A year ago at this time, Seton Hall was 7-7 with home losses to Dayton and Richmond and a neutral-site loss to Arkansas.
A year later, the Pirates — who lost Jeremy Hazell and Jeff Robinson to graduation — are 12-2 with a road win over Dayton, home victories over West Virginia, Wake Forest and Auburn and neutral-site wins over VCU and St. Joe’s.
Seton Hall had 13 wins all of last season and already has one short of that before the calendar turns to 2012.
That turnaround prompted Mike Rice — yes, he of the archrival New Jersey Big East school — to tell SNY earlier this week, ”[Kevin Willard] right now is probably the [Big East] Coach of the Year. Him and JT3.”
Despite losing two guys playing professionally in Hazell and Robinson, Seton Hall is on a roll, as evidenced by their 67-48 victory Friday over a West Virginia team that had beaten them seven straight times.
Fuquan Edwin led the Pirates with 19 points, Jordan Theodore tallied 18 points, eight assists and no turnovers and Herb Pope added 13 points, six rebounds sand six blocks.
Yet Willard did a good job getting rest for his key guys by also playing center Aaron Geramipoor 21 minutes, freshman forward Brandon Mobley 16 and freshman point guard Freddie Wilson eight.
Seton Hall will get its stiffest test of the year Tuesday when defending national champ UConn comes to Newark. The No. 9 Huskies are now being run by former Pirates coach George Blaney, coaching the team during Jim Calhoun’s three-game Big East suspension.
After the UConn game, the Pirates visit Providence (Jan. 7) , host DePaul (Jan. 10) and travel to USF (Jan. 13).
It’s not impossible to imagine them winning at least two of those three, meaning even if they lose the UConn game, they could be 14-4 after the South Florida game.
Of course, if they find a way to beat UConn on Tuesday, then we’ll know something special is brewing in South Orange.
Either way, Willard is off to a great start and earning praise even from the coach down the New Jersey Turnpike.
FREE THROWS
Seton Hall had an impressive group of recruits behind its bench: Dakari Johnson, Reggie Cameron, MIke Young, Karl Townes and Jaren Sina.
