Kevin Willard and the Seton Hall Pirates are no stranger to the AP Top 25 poll.
Including Seton Hall’s No. 12 preseason ranking this season, Willard has led his team to a spot in Top 25 for at least one week in five of his 10 seasons at the helm. Only once have the Pirates finished the regular season ranked, coming in at No. 20 in the final AP Poll of the 2015-16 season.
With the highest preseason ranking since the 2000-01 season following the Pirates into this season, expectations are the highest they’ve been in Willard’s tenure as head coach. How will Seton Hall handle the expectations that come along with a high national ranking? It’s safe to assume the Pirates will be a mainstay in this year’s rankings with a veteran core and numerous impact contributors coming off the bench, but history indicates that Seton Hall will have to fight and claw to hold onto the number next to its name.
Following a 13-17 first season at Seton Hall, Willard orchestrated his first appearance in the AP Top 25 in the 2011-12 season. With Jordan Theodore running the show at point guard, Fuquan Edwin starring on the wing and Herb Pope battling down low, the Pirates climbed into the poll at No. 24 in early January. However, Seton Hall’s stay in the rankings was short lived, as a one-point loss on the road at South Florida bounced the Pirates from the poll. From there, Seton Hall lost five straight games, failed to make the NCAA Tournament and finished the season with a 21-13 record following a second-round NIT loss to UMass.
Seton Hall returned to the Top 25 two years later after consecutive wins over No. 15 St. John’s and No. 6 Villanova at the Prudential Center, but once again its stay in the rankings was a short one. Given the nod at No. 19, the Pirates repaid the voters by losing to Xavier on the road and barely escaping with a win at Creighton. Seton Hall’s rough week facilitated a two-spot drop to No. 21 and even after losing to unranked Butler at home, the Pirates remained in the rankings at No. 24 the following week. Consecutive losses to DePaul at home and Butler on the road was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The Pirates’ season went off the rails from there, finishing 16-15 and missing out on both the NCAA Tournament and NIT.
It took a Big East title for Seton Hall to return to the Top 25 at the end of the 2015-16 season, as the Pirates were No. 20 in the final poll of the year. The following year was a different story, as Seton Hall spent a large chunk of the season ranked thanks to its senior quartet of Angel Delgado, Khadeen Carrington, Desi Rodriguez and Ismael Sanogo. The Pirates went 13-5 while ranked and climbed as high as No. 13 before finishing 22-12 and bowing out of the NCAA Tournament in the Round of 32 against Kansas.
Overall, Seton Hall is 15-10 in the Top 25 with Willard as its head coach. The Pirates are 12-3 at home while ranked and a measly 3-7 on the road while in the poll.
This is a Seton Hall team that has an extremely different makeup than the ones that have been ranked in the past. It is one that is deeper, mentally tougher and frankly, more talented than any other squad Willard has had.
Does that mean they’re destined to be the team to buck the Pirates’ trend of inconsistency while ranked? That remains to be seen. One thing that is for certain, though, is that this Seton Hall team not only has a legitimate chance to be ranked all season, but climb higher than no other team in program history has thanks to its loaded non-conference schedule and competitive Big East slate.
All it’s going to take is some timely efforts and a little bit of luck from a Willard and Myles Powell-led bunch that have pulled plenty of rabbits out of their hat before.
Tyler Calvaruso can be reached at tyler.calvaruso@student.shu.edu. Find him on Twitter @tyler_calvaruso.
