Ray Mernagh, Seton Hall News

CINCINNATI A MUST WIN FOR THE KIDS IN THE HALL

by RAY MERNAGH

Way back when, before the basketball season started — when the schedules were released — I remember looking at Seton Hall‘s and saying to my buddy, “what the hell are they thinking?”

I remember thinking that the Hall would finish the season with 18-21 wins and be on the bubble without any resume-enhancing wins.

Well, it’s the 8th of January, 2010.

Big East play started about twelve days ago…and Seton Hall finds itself in a must-win situation vs Cincinnati come tomorrow January 9th.

Right?

They started Big East action with two perceived heavyweights, Syracuse and West Virginia, and lost to them both. Both games were played at home and were winnable, but to the chagrin of the Jersey faithful that “sold out” the Rock, the Pirates failed to finish either one with the W.

Then came a peculiar trip to Cancun to play Virginia Tech on January 2. Here’s a visual of the Hall’s schedule to make it more clear how “strange” the decision to road trip to Cancun was.

12/26: West Virginia.
12/29: Syracuse
1/2: Va Tech in Cancun
1/6: @ UConn

All four of the above games turned into losses. Scheduling the out of conference tilt against a decent Virginia Tech team in between crucial and potentially season-making opportunities is strange enough. Scheduling it in Cancun is ridiculous. Trips like that are made with the chance for two or three good wins in mind (like Marquette did over their Thanksgiving jaunt to Florida or Cincinnati in Maui). They’re not for a one-game in and out scenario with a middle of the pack ACC squad out of the country four days before facing Connecticut on the road.

But I digress.

The point is Bobby G’s team needs to win tomorrow.

And it’s mainly due to a mystifying out of conference schedule that was weaker than any other in the Big East. Heck, it might be the weakest OOC schedule of any team from a Big Six conference in the country. The danger in that, as Seton Hall found out, is going 7 or 8-0 but blowing the only chance at a “good” win by losing a big lead against Temple at home. The other teams the Hall played before Big East action started? St. Peters, @Monmouth, @ Cornell (decent road win but probably not going to sway any committees), LIU, NJIT, Hartford, VMI, Temple, and Navy.

The next four games in conference for the Pirates are at home against Cincinnati, at Georgetown, then Louisville and Pitt at home.

Any sure wins there folks?

The four that follow that are @ South Florida, @ Villanova, @ Pitt and Notre Dame.

That putrid out of conference was made for a young team that’s fragile and needed confidence, not a talented team that needed to rack up some wins but also needed to be challenged. Now, just when the Pirates need to be hitting on all cylinders they find themselves on a four game slide… with a really pissed off Cincinnati team coming to Newark. A win tomorrow would give Gonzo’s crew a much needed boost. A loss could rip open some scabs and lead to a bloody mess that might not heal.

The rotation seems to be in flux with the additions of Keon Lawrence and Jeff Robinson. Jordan Theodore got just nine minutes against Temple and finds himself on the bench when they need a savvy distributor and Robert Mitchell played just 11 minutes in the OT loss to WVU and only three against SU. Theodore is a menace on the ball defensively and a facilitator with it in his hands. Eugene Harvey, a four-year guy, a leader, seems lost in the shuffle. Mitchell seems perfect for the small forward spot but has seen spot duty at best. Herb Pope was creating for everybody against UConn and leading a charge back into the game when Lawrence ignored him running in open space at the free throw line and instead took an ill-advised shot at the game’s most critical juncture.

Fragile might be an optimistic word to describe this team’s psyche.

Win tomorrow and they get some much needed confidence.

Lose and they’ll be 0-4 heading to DC, with Louisville and Pitt looming.

Seems like a must win to me.

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