Seton Hall Basketball: What is the Pirates ceiling for 2021-22 season?
One of the biggest stories in college hoops in the first two weeks of the season has been the sudden emergence of Seton Hall Basketball.
One of the biggest stories in college basketball in the first two weeks of the season has been the sudden emergence of the Seton Hall Pirates. The Big East squad has come out of nowhere to become ranked the No. 21 team in the nation, according to AP voters.
As of the end of Sunday’s action, Seton Hall is one of five undefeated Big East teams left. The Pirates were 3-1, with dominant wins over Fairleigh Dickinson and Yale, plus a road upset of the then-No. 4 Michigan Wolverines before falling in a nailbiter to the Ohio State Buckeyes on Monday night.
The Pirates have been one of the best rebounding teams in college basketball, crashing the boards at an average of 42.3 per game. Interestingly, they’ve been one of the worst teams in terms of assists, averaging just 9.0 per game.
All of the stats surrounding Seton Hall are somewhat odd for a team emerging in the way they are. A surging team usually has a star leading the charge, but the team’s leading scorer prior to Monday was Harvard transfer
, who was averaging 12.3 points per game off the bench.
has since surpassed him, averaging 17.7 points per game.
Aiken might be the most recognizable player on the roster, but that honor could also be bestowed on Myles Cale. The senior is averaging 9.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, hitting 36.4percent of his three-pointers.
Defense is how the Pirates are getting things done this season, on display when the team held Yale to 44 points. Seton Hall ranked 15th in defensive efficiency entering Monday play, featuring one of the best exterior defenses in the nation.
Perhaps the expectations for the Pirates should’ve been higher entering the season. This is a team that returned almost 60 percent of its minutes from last season, with good size and depth to boot. That’s the making of a postseason contender.
Seton Hall was ranked 6th in the preseason Big East power rankings. But they appeared to have the potential to make it to the NCAA Tournament, maybe even win a game. Has the team’s ceiling expanded since then?
It’s too soon to go that far. Besides the incredibly small sample size, the one marquee victory was against Michigan, which has somewhat lost its luster this week after the Wolverines were also wrecked by Arizona. Michigan is going to be a good school, but they still have a lot of work to do.
Luckily, Seton Hall has an opportunity to prove itself in the coming weeks. Texas, a fading Rutgers, and Iona still loom on the non-conference schedule.
The Big East is going to be a slog too, with a lot of dangerous teams in the offing. At one point, the Pirates have a three-game stretch home against Xavier, then on the road at Villanova and UConn; that stretch will say a lot about what the Pirates are capable of this year.
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Seton Hall is off to a great start this season and deserves to be lauded for it. Kevin Willard’s team has a long way to go before they can be considered a second-weekend NCAA Tournament team or more, though.