Angel Delgado, FOX Sports Jim Jackson
We don’t know if there were any sleepless nights for Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard as he waited for word of whether the Pirates’ franchise - Angel Delgado - was going to return for his senior season. Don’t know how many candles were lit by Willard in the Seton Hall chapel asking The Big Pirate Upstairs to nudge Delgado back to South Orange for his senior season.
All we know is Willard is happy to have his 6-10, 240-pound man-child back for one more go-round. How do we know? When asked what he likes about his frontcourt this season, all Willard would say was, “Angel. I like Angel.”
Who could blame Willard for his blind allegiance to his stud forward? All Delgado did last year was lead the entire nation in rebounding at 13.1 boards per game, average a double-double on the season with 15.2 points a game to go with his rebounding average, log 27, yes, 27 double-doubles on the season and become the first BIG EAST player ever to record back-to-back 20-rebound games in conference play.
No wonder Willard likes to say, “Angel. I like Angel.”
But Willard is not alone in his adoration of Delgado. Providence head coach Ed Cooley is also a big admirer of the hulking Pirate presence.
“I think he’s one of the best big men in college basketball,” Cooley said of Delgado. “When you look at the (BIG EAST preseason) poll, it was Villanova with eight (first-place) votes, Seton Hall one (vote) and Xavier (one). I picked Seton Hall. That was me. I think they have veterans, they know how to win. They are men. They got dudes, man. They got dudes and our hands are going to be full when we get down there in South Orange. They’re terrific. Kevin has done a hell of a job. And Delgado, I think he’s the best. He’s older, he’s a senior, he’s been through it. I think he’s really good, man.”
Which is one of the reasons, along with fellow seniors Khadeen Carrington, Desi Rodriguez and Ishmael Sanogo why expectations are higher than they have been in a long time in South Orange. The Pirates were picked second to perennial BIG EAST power Villanova in the conference preseason poll and were slotted at No. 23 in both the AP and USA Today preseason polls.
And Willard wants his team to enjoy the national recognition.
“I don’t want to temper (expectations) too much because I think these guys have worked too hard to get the recognition they’re getting,” Willard said. “But at the same time keeping their focus on how they got here is very important. Not losing the work ethic and the focus that they’ve had to have to get them to achieve this point. Now it’s just trying to get them to focus a little bit harder on what we need to do to achieve a little more.”
There’s plenty on the roster for the Pirates to achieve great things this season. Aside from Delgado, there is Carrington, who will switch to point guard this season and comes in as a Preseason All-BIG EAST First Team pick, joining Delgado. Last season Carrington was sixth in the BIG EAST in scoring (17.1 ppg.). There’s also Rodriguez, who averaged 15.2 points and 5.2 rebounds last season and Sanogo, whose 5.6 rebound average meant he grabbed just about everything Delgado didn’t.
Willard is particularly fond of his frontcourt - even guys not named Delgado.
“Our frontcourt is great for the fact that I know at the four spot I have Ish (Sanogo) and Mike (Nzei) and I don’t have to worry about that,” Willard said. “I know what Ish and Mike are going to do on a nightly basis. And then you throw Sandro in there at 6-10, a phenomenal passer who is really starting to shoot the basketball well. Our frontcourt is a lot of fun because we can do a whole lot of different things from an offensive standpoint. And obviously you have a guy like Angel Delgado, where at any point you can throw the ball inside and be successful. Trying to get all those guys the right minutes will be my biggest challenge.”
But there are also an assortment of young guns who are expected to help carry Seton Hall deep into March this season, players such as Myles Powell, Myles Cade, Jordan Walker and Sandro Manukelashvili, who henceforth will be known simply as Sandro.
Willard is impressed with what he has seen so far in the preseason and practices.
“The young guys are really, really doing well,” Willard said. “They’ve really impressed. Myles Powell has played as good as any freshman or sophomore that I’ve ever had. He’s just playing fantastic on both ends. Last year he was obviously a great offensive weapon but this year he’s really working hard on the defensive end. Myles Cale, who missed six months with shoulder surgery, is progressing tremendously and he gives us some added scoring. His athleticism is tremendous. I think everyone needs to be patient with Jordan (Walker) because he’s only 18 years old (but) the more he matures the better he gets.”
Willard has put together a rather ambitious non-conference schedule in order to get the Pirates ready for the grind of the BIG EAST season with games against such brand names as Indiana, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vanderbilt and Louisville on the docket. There’s a method to Willard’s madness.
“I think the schedule is really a good challenge,” Willard said. “I think it’s fun. I think it’s good for the players and I think it sets up a lot like the league schedule. I tried to get a mix of teams that grind it out and teams that run because I think our league is unique in the fact that we have so many different styles of play. It’s a good challenge for us. We’re going to have to bring it every night.”
It’s the deepest team Willard has had and he said he may go as deep as 11 players in his rotation.
“I think we’re a pretty good basketball team,” Willard said. “We’re definitely as deep as we’ve ever been. We’re obviously more experienced and we’re just so much deeper than we were last year. We played 11 guys double-digit minutes (in a recent exhibition) and all 11 guys really played well. I’m excited about this team and our goal is to stay extremely focused and extremely driven.”
So, do other coaches in the league think Seton Hall is ready to roll with the big dogs? One coach who knows a thing or two about winning in the BIG EAST certainly thinks so.
“Scary. They’re grown men,” Villanova head coach Jay Wright said. “They’ve had great experiences and they’ve had tremendous success. It’s one thing to have experience but then to also have success. They know how to win, they’ve won championships and I really think they can contend for a BIG EAST championship.”