Big East Basketball: Each team’s worst performance of the last decade
By Joey Loose
Seton Hall
December 1, 2013 (Fairleigh Dickinson 58, at Seton Hall 54) (GS: 8)
The story of Seton Hall is a somewhat similar one to the story of Providence. The Pirates adjust to life in the new Big East with relative success, making the last three NCAA Tournaments after some years of struggle. They’ve got a great coach they’ve hired from a nearby mid-major (former Iona coach Kevin Willard) and they have some great success in the past (a title game loss to Michigan in 1989). Just like Providence, however, the road has not always been smooth.
There have been some underwhelming offensive performances like a 56-44 lost to West Virginia in 2011 or a 65-47 loss at Georgia in 2014. There have also been the usual losses to underwhelming mid-majors, three of which happened in 2013. The team lost at Mercer in double overtime and at home in overtime against a mediocre Saint Peter’s club. But the third loss was the worst of the bunch.
As entertaining as it would have been to talk about Seton Hall losing big to DePaul (which did happen in 2012 when neither team was super talented), falling at home to Fairleigh Dickinson is just a bit worse. FDU won just nine games that season and had some horrific performances against teams like Hofstra, Columbia and Bryant, but still found a way to win at Seton Hall (and Rutgers five days earlier). Seton Hall shot just 37%, with most of their offense coming from Fuquan Edwin (16 points). A close game early, FDU pulled away midway through the second half on the back of 23 point and 9 rebounds from Sidney Sanders.
Kevin Willard is building a program that can have success in March, but they just haven’t seen it yet. Seton Hall is no longer buried in the old Big East and has a significant chance to line themselves up as one of the more consistent teams in the conference. This could all happen, or they could let Providence or Creighton or Marquette steal their thunder, only time will tell.