Seton Hall Declines Postseason

HALL85

Heisman
Jul 5, 2001
29,653
10,716
113
Another one of those exasperating things about CBB today. I don't even recognize the year-end tournaments, much less the selection criteria, formats and where they play. And does it matter, because teams opt out anyway.
 

HallLine69

Senior
Aug 23, 2001
350
517
92
I wish we would have played in Crown. I just enjoy watching Seton Hall compete. I hate that players don't want to play. Most of them perform as hired guns for a year, have no loyalty toward Seton Hall the institution. Yet these hired guns have the power to decide that the institution will not participate. Most of them will be off to another school in short order. This is a system that stinks.
 

lloyde dobler

All-Conference
Jan 26, 2004
683
1,002
82
I wish we would have played in Crown. I just enjoy watching Seton Hall compete. I hate that players don't want to play. Most of them perform as hired guns for a year, have no loyalty toward Seton Hall the institution. Yet these hired guns have the power to decide that the institution will not participate. Most of them will be off to another school in short order. This is a system that stinks.
The two week wait is probably the biggest factor. It’s inviting all of the teams to either pass or mail it in.
 

Fishjam

All-Conference
Mar 27, 2016
584
2,051
93
The timing of the Crown doesn't work. Makes for an awkward situation for minimal gain for players and schools. If they would fix that, they could make it a mandatory stipulation of your Rev Share/NIL contract that you must play in post-season tournaments.

I'm fine with it. Gives Sha time to be totally focused and prepared on our top priorities - retaining our best players, lobbying the BORs for more funds and finding our targets in the portal.
 

Piratz

All-Conference
Mar 24, 2004
1,264
2,494
113
I believe that I remember Sha saying after we won the Nit in 2024, that even though it was a great run and a thrill to win, it hurt our recruiting by waiting 2 more weeks to recruit.
That shouldn’t be a problem of schools in this day and age unless you’re inexperienced or tunnel visioned. But may be why he added an arrival staff member too to compensate.
 

BrklynGrad

Redshirt
Feb 1, 2026
80
49
18
Seems like you can opt out if you say you don’t have enough players.

Still weird. Crappy, non-sensical tournament but sends the message they don’t care.
And the staff [head coach] doens't "care" either. Players get paid for the season, don't they? How can guys getting in excess of $100K "choose" not to play? I was a teacher. Could I have voted not to teach in June? Shaheen should not have put it to a vote. Decision should have been his: period.
 
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Halldan

All-American
Staff member
Jan 1, 2003
183,154
5,070
113
My take and it's just an opinion. This team maximized their talent all year. Sha is a incredibly demanding coach and he demands 100% focus all the time. The players, including summer workouts, have been playing since around the late summer months. Combine that with their academics and the grind is brutal.

The school (admins) wanted to play and I have little doubt Holloway and the staff did too. But I believe the majority of the players were just worn out and combined with waiting 2+ weeks to play again voted to decline.

That said, and knowing I understand their reasons, I am still disappointed in their decision. If motivated, and that would have been a major question, I strongly believe they could have won the Crown. Now we'll never know.
 

Bud Boomer

All-Conference
Dec 24, 2007
527
1,548
93
As a Seton Hall fan, I like watching my team play basketball. I’ve watched a lot less meaningful games than the Crown tournament. I’d watch a preseason game if I could.

If there’s some recruiting benefit to not playing, I guess that’s a silver lining. But, personally, I wanted to keep watching SHU games.
 

halltheway

Senior
Jan 17, 2003
307
450
63
And the staff [head coach] doens't "care" either. Players get paid for the season, don't they? How can guys getting in excess of $100K "choose" not to play? I was a teacher. Could I have voted not to teach in June? Shaheen should not have put it to a vote. Decision should have been his: period.
If the players didn't want to play...they're not giving 100%...not good.
 

JTSHU

Junior
Feb 9, 2015
429
351
63
I can see it too. Players have hundreds of thousands to millions at stake. Budd and najai are beat up. Why risk your future? What does it cost to fly out and stay vs what u can possinly make. Prob not worth it from a financial standpoint
 

NCAAsorBust

Junior
Jan 14, 2026
361
303
63
I can see it too. Players have hundreds of thousands to millions at stake. Budd and najai are beat up. Why risk your future? What does it cost to fly out and stay vs what u can possinly make. Prob not worth it from a financial standpoint
I gotta think the NIT run helped both Dre and Kadary.
 
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HallGuy2323

Junior
Jun 3, 2020
584
387
63
And the staff [head coach] doens't "care" either. Players get paid for the season, don't they? How can guys getting in excess of $100K "choose" not to play? I was a teacher. Could I have voted not to teach in June? Shaheen should not have put it to a vote. Decision should have been his: period.
It’s more like refusing to teach summer school. Which 95% of teachers don’t…
 
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SHUSource

All-Conference
Jun 3, 2001
41,739
3,759
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This statement was approved by the Politburo.
I LOLed. But, really, isn't this true of every statement put out by any institution, ever? That's why they're a waste of time.

(And I say this as someone who has written many of them!)
 
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SHUSource

All-Conference
Jun 3, 2001
41,739
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I believe that I remember Sha saying after we won the Nit in 2024, that even though it was a great run and a thrill to win, it hurt our recruiting by waiting 2 more weeks to recruit.
It shouldn't have that kind of effect, but at least the way our staff does things, it probably does.

So I was looking forward to seeing them play in the Crown and think we could've won the thing, but this is a critical early offseason/portal season for a program at a bit of a crossroads in this environment, so I'm actually glad they'll be able to focus 100 percent on building next season's roster.
 
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BrklynGrad

Redshirt
Feb 1, 2026
80
49
18
It’s more like refusing to teach summer school. Which 95% of teachers don’t…
Not at all like teaching summer school. Players are getting paid a lot to play. And as a seasoned poster writes above "....[our] fans should just donate, donate, donate." If the coach and administration opt not to go, that's another thing. Should the team get a vote if they were the last squad in THE tournament and had to play Tuesday night?
 

BrklynGrad

Redshirt
Feb 1, 2026
80
49
18
My take and it's just an opinion. This team maximized their talent all year. Sha is a incredibly demanding coach and he demands 100% focus all the time. The players, including summer workouts, have been playing since around the late summer months. Combine that with their academics and the grind is brutal.

The school (admins) wanted to play and I have little doubt Holloway and the staff did too. But I believe the majority of the players were just worn out and combined with waiting 2+ weeks to play again voted to decline.

That said, and knowing I understand their reasons, I am still disappointed in their decision. If motivated, and that would have been a major question, I strongly believe they could have won the Crown. Now we'll never know.
I think you are really sitting on the fence. Karaban and Solo Ball are ground down and beaten up, too; also by an "incredibly demanding coach...."
And this is the first time all year I've seen academics considered an issue. That said, the tournament is dumb and no one cares about it, but our vote not to show up and compete reminds me of Roberto Duran's "No mas, no mas."

Considering your accurate description of our coach above, I'm very surprised he put it to vote.
 
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HallGuy2323

Junior
Jun 3, 2020
584
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Not at all like teaching summer school. Players are getting paid a lot to play. And as a seasoned poster writes above "....[our] fans should just donate, donate, donate." If the coach and administration opt not to go, that's another thing. Should the team get a vote if they were the last squad in THE tournament and had to play Tuesday night?
And tax payers pay a ton for you to teach. Why do you get to stop in June? Keep going!
 
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Pirate Russ

Junior
Jan 13, 2012
99
216
33
My take and it's just an opinion. This team maximized their talent all year. Sha is a incredibly demanding coach and he demands 100% focus all the time. The players, including summer workouts, have been playing since around the late summer months. Combine that with their academics and the grind is brutal.
In this era of transfer portal and NIL, do kids even need to go to class anymore? And i guess another question is what % of players graduate these days? How can you go to 4 schools in 4 years and graduate?
 

Halldan

All-American
Staff member
Jan 1, 2003
183,154
5,070
113
Considering your accurate description of our coach above, I'm very surprised he put it to vote.
Holloway is an enigma. He comes off at times as a brutal disciplinarian. And he is. But he also has a softer side with his players off the court. When not striving in a competitive environment he leans over backwards to help his players.

His putting this to a vote is actually in tune with how he handles his program.

I have no doubt he badly wanted to play. But he did not want to force the issue after everything his players did throughout the season.

I applaud his handling this situation while I am disappointed in the players ultimate choice.
 
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BrklynGrad

Redshirt
Feb 1, 2026
80
49
18
And tax payers pay a ton for you to teach. Why do you get to stop in June? Keep going!
Excellent point. And Seton Hall donors and sponsors, are the "tax players." Why stop in March. "Keep going!"
Would have felt differently ten years ago when players were only getting $50,000-$60,000 a year for room, board, tuition.
 

catholicman

Junior
Nov 19, 2007
148
219
43
I think under the present circumstances it is wise that we declined. Playing in a meaningless tournament while other schools are luring our players makes no sense. Shaheen needs to be 100% working on and focused on player retention and aquisition.
 

STLPirate12

Junior
Mar 16, 2017
213
211
43
I'm disappointed they declined as I would have personally liked to see them continue playing, but I don't have a problem with them declining. I do, however, think it would have been better to decline quietly, without the formal public statement.
 
Mar 13, 2021
154
214
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it's ncaa or bust. we really care about the crown??
I don’t care. And I’d be bummed for next two weeks about not playing in the tournament. … But when we finally got there wouldn’t mind having some extra SHU basketball to watch.

The NIT seemed pretty dumb, too—but it was nevertheless hard not to get excited when we won it.
 
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dehere23

Senior
Feb 28, 2015
834
846
93
Holloway is an enigma. He comes off at times as a brutal disciplinarian. And he is. But he also has a softer side with his players off the court. When not striving in a competitive environment he leans over backwards to help his players.

His putting this to a vote is actually in tune with how he handles his program.

I have no doubt he badly wanted to play. But he did not want to force the issue after everything his players did throughout the season.

I applaud his handling this situation while I am disappointed in the players ultimate choice.
It is 100% the right way to handle it in modern times. Back in the mid-2000s forward when the NIT was still a thing but a much, much diminished version of its former itself, you would always see a few of the high major bubble teams accept the invite and get demolished, because that team didn't want to be there. They viewed themselves as a NCAA team, were on the bubble, and probably thought they should have been in the real dance. I always thought in those situations the HC should have had a better sense from his players if they were going to show or not.
 

SHUMike

Redshirt
Jan 13, 2013
5
10
3
My take and it's just an opinion. This team maximized their talent all year. Sha is a incredibly demanding coach and he demands 100% focus all the time. The players, including summer workouts, have been playing since around the late summer months. Combine that with their academics and the grind is brutal.

The school (admins) wanted to play and I have little doubt Holloway and the staff did too. But I believe the majority of the players were just worn out and combined with waiting 2+ weeks to play again voted to decline.

That said, and knowing I understand their reasons, I am still disappointed in their decision. If motivated, and that would have been a major question, I strongly believe they could have won the Crown. Now we'll never know.
Who cares if they are tired? None of them will be back on our team next years anyway. Now that College sports are a business, the players should be used as much as they use the school.
 
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NIL BAD

Junior
Aug 15, 2025
258
234
43
This doesn't surprise me at all. Tournament runs from 4/1 thru 4/5. That's too long to wait.
Beside, why give any additional schools out there a opportunity to scout our roster live & in person.
Sort of why many schools are cancelling their Spring football games.
 

lloyde dobler

All-Conference
Jan 26, 2004
683
1,002
82
And the staff [head coach] doens't "care" either. Players get paid for the season, don't they? How can guys getting in excess of $100K "choose" not to play? I was a teacher. Could I have voted not to teach in June? Shaheen should not have put it to a vote. Decision should have been his: period.
Only problem with your analogy is that the Crown is then the equivalent of a July summer enrichment class.