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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The stark contrast between a hard-earned road win and a wasteful, damaging home loss three days later was jarring.
The Seton Hall men’s basketball team is now 16-10 after falling to Xavier on Wednesday night. Despite its recent string of success, three wins in its last four games, the team sits at 7-7 in conference play and is squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
NEWARK – The Seton Hall men’s basketball team saw its three-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday night as it fell to Xavier by a final score of 70-69.
The Seton Hall men’s basketball team extended its two-game winning streak to three after beating Creighton, 81-75, on Sunday afternoon in a tightly contested match.
With Big East Conference play winding down, Seton Hall will need to find a way to leverage it’s positioning before the Big East Tournament. The one and two seeds are heavily protected by Marquette and Villanova, respectively, but the team slotted in tenth place, can theoretically finish as high as third.The Pirates’ leverage point has to come from its go-to player, Myles Powell. Without a clear second option night in and night out, Powell’s production is heavily relied on. In games in which the junior guard scored less than 17 points, Seton Hall has lost four of seven such games.The scoring is a given from Powell, but what will push the Pirates over the hump is how well he scores. The Pirates are an undefeated 8-0 when Powell shoots 50 percent or better from the field.
Intensity was the name of the game for Seton Hall on Wednesday night, as the Pirates outran, outhustle and outshot the Georgetown Hoyas en route to a 90-75 victory on Wednesday night.Seton Hall’s 90 points scored were the second most by the team this season in Big East play, second only to the 93 points scored in a loss to DePaul on Jan. 19. The Pirates came out of the gate arguably faster than at any other point this season. Led by Myles Powell’s electric start, which included 17 points in the first half, Seton Hall jumped out to an early lead.
NEWARK – The Seton Hall men’s basketball team won a seesaw contest inside a stirring Prudential Center on Saturday night, 63-58.
Solutions by The State News