For the third straight year, Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway will face the program he once guided to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament when his Pirates host Saint Peter’s on Monday night in Newark, N.J.
Seton Hall was relegated to the NIT in each of Holloway’s first two seasons leading his alma mater, and last spring the Pirates defeated Indiana State 79-77 in the NIT championship game to finish 25-12 overall.
While the program surely wants to build on that accomplishment and reach the Big Dance again, almost none of last year’s cast of characters are back. The lone returning starter is Dylan Addae-Wusu, who averaged 8.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.6 steals per game.
Eight incoming transfers will form a new core, and the point guard position will be handled by committee, which is how Holloway likes it.
“I think we’ve got four guys that can handle the basketball way more than we had in the past,” Holloway said at Big East media day. “I wanted it that way because in the past, when (Kadary Richmond, now at St. John’s) went down, we were in trouble.”
The Pirates were picked 10th of 11 teams in the Big East preseason coaches’ poll.
“I just care about my team, but if you know me, you know my teams, we get better as the year goes on,” Holloway said. “So right now, I’m happy where we are, but I think we’re gonna be really good.”
Saint Peter’s grabbed the fifth seed in the MAAC tournament last season and toppled the fourth, first and second seeds to win the championship and reach the NCAA Tournament. The Peacocks were a No. 15 seed — just as they were two years prior under Holloway — and fell to Tennessee in the first round to finish 19-14.
The team’s top four scorers have departed, but the current roster, led by Marcus Randolph (6.5 ppg, 40.4 percent on 3-pointers) and Mouhamed Sow (5.4 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 35 blocks), will draw from those experiences.
“I think we can take away just that focus,” Randolph said at MAAC media day. “I feel like we tapped into a different level when it really came time to buckle down and win a lot of games at the end of the year. I feel like we were selfless as a team. It didn’t matter who was in the game, it was like, ‘Next man up, go in there and do your job.'”
The Pirates opened last season by beating the Peacocks 70-59. Saint Peter’s hasn’t upset Seton Hall since an 83-80 win in 2013.
–Field Level Media
