 16 minutes of play. Not a good look for a guard playing against overmatched competition.
14. Slow down!
Tae Davis has awesome physical tools. But he is rushing to impress the staff and the fans. Better to let the game come to you then rushing to make a play. That is why he had 3 more turnovers yesterday.
Fortunately the other facets of his game, defense and rebounding, are top notch.
15. Donald, what are you thinking?
Not sure why Copeland had the ball in the hands of Javier Ezquerra so much. The young man was about as overmatched as any D1 player you will see this year. 0-4 from the field, 3 turnovers with maybe 3-4 other close calls. He couldn't bring the ball up court and was a disaster setting up the offense. Played 19 minutes and was a -36.
16. Knees
Another knee injury. This time Dre Davis who twisted his knee in the layup line before the game. Sha said he has no idea re a timeline but hoped it wasn't serious.
17. But that didn't stop him....
In the final seconds of the game when SHU was setting up a shot under their own basket Davis got very animated on the bench yelling at walkon Jorge Mercado to get out of the lane. Why? Well a few seconds later we got our answer. A pick for Elijah Muhammad was set and the big man swooped up the middle for a resounding ally oop dunk to the delight of all the Pirate fans and players.
18. Finances.
Zagoria asked and after being hesitant Holloway answered. We came in 2nd or 3rd for many of our major targets. Sha said it was like getting to the championship game and losing. He blamed it pure and simple on lack of resources. A code word for money.
19. Not loving it.
I have never been a big fan of mass substitutions. Especially early in the game. But I'm going to have to get used to it because for now that's Holloways MO. It hurt us against Iowa and it was the same tune yesterday early in the first half. It might work against overmatched opponents but how will it play out as the schedule stiffens?
20. Still have doubts about the offense.
Yesterday against an overmatched opponent and especially because we were hot from distance it didn't matter. But it's clear to me the defense is way ahead of the offense so far.
