Seton Hall wins its first Big East title in 23 years by upsetting Villanova
Seton Hall just won its first Big East title game in 23 years and will make its first NCAA Tournament in 12 years. And it's going to enter the Big Dance as the hottest team in the country.
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NEW YORK -- Seton Hall just won its first Big East title game in 23 years and will make its first NCAA Tournament in 12 years.
And it's going to enter the Big Dance as the hottest team in the country.
SHU won an absolutely thrilling game on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, upsetting No. 3 Villanova 69-67 and capturing the third Big East championship in program history. Seton Hall is now 3-for-3 all time in Big East title games.
The game was won at the end when budding Hall superstar/tournament MVP Isaiah Whitehead converted an and-one attempt with 18.5 seconds to go to give Hall the lead. Villanova's Josh Hart was clearly hit on the ensuing Villanova possession, but no foul was called.
The old Big East. Physical to the end; whistles optional. This was a revival of conference character and atmosphere. Villanova and Hall fans sold out the building on Saturday night, and the volley between the teams and their bases was ear-splitting. If you were in the building and didn't get goosebumps multiple times, you didn't deserve to be watching the game in person.
Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard and Nova coach Jay Wright said afterward how vital the environment felt. This was maybe the best atmosphere in the Garden since the conference reformatted to 10 teams.
"I'm going to get in trouble for this, but I don't care," Willard said. "You know, everyone always asks questions about, is this tournament in trouble? The home, the ACC and the Big Ten. They want to come in to New York. The Big East is -- this is the home. We are the home. We will always be the home. They are going to be tourists. I've said it before. They're going to come in. They're going to get a slice of pizza. Hopefully a bacon, egg and cheese, and a coffee, and then they're going to leave. But at the end of the day, the Big East will still be here."
It'll always be at its best when original members are fighting for a league championship on a Saturday in mid-March. Credit to Wright who gets it. A guy not ripped up by potentially losing a No. 1 seed or gruff over the fact that his guy clearly got hacked in the closing seconds but didn't get the whistle. He got his first Big East tournament title last season. He knows what it means for the league and for Willard to have his chance tonight.
"I think this whole tournament, especially the last two nights; last night sold-out Garden, four great basketball programs," Wright said. "Just a great Garden crowd for the final. Great tough physical game. This is what Big East basketball is, you know? And if you're a basketball purist, there's nowhere you would rather coach or play than in this conference or you would rather play your tournament than in Madison Square Garden. You just saw tonight that's what it is. If you're a basketball person, there's no conference that matches it anywhere. I'm not saying we're the best. For just basketball, everything we do is basketball. We play in the Mecca. Madison Square Garden. Great traditional basketball schools. All the alumni from these schools this is what they live for. No football weekends. No homecoming football games. This is what they live for. This was awesome."
The roars were familiar. The kind Patrick Ewing, Gerry McNamara, Troy Bell, Kemba Walker, Ray Allen, Kerry Kittles and Chris Mullin received ages ago. Whitehead, who can have a few too many bad turnovers, became a Seton Hall icon with his play over the past three days. No. 15 put on a showing this week that will go down in Seton Hall lore -- and should put him with some of the great performances in the history of the tournament. He averaged 23.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists. He's become one of the must-watch players in the sport and turned into a first-round draft pick.
He had the Garden popping, screaming, oohing and ahhing. It was really good, made even better by the fact that Villanova blazed back from a double-digit deficit and could have taken the game.
Seton Hall moves to 25-8 with this win. It lost just twice since Jan. 23. It could very well end up on the No. 4 line because of this, meaning the Pirates will move into geographic preference for the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament and wind up playing first and second round games in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center.
Villanova's loss could mean the Wildcats get bumped off the No. 1 line. We'll find that out at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, when CBS airs its two-hour Selection Show. Villanova is now 29-5. It went 18-3 in the Big East this season, including the league playoff.
The last three years have seen three traditional Big East programs end long droughts of not winning the league bracket: Providence in 2014, Villanova in 2015, and now Seton Hall. We don't need any more columns or stories on the Big East redefining itself or changing its image. The Big East now is still a major, relevant conference. Realignment took away its appearance but couldn't strip it of its identity.
Willard had a team that was bad last year, had some transfer issues and a lot of speculation from the outside. He came into this season needing to reach the NCAA Tournament to save his job. He knew it; everyone knew it. He admitted to being "thrilled" after being picked seventh in the preseason in the league. No one knew what was coming, and that's what's made Hall's return to glory that much sweeter. The unexpected is usually more powerful.
