No surprise, really, but former Seton Hall coach P.J. Carlesimo is picking the Pirates to take out Gonzaga in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday in Denver.
No surprise, really, but former Seton Hall coach P.J. Carlesimo is picking the Pirates to take out Gonzaga in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday in Denver.
“The Hall’s got a lot of weapons…I think it’s going to be an excellent game,” Carlesimo said Wednesday on SportsCenter. “It’s really sad one of them is going down in the first round, but I gotta go with The Hall. They both won their tournaments, but what The Hall did, beating Xavier and Villanova back-to-back at Madison Square Garden, Kevin [Willard’s] got them playing really well.”
Carlesimo, of course, led Seton Hall to the 1989 NCAA championship game where it lost to Michigan. During his tenure, the Pirates also won Big East Tournament championships in 1991 and ’93.
“Coach Carlesimo texts me or calls me every week since I got the job,” Willard said Saturday night after his team took out top-seeded Villanova to its first Big East Tournament title in 20 years. He’s such a great supporter of Seton Hall. He’s obviously the bar that was set and the job that he did.”
Willard then went on to tell a story about how he played with Carlesimo last summer at the Baltrusol Golf Club.
“You play golf with Coach Carlesimo, it’s painful,” Willard said. “He talks the whole time. You can’t hit shots. He’s all over the place. You’re trying to putt and he’s got ideas. He’s yipping and yapping. But we were talking and we were on 17, it’s a par-5. He was in the woods. He came out of the woods and he goes, “You’re having the same trajectory that I did.” He said, “I struggled for five mighty years.” He said, “You have the same support that I have.” Obviously, he had Coach (Richie) Regan. I have Pat Lyons. I’m lucky I have the best athletic director in the business. And I’m lucky to have the job that I have. But to be up there with Coach Carlesimo this summer when we played Baltrusol, I just don’t have to take everything that I have to take from him on the green, so I’m looking forward to that.”
Potentially by then, Willard will also have at least NCAA Tournament win under his belt. But it won’t easy, especially against Gonzaga’s bigs, Kyle Wiltjer and Domantas Sabonis.
“Damontas Sabonis, he scares me,” Carlesimo said. “Wiltjer’s a great player, you gotta have size to defend him. You gotta take him off the three-point line. But Sabonis to me is the X-factor for Gonzaga.”
Carlesimo also said he’s a big fan of Seton Hall sophomore point guard Isaiah Whitehead, who has taken his game to another level in the last month or so and may test the NBA waters after the season.
“I thought the Hall should’ve been seeded a little higher,” Carlesimo said. “I think it’s a tough game but nobody plays harder than Kevin Willard’s team. They compete. I like their frontcourt, I especially love Whitehead.”
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