Seton Hall Preview, 2024-25

Seton Hall Pirates

January 21st, 2025 at Prudential Center / February 18th, 2025 at Fiserv Forum

Head Coach: Shaheen Holloway (106-8 overall, 42-28 at Seton Hall)

Three-Year NET Average: 64.0

Three-Year kenpom Average: 53.3

Projected 2023-24 T-Rank: 92

 

Dylan Addae-Wusu battles Tyler Kolek for the ball

Photo by Rich Schultz | Getty Images

State of the Program

Shaheen Holloway's second campaign in Newark was a roller coaster ride. The Pirates started 4-0, then dropped four of five, losing to every top-100 non-conference opponent they faced. They managed to beat Missouri in Kansas City before really announcing their presence nationally. SHU knocked off undefeated UConn in their Big East opener and followed that up with wins at Providence and over Marquette and St. John's as part of their 6-1 league start. A three-game losing skid brought them back to reality a bit, but they finished strong, winning seven of their last ten (the losses were at Villanova, Creighton, and UConn) and entered Championship Week with a real shot at an NCAA bid. The week went as bad for the Pirates as it could have gone. They lost to St. John's in the Big East Tournament, then watched New Mexico, Duquesne, UAB, Oregon, and NC State win conference tournaments to take the Pirates (second team out) out of the field. But instead of bemoaning their predicament (okay, there was some of that too, and blaming of Val Ackerman for not...umm...taking to Twitter to defend them) they went out and won five straight to capture the NIT title. Summer was not so kind as four starters departed, including Kadary Richmond who went across the river to join St. John's. They did bring in 7 transfers, but all were either high-major role-players or low-major up-transfers.

Rotation

It sounds like Providence transfer Garwey Dual will get the first crack at replacing Richmond. He used his defensive length well and was both a threat to create turnovers and block shots from the help side, but he was just as likely to turn it over on the offensive end and his 38.8 eFG% left a lot to be desired. Dylan Addae-Wusu and Isaiah Coleman will provide his back court support. Addae-Wusu has been a quiet but capable Big East contributor for four years (three at St. John's) while Coleman elevated his game during Big East play, but seemed to hit a freshman wall in mid-February. There's competition in the front court. We expect Scotty Middleton to find his way into the starting lineup because his shooting and defensive length looks essential to what Holloway wants to do. Without Richmond and Jaden Bediako, rebounding could take a hit, which is where Yacine Toumi comes in. The grad transfer from Evansville has been a monster on the defensive glass the past two years, but will likely need to add bulk if he's going to keep that production up in the Big East. The Pirate bench is a mix of low-major experience and high-major fliers. Zion Harmon (Bethune-Cookman) and Chaunce Jenkins (Old Dominion) were productive at lower levels, but are high-usage, low efficiency players that performed worse against higher level competition. Prince Aligbe (Boston College), Gus Yalden (Wisconsin), and Emmanuel Okorafor (Louisville) all came from high-majors but played limited minutes (or none at all in Yalden's case).

Style of Play

When possible, Seton Hall's offense will start on the defensive end, getting out in transition off steals and rebounds. Once they settle into the halfcourt, expect a lot of off-ball movement. They use the drive to initiate and want to get to the rim, ranking 28th nationally in the rate of shots at the rim. When that isn't open, the off-ball movement is designed to feed cutters also attacking the rim or dishing out for open threes. The problem last year was that the Pirates were not a good shooting team, but they tried to make up for that with rebounding, ranking in the 97th percentile in shots taken directly from an offensive rebound.

Seton Hall gets inside a lot, but often needs second chances to score

Shot chart from cbbanalytics.com

Holloway built his reputation on defense. His St. Peter's teams led the MAAC in defense for three years before he came to Seton Hall. He runs deep, 8-9 man rotations. His teams apply ball pressure throughout the possession. Their strength is inside the arc, where he always has a high-level shot blocker in the middle with numerous help side defenders equally willing to challenge shots. Where they can be exploited is on the perimeter. Teams took 42.4% of their shots outside the arc against Seton Hall. To beat the Pirate defense it helps a lot to make your shots from three.

2024-25 Outlook

While the NIT title was likely fun for Pirate fans, this offseason has left them with a lot of questions. Kadary Richmond was a matchup nightmare, Al-Amir Dawes was by far their most reliable shooter, and Jaden Bediako was a monster on the offensive glass. Not only are the replacements generally inefficient, but by and large they were inefficient at a lower level. The players that are most proven are not high major players, and the players that have been at the high major level are not proven.

All that said, last year's Seton Hall roster had no business finishing 4th in the Big East, and if not for an unprecedented number of bid thieves they would've been in the NCAA Tournament. Holloway's teams always play hard and are never intimidated by competition, but it's hard to see where the offense comes from. Expect them to try to turn games into rock fights. The Hall was 8-2 in games decided by 6 points or fewer last year and will need similar fortune this year if they have any hopes of playing in the postseason. I'm just not sure that's in the cards for this roster.

One Man's Opinion

What Holloway did last year was incredible. Leading that roster to that finish was an incredible coaching achievement. But based on this roster, I have the Pirates #9 in the Big East. There isn't a rotation player that reached 105.0 offensive efficiency last year. And it's not like these guys were role-players for contenders, they were either bit players for non-tourney high-majors or low efficiency, high usage guys for low majors. On paper, this is the worst roster in the Big East. That said, Holloway is a consistent defensive coach who will have his team competing and last year wasn't the first time he worked magic (remember St. Peter's, anyone?). If anyone can turn this ragtag group into a respectable outfit, it's him, but it will require a lot of overachieving from players whose careers haven't been defined by their overachievement.