Big East Basketball Power Rankings: Creighton, Georgetown emerging

Results matter…and Seton Hall hasn’t put forth many positive results so far this season. Despite entering the campaign with high expectations as the preseason favorite to win the Big East, the Pirates have disappointed through the opening month and a half of play. Their predictive metric rankings are still quite solid considering they have performed well against a difficult schedule, but that doesn’t show up in their W-L record.

Seton Hall currently sits at just 6-4 on the year with just a 2-4 record in games deemed to be in quadrant 1 or 2. The Pirates hold the No. 56 ranking in the NET.

In addition to simply their record on the court, the Pirates have not received positive results with regard to injuries. Their injury concerns started with the loss of 6-foot-10 stretch forward Sandro Mamukelashvili. Easily the second-best scorer on the roster, Mamu suffered a fractured wrist and will miss a minimum of five more weeks. His loss is a massive one and that much was evident in Seton Hall’s 20-point road loss to Rutgers.

That defeat, though, had a two-fold effect on the team as star player Myles Powell suffered a concussion in the first half and he is out indefinitely. Without those two on the court, Seton Hall’s offense lacks any go-to scorers and the team will likely greatly struggle as a result.

This team should be ranked higher than eighth in the Big East, but they have now dropped back-to-back games (Iowa State and Rutgers) to fall to second-worst record of any team in the conference and will be missing their two best players for the foreseeable future.

I am wishing the best to both Mamukelashvili and Powell moving forward as it always hurts to see players get hurt and a season be thrown off course by injury.