March is a do or die time for college basketball teams, a time to leave everything on the court because each game could be your last. The Seton Hall women’s basketball team did just that on Sunday evening against DePaul in the Big East tournament semifinals, ultimately falling to the Blue Demons 83-80.
Heart over height. A credo for basketball players who are not blessed with the excess height that is perceived as necessary to succeed at the sport. Seton Hall women’s basketball freshman Lauren Park-Lane is one of these players whose ability shines through despite her diminutive stature. Park-Lane had 17 points and seven assists on Saturday afternoon to lead the Pirates to a thoroughly dominant 83-57 win over Butler in the quarterfinal round of Big East Tournament play in the Chicago. The Pirates hit 16 three pointers in the win, one triple short of the Big East Tournament record.
As the Seton Hall women’s basketball team heads into the last weekend of the regular season with a game against Xavier on Feb. 28 and one against Butler on March 1, the race in the Big East is as tight as ever.
Facing the weight of high pre-season expectations, the Seton Hall baseball team started off strong on opening weekend by dispatching Illinois and Milwaukee in blowout fashion 10-2 and 17-1, respectively. However, the bats cooled off markedly during the team’s three game series with Liberty in Virginia this past weekend. The Pirates held of a late Liberty charge to win 5-4 in last Friday’s opener, but lost close games on Saturday and Sunday. Seton Hall lost 3-2 on Saturday and the Pirates fell by a final score of 5-3 on Sunday.
Kevin Willard knew exactly what he was doing when he uttered the words that sent shock- waves through the Seton Hall basketball community following the Pirates’ 74-71 loss to Providence two weeks ago.
The Pirates led by one point with 10 seconds left, as Alexis Lewis grabbed a rebound that would seemingly secure a crucial road win at St. John’s last Saturday.
Almost a full two weeks into the baseball season, the Pirates have split their first six games to begin the 2020 campaign, going 3-3 with blowout victories over Illinois and Milwaukee and a walk-off loss to No. 20 Wake Forest. Seton Hall is now gearing up for a road trip to California, with seven games in nine days against USC, Fresno State, and Saint Mary’s.
The 13th ranked Seton Hall Pi- rates now have an overall record of 20-7, including 12-3 in the Big East, with only three games left in conference play before the chaos of March ensues.
Major League Soccer’s opening weekend is just two days away and along with celebrating the league’s 25th anniversary the league will also be welcoming its two newest franchises in Nashville and Miami this season.
With the rise of social media, it’s easy for chatter to take over when it comes to the days leading up to sport trade deadlines or drafts. Insiders across the industry will rush to tweet out and scoop trades or rumors first in an effort to gain notoriety among fans.
The Seton Hall women’s golf team finished with another strong performance over the weekend, placing fourth in the Rio Verde Invitational out of a field of 18 teams. The Pirates continue to place within the top-five and have never placed farther than fourth throughout the whole 2019-2020 season.
Over the weekend, the Seton Hall softball team travelled to Conway, South Carolina to compete in the Chanticleer Classic. The team went 1-3.
The Seton Hall Pirates baseball team lost two out of three games this weekend against Liberty. The weekend began with promise after a 5-4 victory over the Flames on Friday afternoon but quickly turned south with back to back close losses on Saturday and Sunday. The stumbles against the Flames put the Pirates at 3-3 with ample time to go in the season, including the entirety of Big East play.
There are few things more wholesome than the excite- ment of parents watching and cheering on their kids from the sidelines. The atmosphere of youth sports games is dictated by father-coaches yelling and stereotypical soccer moms devoting their time to be the team mascot. Unfortunately, as the kids grow older and they begin to filter out by who has the potential to play in college and who does not, these age- old tropes retire from their unwritten roles in the team.
In a college basketball landscape that features prolific one-and-done freshman stars year in and year out, the Big East continues to thrive on player development and veteran success. The last one- and-done to attend a Big East School was Henry Ellenson of Marquette in 2015-16. Ellen- son was drafted 18th overall in the 2016 NBA Draft to the Detroit Pistons. He is the only player to truly be one- and-done in the Big East since the conference’s realignment in the 2014-15 season.
Excitement, upsets, and under appreciation are all things that seem to happen withing the Big East conference of the NCAA men’s basketball program. How- ever, if there was one thing these teams are not used to, it is one and done basketball players.
Solutions by The State News
