Big Year for Seton Hall
Coach Kevin Willard had a lot of returning talent to work with last season. A healthy Herb Pope did not hurt either. Pope is back, but he is just one of two scholarship seniors on the team. This is the year we will find out if Coach Willard’s recruits can start the rebuilding process after the firing of Bobby Gonzalez following the 2009-2010 campaign.
Willard did a nice recruiting job right when he got the position last year, keeping Jeremy Hazell, Herb Pope and Jeff Robinson from jumping to the NBA. He also kept prize recruit Fuquan Edwin at Seton Hall. The results on the court were not so great as the Pirates ended up with a 13-18 overall record. However, the schedule was tough and this team began to show plenty of promise late in the season.
With Hazell and Robinson now gone, this is a young team that fits into what Willard wants to do. They will not make the NCAA Tournament and may not have a good enough record to even make the NIT, but that is not what this team needs. If they can make the NIT, great, but moving forward without Hazell and Robinson with a team full of underclassmen is the bigger issue. Can Willard’s recruits play in the Big East game in and game out? Will enough underclassmen step up and prove that this team can compete for an NCAA berth in the next couple of years? Those are the questions that will be answered in the 2010-2011 campaign.
Read the in-depth men’s basketball preview for this team
