Seton Hall does not expect junior big man Angel Delgado to return for his senior season, sources told ZAGSBLOG.
The 6-foot-10 Delgado, who recently won the Haggerty Award as the top player in the New York metropolitan area, is testing the NBA waters and has not officially hired an agent. He is not projected to be drafted per DraftExpress.com and was not invited to this week’s NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. He did recently work out for the Atlanta Hawks.
“I’m just going through the process and see what they’re going to say,” he recently told ZAGSBLOG. “I don’t know what they’re gonna say yet.”
Delgado averaged 15.2 points and a nation-leading 13.1 rebounds and 5.03 offensive rebounds while shooting 54 percent from the field. He finished second in the country with 27 double-doubles and had the longest consecutive double-double streak of any Division I student-athlete this season with 13 straight from Jan. 22 to March 9. He also led the Big East in rebounding with a conference single-season record 253 and 14.1 per game.
Former Seton Hall star Isaiah Whitehead, now with the Nets, is advising Delgado, who starred at The Patrick School in New Jersey before pledging to Seton Hall.
“He always talk to me about trying to work hard,” Delgado said recently. “When I go there, try to do my best.”
Had Delgado returned, Seton Hall could have been a Top 25 team with a nucleus of seniors Delgado, Khadeen Carrington, Desi Rodriguez and Ish Sanogo along with rising sophomore Myles Powell plus an incoming recruiting class that now includes big man Darnell Brodie, guards Jordan Walker and Myles Cale and stretch four Sandro Mamukelashvili. Seton Hall remains in the hunt for five-star point guard Trevon Duval, a close friend of Powell’s who could announce soon.
“I think they will be a perfect team without me or with me,” Delgado said. “I think Seton Hall’s coach is doing a really great job. And with me or without me, I think they will be really good.”
He said his family supports him no matter what his decision.
“If I stay or leave, they will be there for me,” he said. “It’s not a rush, I’m just trying to make the best decision for me.”
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