2017 BIG EAST Media Day Recap

Date: October 19, 2017

By: John Pirsos

College Basketball season is right around the corner and there is a lot of hype surrounding the Seton Hall Men's Basketball team. At Big East Media Day on Wednesday from Madison Square Garden, Seton Hall was picked second in the preseason Coaches Poll, only behind Villanova. It is the highest the Hall has been picked in the preseason poll since 2000.

A big reason this team is projected to do so well is because of all the talent they have coming back. Khadeen Carrington, Angel Delgado, and Desi Rodriguez, who were all present at the Garden for Media Day, are all seniors this year and are 1,000 point scorers. Ismael Sanogo, another senior, and Myles Powell, a sophomore, will round out the projected starting five. The Pirates, who finished with a 21-12 overall record and a 10-8 Big East record which was tied for fourth place, will be one of the most experienced starting lineups in the country.

"It helps a lot," Carrington said on all the experience. "We went through it all. We went through the lows. Now we are just trying to go through the highs. The last two years, we did a good job of staying focused and this year is going to be the biggest year for us."

Angel Delgado was almost not included in the "returning seniors" category. Delgado had originally planned on declaring for the NBA Draft after last season, but decided to come back for his senior year.

"I talked to my family. I talked to my coaches and I thought it was the best decision for me," Delgado said. "I didn't feel good at all thinking that I wanted to leave. Every time I was thinking that I wanted to leave, I wasn't feeling good. So the day that I made the decision to comeback, it's like when it's 100 degrees and they throw cold water on you and you feel relaxed. That's how I was feeling. I was feeling really good and I'm really excited to make this year special."

Delgado averaged 15.2 points and 13.1 rebounds per game last year. His rebounding mark was the best in the country. If he can improve those numbers, the Pirates will become that much more dangerous.

Villanova is still the heavy favorite to win the regular season Big East title, which would be their fifth in a row. But even Jay Wright, who is entering his 17th season as head coach of the Wildcats, is raving about this Pirates team.

"You will watch Seton Hall this year and you will see them do so many great little things that don't excite you but it's going to make them win because they're older and they're veterans," Wright said. "I really think that they can contend for the Big East Championship."

The Pirates and Wildcats have played some very memorable games in the past few years. The Big East Tournament semi-finals last year, the championship game in 2016, and the quarterfinals in 2014 were all decided in the final 20 seconds. Will this be the year Seton Hall can close the gap on the Wildcats in the regular season standings?

While Villanova did receive eight first place votes out of 10, Seton Hall and Xavier each received one. Who gave Seton Hall their lone first place vote?

Ed Cooley, head coach of the Providence Friars.

"They're good man. They're going to be good," Cooley said. "Their non-conference schedule is really good. He's [Willard] challenging his team to prepare them for the league. I'm really happy for Kevin and what he's done for that program to make them relevant in our league."

The hype surrounding the Pirates is not just in South Orange. The other nine teams in the conference are well aware of how good this team can be. But the Men's team is not the only one with high expectations. Look out for the Seton Hall Women's Basketball team as well.

The Pirates went 12-19 overall with a 4-14 conference record last season, which left them in eighth place. But don't expect another down year. Head Coach Tony Bozzella is expecting a major turnaround because of his new players.

"I think Nicole [Jimenez] and Inja [Butina] have brought a sense of toughness and competitiveness," said Bozzella. "Things that a lack of experience didn't allow us to have last year. These kids are two of the best kids that I've ever coached because of how hard they try each and every day. No one tries like these two kids in my 25 years. They are few and far between."

Between last year and this year, the Hall's biggest loss is center Lubirdia Gordon. However, Coach Bozzella has brought in some major players for the upcoming season. Inja Butina, a junior transfer from Hutchinson Community College, Nicole Jimenez, a junior transfer from Broward College, and Donnaizha Fountain, a grad student transfer from Temple, will all play key roles on the team this year.

"This is my first time transitioning," Fountain said. "But this has been an easier one because I am older and I am a little bit wiser and a little bit more mature than I was when I was 17, 18 years old. The transition has been great. My team makes it easy because they are so welcoming."

The Pirates were picked sixth in the preseason Coaches Poll. But from the sounds of it, Coach Bozzella and company expect much better than that. Especially because of all the depth.

"We will play the entire length of the floor for the entire game," Bozzella said. "And I'm able to do that because we're as talented as we've been from top to bottom as any team I've had but we have kids that work very hard and we actually have 13 kids that can step on the floor and be contributing Big East players right away. Top to bottom, this is the most experienced and most talented team I've had."

Bozzella has been known to play tenacious defense with aggressive guard play up front to force turnovers. From the sounds of it, expect that in a big way this year.

The player that Coach Bozzella raved about the most was Jayla Jones-Pack who is entering her sophomore season. Jones-Pack only averaged 3.4 points and 3.5 rebounds in 12.5 minutes per game last year off the bench, but Bozzella has loved what he has seen from her so far.

"Jayla Jones-Pack is going to be one of, if not the best defensive player in the league," Bozzella said. "She has changed so much. I think Jayla has a chance, and we've had some great Centers in our program, to be one of the best. I think she wants to establish herself as not just a starting Center at Seton Hall, but one of the better players in the Big East and I don't see any reason she shouldn't."

Fountain joked about the defensive ability of Jones-Pack and said, "I've watched Jayla, oh my God, don't take a layup near her because it's going to get smacked right back down near your face."

It should be a fun season in South Orange for the Men's and Women's Basketball teams. But it is not just the media with big expectations for the Men's team this year. Carrington has some high hopes for the upcoming season as well. He has his eyes set on the Final Four in San Antonio.

"That's definitely the goal. We definitely want to go to the Final Four, win a Big East Championship. We want to win a regular season championship. We want to raise all those banners. It's our last year, there's no next year for us."

 

John Pirsos is an Assistant Sports Director at 89.5 FM WSOU. He can be found on Twitter @JohnPirsos and can be reached by e-mail at john.pirsos@student.shu.edu.

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