Musing from Walsh
Blast from the past. Walsh was filled, fun and loud.
Willard might have said he hated playing at the venerable gym in the post game presser but I doubt many agreed with him.
Kevin Willard noted in the post game that he does not like playing games at Walsh even though initially it was his idea. His rational was that the team does not practice there and because of that they never shoot well in the gym. Especially from range which he added happened again tonight.
He further added the teams we play at Walsh are used to small gym atmospheres and the Pirate are not.
Raise your hand if you expected the Hall to come out in a zone.
And if you do time to go to confession.
Saw and spoke to former head of Pirate Blue Bryan Felt. Loves his job but did confess he misses the Hall. A LOT.
Worse question of the night.
To the reporter who asked Willard what it's like playing on a smaller court at Walsh. 10 feet smaller to be exact.
Jordan Walker is close to coming back. He was seen shaking hands with fans using his injured right hand in the process.
Last night he had a small cover on the hand.
You think you know a lot about Sanogo playing defense. But then you sit near the court and everything you think you know goes out the window. I cannot remember the last time I have seen a player give that much effort on the floor disrupting the opposing team's offense.
Granted it was St Peter's so that allowed more freedom, but what he does for this team will never truly be documented properly.
Nice tidbit from John Fanta who was in the interview room and told the media while we were waiting on Willard that he spoke to Patrick Ewing who guaranteed a victory over Syracuse in their match-up this coming Saturday.
For all Knick fans we know what Ewing's record was on guarantees.
Never realized it before but the Seton Hall Cheerleaders are incredible athletes. Their tumbling routine done a few times throughout the game was fantastic.
Kudos to all the young ladies.
Desi Rodriquez didn't do much yesterday, at least until you looked at the stat sheet. His special play is now becoming the norm.
Also, nice shout out to Deeno who didn't shoot well but ran the team to the tune of 5 assists and zero turnovers. Something he told me directly when I asked him about the game.
Clearly the senior understands his role on this team.
What's behind the curtain?
Well, lets hope it will be Pirate fans. Starting later today the Rock will open up selected sections for the Nova game and initially sell the seats only to Pirate Blue members.
After that it will be first come first served.
The only other game guaranteed to have the same feel will be the Butler game as that too will almost certainly have the curtains raised.
Unfortunately the attendance news isn't all good. The SJU/SHU game scheduled at 5PM is doing badly as few people want to spend their New Year's Eve watching the Hall in Newark.
One final note on last night's matchup. One hour before the game the school had 12 tickets to sell at the ticket window.
Willard noted last night that he put Angel Delgado back into the game to secure a rebound to get his double double. Surprising since in the past he has denied doing that with any player nearing a goal.
"F@#$ yeah". The answer St Peter's coach John Dunne gave Jerry Carino and myself when we cornered him outside the interview room well after the game.
The question? Is Seton Hall good enough to reach the Final Four?
BTW, sorry for the profanity but in this one case I though an exact quote was necessary.
Dunne also told me when I asked about Desi always going left and why no one can stop him....you have to play him up close, if you don't he's going to take the jumper and he gets it off in your face. That gives him just enough room that allows him to blow by the defender even though as we told the kids play him as far as you can to your right (his left).
He added that Desi has an excellent jab step which gets the opposition on his heels and allows him to then use his quickness and strength to blow by the defender and finish at the rim or with a floater.
Didn't love Willard going back to the mass substations but in this game it didn't matter regarding the score, but to me it did matter in the young players gaining needed on court execution with the regular players.
Major kudos to our head coach for putting in his walkons so early with the Hall up by around 25 points. Flory entered the game barely under the 5 minute mark and Reynolds followed about a half minute later.
Mind you this wasn't the scholarship bench players these were his walkons.
Few coaches would do that so soon in the game as they would have an eye toward the final score and computer rankings and not toward rewarding players who don't see the court that much despite the time and effort they devote to the team.
What's dribble drive penetration? For one game at least the Hall did an excellent job keeping the opposition's guards outside the paint.
The result? 39.7% field goal shooting.
Also noticed that the Hall hedged much better last night against the pick and roll. The question then becomes was it good execution or was it bad offensive play by the Peacocks.
Bottom line, the game was never in doubt as the Hall ran out to an early 12-2 lead and coasted from there playing no starter more than Desi Rodriquez' 27 minutes.
Just a fun type evening and a nostalgic trip down Seton Hall memory lane for Pirate fans.
Blast from the past. Walsh was filled, fun and loud.
Willard might have said he hated playing at the venerable gym in the post game presser but I doubt many agreed with him.
Kevin Willard noted in the post game that he does not like playing games at Walsh even though initially it was his idea. His rational was that the team does not practice there and because of that they never shoot well in the gym. Especially from range which he added happened again tonight.
He further added the teams we play at Walsh are used to small gym atmospheres and the Pirate are not.
Raise your hand if you expected the Hall to come out in a zone.
And if you do time to go to confession.
Saw and spoke to former head of Pirate Blue Bryan Felt. Loves his job but did confess he misses the Hall. A LOT.
Worse question of the night.
To the reporter who asked Willard what it's like playing on a smaller court at Walsh. 10 feet smaller to be exact.
Jordan Walker is close to coming back. He was seen shaking hands with fans using his injured right hand in the process.
Last night he had a small cover on the hand.
You think you know a lot about Sanogo playing defense. But then you sit near the court and everything you think you know goes out the window. I cannot remember the last time I have seen a player give that much effort on the floor disrupting the opposing team's offense.
Granted it was St Peter's so that allowed more freedom, but what he does for this team will never truly be documented properly.
Nice tidbit from John Fanta who was in the interview room and told the media while we were waiting on Willard that he spoke to Patrick Ewing who guaranteed a victory over Syracuse in their match-up this coming Saturday.
For all Knick fans we know what Ewing's record was on guarantees.
Never realized it before but the Seton Hall Cheerleaders are incredible athletes. Their tumbling routine done a few times throughout the game was fantastic.
Kudos to all the young ladies.
Desi Rodriquez didn't do much yesterday, at least until you looked at the stat sheet. His special play is now becoming the norm.
Also, nice shout out to Deeno who didn't shoot well but ran the team to the tune of 5 assists and zero turnovers. Something he told me directly when I asked him about the game.
Clearly the senior understands his role on this team.
What's behind the curtain?
Well, lets hope it will be Pirate fans. Starting later today the Rock will open up selected sections for the Nova game and initially sell the seats only to Pirate Blue members.
After that it will be first come first served.
The only other game guaranteed to have the same feel will be the Butler game as that too will almost certainly have the curtains raised.
Unfortunately the attendance news isn't all good. The SJU/SHU game scheduled at 5PM is doing badly as few people want to spend their New Year's Eve watching the Hall in Newark.
One final note on last night's matchup. One hour before the game the school had 12 tickets to sell at the ticket window.
Willard noted last night that he put Angel Delgado back into the game to secure a rebound to get his double double. Surprising since in the past he has denied doing that with any player nearing a goal.
"F@#$ yeah". The answer St Peter's coach John Dunne gave Jerry Carino and myself when we cornered him outside the interview room well after the game.
The question? Is Seton Hall good enough to reach the Final Four?
BTW, sorry for the profanity but in this one case I though an exact quote was necessary.
Dunne also told me when I asked about Desi always going left and why no one can stop him....you have to play him up close, if you don't he's going to take the jumper and he gets it off in your face. That gives him just enough room that allows him to blow by the defender even though as we told the kids play him as far as you can to your right (his left).
He added that Desi has an excellent jab step which gets the opposition on his heels and allows him to then use his quickness and strength to blow by the defender and finish at the rim or with a floater.
Didn't love Willard going back to the mass substations but in this game it didn't matter regarding the score, but to me it did matter in the young players gaining needed on court execution with the regular players.
Major kudos to our head coach for putting in his walkons so early with the Hall up by around 25 points. Flory entered the game barely under the 5 minute mark and Reynolds followed about a half minute later.
Mind you this wasn't the scholarship bench players these were his walkons.
Few coaches would do that so soon in the game as they would have an eye toward the final score and computer rankings and not toward rewarding players who don't see the court that much despite the time and effort they devote to the team.
What's dribble drive penetration? For one game at least the Hall did an excellent job keeping the opposition's guards outside the paint.
The result? 39.7% field goal shooting.
Also noticed that the Hall hedged much better last night against the pick and roll. The question then becomes was it good execution or was it bad offensive play by the Peacocks.
Bottom line, the game was never in doubt as the Hall ran out to an early 12-2 lead and coasted from there playing no starter more than Desi Rodriquez' 27 minutes.
Just a fun type evening and a nostalgic trip down Seton Hall memory lane for Pirate fans.
