For very different reasons, both the Seton Hall men’s and women’s basketball programs saw their seasons end in disappointment last year.
After having one of the best seasons in program history, winning 25 games and the 2024 National Invitation Tournament (NIT), the men’s program finished its 2024-2025 campaign with a record of 7-25. They managed just five wins in 16 games at the Prudential Center, and failed to register a single road win all season. Plenty has already been said about last season, but the bottom line is this: it was the worst in school history.
While the men’s team struggled last season, the women’s team finished with a 23-10 record, making it one of their best in program history. Although a great season indeed, it still wasn’t quite as great as it should have been—and for reasons beyond the team’s control.
Despite being the third-best team in the BIG EAST, the Pirates were snubbed from March Madness by the NCAA. Head coach Anthony Bozzella and the rest of the program were disappointed by the decision, considering that the BIG EAST is one of the best conferences in WBB. As a result, the team participated in the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) instead.
After defeating Quinnipiac in the first round of the tournament, the Pirates were then eliminated in the second round by the Portland Pilots—bringing an end to a historic season that should have finished with some kind of hardware.
As such, although motivated by different circumstances, both programs come into this season fueled by the same thing: a desire to prove that last season was a fluke, and that SHU can bounce back—“Hazard Zet Forward” is the university’s motto, after all.
MBB: An influx of experience to the roster
The men’s program has undergone a complete roster overhaul. The program saw nine players transfer out this offseason, including All-Met First Team guard Isaiah Coleman, who finished tenth in the BIG EAST in scoring last season with 15.6 points per game. They also lost veteran guards Dylan Addae-Wusu and Chaunce Jenkins, who both graduated earlier this year.
With only three returning players and 12 more roster spots to fill, the men’s program sought to address some of their biggest struggles from last year—the most obvious of which was scoring and offensive production. According to CBS Sports, last season’s squad had the worst high-major offense in college basketball. They averaged just 62.1 points per game in BIG EAST play—the lowest in the conference—and 61.6 in the 32 total games they played, ranking 354th out of the 355 teams in Division I basketball, according to the NCAA’s cumulative statistics.
As such, the Pirates’ coaching staff has brought in players with proven scoring ability. Take Adam “Budd” Clark, for example: the unanimous All-MAAC first team guard had 16 games with 20 or more points last season with Merrimack College, and scored a career high 32 points against Niagara University on Feb 6. The 5-foot-10 junior guard had just one game last season where he didn’t score in double digits, missing the mark by just two points.
Of the ten transfer players added to the roster, four of them averaged double-digit points last season, including Clark. With him and others of similar scoring ability now on the roster, the team should have a much easier time generating offense this year.
Last season, the men’s team also struggled on the defensive end. They gave up the second-most points per game in the conference (75.5), and got outscored by an average margin of 13.4 points. To remedy this, the coaching staff has brought in experienced defensive-minded players, like AJ Staton-McCray.
Projected to join Clark in the Pirates’ backcourt, the senior guard was selected to the Southern Conference All-Defensive Team during his time at Samford University. He can also shoot from 3-point range, addressing another area where the team struggled last year as they ranked last in the conference in total 3-point field goals made and second to last in team 3-point percentage.
In addition to players like Staton-McCray, SHU also recruited several lengthy, versatile wings / forwards to the team, like Jacob Dar, Elijah Fisher, Joshua Rivera and Tajuan “TJ” Simpkins. While each is a proven scorer in their own right, these wings / forwards also offer positional flexibility, which is helpful on defense. With an average height of 6-foot-6, these players are capable of not only playing multiple positions but also defending them as well. Given head coach Shaheen Holloway’s history of defensive-oriented teams who like to pressure their opponents, the defensive versatility that these players bring to the team can be huge for the program’s success.
It’s also worth noting that five of the ten players who have joined SHU from the transfer portal this year are seniors, with the others being four juniors and one sophomore.
With this, it is apparent that the Pirates are prioritizing experience and proven ability over raw potential. This is a strategy that has brought them success as recent as the 2023/2024 season, when they won the NIT championship with an eight-man rotation of almost exclusively upperclassmen.
Despite this emphasis on experience, the men’s program’s most noteworthy pickup this year didn’t come from the transfer portal, and he doesn’t have any college experience at all. On July 22, Najai Hines, a four-star center in the class of 2025, committed to SHU. Ranked the 36th best player in his class and 71st best recruit nationally, Hines is SHU’s highest-ranked commit since Isaiah Whitehead in 2014. He spent last season at Plainfield High School, where he helped lead the Cardinals to a 29-3 record and their first state championship since 2012. By the end of the season, they were named the No. 1 team in New Jersey.
At 6-foot-11 and 250 pounds, Hines is a traditional, “back-to-the-basket” center who should be a force to be reckoned with on both the offensive and defensive end for the Pirates. He is also a tenacious rebounder who is active on the glass; along with 18.6 points per game, Hines also averaged 16.9 rebounds last season with Plainfield.
With the influx of guards and wings/forwards from the transfer portal this offseason, the addition of Hines fills a critical need for the Pirates: they had only three centers on the roster before his commitment: returning sophomores Godswill Erheriene and Assane Mbaye and Jacksonville State University transfer Stephon Payne III.
For Hines, the opportunity to showcase his talent on a bigger stage is here, and although he might have to compete with others for playing time, he has the potential to emerge as a contender for BIG EAST Freshman of the Year come March—but only time will tell.
Overall, with all of these additions to the roster, the men’s program has been successful in addressing many of the team’s struggles from last season. Although the frequent offseason movement that defines modern college basketball may pose a challenge to team chemistry at first—true for all programs, not just SHU’s—this team has too much experience and proven ability not to do well.
While the best teams in last season’s standings reloaded their rosters with some of the best talent available, others fell short, leaving an opportunity for SHU to emerge victorious. Outlets like CBS Sports have the program projected to finish dead last in the conference again. And yet, SHU, along with head coach Shaheen Holloway, has a history of succeeding when counted out. The most recent example came just last season, when the Pirates managed a home win against the defending national champions, the University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies, despite being just 6-18 on the season.
If things come together, this season should not be a repeat of the last, and could be a return to form for the program.
The MBB team will start their season on Monday, Nov. 3, when they host St. Peter’s at the Prudential Center for the third year in a row.
WBB: A new wave of young talent
While the men’s basketball team has a roster composed of almost entirely new players, the women’s program retained more than a third of its roster from last season. This includes players like Jada Eads and Savannah Catalon, underclassman guards who led the team in the backcourt.
Despite missing four games, Eads was the team’s second-leading scorer with 13.8 points per game—the third highest scoring average by a freshman in program history—and 401 total points. The 5’7” guard was selected to the All-BIG EAST First Team, the All-Met Second Team, and was named the All-Met Division I Rookie of the Year at the end of the season.
Her partner in the backcourt, Catalon, is a former SHU Freshman Co-Athlete of the Year. Now in her third year with the program, Catalon likely would have led the BIG EAST in steals per game by a wide margin—and even had a strong case for BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year—had she not missed several games due to injury last season. And yet, although sidelined for nine of the team’s 33 games, Catalon still finished the season as the third-leading scorer on the team, and was named an All-Met Honorable Mention at the end of the season.
She also earned the final BIG EAST Player of the Week award of the regular season after averaging 25 points, four rebounds, and five steals per game in a pair of wins, while scoring a career-high 36-point performance in one of them.
After Eads’ impressive freshman campaign, and with the talent Catalon has shown throughout her first two seasons with the team, this duo has the potential to be one of the best backcourts in the BIG EAST this season—if injuries don’t stand in the way.
And yet, although the program was able to retain a good portion of their roster from last year—a rare occurrence in modern college basketball—the team lost three of their most important players to graduation. Named to the All-BIG EAST First Team alongside Eads was Faith Masonius, who spent her final year of eligibility at SHU after five seasons with the University of Maryland. A Belmar native, the 6-foot-1 forward led the Pirates in scoring last season with 15 points per game, and was just six points shy of 500 total points on the season. Following what was the best season of her collegiate career, Masonius was named the All-Met Division I Player of the Year, becoming the fifth player in the program’s history to do so.
Like Masonius, Iyanna “Yaya” Lops also graduated last year. A 6-foot-3 graduate forward from Stamford, Connecticut, Lops started in all 33 of the Pirates’ games last season. While averaging 8.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, Lops led the team in scoring five times. In conference play, she finished third in the BIG EAST with 1.44 blocks per game en route to recording 46 total blocks on the season.
The Pirates also lost Amari Wright, who spent her entire five-year collegiate career at SHU. In what would be her final collegiate game, Wright became the program’s all-time leader in career games played with 142. A veteran point guard, she averaged 3.8 assists per game last season and finished her career ranked sixth on SHU’s all-time assist list.
To make up for the loss of these key players, the women’s program has brought in several new additions. While their male counterparts sought experience and proven ability in the transfer portal, the women’s team’s coaching staff prioritized raw potential and talent coming straight out of high school. Of the eight additions to the team, five will be freshmen this season.
This includes Natalia Hall-Rosa, a 6-foot-1 guard / forward from Massachusetts, who averaged 19.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game en route to winning a league title for her school this past season. Never averaging fewer than 14 points in her high school career, Hall-Rosa looks like a strong candidate to fill the scoring void left by Masonius’s departure.
The Pirates also recruited Zahara Bishop, who led Benilde-St. Margaret High School in Minnesota to its third straight 3A State Championship last season. A two-time All-Conference First Team selection, Bishop is a 5-foot-10 combo guard who scored well over 1000 points in her high school career. She also played for the Minnesota Metro Stars, one of the top Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) programs in the state.
The three remaining additions to the roster who aren’t freshmen this season are transfers from other programs, each in search of a greater opportunity elsewhere. Take Mariana Valenzuela, for example, who is the transfer player with the most experience. Entering her senior year, Valenzeula spent the last three seasons at Florida State University (FSU), where she appeared in 80 games for the Seminoles.
In addition to the experience she gained with FSU, Valenzuela also has experience playing for her national team. Originally from Mazatlan, Mexico, she has represented her home country for several tournaments, including this past summer’s 2025 FIBA Central American Women’s Championship, where she was named MVP of the tournament.
The other incoming transfers, Jordana Codio and Cam Rust, are from the University of Texas and Penn State University, respectively. In high school, they were both four-star, top-100 recruits. Like Valenzuela, both Codio and Rust join the team in hopes of a greater role and opportunity to demonstrate their abilities—something they were not granted by previous programs.
With the Paige Bueckers era over at UConn, and Creighton University losing three of its top scorers, the SHU women’s program has the potential to make a real impact in the BIG EAST this year—perhaps even the NCAA Tournament as well, committee willing. Their success will hinge on how productive their new additions can be, and if any of their freshman recruits can emerge as all-BIG EAST performers, like Eads did the season prior. In other words, returning players Eads and Catalon will likely do a lot of the heavy lifting—but how will the rest of the team fare?
Ahead of the season, coach Bozzella expressed his excitement for this year’s team in a post to the women’s basketball program’s official Instagram account.
“I am super excited to bring in such a talented—and most importantly, wonderful and respectful—group of student-athletes for 2025-2026,” Bozzella said. “Combined with our returnees, my staff and I are thrilled for the vast potential of this group.”
The WBB team will start their season against Jefferson on Thursday, October 30 at Walsh Gymnasium.
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
