Back In The Garden, Seton Hall Looks To Build On Last Season’s Title

NEW YORK — Angel Delgado, Khadeen Carrington and Desi Rodriguez sat together in the first row at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday taking it all in.

Returning to the Garden for the first time since they defeated Villanova in the Big East title game last March, the trio of Pirate juniors are eager to build off their postseason success.

“It’s the first time I’ve been here since we won,” Carrington, a Brooklyn native, said at Big East Media Day. “I stepped on the court and all the memories rolled back. I can’t wait to be here again. It’s a long season, we’re going to take it one game at a time, but we know what the goal is.”

Seton Hall was the last team to beat Villanova before the Wildcats reeled off six straight NCAA Tournament wins to capture their second national championship.

This year the Pirates were picked tied for fourth with Georgetown in the Big East Preseason Poll, while Delgado and Carrington were named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Second Team. Villanova was the unanimous pick to win its fourth straight Big East crown.

“I think Villanova showed us that we could’ve been where they was,” Rodriguez said. “Maybe even meet them in a national game, maybe. I think we were kind of still excited about winning the Big East championship last year and we didn’t look forward to how big the NCAA Tournament was. I think by Villanova winning that, they kind of motivated us more to get there, too.”