Good stuff from Jaden Daly
- Thread starter Halldan
- Start date
Sha has that surly demeanor often but you can tell when he thinks he has something.
He's been quietly telling people at SHU that this team is already better than last season's team. And that's with at least two additions to come.
Sha’s reputation is that he doesn’t sugar coat. If he says it’s good you can count on it. Now execution is the next step.
Hey, I have been saying we will be 13-7 in the BE, without the benefit of seeing a second of practice. And that is without being able to name most of the players! I am 1 for 1, and letting it ride.
Yes and know. Everyone wants to forget that in 2024-2025, stuff was leaking here post Beef Steak about the staff "mocking" the preseason prediction in the BE poll and having a "quiet confidence" that we would be just as good as the prior year, despite Dre's and Kadary's departures and the graduation of Dawes and Bediako. Dual could be somewhat close to replicating Kadary, it was the most athletic Seton Hall team in recent memory, Baby Jokic, Baby Mamu, etc.
I think Sha's instinct is to keep it "more real" than most with the coach-speak stuff -- not in his blood to do much of that -- but there is still the other part of the game, which is selling people connected to the program and fans on optimism.
I wasn't buying much of it last year, but I am drinking the kool-aid more this season because of what we did lsat year. I didn't think we would be nearly as good in the BE as we ended up being, and they proved me wrong. So I definitely have a more positive outlook this year and think we will be in the upper-half of the league based on all the good things being posted here.
Even still, it all comes down to chemistry and how everyone meshes together. It’s still too soon to tell about that.
Agreed. But I guess my point is that when I see what they went out and did last year, defying preseason expectations based on what the roster looked like on paper, I’m more likely to buy into the preseason hype and insider-commentary.
I am ridiculously positive every off season, but don't remember being so up on 24-5. Dont remember reading a lot to puff me up. Maybe I just forgot.
Wasn’t that also the year he was sketchy and not letting anyone see practice?
Shocking, that’s what happens when you recruit players who can shoot and play offense
Maybe. But he never is accessible in that way it seems. I think that’s what some brought up after the fact to soften all the preseason hype stuff in hindsight.
I think we are better on paper than last year. But I’m also less concerned because of how we performed last season relative to expectations. So when the positive stuff leaks - as it has and always will - I’m buying into it more.
Last year's team.........
- everyone bought into defense (15th in country) and we had 2 excellent rim protectors.
- as a result our defense was elite at creating TOs and blocking shots, 1st in Nation in Block %, 4th in Nation in Steal%
- Our offense was terrible.
- Only 1 player on the team could create his own shot or create for other and he was 5'9 with no outside shot.
- Our outside shooting was terrible, 334th in 3pt%, 362nd in 3pt rate, 301st in 2pt%
- Big East was terrible after the top 3. Only 3 teams in Top 50 KP
- What was a respectable OOC wound up hurting us as KState, Rutgers & USC all fell apart
- Sha milked the most out of the talent and we avoided serious injuries but faded towards the end of the season
This year's team.......
- has multiple guys who can create
-has multiple guys who can shoot
- has no one as shifty as Budd who could get open against anyone
- Some of these offensive players have terrible defensive reputations, will they buy-in?
- Currently only 3 Bigs on the roster, 1 nursing an injury. That's a concern.
- This team has a higher ceiling with more overall talent but will Sha be able to make the sum greater than the parts again?
- The Big East looks very deep after spending $150 Million+ on players.
- Strong BE helps our metrics, makes it harder to get Wins
- everyone bought into defense (15th in country) and we had 2 excellent rim protectors.
- as a result our defense was elite at creating TOs and blocking shots, 1st in Nation in Block %, 4th in Nation in Steal%
- Our offense was terrible.
- Only 1 player on the team could create his own shot or create for other and he was 5'9 with no outside shot.
- Our outside shooting was terrible, 334th in 3pt%, 362nd in 3pt rate, 301st in 2pt%
- Big East was terrible after the top 3. Only 3 teams in Top 50 KP
- What was a respectable OOC wound up hurting us as KState, Rutgers & USC all fell apart
- Sha milked the most out of the talent and we avoided serious injuries but faded towards the end of the season
This year's team.......
- has multiple guys who can create
-has multiple guys who can shoot
- has no one as shifty as Budd who could get open against anyone
- Some of these offensive players have terrible defensive reputations, will they buy-in?
- Currently only 3 Bigs on the roster, 1 nursing an injury. That's a concern.
- This team has a higher ceiling with more overall talent but will Sha be able to make the sum greater than the parts again?
- The Big East looks very deep after spending $150 Million+ on players.
- Strong BE helps our metrics, makes it harder to get Wins
Imo, Devin will be a good defender, prob had more blocks a game than either of our centers. IMO, defense will be similar, but offense - both have more to contribute than any of our centers or pfs.
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To your point, we lost 4 kids who were rated by some of the analytics as being among the top 15 or so defenders in the Big East -- Hines (6), Clark (10, and then Payne and Fisher in the low-mid teens (this is from the Evan Miya ratings). Which tracks with us having the 15/16 best defense in the country per those metrics, and third best in the Big East, behind only UCONN and St. John's. Looking at the individual defensive rankings, the top 16 is basically littered with St. John's, Uconn and Hall players, which again makes sense because those were 3 of the better defensive teams in the country, although I'm sure some guys have inflated rankings because they were part of an overall unit.
Wilcher profiles on paper as our best defender, which makes sense. Two years ago, as a sophomore at St. John's, he was ranked in the top 15 in the Big East defensively. While you have to take that with some grain of salt -- there were 5 SJU players ahead of Wilcher, as they were arguably the best defensive unit in the country -- and so no doubt Wilcher benefited from being part of a unit that was elite. Which is why those rankings need to be taken into context -- because I don't think Fisher was a top 15 defender -- I think he benefited from our unit as a whole. Ditto for Dylan Darling, who was ranked the 3rd best defender in the Big East last year (after Reed and Zuby) and 7th best player overall because of how defensive metrics weigh into Miya's overall rankings.
But as Wilcher was 15th as a sophomore by at least some of the metrics people subscibe to, and now 2 years older, you expect him to be high level defensively (hence Sha's quote the other day about him, which sort of states the obvious).
The question is going to be how the bigs translate defensively moving up a level -- because both Hines and Payne were a force there -- and how the non-Wilcher guards and wings with more "offensive reputations" adjust defensively.
Some of the guys with better offensive skills like Rodney Brown, Kareem Carter & Del Jones have poor defensive metrics. Wilcher, Trey Parker & Roddie Anderson are good defenders and proven in the Big East which can balance out the guards and wings.
Losing Nwuli hurts defensively as he was a guy with potential to be an impact defender at the 3/4 with lateral quickness, agility and length. Sha has to fill that spot on the roster. Wol has solid steal and block rates but is not a good rebounder. Hard to know what to expect from him.
Among the bigs, Devin Williams is an elite shot-blocker and profiles as a good team defender although he's very thin and may have issues with big, physical post players. Kabba is in the Payne-mold as a rim-runner who can block shots and rebound and should hold his own defensively. Copeland is a stout, physical anchor who won't be pushed around but doesn't have the length or shot-blocking attributes.
FWIW
2025/26 Kenpom
Conference-only defense
2025/26 Kenpom
Conference-only defense
Team
| DE
| eFG%
| TO%
| OR%
| FTR
| 2P%
| 3P%
| Blk%
| Stl%
| |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. John's | 99.3 | 1 | 48.5 | 3 | 18.2 | 3 | 27.0 | 1 | 33.8 | 6 | 47.6 | 2 | 33.4 | 6 | 11.6 | 3 | 10.6 | 4 |
| Connecticut | 100.5 | 2 | 47.1 | 1 | 17.4 | 6 | 28.7 | 3 | 39.5 | 10 | 45.9 | 1 | 32.8 | 4 | 15.5 | 2 | 10.1 | 5 |
| Seton Hall | 101.6 | 3 | 48.2 | 2 | 20.4 | 1 | 32.4 | 9 | 42.0 | 11 | 47.9 | 4 | 32.4 | 3 | 17.1 | 1 | 12.8 | 2 |
| Villanova | 105.8 | 4 | 50.7 | 5 | 18.0 | 4 | 31.9 | 7 | 29.6 | 3 | 53.0 | 9 | 31.1 | 1 | 6.1 | 10 | 11.1 | 3 |
| DePaul | 106.3 | 5 | 50.9 | 6 | 17.6 | 5 | 30.7 | 5 | 38.7 | 9 | 47.9 | 3 | 37.5 | 11 | 9.8 | 5 | 10.0 | 6 |
| Marquette | 108.1 | 6 | 49.6 | 4 | 18.7 | 2 | 37.6 | 11 | 32.3 | 4 | 51.3 | 5 | 31.3 | 2 | 8.9 | 6 | 13.5 | 1 |
| Creighton | 110.9 | 7 | 52.3 | 9 | 13.9 | 10 | 28.6 | 2 | 25.9 | 1 | 51.5 | 6 | 36.0 | 9 | 5.8 | 11 | 8.5 | 9 |
| Georgetown | 110.9 | 8 | 51.0 | 7 | 15.6 | 7 | 33.9 | 10 | 32.9 | 5 | 52.0 | 7 | 33.0 | 5 | 8.7 | 7 | 9.1 | 7 |
| Providence | 116.0 | 9 | 52.2 | 8 | 11.9 | 11 | 30.8 | 6 | 35.3 | 8 | 52.5 | 8 | 34.4 | 8 | 8.3 | 8 | 5.7 | 11 |
| Butler | 116.1 | 10 | 54.8 | 10 | 14.5 | 8 | 32.3 | 8 | 26.5 | 2 | 57.4 | 11 | 34.0 | 7 | 6.8 | 9 | 8.7 | 8 |
| Xavier | 117.4 | 11 | 55.8 | 11 | 14.1 | 9 | 30.5 | 4 | 34.0 | 7 | 55.8 | 10 | 37.1 | 10 | 10.4 | 4 | 8.4 | 10 |
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