It’s easy to forget now, because of how strongly Seton Hall started the season, the Pirates’ national ranking and the collapse that followed, but the All-Big East rookie team can put things into perspective.
The Pirates landed two of the five selections — forward Angel Delgado and guard Isaiah Whitehead — and a case could be made for a third, guard Khadeen Carrington. Delgado, the conference’s leading rebounder at 9.9 boards per game, is expected to take home Rookie of the Year honors on Wednesday.
Kevin Willard’s team is very talented, but still very young. That inexperience was obvious in a dreadful month of February that took Seton Hall off the NCAA Tournament bubble and made an NIT berth far from certain. But optimism remains in South Orange.
“I’ve seen good pep from these guys all year,” Willard said in advance of the eighth-seeded Pirates (16-14, 6-12), who meet No. 9 Marquette (12-18, 4-14) in the opening round of the Big East Tournament on Wednesday night at the Garden. “I’ve been proud of them all year, as young as we are, going through a long, long college season. Their energy has stayed very consistent, their attitude has stayed very consistent. Even with a couple of bumps on the road, they showed up and they really tried to bring it. I’ve been proud of the way our guys have been mentally trying to stay with it.”
So while the way the regular season unfolded — reports of a fractured locker room, sophomore guard Jaren Sina leaving the program, junior guard Sterling Gibbs (the team’s best player) getting suspended two games for a blatant forearm, the team losing eight of its last nine games — was disappointing, it wasn’t necessarily shocking.
Since Sina’s departure, Willard has started three freshmen, Whitehead, Delgado and Carrington. Another, Desi Rodriguez, plays significant minutes off the bench. While the present may not be as bright as some figured in early January, the future remains full of promise. Partial qualifier Mike Nzei, the forgotten player in the best freshman class in 13 years at Seton Hall, will join Delgado in the front court next year.
Willard also has landed two solid shooting prospects in California guard Dalton Soffer and three-star forward Veer Singh of Thurgood Marshall Academy in Harlem, to complement Whitehead, Gibbs and Carrington.
It also bears remembering the Pirates’ season isn’t over. They still could wind up in the NIT, and last year’s team looked dead in the water before capping the season on a high note with an upset of then-No. 3 Villanova in the Big East quarterfinals. A win Wednesday night over Marquette would give the Pirates a rematch with the two-time Big East regular-season champion Wildcats.
“Obviously, the guys that were here last year have already talked about that,” Willard said. “We’ve played pretty good basketball over the last two weeks. We haven’t gotten victories off of them, but I thought our defense was getting back to being much better, I thought we’re taking care of the basketball better.
“Guys are excited. Most of our young guys are New York guys. They’re excited about getting to the Garden. I think it’s going to be a good experience for the young guys.”
