Scoring Output

[sobo1]

They shot 17 3s (3 pt Fg % prior to tonight)

Simpkins: 1-6 (41.7%)
ASM: 0-7 (36.1%)
Parker: 0-1
Williams: 1-1
Clark: 0-1
Fisher: 0-1

based on their averages ASM / Simpkins should have hit 5 combined.

that’s an additional 12 points.

wonder if we would have been in the game if we had score 12 more points.

Once again Sha has no clue how to coach and should have told his two best 3 point shooters to stop shooting.

Maybe I misread the box score.
Was it ASM who was 0-7 or was it Josh Rivera?
Was it Simpkins who was as 1-6 or was that Trey Parker?

Keep blaming Sha…keep yelling at clouds.

meanwhile Malachi Palmer who was averaging 3.2 ppg, comes off their bench to score 15. Can almost guarantee that’s the plan Willard had before the game. Totally out coached Sha by telling Palmer to go off for his career high and only his 3rd double digit scoring effort in 2 years of college basketball.

Sometimes the other team has a good night and you have a bad night. It’s sucks because I hate Nova, but that has happened twice this year.

I don't blame Sha for players missing shots, but I do blame Sha for his roster management/NIL allocation. Instead of paying 13 guys he should have allocated all funds to 10 guys. It's not ideal but when you have a bottom tier budget it's necessary.

Instead of paying Pat Suemnick $250K you allocate that money to your starting 2G budget, and you get a more capable starter.

 

[Hall Is Life]

I don't blame Sha for players missing shots, but I do blame Sha for his roster management/NIL allocation. Instead of paying 13 guys he should have allocated all funds to 10 guys. It's not ideal but when you have a bottom tier budget it's necessary.

Instead of paying Pat Suemnick $250K you allocate that money to your starting 2G budget, and you get a more capable starter.

I wish we could have seen him play for us. Did he really pay him $250k?

 

[sobo1]

I don't know for certain but my understanding that is essentially minimum wage for high major D1.

 

[Left Coast Pirates]

I don't know for certain but my understanding that is essentially minimum wage for high major D1.

That would be an interesting conversation.

because apparently they didn’t want to pay Scotty Middleton the minimum wage of $250,000.

Based on some of the performance metrics / stats from last year, who did we pay what?

Sumenick, Parker, Williams, Rivera, and Felton.

Going back to the preseason, are all of those guys minimum wage or higher guys?

That sparks the debate of do you just put all your eggs in the basket of 5 players and the bench is what it is. We had that model with Kadary, Davis, and Dawes and it was also a bubble type team.

 

[NIL BAD]

This should be the motto of Pirate Crew.com. - I don't know for certain but...

 

[jack 1970]

We shot only 17.
We attempt 13.8 per game during conference play. Which is the lowest in the entire conference.

would you like the team to just not even attempt 3 point shots at all?

Keep blaming Sha because ASM / Simpkins missed wide open 3s all night long.

Hoping to make 3s is not a strategy. We've shot them poorly since BE conference schedule started and it's not going to change in the remaining games. I don't expect Sha to make the shots himself, but I do expect him to put the players in a position closer to the basket in order to scire points.

 

[jack 1970]

Budd Clark isn’t capable of driving to the hoop and finishing. He’s done it maybe 2-3 times in Big East play.

He's good at driving into the lane and pulling up for a short jumper.Much higher % shot than a 3 for him.

 

[Piratz]

Well, the season-long issues notwithstanding, Staton-McCray and Simpkins are the ones you want taking those shots. Both are decent outside shooters and good at getting to the rim. They were terrible last night. Staton-McCray has been terrible in BE play too, only .277 from 3 (13/47). And 7 of his 13 makes in BE games came in just 2 games! Brutal. He’s also been bad from 2PT (20/62).

And they both missed many shots at the rim.

 

[shu67]

True. The few times that we did feed Hines, he looked like a freshman against Brennan -- and he's no Mutumbo.

Hate to break it to you but both of our centers looked like freshmen against Brennan who by the way is a senior with lots of experience and polish. I don't know how much NIL money he got but he is worth every cent.

 

[shu67]

Hoping to make 3s is not a strategy. We've shot them poorly since BE conference schedule started and it's not going to change in the remaining games. I don't expect Sha to make the shots himself, but I do expect him to put the players in a position closer to the basket in order to scire points.

They aren't even scoring when they are closer to the basket...just look at the stats.

 

[SPK145]

because apparently they didn’t want to pay Scotty Middleton the minimum wage of $250,000.

Sha wouldn’t have given a $15 Cinnabon coupon for him to return and rightfully so.

 

[Left Coast Pirates]

Sha wouldn’t have given a $15 Cinnabon coupon for him to return and rightfully so.

What was the official back story on that?

Just a bad locker room fit for the program?

 

[Section112]

What was the official back story on that?

Just a bad locker room fit for the program?

Although Middleton was a decent percentage shooter, I'm not sure he was a BE player. His avg points were 4.4 pg at the Hall in about 16 mins per game. Now he's on Tulane and is scoring 6.8 in 27 minutes per game. Not much of a rebounder and has no handle. He seemed lost on the court last year to me in most situations and his defense was sometimes OK and mostly terrible. I don't think he was a keeper at all and Sha did the right thing to send him packing.

 

[HALL85]

Although Middleton was a decent percentage shooter, I'm not sure he was a BE player. His avg points were 4.4 pg at the Hall in about 16 mins per game. Now he's on Tulane and is scoring 6.8 in 27 minutes per game. Not much of a rebounder and has no handle. He seemed lost on the court last year to me in most situations and his defense was sometimes OK and mostly terrible. I don't think he was a keeper at all and Sha did the right thing to send him packing.

Like you saud, Middleton didn’t really have a nose for the game at this level. He turned it over when he put it on the floor and was a terrible passer. He would move a lot but without purpose and was also out of position too often. He wasn’t that good of a three point shooter to overcome those holes.

 

[NIL BAD]

AJSM is a very high % free throw guy however. I just wish he'd try to draw contact on his contested shots better.

 

[HallGuy2323]

You have no credibility left after that comment.

prove me wrong.

 

[Left Coast Pirates]

This team relying on 3s is not good.

When you score 25 or less consistently at the end of the first half I think that’s a bigger problem. Not mention when we don’t press because we want to avoid foul problems teams carve up our half court defense.

Forget about 11th in the conference in 3 point shots attempted. Now at 14.1 per game yesterday.

we are at 16 per game for the season which ranks 363rd (out of 365 teams) in the country.

“This team relying on 3s is not good”

we DO NOT rely on the 3. We just SUCK at making them. And when you make 2 and the other team makes 9, it’s going to be hard to win a game on the road if you don’t make it up in some other aspect of the game.

Nova also out rebounded us by 10 and went to the line for double the amount of FTA (22-11)

 

[HallGuy2323]

He's good at driving into the lane and pulling up for a short jumper.Much higher % shot than a 3 for him.

What does that have to do with layups ?

 

[PiratePride]

Left Coast Pirates has nailed it in this thread IMO. Can't add to his assessment.

One thing to mention though.... lot's of comments from other posters criticizing the team for relying too much on the three. When you find yourself behind by doube didgits, especially yesterday when we were down by as much as 19 I believe, maybe 20....... and you have 15 minutes left in the game.....AND your shots are not falling from anywhere.... we missed a number of chippies (credit Nova though for some of those)...... you are going to take open 3 pt shots. It wasn't missing the 3's that killed us... it was missing the 2 pt shots that kept us behind.

Edited to say; just saw LCP's last post... I think he covered all and the point I was making.

 

[SHUSource]

Hate to break it to you but both of our centers looked like freshmen against Brennan who by the way is a senior with lots of experience and polish. I don't know how much NIL money he got but he is worth every cent.

Willard found him in the NCAA Tournament last year when Maryland played Grand Canyon. The Terps had their way, but I guess Brennan made an impression on him, and I can see why. Per the Philadelphia Inquirer, Brennan was a priority get for Willard when he took over at Villanova.

 

[NCAAsorBust]

Forget about 11th in the conference in 3 point shots attempted. Now at 14.1 per game yesterday.

we are at 16 per game for the season which ranks 363rd (out of 365 teams) in the country.

“This team relying on 3s is not good”

we DO NOT rely on the 3. We just SUCK at making them. And when you make 2 and the other team makes 9, it’s going to be hard to win a game on the road if you don’t make it up in some other aspect of the game.

Nova also out rebounded us by 10 and went to the line for double the amount of FTA (22-11)

We're good at one aspect. Pressing. That's the aspect we could make it up. The one thing we do well is press and we don't do it because God forbid our PG gets in foul trouble. In most of our comebacks the points that come off of turnovers are quick buckets that don't require the PG. It's the only aspect of our team that strikes fear in the opponent AND WE DON'T USE IT for at least 25 minutes each game! It's maddening! We made a mediocre Villanova team look very good last night. Villanova would be about a 6th place team in a normal year in the big east. We're all just lucky that after UConn and SJU the conference is brutal. We limit what the other 4 guys do well on the court to protect one. One time, just one time let's go out balls to the wall for 40 minutes, what the hell do we have to lose.

 

[sobo1]

This should be the motto of Pirate Crew.com. - I don't know for certain but...

When I say I don’t know for certain I’m meaning he hasn’t personally disclosed his salary to me, but we can pretty easily ballpark his comp based on what we know.

• We know we paid “close to 6M” for this roster per the athletic department.
• We know that Payne and Clark were two highest paid players at reported $700k.
• that leaves $4.6M to spread across 11 remaining players. It’s impossible to do that without allocating at least $250k to sumenick based on reported market values by cbs, national media, the athletic, opendorse, etc.

In April of 2025 the Field of 68 reported the market value for players this portal cycle:

• Elite Players (Top 10-15 nationally): $2.5 million – $4 million+ annually.
• All-League Type Players: $1.5 million – $2.5 million
• High-Major Starters: $500,000 – $1.5 million
• Bench Players (High-Major): $200,000 – $700,000

I don't know for certain what Suemnick is making but based on all this data we kind of do. He has to be making at least $250K.

 

[mbraue]

We shot only 17.
We attempt 13.8 per game during conference play. Which is the lowest in the entire conference.

would you like the team to just not even attempt 3 point shots at all?

Keep blaming Sha because ASM / Simpkins missed wide open 3s all night long.

I agree, they hesitate too much with open 3s, Mike Williams especially. He's a decent 3-point shooter and hesitates way too much to shoot it.

We need to shoot a few more 3s and just simply run better sets. Can't beat teams with Budd out primary scorer shooting 2s and our inside guys bricking.

 

[mbraue]

They’re getting plenty of open looks. The execution is fine. We run just as many offensive sets as any other team and more times than not it is effective. They just don’t finish.

They’re getting plenty of open looks. The execution is fine. We run just as many offensive sets as any other team and more times than not it is effective. They just don’t finish.

I disagree - we run plenty of sets but we are getting looks late in the shot clock and ball movement side-to-side with multiple passes is pretty non-existent.

Compare that to Maui when the ball movement and spacing was excellent. I think we really miss Mike Williams as an important piece of this offense. We simply need a third scorer who can knock down 3s when other guys are off.

 

[Halldan]

What was the official back story on that?

Just a bad locker room fit for the program?

Very bad!

 

[Piratz]

Willard found him in the NCAA Tournament last year when Maryland played Grand Canyon. The Terps had their way, but I guess Brennan made an impression on him, and I can see why. Per the Philadelphia Inquirer, Brennan was a priority get for Willard when he took over at Villanova.

I heard Willard mention the same. But on a recent episode of BE Rewind (entertaining pod btw), Duke - who is named after the school - said he first met Willard while recruiting him to Seton Hall before landing with Hurley at AZ State.

Maybe KW forgot during all the job bouncing since and was reminded lol.

 

[TheHall87]

We're good at one aspect. Pressing. That's the aspect we could make it up. The one thing we do well is press and we don't do it because God forbid our PG gets in foul trouble. In most of our comebacks the points that come off of turnovers are quick buckets that don't require the PG. It's the only aspect of our team that strikes fear in the opponent AND WE DON'T USE IT for at least 25 minutes each game! It's maddening! We made a mediocre Villanova team look very good last night. Villanova would be about a 6th place team in a normal year in the big east. We're all just lucky that after UConn and SJU the conference is brutal. We limit what the other 4 guys do well on the court to protect one. One time, just one time let's go out balls to the wall for 40 minutes, what the hell do we have to lose.

It's a lot harder to press when you don't make baskets.

 

[SHUSource]

I heard Willard mention the same. But on a recent episode of BE Rewind (entertaining pod btw), Duke - who is named after the school - said he first met Willard while recruiting him to Seton Hall before landing with Hurley at AZ State.

Maybe KW forgot during all the job bouncing since and was reminded lol.

Interesting! Well, I'd certainly take the kid's own word for it, then!

I may have just assumed their familiarity only extended to that NCAA game last March, but I definitely did read that he became a priority recruit for Willard once he took the job at VU.

I do listen to that pod, but haven't done that episode yet. I think it's the most recent one.

 

[NCAAsorBust]

It's a lot harder to press when you don't make baskets.

Very true, but it's the same thing every game. We don't press until after halftime. We occasionally score 4 or 5 times in the first half of each game, yet we never set it up after our 4 or 5 makes.

 

[Seton75]

We should be Blaming Sha for the lack of development we’ve seen from Hines over the course of the season

maybe we blame hines? we have no clue why he hasnt progressed.

 

[radecicco]

Maybe as Carino tweeted, it’s not a failure of Holloway’s system, maybe it’s a failure of the players who get but can’t make open 3s.

 

[Piratz]

Maybe as Carino tweeted, it’s not a failure of Holloway’s system, maybe it’s a failure of the players who get but can’t make open 3s.

Yes they have to make shots. Shaheen can’t do that for them. Our best didn’t do that Wednesday.

Bigger picture though, this is now the second straight season, with more than 3x the budget, and entirely new roster that we are at the bottom of the country in shooting. Something is off either in structure of running an offense and/or how we evaluate players on that end.

We know he doesn’t run a style that values the 3 at all. Look at his track record. So you’re looking at a structure of offense that has to create lanes with guys who can play off the dribble and be strong at the rim. What Richmond/Davis/Bediako did. That looks MUCH better this year than last year when we had nobody doing that. We have much better players, but we can’t convert again.

We have some players, why I think he needs to mix up the player combos.

 

[shu09]

You must work for the NYY front office. I don’t even really disagree fully with your point but why take season averages and than use it to take Sha off the hook and take a shot at KW

Why not look at our last game vs Nova? Percentages of the players you referenced are pretty similar…so why would we assume they make 5 more?

Also, saying why blame sha for his players playing terribly but also saying KW should get no credit for his player playing great is insane..can’t have it both ways

Again I don’t even disagree with you overall but sometimes you just go too much trying to get Sha off the hook

Left Coast Pirates has made it a habit to criticize Willard and get Holloway off the hook every chance he gets. LCP has bashed Willard for years. Loves Sha probably because he's blinded by the memories of 30 years ago when Sha was a player, and he's the guy who replaced the hated Willard.

I was never a big Willard fan either, but Sha will never be in Willard's class as a coach. Willard is a better than average coach. Sha is a guy without much of a clue about how to run a major conference program. He uses defense, pressing, and "playing hard" to mask his many shortcomings as a basketball coach. Anyone can get guys to play hard. Real coaches build programs, run high level offense, manage in-game adjustments well, and constantly continue to learn, improve, and adapt to the trends in the sport (among other things). Sha does none of that.

 

[philmcguane]

Nobody on this board hates Seton Hall more than shu09. Silent when Seton Hall was 14-2, in his glory now. Probably kicks his dog when the Pirates win.

 

[shu09]

You again, LOL, too funny. Do you get notifications every time I post? Obsessed much? It's honestly kind of sad, but if that's what gets your rocks off, so be it.

I'm sorry that the truth hurts. Quite often in life, it does.

 

[NCAAsorBust]

Left Coast Pirates has made it a habit to criticize Willard and get Holloway off the hook every chance he gets. LCP has bashed Willard for years. Loves Sha probably because he's blinded by the memories of 30 years ago when Sha was a player, and he's the guy who replaced the hated Willard.

I was never a big Willard fan either, but Sha will never be in Willard's class as a coach. Willard is a better than average coach. Sha is a guy without much of a clue about how to run a major conference program. He uses defense, pressing, and "playing hard" to mask his many shortcomings as a basketball coach. Anyone can get guys to play hard. Real coaches build programs, run high level offense, manage in-game adjustments well, and constantly continue to learn, improve, and adapt to the trends in the sport (among other things). Sha does none of that.

weird if true. Willard I’m finding is one of those guys who is under appreciated when you have him and over appreciated when he’s gone. He didn’t get us out of the first round 4 out of 5 times but those seasons were way more fun than the last 4 years. And we were good when the big east was good. Right now we’re only good when the other teams in the big east stink. I want to hear our name called selection Sunday. I’d rather be in 5th place in a tough and respected big east than 4th when the conference is this bad. We still have a chance but only a few big win possibilities. 2 potential big wins with the top 2, 3 quad 2 road games, and 3 quad 3 home games.

 

[philmcguane]

You again, LOL, too funny. Do you get notifications every time I post? Obsessed much?

I'm sorry that the truth hurts. Quite often in life, it does.

The truth is you were wrong about Willard, who you trashed incessantly for years, and you're a miserable human being who hates college basketball and should find another hobby than dragging everybody here down.

 

[shu09]

weird if true. Willard I’m finding is one of those guys who is under appreciated when you have him and over appreciated when he’s gone. He didn’t get us out of the first round 4 out of 5 times but those seasons were way more fun than the last 4 years. And we were good when the big east was good. Right now we’re only good when the other teams in the big east stink. I want to hear our name called selection Sunday. I’d rather be in 5th place in a tough and respected big east than 4th when the conference is this bad. We still have a chance but only a few big win possibilities. 2 potential big wins with the top 2, 3 quad 2 road games, and 3 quad 3 home games.

Yeah, I would agree with that. The old saying that you don't know what you have until it's gone. While we were all frustrated that KW couldn't quite break through in March, he did get us there often in the back half of his tenure. He built a program, an identity. The team was very good and competitive with some of the best in the country. In a better Big East too, as you said.

We're a long way from that right now. About to be four years without a bid to the dance and we're going nowhere with his guy at the helm.

 

[shu09]

The truth is you were wrong about Willard, who you trashed incessantly for years, and you're a miserable human being who hates college basketball and should find another hobby than dragging everybody here down.

I wasn't a big Willard fan, but I never trashed him incessantly. He had some pretty good success here. Holloway? Guilty as charged, for good reason. He has proven to be a terrible coach. In this new era of endless transfers, pay for play, four years is more than enough time to make an evaluation.

 

[Hall Is Life]

The truth is you were wrong about Willard, who you trashed incessantly for years, and you're a miserable human being who hates college basketball and should find another hobby than dragging everybody here down.

I went down this path years ago. He’s relentless. It’s not worth it. What I found works— accept him for his pessimism and move on with your life.

Also…you’re not wrong.