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Seton Hall Basketball: Analyzing Pirates 2019-20 projected rotation

By Tristan Freeman

FULLERTON, CA - NOVEMBER 25: Head coach Kevin Willard of the Seton Hall Pirates instructs his players during a time out in the first half of the game game against the Miami Hurricanes during the Wooden Legacy Tournament at Titan Gym on November 25, 2018 in Fullerton, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
FULLERTON, CA - NOVEMBER 25: Head coach Kevin Willard of the Seton Hall Pirates instructs his players during a time out in the first half of the game game against the Miami Hurricanes during the Wooden Legacy Tournament at Titan Gym on November 25, 2018 in Fullerton, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
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JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – MARCH 21: Quincy McKnight #0 of the Seton Hall Pirates attempts a free throw in the second half against the Wofford Terriers during the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena on March 21, 2019 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – MARCH 21: Quincy McKnight #0 of the Seton Hall Pirates attempts a free throw in the second half against the Wofford Terriers during the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena on March 21, 2019 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

Point Guard

Minutes Allocation (40 total): Quincy McKnight (30), Anthony Nelson (5) and Shavar Reynolds (5)

Not all transfers from mid-majors are made equal, with several Big East teams finding that out last season. The experiments with Connor Cashaw for Creighton and Joe Cremo for Villanova failed but Seton Hall got a success story in Quincy McKnight. He was a solid overall replacement for Khadeen Carrington from the previous season.

The numbers from last year may have indicated that McKnight took a major step back from his days at Sacred Heart, averaging just half (9.4 ppg) of his previous scoring total before transferring. But he made up for it with his much improved passing ability, leading the Pirates with 3.9 apg and cutting down the number of turnovers from 148 at Sacred Heart to just 86 last year.

McKnight became much more of a pass-first playmaker for Seton Hall while allowing Powell to excel on offense. But for the sake of balance and taking the shoulder load off of the All-Big East star, look for the senior point guard to be more aggressive in finding his shot. He’ll have to improve on his 27% three-point shot though.

A common theme for this piece will be the returning starters expecting to retain their lions share of the minutes. But it certainly doesn’t mean that the backups aren’t any good. Anthony Nelson had a solid freshmen campaign even though he played just 10 mpg. The 6’4 guard averaged 6.9 apg per 40 minutes, including eight assists in just 21 minutes against Sacred Heart.

Shavar Reynolds averaged 8.5 mpg last season for the Pirates and could very well get some spot-up time again. But Nelson may end up being the only other rotational ball-handler besides McKnight and eat up Reynolds opportunities.

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