Guarden State

Share this post
Seton Hall in review: Roster breakdown and what comes next
guardenstate.substack.com

Seton Hall in review: Roster breakdown and what comes next

Tyrese Samuel and Jamir Harris each announced last week that they'll be back with the Pirates and play for Shaheen Holloway in 2022-23.

Adam Zielonka
Apr 14, 2022
Share this post
Seton Hall in review: Roster breakdown and what comes next
guardenstate.substack.com
Seton Hall officials help welcome Shaheen Holloway as the Pirates’ new men’s basketball coach on March 31. (Photo by Adam Zielonka)

Seton Hall had the fortune of hiring the most popular college basketball coach of the 2022 cycle. He’s being put to the test now that it’s time to build next year’s roster, and so far, he’s passing that test.

Tyrese Samuel and Jamir Harris each announced last week that they’ll be back with the Pirates and play for Shaheen Holloway in 2022-23, solidifying some of the roster that remains in the post-Jared Rhoden world.

In Harris’ case, he chose to use his fifth year of NCAA eligibility all athletes were granted during the COVID-19 pandemic era. Back on Senior Night he was non-committal either way about returning, but fast forward to Holloway’s introduction March 31, and Harris showed which way he was leaning.

“It’s a great day for New Jersey,” Harris told Gannett New Jersey. “He’s a Jersey legend. Everybody here today is very excited to see what he has in store for us.”

The cherry on top for Harris: the chance to play with his younger brother Jaquan, another combo guard who’s part of Seton Hall’s recruiting class of 2022.

With other guards having exhausted their collegiate eligibility, Harris’ return looms large. The more I look at this roster, the more I’m surprised that this much of the core is expected to be back in Holloway’s debut season.

That doesn’t mean it won’t be tough sledding in Year 1. With Jared Rhoden, Bryce Aiken and Myles Cale out the door, the Pirates are losing their three leading scorers, not to mention their top rim protector in Ike Obiagu and four of their top five rebounders.

“He’s gonna have a lot of expectations,” Seton Hall AD Bryan Felt said of Holloway. “But I also know that when you come into a program and you’re the new coach, it doesn’t just click right away. It’s gonna be a process. It’s always a process, and Shaheen knows that more than anybody. So I think it would be fair to make sure that we don’t expect Final Fours in the first year, let’s put it that way.”

So let’s take quick stock of who’s staying, who’s going and how that shapes the 2022-23 roster:

Out: Jared Rhoden, Myles Cale, Bryce Aiken, Ike Obiagu, Alexis Yetna

Rhoden turned pro and is participating in the Portsmouth Invitational this week. That’s a long-running postseason showcase/camp in Portsmouth, Va., for college seniors aiming for the pros. Though Rhoden technically can withdraw and apply to use his extra year of NCAA eligibility, he isn’t expected to and it’s easier for this exercise to assume he is gone.

The same goes for Yetna, though I’m seeing some disagreement online about the perceived chances he’ll announce a return to college rather than turn pro in Europe. Yetna is from Paris.

Back: Kadary Richmond, Jamir Harris, Tyrese Samuel, Tray Jackson, Jo Smith, Jahari Long, Brandon Weston, Ryan Conway, Tyler Powell

You can see the makings of a starting five in that group, but the most uncertain spot is down low. Without Obiagu and Yetna, who will play center? Jo Smith logged a whole 18 minutes last season, and it would be a major ask to have him jump from there to a starting role. Stranger things have happened, for sure, but center seems to be a position Holloway will target in the transfer portal.

Meanwhile, Tray Jackson earned himself the starting job at small forward, though some of his best performances this season were when he came off the bench. Jackson made it into just three games in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season after transferring from Missouri, but with a year of work under his belt, he blossomed.

“I always knew that’s the way Tray was going to play,” Kevin Willard said after Jackson went 5-for-7 for 16 points (plus six rebounds) in the season debut against Fairleigh Dickinson. “The COVID summer really hurt Tray because A, he was sitting out, and B, we didn’t think he was playing, so it just didn’t work. Tray had a great summer, and that’s kind of what we see every day in practice.”

Jackson upped his scoring average from 1.3 to 6.8 ppg, his shooting percentage from 25.0% to 46.6% and his 3-point rate from nothing to a 39.5%. At 6-foot-9 and change, he can play stretch four in certain lineups and keep defenses honest with his outside shot. I enjoyed watching his game grow this season and we have to figure there’s another level he can hit as a full-time starter.

The trio of Weston, Powell and Conway gave Hall the No. 32 recruiting class of the 2021 cycle, per 247Sports’ composite rankings, with the four-star Weston the gem of the group. But an ankle injury kept Weston sidelined all year, Powell only played in garbage time and Conway didn’t log a single minute. I think out of necessity, those three are due for a step forward in 2022-23, playing more minutes off the bench at the wings and at point guard in Conway’s case.

Incoming freshmen: Jaquan Harris, Jaquan Sanders

Percy Daniels, a 6-foot-9 center from Baton Rouge, La., reopened his recruitment this week, and he did not mention anything like “Seton Hall will remain an option” in his announcement. It’s another blow to Seton Hall’s center depth if Daniels indeed heads elsewhere. With Daniels part of the group, 247Sports ranked the Pirates’ class 41st in the country and third in the Big East; all three are composite three-stars.

Coaching staff: TBD

Here lies the other big question mark. Holloway has yet to hire a staff, not even one assistant coach. Compounding that, Willard’s top assistant coach Donald Copeland is taking the head coaching job at Wagner, the ironic end of a dragon-eating-its-tail cycle in the local coaching ranks. Holloway left Saint Peter’s for Seton Hall, Jersey City native Bashir Mason left Wagner for the same job at Saint Peter’s and Seton Hall loses its assistant coach as he fills the Wagner vacancy.

We should know more about Holloway’s staff soon enough. Then it’ll be time for him to hit the recruiting trail for his alma mater.

Take a look back through Seton Hall’s season through this selection of my previous stories about the Pirates:

Guarden State
Seton Hall's reserves showed out. Is it 'only the beginning' for Tyrese Samuel and co.?
NEWARK – Tyrese Samuel, Bryce Aiken and Myles Cale filed into the Prudential Center media lounge, where Seton Hall organizes its postgame press conferences with coach Kevin Willard and whichever players had particularly strong games. “I’m not gonna lie, this is my first time here, so I didn’t even know it looked like this,” Samuel g…
Read more
a year ago · Adam Zielonka
Guarden State
To prepare Seton Hall for what’s ahead, Kevin Willard takes the long view
NEWARK – Players aren’t the only ones working on themselves in the first month of the season. Coaches, like their charges, also must look inward and make decisions on what to change, what to improve, what to commit the most focus to as the games start to come hot and heavy…
Read more
a year ago · Adam Zielonka
Guarden State
Seton Hall claims New Jersey’s title and earns its way ‘back on the map’
NEWARK – The Garden State Hardwood Classic carries a ton of meaning for a ton of people: the fans and students who packed the Prudential Center Sunday night, the sports media across the state, the many Seton Hall basketball alumni who attended the game, the players themselves…
Read more
a year ago · Adam Zielonka
Guarden State
Seton Hall needs Bryce Aiken back before fans choose to boo again
NEWARK – The first boos materialized 7:31 before halftime, when Kevin Willard called his second timeout in a span of 59 seconds. Marquette had racked up five more points on two possessions since the first one, pushing its lead over Seton Hall to 26-10…
Read more
a year ago · Adam Zielonka
Guarden State
From preseason lasagna to late-game huddles, Seton Hall built to grind out wins
NEWARK – A seasoned Big East coach, Kevin Willard sounded like a man far wiser than his 46 years as he spoke Wednesday. Seton Hall had squeezed out a 66-60 home win over Butler, its second close win in as many games, with his players giving off the impression tha…
Read more
a year ago · Adam Zielonka
Guarden State
Zielonka: Rhoden, Cale, other seniors are leaving Seton Hall in a great spot
NEWARK – I always listen when Jared Rhoden opens his mouth to speak. There are few college athletes I know as thoughtful and well-spoken in interviews and press conference settings as the Seton Hall senior star. This season, Rhoden had to step up in a role previously occupied by Sandro Mamukelashvili and Myles Powell before that. Not only the Pirates’ le…
Read more
a year ago · Adam Zielonka
Guarden State
Shaheen Holloway and Seton Hall were an easy match. Now comes the hard work.
SOUTH ORANGE – You’d lose count Thursday if you tried to track how many times Seton Hall president Joseph Nyre, Board of Regents chair Kevin Marino and athletic director Bryan Felt used some version of th…
Read more
10 months ago · Adam Zielonka
Share this post
Seton Hall in review: Roster breakdown and what comes next
guardenstate.substack.com
Comments
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Adam Zielonka
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing