Overheard at Big East media day: Seton Hall insight, Hurley’s Jersey toughness
Overheard at Big East media day: Seton Hall insight, Hurley’s Jersey toughness
Time to empty the notebook and recorder and share my favorite soundbites from Madison Square Garden.
NEW YORK – I spent Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, where I listened in on the Big East Conference’s media day, appreciated the retro logo being brought back in a limited capacity for the league’s 45th anniversary season and generally hobnobbed with guys from the college basketball beat.
I was there first and foremost for Field Level Media, and you can read my story on where Dan Hurley and UConn stand ahead of their bid for a national championship three-peat here. (I also touched on the three most interesting challengers to the Huskies’ Big East throne.)
But this morning, I thought I’d do something a bit different and truly empty out my notebook and recorder to share the most interesting quotes I heard on the MSG floor. They’re loosely themed below, from Hurley’s affinity for his native New Jersey to notes on Seton Hall men’s and women’s hoops to some candor from Rick Pitino. Please enjoy:
Dan Hurley is #JerseyStrong
I’m relatively late to the Dan Hurley story, and others can tell it far better. The son of Hall of Fame high school coach Bob Hurley Sr., he grew up in Jersey City, preceded Shaheen Holloway at point guard at Seton Hall and spent a decade of his career at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark.
So New Jersey has played an inextricable part in Hurley’s formation, and at the end of his press availability Wednesday, he was asked (not by me, I swear) how his “New Jersey toughness” has helped him in the Big East. Unsurprisingly, his answer began with the virtues of coaching.
“You grow up in New Jersey, I think in North Jersey in particular, the culture of basketball, it’s just great coaching,” Hurley said. “The coaches that you play for here, the Bob Hurleys, the Kevin Boyles, Hubie Brown, the people that have coached and played basketball in the state.
“Then there’s like, the state’s blue-collar. It’s a blue-collar state. It produces really tough people. The place that I grew up is an incredibly diverse place. It’s a tough place, it’s a diverse place. People are real with you. It’s not a fake place to grow up. If you’re doing bad, people tell you you suck. If you’re doing great, they tell you you’re doing well. It’s not a place soft people come from. Tough people come from Jersey, and you’re either tough or you move.”
Shaheen Holloway on Kadary Richmond
Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway and his former star guard Kadary Richmond were in the same building probably for the first time in months. It was inevitable that Holloway would be asked about Richmond’s departure to rival St. John’s for his final college season. They’ll get back together on Jan. 18 in Newark.
“It’s what it is, right?” Holloway said. “It’s kind of part of what it is right now. He gave Seton Hall some good years and now he’s on to a different place, and I wish him the best. It is what it is right now, you can’t get disappointed by anything.
“I’m gonna tell you what I tell my wife all the time. She got really attached to Dre Davis (now at Ole Miss) and his baby’s mother, the mother of his child. She was kind of like a (mentor) to her, and I told her moving forward, don’t get attached to people. Just get attached to the school and the name on the front of the jersey, not the back, because every year is gonna be like that. I just gotta adjust, everybody’s gotta adjust to it. It is what it is.”
Naturally, some reporters turned the conversation to the bigger-picture college athletics landscape and the role NIL played in luring Richmond and Davis away from Seton Hall, which is viewed as one of the more cash-strapped programs in the Power Five.
“You know what? We got what we got. I do my job with what I have,” Holloway said. “I don’t complain. Who’s gonna listen if I complain? I just go out there with the people that are in front of me. The resources I have, I’ll use them and we’ll go from there.”
Dylan Addae-Wusu
One player I didn’t catch at Seton Hall’s own media day 10 days ago was Dylan Addae-Wusu, who has more Big East experience (St. John’s plus the Pirates) than the rest of this roster put together. To say he’ll need to be a team leader is an understatement.
“It comes with a lot,” Addae-Wusu said Tuesday, “but I’m here for it.”
I asked him if being back in Madison Square Garden brought back memories of how last season went, with their 91-72 loss to St. John’s in the 4-5 game of the Big East Tournament ultimately leading to an unjust NCAA Tournament snub.
“It was tough last year,” Addae-Wusu said, “but (we’ve) fully moved on, new group, new year and we’re focused on doing bigger and better things.”
He’s excited about the backcourt he’ll be sharing with Isaiah Coleman and several newcomers. The refrain – even if these kinds of buzzwords are expected in October – was that Seton Hall expects to be deeper and more versatile, get up and down the court and defend at a high level.
“I wouldn’t be able to pick out one person that stands out,” Addae-Wusu said of his fellow guards. “These guys are special in their own ways, and it’s been fun playing alongside them. They’ve got a knack for guarding and they’ve got something to prove, they got a chip on their shoulders.”
Point guard in particular could be an interesting rotation of guys early in the season. Addae-Wusu could play that spot, Holloway said last week, with the other options being Garwey Dual (Providence transfer), Zion Harmon (Bethune-Cookman), Chaunce Jenkins (Old Dominion) and freshman Jahseem Felton.
That means one key thing for Holloway.
“Peace of mind,” the coach said. “It gives me the ability to play different styles. Like I said, in the past, when our main guy went down, we kind of struggled. Hopefully we won’t struggle if one of the guys goes down. That’s what it gives us.”
Rick Pitino holds court
I floated around the St. John’s table for a while before decamping for UConn, but I can say with some certainty that coach Rick Pitino was asked more questions about the history and present state of college basketball than about his second-year Red Storm roster. (He got at least one question about the Knicks too, because why not?)
In light of Virginia coach Tony Bennett’s shocking retirement weeks before the season, Pitino discussed his own longevity. He made sure to insist he didn’t know all the reasons for Bennett’s decision. He said retirement is “not a bad thing.” But it wasn’t for him.
“I would say, if I can go through this and stay healthy, I will coach until I drop dead,” Pitino said. “How many years can I go and stay healthy? That’s the name of the game. … The NIL doesn’t get me bent out of shape. It’s getting coaches bent out of shape where they’re retiring. That doesn’t bother me at all. That’s the way it is, I’ll go out and raise money.”
Two more solid-gold quotes tossed off by Pitino, without further comment:
“Back when I first started coaching there were a lot of programs running an NIL (program) when the NIL was not legal. I like the fact that it’s all legal now.”
“In some respects (the job is now) easier. I probably will not go to a young man’s home ever again. We just go to the negotiating table at St. John’s.”
New-look Huskies
Let’s get back on the court for a hot second. UConn has dealt with roster turnover before, and that didn’t stop it from winning a second straight natty, but this year’s team can’t shy away from a few key differences.
Adama Sanogo was a beast inside in 2022-23. Donovan Clingan was a 7-foot-2 rim protector who became a lottery pick after 2023-24. Samson Johnson, the 6-foot-10, 225-pounder from Togo by way of the Patrick School, projects as neither of these archetypes but has enough offensive skill that a “point center” role is being discussed for him.
“Those are things I have to improve as the year goes on,” Johnson said. “You know, I think I’ve been doing a good job of just trying to get better at some of the things that coaches are telling me to get better at. I feel like it’s gonna help me throughout the year.”
Onetime Rutgers star Cam Spencer won a national title in his lone year at UConn by shooting 44 percent from three, but he’s off to the NBA. Two intriguing replacements there are high-scoring Saint Mary’s transfer Aidan Mahaney and five-star freshman Liam McNeeley. But Mahaney apparently didn’t start in UConn’s recent scrimmage, while McNeeley has a calf strain; Hurley said McNeeley is “two to three weeks away,” which probably means he won’t be available on opening night.
Seton Hall women preview
I want to wrap this up on the women’s side, while simultaneously saving some material for next week, when I’ll be publishing an all-encompassing women’s season preview (as well as a preview of the men’s mid-majors – this is probably the fourth time I’ve teased this, just so everyone knows it’s coming).
It’s fair game to say that in Big East women’s basketball, it’s UConn and then everybody else. At media day, the team with the second-busiest table was Seton Hall, which was encouraging to see just from a local’s perspective.
The Pirates don’t return their top three scorers from last year, but No. 4 on that list was Savannah Catalon, who had a promising end to her freshman year. From Feb. 10 and on, Catalon averaged 12.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.4 steals playing 29 minutes per game – and she started only two of those seven contests. She is primed to become the Pirates’ No. 1 option this year.
“My expectations for the season are high,” Catalon said. “We have a very talented team, so we want to start off the season strong, get the wins that we’re supposed to and put up fights against teams that are, you know, highly ranked in the country.”
Those teams include No. 3 USC, on Thanksgiving Eve in the California desert, and No. 7 LSU, up in Connecticut the week before Christmas. Coach Tony Bozzella said the Pirates were asked to play in both showcases, which he sees as a testament to the talent in his program.
Not on the schedule, of course, is Rutgers. Bozzella made clear for years that he wanted to continue the series, but when the previous contract expired Rutgers didn’t wish to renew.
“I was extremely disappointed Rutgers didn’t want to play,” Bozzella said. “It was their turn to host us. I’ve tried to make Rutgers understand that we need to grow the game in our state, and the best way to grow the game in our state is for Seton Hall and Rutgers to play. They refused to play us, they didn’t want to play us. I don’t know the reason why. We’re gonna try and play them every year. I have a lot of respect for their program. Coquese does a really good job.
“I want to build this into what the men have. It’s great: TV exposure, banquets the night before, NIL opportunities for all our student-athletes on the women’s side. And we could do that. I just need them to be a part of it.”
In the middle of the women’s coaches’ group photo, Geno Auriemma thought they were done taking shots and turned to Bozzella to tell him something. It created a funny moment where Auriemma and Bozzella had to be called back to attention to finish the shoot.
It turned out, Auriemma was praising Seton Hall incoming transfer Faith Masonius and her mother, saying without Ellen Masonius serving on his UConn staff in the 1980s, the Huskies would never have had the foundation for their longstanding success.
“I will tell you, as we rebuild this foundation (at Seton Hall) and start a new foundation again, our tremendous success – which we will have starting this year, but go on for many years – is (by laying) the foundation with this young lady as well,” Bozzella said of Faith.
Talk about a promise! It was the last in a long line of high, high compliments Bozzella paid to the Maryland transfer. But stay tuned. I’ll have more on them next week.