By ADAM ZAGORIA & DENNIS CHAMBERS
NEW YORK — It doesn’t happen often that a high-level recruit takes an official visit to a school during conference tournament time.
It happens even less that that recruit attends a conference tournament game at Madison Square Garden.
But that’s exactly what went down on Thursday with Trevon Duval and Seton Hall.
The uncommitted 6-foot-3 point guard from IMG Academy (FL) took his final visit to Seton Hall and was at the Garden when the Pirates beat Marquette, 82-76, in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals to advance to Friday’s semifinal showdown with reigning NCAA champion Villanova.
Duval had already taken officials to Kansas (vs. Baylor), Duke (vs. North Carolina), Arizona (vs. UCLA) and Baylor (vs. West Virginia). Now Seton Hall got to showcase a big-time environment at the Garden.
“That’s one of my best friends,” said Seton Hall freshman guard Myles Powell. “Him coming up to Jersey, he already let me know that he was coming up. It sucks that we can’t really do nothing because all my focus is on the Big East. So it’s not like we can go and hang out and do stuff that we really wanna do, because I’m here. My main focus is here and I told him that.”
Powell added: “It was good to see his face in the crowd though. I had a three and he stood up. It was good s see one of my best friends out there. That’s always a good feeling.”
Powell believes Seton Hall has a chance to get Duval. If that were to happen, Seton Hall could feature a team that includes the returning core of Khadeen Carrington, Desi Rodriguez, Angel Delgado, Ish Sanogo and Powell.
“I don’t think [Seton Hall] would be in the top five if we didn’t have a shot,” Powell said. “He likes the coaching staff, he likes all the players. So we’ll see what happens.”
Duval will play in the McDonald’s All-American Game March 29 in Chicago and the Jordan Brand Classic April 14 at Barclays Center.
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