Seton Hall Basketball: Charleston Classic Preview

By Steve Valenti

Now that the first game is over with, one that reminded me too much of the opener my freshman year, it’s time for the Pirates second straight appearance in a Pre-Season Tournament. Last season’s appearance in the Paradise Jam could not have gone much worse for the Hall, not only going 1-2 in the tournament but losing Jeremy Hazell to injury for half of the year.

In the opening game of the Charleston Classic the Pirates play their first of three regular season games against a team that made last year’s Final Four in the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Rams and possibly their toughest match up of the tournament.

While the VCU Rams come into the game with all of the media hype and national recognition, after last year’s run, they are in a very similar position as the Pirates with a new and young team.

The Rams return two starters but only one that saw significant playing time and struggled in their opener as well. They defeated St. Francis (PA) in their opener 63-57.

The player expected to lead them this year, senior Bradford Burgess, did not show up against the Red Flash going 0-12 from the field and only connecting on two free throws. Last season Burgess averaged over 14 points a game and shot 48.7 percent so it is unlikely he will duplicate his performance versus the Pirates.

However, the Rams might have found another scoring option in junior Troy Daniels. Daniels scored 22 points in 29 minutes on the court and is not afraid to take the three. Every shot he attempted was from three point range shooting 5-15 but also secured the victory with a three in the final 30 seconds.

Preseason VCU was picked third in the CAA’s preseason coaches’ poll.

Looking at the Pirates one can only think that they couldn’t have played any worse than they did. Senior Jordan Theodore having to make a driving lay-up with less than two seconds remaining to force overtime should never happen against St. Francis.

In the off season Kevin Willard had continually talked about how excited he was about this year’s team because of how unselfish they were and how well they could shoot the ball. In the opener though, the team showed did not show either ability. They shot a lowly 41 percent from the field, many close shots, and made only one of 14 three point attempts, not a good shooting team if you ask me.

The most troubling thing however was that the team had only ONE assist at the half and only finished the game with seven, compared to 14 turnovers.

I’ll give St. Francis their credit for the turnovers but there is no reason this team should only have seven assists.

Before forgetting about the opener completely cause of the poor performance it was, two things could be taken from the game. Senior Jordan Theodore is willing and will step up when needed and that the Pirates walked away with a win, cause at least in college basketball winning margin doesn’t matter.

Keys to the game:
Pirates I know these are obvious but they didn’t do them in the opener
1. Pass the Ball
2. Make open shots
3. Don’t allow runs to get countered
VCU
1. Burgess plays like the CAA first team player he is
2. Daniels doesn’t take bad shots
3. Force Seton Hall young guys to be the key guys

Prediction- SH 67-64

Looking Ahead- Pirates play either St. Joseph’s or Georgia Tech, depends on the outcomes of both games. Winners play and losers play. All teams are undefeated right now and Georgia Tech might be perceived as better but don’t sleep on St. Joe’s, they were impressive in last year’s A10 tournament as a young team.

Classic Predictions
1. Tulsa
2. Seton Hall
3. Northwestern
4. St. Joseph’s
5. VCU
6. LSU
7. Georgia Tech
8. Western Kentucky