Kevin Willard eventually caught himself, but not before he made his freshman point guard sound like a savior.

The Seton Hall coach is smitten with Anthony Nelson and he spent large portions of Thursday’s media day raving about the pass-first Harlem native, calling him the most advanced point guard he’s had, other than Isaiah Whitehead, since he took over at Seton Hall nine years ago.

“He’s surpassed all my expectations, from a work ethic, from a knowledge standpoint, and from an overall consistency standpoint,” said Willard, who joked that he had to curtail his optimism to limit the pressure on the newcomer to the program. “He’s able to pick up schemes, ideas, concepts much quicker than any freshmen I’ve been around. He has a great feel for the game.”

The 6-foot-4 floor general will start the year on the bench, backing up Sacred Heart transfer Quincy McKnight, but he will have a significant role. He opened eyes in Saturday’s exhibition game at Boston College, dishing out four assists and scoring three points in 21 solid minutes. In time, Nelson could be the guy running the team.

“He’s going to be out there a lot,” Willard said.

He’s already impressed teammates with his approach, calm and poised beyond his years. When asked for his personal goals, Nelson didn’t mention scoring. He wants to average at least six assists.

“I’m not really going to go out there hunting shots down and stuff like that,” he said. “I just want to get my teammates involved, make the right plays.”

“I love playing with him,” junior guard Myles Powell said. “When we played against Boston College, he wasn’t antsy, he wasn’t turning the ball over. He surprised me how calm he was against Boston College, like it was natural to him.”

Willard’s favorite quality of Nelson’s is his desire to learn. He listens, without offering a counter argument when criticized. The soft-spoken Nelson attributed those qualities to the coaches he had growing up, former Kentucky star Rodrick Rhodes at Cordia School (Ky.) and Bill Barton at South Kent (Conn.).

“I just knew if I wanted to play for them, I had to listen,” he said.

Nelson isn’t necessarily used to the flowing praise Willard is offering. If anything, he was underrated as a recruit, rated as a three-star, sub-200 prospect. His commitment last fall to Seton Hall, over Minnesota and Dayton, didn’t make much noise. The Pirates, however, believe a lot of teams will look back at missing out on him with regret.

“We haven’t had a [playmaking] point guard quite like Anthony in a while,” Willard said.