JACKSONVILLE – The Seton Hall men’s basketball team was fueled by naysayers this season, and a full tank of pent-up acrimony took the Pirates to VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena last Thursday.
Myles Powell and Quincy McKnight walked off the court with a towel draped over their heads. Jared Rhoden followed suit with his hands on his head in a state of disbelief, while Sandro Mamukelashvili draped his arm around Director of Basketball Operations Kyle Smyth.
Fresh off a trip to the Big East Championship game, Seton Hall traveled down to Jacksonville for the NCAA Tournament with its eyes on making a similar kind of run. No. 7 seed Wofford came to town with designs on a tournament run of its own, though, and knocked off the Pirates by a final score of 84-68 to send The Hall home early.
It’s rare that a school with a student population of 1,692 turns into a basketball power, but that is exactly what Wofford managed to accomplish in 2019.
If you watched Seton Hall’s stretch run through the end of the regular season and the Big East Tournament, two players receiving major minutes may have come across as new faces. At VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. on Thursday, the situation will be no different for Anthony Nelson and Jared Rhoden.
Two years ago, Quincy McKnight made the decision to venture out of his home state for the first time in his basketball career. Leaving a school where he was the undisputed star of the team to take a step up in competition was a risk, but a necessary one for McKnight to get a chance at opportunities like the one he will have when Seton Hall takes the floor on Thursday night.
Hitting its stride two weeks ago during a time that was sink or swim, the Seton Hall men’s basketball team firmly secured one of the 34 at-large tickets to the NCAA Tournament. The Pirates received a 10-seed, much to the skepticism and dismay of many. On Thursday, Seton Hall will face one of the nation’s hottest teams – the No. 7-seeded Wofford Terriers.
JACKSONVILLE – Kevin Willard is becoming a tournament regular. His 10th-seeded Pirates boarded a chartered flight for Jacksonville, Fla., on Tuesday night – the first of many distinctions between this preparation and the build-up to his first NCAA Tournament as a head coach in 2016.
After an impressive runner-up finish at the Big East Tournament, the Seton Hall men’s basketball team now has its eyes set on the NCAA Tournament. The Pirates enter their fourth successive post-season tournament as a 10-seed and are poised to face newly-crowned Southern Conference champions Wofford.
This year’s Seton Hall team was never supposed to sniff Big East Championship Saturday at Madison Square Garden. After losing four seniors and three 1,000-point scorers, the Pirates were better suited as a bottom-third team in the conference with designs on an NIT appearance. At best, this team could maybe avoid the dreaded first day of the Big East Tournament and maybe scrap for a win against another middle of the pack team.
NEW YORK – After three games in which the Seton Hall men’s basketball team enjoyed the luxury of a head-start over its opposition, the Pirates spent the Big East Tournament championship chasing top-seed Villanova, who did just enough to hold on for a record-setting third straight title, 74-72.
In many ways, the 2018-19 Seton Hall men’s basketball team embodies the “Hazard Zet Forward” motto.
NEW YORK – The Seton Hall men’s basketball team needed every inch – every last one – on Friday night to reach the Saturday promise-land of the Big East Tournament. In an affair that was marred by controversial officiating, the Pirates overcame second-seeded Marquette, 81-79, setting up the ultimate rivalry renewal with top-seed Villanova.
Coming off a week in which it knocked off two ranked conference foes and secured a spot in the NCAA Tournament, Seton Hall picked up where it left off against Georgetown in the first round of the Big East Tournament and downed the Hoyas by a final score of 73-57 behind a dominant performance from Myles Powell.
Goodbye bubble, hello NCAA Tournament.
There are three certainties about the month of March, and the first two involve the color green – the return of verdant leaves as spring begins and the proliferation of green-clad revelers celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. The third certainty is the madness caused by the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Currently, Seton Hall fans are in a frenzy over whether the Pirates will be invited to the “Big Dance” or on the outside looking in. In a month of certainties, Seton Hall’s tournament status is anything but that.
On a slew of turnovers and miscues over the waning moments of the game, the Seton Hall men’s basketball team essentially saw its tournament hopes slip away in a 77-71 double-overtime loss to Georgetown on Saturday evening.
Seton Hall has three games left on its regular season schedule, but the final two will not mean much should the Pirates falter on the road against Georgetown this weekend.
After Seton Hall’s 78-70 loss to St. John’s on Saturday at Madison Square Garden, the Pirates’ chances of securing an NCAA Tournament berth for the fourth consecutive season are looking slim.
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Solutions by The State News