PROVIDENCE, R.I. – It’s early January, but Seton Hall has already topped its win total from last season. With their 66-57 win at Providence on Saturday night, Seton Hall is now 14-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big East, and they have quickly improved to where they are en route to being an NCAA Tournament team in Kevin Willard’s second season at the helm.
The Pirates are not going to win a contest for the most experienced team in college basketball. They have just two seniors who play and no juniors on a roster that features seven freshmen. That means five of the seven regulars are underclassmen, and that means the seniors need to be leaders more than with many teams. They have been just that, but the Pirates had to go without one of them for a lot of the first half.
Jordan Theodore might not be the first to come to mind among the top Big East point guards, but he’s starting to look the part. He’s having a big senior season, as he leads the conference in assists and is second in assist-to-turnover ratio. Just four games into conference play, he’s well on his way to blowing away his previous career high in assists for the season, and all of his numbers are up noticeably in early Big East play.
“I don’t think anyone is sleeping on Jordan anymore. I don’t think they can,” said Willard. “To press all game, to play defense all game against someone like Vincent Council, and then to run everything that we do, I think he’s proved to himself that he’s one of the elite point guards in the country.”
He showed his mettle on Saturday night as he calmly ran the show and hit some big shots en route to scoring 14 points and handing out nine assists with just two turnovers. None were bigger than the mid-range jumper he hit to give the Pirates some breathing room after Providence got within 54-53. It started a decisive 9-0 run.
With all of that, and the importance of the point guard spot, it’s not a surprise that the Pirates are 3-1 in the Big East at this point. Theodore said he understands the offense better, and feels that makes a big difference for him. Right now, it is showing up in his play.
“I definitely feel like he should be on any list for point guards, because what more can you ask for?” said senior forward Herb Pope, who had 11 points and 10 rebounds. “That’s what a point guard has to do, not to mention he scores 14 points per game.”
Pope is playing like the player he was reputed to be in high school. He’s been through quite a bit in college, but his talent was never in question and as such it’s not a big surprise that he’s averaging a double-double on the season. With the youth on this team, he’s been needed as a leader, and has provided that thus far.
As much as Theodore reaffirmed that he’s become one of the better point guards and the Pirates won without Pope having a big night, both players were quick to talk about what Fuquan Edwin did for the team. Edwin had 23 points, 16 of them in the first half when Pope had to go out with a minor eye injury on a scary play where it looked like both he and Providence’s Gerard Coleman could have come away seriously injured.
“He was huge,” said Willard. “We had three freshmen, a sophomore and a senior for nine minutes in the first half, and Fuquan pretty put us on his back and got us into the second half when Herb came back in the game.”
“Fuquan held us down tonight,” said Theodore. “He kept us alive in the first half.”
While Edwin’s scoring numbers are noticeable, Willard looks at the other end for where he can be at his best.
“There’s a reason he leads the country in steals because he’s a heck of a defensive player,” said the Seton Hall mentor. “I don’t look at the offense, he’s so fun to watch on defense.”
Seton Hall is 14-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big East. At this point, the Pirates have made a case to be ranked, although they feel it doesn’t matter save for being nice for the fans. More importantly, their NCAA Tournament profile is looking better all the time. The only losses are to Northwestern in the championship of the Charleston Classic and at Syracuse, while they have wins over Saint Joseph’s, Dayton, West Virginia and Connecticut. They are 3-1 in true road games and 5-2 overall away from home.
They know their work is far from done yet, and not just because it’s early in Big East play.
“Right now, we’ve got to continue to try to become an NCAA Tournament team,” said Willard. “We’ve given us a chance, we’ve got to continue to get better.”
With the improvement the seniors have made, and the continuing development of their youngest players, who aided a 47-33 rebounding edge on Saturday, the Pirates appear to be well on their way.
