With the season less than a month away, Seton Hall’s men’s basketball team hosted their first media day of the year on Oct. 6.
The event was held in the new state-of-the-art Basketball Practice Facility located on campus, which was finished earlier this year after originally being announced in June 2023.
This comes just a few days after the team hosted a Men’s and Women’s Basketball All-Star Showcase in Walsh Gymnasium as part of the university’s annual Hall Homecoming and Family Weekend. At the showcase, the teams participated in a skills competition and 3-point contest with fans of all ages watching in anticipation of the season.
To open the media day event, fourth-year head coach Shaheen Holloway took questions from the media.
One of the most frequent topics of discussion was Holloway’s approach to recruiting players to the team. This is because Holloway and his coaching staff were tasked with filling 11 of the team’s 15 roster spots after nine players transferred out of the program and two players graduated in the offseason. As such, the team added 10 players from the transfer portal and one freshman who was recruited directly out of high school.
Because of this, Holloway mentioned that he and his coaching staff had to be more calculated in their recruiting approach than most schools.
“[As a coach,] you just try to get guys who fit you and what you want to do,” Holloway said. “And for us it was different: we’re bringing in 11 guys, [while] a lot of schools are bringing in maybe five or six, so we had to be strategic and smart on the guys that we [recruited].”
With how often players change teams in college basketball, Holloway also mentioned how recruiting this many players to the team in the offseason could be the standard going forward.
“It’s just the way the transfer portal is,” he said. “It’s just the way college basketball is right now, and we just got to get used to it, got to adjust to it, and we can’t complain…”
Furthermore, Holloway noted the difference between his recruiting approach from this season to last, with him now prioritizing experience and proven ability over raw talent and reputation.
“Last year, we went after guys with ‘names’…or guys who played at so-called ‘bigger schools,’” he said. “But this year it was about getting guys who have played a lot of games, and guys with a lot of experience who did well at their schools.”
Other qualities Holloway looked for in recruits included their outside shooting ability, defense, intensity, athleticism, and—most importantly—their character.
“You could love the game, or you could love what comes with it,” Holloway said. “And I got guys that love the game—I got guys that are in the gym hustling every day and all day.”
One of the new additions to the team who embodies that latter quality is Adam “Budd” Clark, a junior guard who transferred to SHU from Merrimack College in the offseason. Last year, Clark averaged 19.8 points per game with the Warriors en route to being unanimously selected to the All-MAAC First Team.
Holloway made sure to list many praiseworthy things about Clark, who he seems to see a bit of himself in.
“What Budd brings to the team is that he’s a winner,” Holloway said. “He’s a Philly kid, he’s tough, he plays my style of basketball, he’s got a [big] chip on his shoulder, and he has something to prove.”
Holloway said recruiting guards like Clark to the team was “the number one priority” during the offseason, with recruiting shooters being a close second. He also mentioned that he plans on utilizing a three-guard lineup this season, with Clark likely to be at point.
Of the guards he recruited, nearly all of them are upperclassmen—thereby bringing plenty of experience to the team. And yet, even with all this experience, Holloway said no one has emerged as the team's vocal leader.
“I’m still looking for that,” he said. “We talk about that every day, and I got a lot of older guys, but it doesn’t [necessarily] have to be any one of them—it could be a younger [player].”
“I’m not giving [that title] to them,” he added. “They have to earn it.”
But with four weeks until the season starts, it seems that Holloway is confident that one will emerge, and that the team will continue to mesh as long as they continue to do what they’re supposed to.
“This team is going to be a joy to watch: we’re different, we’re fast, we’re quicker, we’re athletic, we’re deep,” he said. “[And] now it's time for me to do my job as a coach and put it all together.”
Towards the end of the press conference, Holloway bluntly addressed the media, sharing his excitement for the upcoming season—and making clear that he would not do so if he did not mean it.
“I’m super transparent, and I wear my heart on my sleeve—that’s just the way I am,” Holloway said. “So if I didn’t think that we were going to be good [this season], I’d tell you guys.”
“As long as we stay healthy, and everyone keeps buying in, I think we have a chance to be really great,” he added. “And people should come out and support, because it’s going to be an exciting brand of basketball.”
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
