Seton Hall’s Powell Is Back, Goals Remain the Same
By SEAN BRENNAN
Special to BIGEAST.com
Like just about everyone else in the Seton Hall basketball family, no one knew what to expect out of Myles Powell last Monday night in Chicago.
The Pirates were in the Windy City to take on a resurgent DePaul team in a game that may - or may not - have featured the return of Powell, the BIG EAST’s Preseason Player of the Year. Powell had spent the previous two weeks in limbo as he recovered from a concussion sustained in a Dec. 14 game at Rutgers. And it turned out to be the longest, strangest two weeks of Powell’s life.
“(The Seton Hall medical staff) literally had me sitting in my room. No TV, no video games, no light,” Powell said. “Just a dark room, trying to get rest.”
Eventually Powell had to endure some tests to see how he was progressing and slowly he started to make his way back.
“I took a couple of tests to see how light would affect me but now my eyesight is back to normal and I have no headaches,” Powell said. “So everything is going good.”
Good enough that Powell made his return against the Blue Demons and looked a lot like, well, vintage Powell.
“I kind of didn’t know what to really expect,” Powell said. “We had practice the day after Christmas and coach (Kevin Willard) let me practice a little bit but he really didn’t let me go up and down. I guess he didn’t want me getting bumped into or anything like that. Then we didn’t know if I was going to be able to make the flight (to Chicago) because flying might not be good. But they gave me another test and I passed it and they gave me the go-ahead.”
Still, Powell playing against DePaul was far from a lock. First he had to get through pregame warmups.
“At the game coach didn’t let me warm up until we went back out for the 36-minute mark (to tip off) and I told him I had a little sweat going and I felt good,” Powell said. “That’s when he said he was going to start me. I didn’t even think I was going to start. So once he gave me the go-ahead that I was going to start I knew I was going to play and try to make a difference and win the game. So I just went out there and I didn’t really try to do too much because I really didn’t know how much I had to give.”
Turned out he had a lot to give as Powell scored 27 points with five steals and five rebounds in the Pirates’ win over DePaul. Finally, Pirates Nation - and Powell - could exhale. And while all is right in Powell’s world once again, his return to health didn’t come without some trepidation. But Powell credits those around him with getting him through his darkest time.
“Basketball is my whole life right now and when you take that away from someone you can only imagine what they’re really going through,” Powell said. “But I had my mom, my dad, my coaching staff and, most importantly, my teammates and they never let me hang my head in those two weeks that I was sitting out. And when I came back they gave me the best welcome you could give, quote unquote, a team’s best player. They made me feel loved and missed and that made me feel really good inside.”
His two weeks away from the game he loves has also made Powell appreciate the game more than ever as he plays his final season with the Pirates.
”I know I’m not going to get that time back,” Powell said. “I could have left last year (for the NBA) but I came back for certain reasons and to go through this thing one last time. (Former teammates) always come back and tell me how much they miss it and this season is already halfway over. Non-conference is already over and we’re about to be two games into conference play. Time waits for nobody and there are still things I want to accomplish.”
Among those items on his list include winning the Jerry West Award as the nation’s top shooting guard and competing with Marquette’s Markus Howard, a close friend, for BIG EAST Player of the Year honors.
But that’s not all Powell has on his senior year bucket list.
“I think we can be a Top 10 team and I think we can make big runs in both the BIG EAST and NCAA Tournaments,” Powell said. “We know how good we can be and coach knows how good we can be. So it’s just about us going out and playing Seton Hall basketball.”
Powell still has some limits on him as he prepares for the Pirates’ home clash with Georgetown Friday night at 9 p.m. (FS1) at The Rock in Newark, N.J.
“I still haven’t lifted (weights) yet but hopefully I can do that next week,” Powell said.
What he also wants to do, beginning Friday night against the Hoyas, is keep climbing the all-time scoring list at Seton Hall. He currently sits in eighth place with 1,902 points and is just five points from moving past Mark Bryant for seventh place. Terry Dehere is the Pirates’ all-time leader in points with 2,494 points but Powell believes Dehere’s record is in range.
“Hopefully I can jump up into the top three soon and when all is said and done I’ll be the all-time leading scorer,” Powell said. “I’d also like my jersey to be retired, too. There’s still a lot at stake and I want to go out and take it.”