Willard Quote

[SHUHoopsFan]

It's really sad that people take the literal truth and simply don't get the message that PJ was such a special person that a guy like Kevin Willard can win the National Championship here and still be 2nd fiddle in everyones heart because of how special of a coach, person, and icon that is PJ.

And I'll second Kevin….Build that man a statue.

 

[Pirata]

Old Alum, you nailed it!

I started a reply with the map logic but decided not to post it.

Thanks for following through.

 

[thehall07]

I expect this from other posters but not my favorite ... Piratz I am so upset right now ! Lol

 

[SHUSource]

It's really sad that people take the literal truth and simply don't get the message that PJ was such a special person that a guy like Kevin Willard can win the National Championship here and still be 2nd fiddle in everyones heart because of how special of a coach, person, and icon that is PJ.

And I'll second Kevin….Build that man a statue.

This. And I don’t see what is so hard to understand about it. It’s not just about P.J. getting Seton Hall to within a bad whistle of the national championship. It’s about taking over a program that was literally at a Saint Peter’s level and getting them to that point in what, seven seasons? It’s a miracle! And no, no one is ever going to do that again. The starting point will always be different.

 

[the1ndonly]

Kevin always talks in superlatives. Much Ado about nothing.

 

[Bluebeard]

Just imagine ifJay Wright would have said the same thing about Massimino. I'd bet the Nova fans would get it.

No Comparison. Nova had been to the Final four in 1971, before Rollie. Before PJ, SHU had never been in the NCAA tournament. PJ took a team that had never been there and was the worse team in the conference to the heights that he did. THAT can never be surpassed. This was not just a quote after the game, but was in pre-game articles too.

 

[Piratz]

Wright is very polished. He would've said no one is PJ given his historical legacy and importance and we are trying to do our part to take the legacy he left and build upon it to move the program forward. All in homage to the heroic job PJ did to provide everyone at Seton Hall the opportunity to do this. That's the message; tied to us wanting to put at least as many banners up as PJ did, then some. That PJ showed we can achieve here and we can contend for a NC. Our goal is to get the banner that PJ was robbed.

Also you think of what PJ went through here without the cushy resources coaches have had since, then you think of the fact that this program has only won 3 NCAA games in the 24 years since he left is a really big indictment.

 

[HALL28]

Does anyone really think Willard meant to convey that he doesn't have confidence in this team? He just invited PJ into practice a day before to specifically talk to the team about succeeding in March. Give the man a break.

 

[garyshu71]

I heard that caller and he was so full of himself. Talked on and on with a attitude of all knowing. Those kids let him have his way instead of shutting him down and letting him have it. A real Jerk.

 

[RLNJ13]

Way to take a special moment and kill it...(just to clarify I don't mean literally killing anything. I wouldn't want anyone getting confused)

 

[Seton75]

Read Big Hoops, and read about discussions in the Big East offices that if we don' start acting like a Big East team, they have to consider dropping us. PJ stepped in to a disaster. Because of that disaster, he was hired with less experience than our coach should have had, yet he took it a step at a time, improved each yr, stayed positive even when the petition was circulated, and then we were at the top of the basketball world for a few yrs. In 93, 2 schools had 4 games on the cbs game of the week, the tv mecca of that time. Duke, and the Seton Hall Pirates. If you knew us in the 60' or 70s, it was actually a little surreal.

I used to do biz with a woman from Wisc. She told me when she was,a girl and got interested in hoop, her Dad told her to watch how we played to learn good hoops. PJ didn't rebuild us, he surveyed the land, poured the foundation and hammered in the nails till a national power was standing. (The glory of the Honey Russell yrs were long forgotten and had as much effect as ccny success had for them.)

Kudos to Coach Willard for having the sense of self worth needed to give a predecessor so much credit.

 

[Piratz]

To do what PJ did here - winning in the NCAA's consistently - requires significant leadership and intensity. You do not settle for anything. It's not about excuse making. You don't point out reasons why something may have not worked or justifications for unacceptable results. You don't blame road trips for 20+ losses. You don't no-show You don't roll the balls out and get behind by 10+ every game. You don't blame energy levels. You don't talk about finals week or Thanksgiving, or whatever. You don't have significant drop offs in rebounding and defense with a Senior-laden team when that's your strength.

Red flags. Correctable sure.

I took KW's comment to be more of that and only that. Really nothing about how it relates to PJ or what PJ means to us. Obviously that's a given. It's all about if we have the intensity and drive to damn the odds and do this. It's an open question to me. That's a backhanded compliment to KW turning us around and the stakes now to win in March.

You can get to the NCAA's that way, yes. You cannot win there if that's the mindset. You cannot fake it when you get to March. We have not been ready for the NCAA games the past two years. We have been sloppy, ill-prepared, and laid eggs both times. There's a reason why PJ brought that up during his talk with the team. There's a reason he had the message he had.

Are we that? This team is primed for a run. We are better than a first weekend flame out.

Marvin Lewis of the Bengals has done a great job turning them around; but he's 0-7 in the NFL playoffs for a reason.

 

[Halldan1]

This describes the entire thread

 

[hallgrad80]

PJ did an incredible job while he was here not only under extremely difficult circumstances but he had to try to rebuild a program with little resources and SH was the poor relative of all the programs in the BE.He made the program relevant on a national scale despite those obstacles and he built his reputation as a coach to the point where one of the legendary college BB programs, Kentucky wanted him as their head coach. All the accolades he received this weekend were well deserved and hard earned and not one poster on this thread has tried to suggest otherwise in any way nor has been critical of Kevin’s praise of PJ or what he has meant to SH and it’s basketball program.

What PJ did was to set a standard that every coach who takes over this program should embrace and should be the goal that coach sets each season.

 

[hallwins]

And I guarantee you there are people on this board that were ready for PJ to leave when he did. Fickle fans .

 

[Halldan1]

Here's Willard's quote from Thursday's Big East conference call.

"I think it's amazing. I just look at what he did to build the program, and then once he got it to a level where he took it, I think it's obviously what we're trying to do, but it's one of those things where you look back and probably (think) one of the best building jobs and the maintaining of a program any coach has ever done. His legacy, no one's ever going to surpass him and what he's done here, no coach..... just because he's the one who put Seton Hall on the map, and not only did he put them on the map, but he kept them there. I think everyone that followed him has been thankful for the job that he's done."


C'mon fellows, how can anyone have an issue with this?

 

[radecicco]

I took KW's comment to be more of that and only that. Really nothing about how it relates to PJ or what PJ means to us.

I respect your opinion on a lot of things but this part I totally disagree with. You are basically saying that Willard is a liar, is disingenuous, when he had dinner with PJ he was a fake, when he invited PJ into practice it was a PR stunt and nothing more. So what's your basis for making these accusations? We get it, you don’t like the guy.

 

[knowknow456]

Watching Piratz play defense is way more interesting than whatever Willard said about PJ.