Rick Pitino’s intriguing comments, Seton Hall success among Big East storylines

4. Seton Hall is a tournament team, and Shaheen Holloway can be The COTY

Seton Hall Pirates completed their sweep of the St. John’s Red Storm following a double-digit comeback at UBS. It was a game that felt like the Red Storm were going to just coast to a victory after getting out to that first-half lead. But this Seton Hall team just kept fighting and fighting their way back into the game, and the comeback was made. 

This was a statement win for Seton Hall, and given the fact that both these teams were on the bubble, the Pirates needed to pick up this victory to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. There are also the wins where a team rallies behind their head coach, which is what happened here with Shaheen Holloway. A lot of teams would have just given up and not fought their way back, but Holloway was able to get the Pirates locked back in, and led them to this huge win. 

Given the low expectations, this season has just proved how good Holloway is as a head coach, and while UConn’s dominance will probably get Dan Hurley the Coach of the Year crown, Holloway deserves to at least be the second-highest vote-getter. Bringing this team who had their struggles last year into a position to get into the big dance, is what great coaches do, and Holloway is now in the ranks of great head coaches. There is still work to do for Seton Hall, but if they take care of business the kids from South Orange will be going dancing.