Jay Gomes High on Holloway
By Colin Rajala
................Trove: It was a really fun run, relevance means a heck of a lot when the program and fan base hadn’t seen a tournament since 2006. The Willard era really took off after the top recruiting class of Isaiah Whitehead, Khadeen Carrington, Angel Delgado, Desi Rodriguez and Ish Sanogo and I think a lot of that has to do with the relationships that Shaheen Holloway helped build and develop. Now, you have obviously had a chance to cover Shaheen since high school, how do you view his career from being a top recruit, to leading the Pirates to the Sweet 16, to securing a transcendent recruiting class and of course the recent Elite Eight run before returning to his alma mater?
Gomes: I’ve been lucky enough to cover Shaheen’s career since the summer going into his freshman year. As a player, and I've said this to many people over the years, he was probably the most dominant player I've seen in my 30 years of covering New Jersey. He dominated every game. He was just so good, so smart, so competitive. Just looking at their high school careers and their AAU careers and their summer careers, he’s up there with the likes of Kyrie Irving, Karl Anthony Towns, Dajuan Wagner or any of the other greatest players in the history of New Jersey basketball. I followed him throughout his career and I remember being at the press conference when he got hired as St. Peter's head coach and I was amazed at the progress that he made in his career. Just remembering him as a player, he was so polished and poised, but as a coach he was more polished than expected and his poise as a coach came through his personality where he grew up to be a man that's a leader of men. I was very much just really blown away by how far he had come. Now, I thought he would do a good job at St. Peter’s, most people did, but no one thought he would have the type of success he had in a few short years. It's more of a credit to him that he long believed in himself and his team but he got the guys to believe in themselves. That belief propelled them past all of the big boys and onto a run for the ages.
Trove: Knowing the list of greats to have played the sport through the years, it really means something to be in that upper echelon of names. It just points to the stature and importance he has had carrying the torch for the tri-state area and passing it on to so many guys.
Gomes: I think that will help in his recruiting a little bit. He’s been in and walked in those shoes of the young kids nowadays. He knows the pitfalls and he avoided them all as a player in college, in the pros overseas and now as a coach. He’s done everything the right way and I think he really uses that well when he's communicating with the kids. He gets kids that he sees have their head in the right place and are dedicated to the game like he was. It will help at Seton Hall.
