Seton Hall University, founded in 1856 by James Roosevelt Bayley, is named after Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born saint. One of the oldest diocesan universities in the U.S., ‘The Hall’, located in South Orange, NJ (only 14 miles from Manhattan), sits on a 58-acre main campus that houses over 10K undergrads.
Seton Hall is a founding member of the Big East Conference (1979). Of the 11 Big East schools, 9 are Catholic - Seton Hall, Georgetown, Creighton, DePaul, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Villanova, Xavier; UConn and Butler are not.
At the inception in the 1890s, Seton Hall's sports teams were known as the Villagers, a decade later as the White & Blue (school colors). The Seton Hall ‘Pirates’ were born April 24, 1931.
The Big East is known for basketball and Seton Hall is a true “Basketball School.” With a record of 1691-1133-1 (.584) since 1908, The Hall claims 1 NCAA Final (1989 L to Michigan 80-79 OT), 2 Elite Eights, 4 Sweet Sixteens, 14 NCAA appearances, 4 conference and 3 tournament championships, and the 1953 NIT title. SH has been ranked in AP poll 5X (preseason), 8X final, 134 wks. Have 4 Naismith HOFers: Coach John ‘Honey’ Russell 1964, Bob Davies 1970, Bobby Wanzer 1987, Nick Galis 2017; 2 FIBA HOFers: Nick Galis 2007, Andrew Gaze 2013; 3 Consensus 1st Team AAs (Bob Davies, Walter Dukes, Myles Powell) one 2nd Team AA (Terry Dehere), 8 retired jerseys, and 29 NBA draft picks (11 1st rd).
Notable coaches:
John Russell (1936-43,49-60) 295-129, .696
Kevin Willard (2010-22) 225-161, .583
PJ Carlesimo (1982-94) 212-196, .561
Frank Hill (1911-30), 192-75, .719
Bill Raffery (1970-81), 154-141, .522
Big East preseason rankings: 1. Marquette 2. Creighton 3. UConn 4. Villanova 5. St. John’s 6. Providence 7. Xavier 8. Seton Hall 9. Georgetown 10. Butler 11. DePaul
Coached by former player Shaheen Holloway (led St. Peter’s to 2022 Elite Eight), was 17-16 in his first year at SH losing 65-64 to Colorado in NIT 1st round. This year, SH has started 4-0 (all at home) with wins vs. St. Peter’s, Fairleigh Dickinson, Albany, Wagner. SC is 1-2 all-time vs SH, the last meeting a 63-61 loss in the 2008 Puerto Rico Tip-Off. This game will be a challenge for SC!
SH averages 80.8 ppg (+21.8 margin) on 51.5% FG, 31.4% 3FG, 77% FT. They average 41 rebs/g (+11.7 margin), 14.4 asst/g, 13.3 TO/g (+1.0 margin), 9.8 stl/g, 2.8 blk/g.
SC averages 77.0 ppg (+10.0 margin) on 44.3% FG, 33.7% 3FG, 75.8% FT. They average 40.3 reb/g (+2.5 margin), 13.5 asst/g, 14.5 TO/g (-1.7 margin), 6.0 stl/g, 4.3 blk/g
For SH, Kadary Richmond leads in scoring 14.0 ppg on 56.8% FG, 14.3% 3FG, 81.3% FT. Dre Davis and Al-Amir Dawes each average 12.8 ppg, with Dawes attempting 37% of the team’s 3s and making 38.5%. Jaden Bediako averages 9.5 ppg and is second with 6.5 reb/g. Richmond also leads with 7.0 reb/g, assists with 4.5/g and steals with 2.8/g. The Pirates have only 11 blocked shots - Richmond, Davis, and Bediako all with 3.
SH grabs an unreal 38% of rebounds off their own misses, which has been a problem for SC's defense. They rank 21st (2nd BIG EAST) in scoring defense (59.0 ppg) and 26th (1st BIG EAST) in three-point defense (24.8%). Lead BIG EAST with 9.8 steals/game, Kadary Richmond (2.75 st/g) leads BIG EAST, 33rd nationally.
For SC, Collier and Boogie lead in scoring 21.0 ppg, with Kobe at 15.0 ppg and Josh Morgan next at 8.3 ppg. Josh has been extremely efficient, leading the conference at 83.4% FGs, going 14-17 on his shots! Amazing right? Now if he could only catch the ball cleanly and hold onto rebounds! Josh leads with 2.0 blks/g.
Collier is shooting 51.9% FG, 41.7% 3FG and 80.6% FT – these are fantastic numbers for a freshman who was said to be a poor outside shooter and FT shooter! He averages 3.0 reb, 3.8 assists, 1.3 steals, but needs to take better care of the ball and take a little heat off some passes, as he leads with 21 TOs. He is the best frosh in the conference, maybe the nation, and will only get better once he solves his TO issues.
Boogie averages 47.6% FG, 41.7% 3FG, and 68.4% FT on a team that is averaging 75.8% at the line, this is unchartered territory for an Enfield team. He pulls down 4.3 reb and leads with 6 steals and 4.0 assists.
SC is lacking in bench production and players like Sellers 6.5 ppg, Rodman 6.3 ppg, Hornery 5.8 ppg, Vince 5.0 ppg, Arrinten and Kijani both 2.3 ppg, need to step up and provide help to the Big 3. Page has the best offensive skills and the greatest upside, but his development is taking time. The addition of Bronny James should provide instant offense to the team. Watch out for this team in January and the heart of the conference season. If they can stay healthy, which they haven’t so far, they can make a run in March Madness.
For SC, it also starts with defense. They are holding opponents to 37.8% FG and were 8th last season, holding opponents to 39.3%.
SC is favored by 4.5 pts over Seton Hall.
Liontree Arena at UCSD is site for the Inaugural Rady Children’s Invitational. Rady Children’s Hospital is the largest children’s hospital on the West Coast. Proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the hospital. The arena holds ~4000 people and there are no bad seats.
I arrive at halftime of the OK-Iowa game and the Sooners are up big. Watching the second half, my impression was Iowa was a little slow-footed and their bigs were not very skilled. Oklahoma looked REALLY good to me. They appeared to be well-coached, played hard and shot the ball well. Their guards were too quick for Iowa to handle.
As expected in Boogie’s hometown (played at Mission Bay HS), many of Boogie’s family members and friends are here. Player families are well represented. But on this Thanksgiving Day probably only 2-3 hundred SC fans, including one in shirt and tie with backwards ball cap (any guesses – haha). Most of the announced 3588 fans were for Iowa, Oklahoma and Seton Hall.
SC will start Boogie, Kobe, Isaiah, Josh and DJ. Apart from Brandon Gardner and Bronny, all players are available.
SH starts one player taller than 6-6 PG Richmond, 6-10 Beidako and SC should be able to outrebound SH.
The game:
The lead changed hands 7 times in the first half, until SC pulled ahead to their largest lead 32-18, going into half-time up 32-22. The difference was SC made 5 threes (3 by Boogie, 2 by Kobe), while SH missed all 6 of their attempts. Play in the first half was sloppy and SC looked out of sync and left a lot of points out there, with missed bunnies or Oziyah and Hornery passing up open threes. The bigs continued to show poor hands, dropping passes and fumbling rebounds. Page played like the freshman he is with 2 TO, 1 reb and 0 shot attempts in 12 mins.
For the half, SC was 39.3% FG (11-28), 38.5% 3FG (5-13), 71.4% FT (5-7). SH was 28.1% FG (9-32), 0.0% 3FG (0-6), 80.0% FT (4-5) – much of their poor shooting attributed to SC’s defense. Kobe took the challenge of guarding SH’s top scorer and held Kadary Richmond to only 6 first half pts (2-7 FG, 2-2 FT) and 3 TO.
SC started the 2nd half well, extending the lead to 20 pts at 42-22, largest of the game, on Collier’s steal and breakaway dunk at 17:28 mark. However, SC squandered this lead, it shrinks to 3 pts 56-53 with 4:04 left. Immediately thereafter, Oziyah Sellers hit the biggest 3 of his young career to stem the tide and get the lead up to 6. From that point, great FT shooting 12-14, including 10 straight to end the game (6 by Boogie, 2 by Collier, 2 by Rodman) and two more blocks by Josh Morgan of his school record 10 blocks! for the game (9 in 2nd half), sealed the victory for SC 71-63.
Final stats showed SC shooting 44.4% FG (20-45), 43.5% 3FG and 77.8% FT (21-27). They had 14 pts in the paint, 22 fastbreak pts and 18 pts off SH’s 19 TOs.
SH shot 35.2% FG (25-71) – 26 more shots than SC due to 17 offensive rebs – not good!, 18.8% 3FG (3-16), 83.3% FT (10-12). They had 40 pts in the paint! Where is our interior D?, 10 fastbreak pts and 25 points off 19 SC T0 – Josh 6 and Collier 5. Josh played 28 mins because he was a shot blocking machine, but he can’t hold onto the ball. The coaches need a specific drill to strengthen the ability of our bigs to catch the ball and to hold onto rebounds – right now they’re a liability on offense. S&C Kurtis Shultz should work on their grip strength.
Leading scorers for SC – Boogie 22, Collier 15, Kobe 13. Kobe led with 6 reb and 5 steals, Collier with 5 assists. For SH – Richmond 18, Davis 15, Bediako 12. Adae-Wusu led with 9 rebs and 4 steals, Davis 3 assists.
With the 71-63 victory, SC is 4-1 and Andy gets his 209th win (209-130 overall) in his 11th season. His win total ranks fourth behind Sam Barry (260), Forrest Twogood (251) and Bob Boyd (216). Enfield should move into 3rd place this season.
Leaving the arena, I am introduced to Andy’s mom Barbara and commented ‘that we almost blew that one.’ She looked at me and said “Nah, we had that game in the bag!” I smiled.
At our car on the top deck of the parking structure, we were having problems with the remote, even though our SUV was brand new. A tall man and his tall wife walked up to us on the way to their car and the man asked if we needed help and he proceeded to unlock the car and get the remote working in less than 30 seconds. The man was Kobe’s father Roderick Johnson, who was with wife Stacy. They both played basketball and you can see where the 3 sons got their height and their basketball skills!
Next up tomorrow is a match up with the undefeated Oklahoma Sooners (5-0). I wonder how many Lincoln Riley comments are going to spew from their mouths?
All in all, a great way to spend Thanksgiving! You can start thinking about making plans for next Thanksgiving in Palm Springs at the 2024 Acrisure Classic where SC and SDSU will be among the participants.
Fight on!
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