Part 1 interview with Ryan Whalen
By Zack Cziryak
setonhall.rivals.com
TROVE: Sticking with the NIT and winning the whole thing - what did that mean to the program? What did that mean to those guys - that particular group of players? And to you as a staff, it's not an NCAA tournament, but it's the next best thing. What did that mean for you guys and where you're headed and what you're building?
WHALEN: It meant a ton because a lot of the rallying cry that we had as a program, that coach was echoing, is that in these tournaments you don't get to pick and choose if you're in, if you're out, who you play, where you play. And the way we looked at it was 'okay, well, we didn't get into the big tournament, but we were picked for this. We were chosen for this. And, you know what, if there's an opportunity to play basketball in front of you fans and if you're going to go out there, then represent yourself, represent your family, represent the program to the best of your ability. It's funny, you think about this and I talk to our guys about this all the time: you never know who's watching. There could be some little kid out there watching, wants to go to his first Seton Hall basketball game. And if he sees a stinker what's his lasting impression going to be? And our guys really took that all to heart and Coach Sha's message of going out there and giving it your everything. It was just really fun to watch because like I said, once we got through that first game, it was like we were back to playing really good basketball.
And I think we showed, not only to ourselves, but the rest of the country that we belonged in the NCAA Tournament. It's not only that, but it's kind of scary to think like, 'okay, well if we did get in, the way we were playing at the end of the year, in that NIT; if we had a chance to get into the big tournament with the way Coach Sha coaches and the way he prepares our guys and the way he coaches during tournaments and gets guys to believe and buy in, it would have been really scary. So there's a little bit of thinking on that side, but by any other coin, we had an opportunity to play and I give our guys all the credit in the world that they went out there and they not only played but won and did it, for the most part, in a pretty dominating fashion against some pretty good teams.
And then to cap it off, really in a road game, I'm not going to call that a neutral game. There's no way [the NIT committee] could've known that Indiana State was going to get in and get to the championship. So I thought Hinkle Fieldhouse was a tremendous venue. You want to talk about the fans that were there for us, they were fantastic, but you couldn't hear them because of all the Indiana State fans and their passion for their program. It means a lot to us as a program. I know it means a lot to the school and to those guys that were on the team last year it meant a lot to them because, again, it was an opportunity to play for a championship. At the beginning of the year, it might not have been the championship you wanted, but it was a heck of a way to go out for sure.
By Zack Cziryak
PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
The definitive source for all PirateCrew news.
TROVE: Sticking with the NIT and winning the whole thing - what did that mean to the program? What did that mean to those guys - that particular group of players? And to you as a staff, it's not an NCAA tournament, but it's the next best thing. What did that mean for you guys and where you're headed and what you're building?
WHALEN: It meant a ton because a lot of the rallying cry that we had as a program, that coach was echoing, is that in these tournaments you don't get to pick and choose if you're in, if you're out, who you play, where you play. And the way we looked at it was 'okay, well, we didn't get into the big tournament, but we were picked for this. We were chosen for this. And, you know what, if there's an opportunity to play basketball in front of you fans and if you're going to go out there, then represent yourself, represent your family, represent the program to the best of your ability. It's funny, you think about this and I talk to our guys about this all the time: you never know who's watching. There could be some little kid out there watching, wants to go to his first Seton Hall basketball game. And if he sees a stinker what's his lasting impression going to be? And our guys really took that all to heart and Coach Sha's message of going out there and giving it your everything. It was just really fun to watch because like I said, once we got through that first game, it was like we were back to playing really good basketball.
And I think we showed, not only to ourselves, but the rest of the country that we belonged in the NCAA Tournament. It's not only that, but it's kind of scary to think like, 'okay, well if we did get in, the way we were playing at the end of the year, in that NIT; if we had a chance to get into the big tournament with the way Coach Sha coaches and the way he prepares our guys and the way he coaches during tournaments and gets guys to believe and buy in, it would have been really scary. So there's a little bit of thinking on that side, but by any other coin, we had an opportunity to play and I give our guys all the credit in the world that they went out there and they not only played but won and did it, for the most part, in a pretty dominating fashion against some pretty good teams.
And then to cap it off, really in a road game, I'm not going to call that a neutral game. There's no way [the NIT committee] could've known that Indiana State was going to get in and get to the championship. So I thought Hinkle Fieldhouse was a tremendous venue. You want to talk about the fans that were there for us, they were fantastic, but you couldn't hear them because of all the Indiana State fans and their passion for their program. It means a lot to us as a program. I know it means a lot to the school and to those guys that were on the team last year it meant a lot to them because, again, it was an opportunity to play for a championship. At the beginning of the year, it might not have been the championship you wanted, but it was a heck of a way to go out for sure.
