SportsLine.com Report
March 24, 2000

Sweet 16: Shots don't fall for short-handed Hall

The problem with living off of hot shooting is that it doesn't last forever … and Seton Hall cooled off in a big way in its Sweet 16 game against Oklahoma State.

It didn't help matters that the 10th-seeded Pirates were playing without injured starting point guard Shaheen Holloway, and it didn't help that they were playing a team that has excelled at defending the 3-point shot all season.

And, yet, after making only 7 of 34 shots from behind the arc against the Cowboys, the Hall was right there, nearly pulling off a third consecutive upset.

This bid fell just short, 68-66.

Holloway, who didn't practice all week, didn't dress for the game and had to settle for a role as a cheerleader and extra assistant coach in his final college game.

"Who knows if he'd have played if we would have won or not," said Seton Hall guard Darius Lane, who suffered through a 2-for-18 shooting night from 3-point range. "I wish he could have played. I don't think he let us down by not playing. He wanted to win this bad."

The Pirates had thrillingly won their first two games over Oregon and Temple in overtime, making (and needing) 23 of 44 3-pointers. Against the Cowboys, they needed just one more from long range.

Glendon Alexander was 4-for-6 from the free-throw line for the Cowboys over the final 16 seconds, including one with 0.5 seconds to play, making it 68-66.

"We had the energy tonight," Lane said. "We just ran out of time."

How They Got There

Seton Hall owes its return to the NCAA Tournament to the school's first 20-win season since 1993 and its best league showing (10-6) since then. Those numbers were good enough for the Pirates, absent from the NCAAs since 1994, to earn an at-large bid.

Seton Hall spent exactly one week in the Top 25 -- its first time in the polls since the end of the '93 season -- after opening 18-4, but home losses to Connecticut and Notre Dame in the same week bounced the Pirates from the rankings.

They still tied a school record for Big East road victories with five and wound up fifth in the league after being tabbed for seventh in the coaches' preseason poll.

Starting Lineup

• PG Shaheen Holloway (5-10, 174, Sr.) 13.2 ppg, 5.6 apg, 5.1 rpg
  The health of his severely sprained ankle is a key element in The Hall's quest to continue to advance. Even though Ty Shine stepped in admirably, Holloway is the guy who makes this team go, and the Pirates need him to be at their best. He's having his best year as a collegian, with his numbers up all the way across the board. Earned second-team All-Big East honors and shared the Most Improved Player Award with Pitt's Ricardo Greer. His floor leadership and decision making have been terrific all year, and he showed his playmaking ability at the end of the Oregon game.
• SG Rimas Kaukenas (6-4, 213, Sr.) 13.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.1 apg
  Solid, dependable player who shoots 88 percent from the foul line. His 3-point shooting is vital to the Pirates' success (he made 5 of 8 in the first two tournament games), but he also does a little bit of everything for this team.
• C Sam Dalembert (6-11, 232, Fr.) 6.0 ppg, 5.8 rpg
  He's apparently 7-1, but is listed as 6-11 because he doesn't want to be pegged strictly as a center. Already an accomplished shot-blocker -- no surprise, since he has a 91-inch wingspan -- Dalembert became the first freshman to lead the Big East in blocks in conference games since Alonzo Mourning. He's an imposing defensive presence, an excellent athlete and his offense and rebounding are just beginning to come around. Against St. John's this year he blocked 11 shots. He had six vs. Oregon and three against Temple.
• SG Darius Lane (6-4, 223, So.) 15.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg
  The Mad Bomber from Minnesota. Sat out last year as a freshman due to academics, but has more than made up for it this year, leading the Pirates in scoring while winning the Big East's Rookie of the Week award six times. Has NBA range on his 3-pointers and is willing to shoot from anywhere at any time. Began to balance out his game the second half of the season by going to the basket more. He went a stretch this year where he had five games of 20 or more, the longest such streak at Seton Hall since Adrian Griffin also had five during the '95-96 season. Has been right on his average during the tourney -- 30 points through two games.
• PF Greg Morton (6-7, 225, Fr.) 3.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg
  Quiet type who became a starter because of his defense and rebounding. Doesn't score much (three points in the first two tournament games) but his strengths are exactly what this team needs. He has the makings of a solid Big East player if he ever gets more offensive-minded.

Keys to Success

When you live by the trey, you also die by the trey.

No team understands that better than Seton Hall. The Pirates have had some dazzling 3-point shooting performances, going 13-for-25 against Pittsburgh and 14-for-26 against West Virginia. Both wound up as laughers for them.

But at the end of the regular season, when fatigue took its toll, Seton Hall struggled badly from the perimeter. In losing four of the final five regular-season games, the Pirates were a combined 36-for-121 on 3-pointers. That's 29.7 percent, and that's not them. Not with as wide an array of 3-point shooters as they have in Lane, Holloway, Kaukenas and Ty Shine.

It's a surprise that Seton Hall is in the Sweet 16, but it's not surprise as to how it got there. The Pirates made a school-record 15 threes against Temple (on 30 attempts) two days after draining 8 of 14 against Oregon.

With Dalembert finally becoming more of an offensive force inside, that only figures to open things up for the perimeter game.

The Coach

Tommy Amaker is new to the NCAA Tournament as a coach, but he's no stranger to the event, to March Madness or to success at this time of the year.

Amaker's nine years as an assistant at Duke under Mike Krzyzewski from 1988 to 1997 saw the Blue Devils make eight NCAA Tournament appearances with five Final Four berths and two national titles. His career as a four-year starter at point guard for Duke 1983-87 was marked by four NCAA Tournament appearances, highlighted by a trip to the national championship game as a junior. That's 12 NCAA Tournaments and six Final Fours that Amaker has been to since starting college in 1983.

Now in his third year with the Pirates, Amaker directed Seton Hall to identical 15-15 records in his first two seasons, with each ending in a first-round NIT loss. So this marks three postseason appearances in three years as a head coach.

The Bench

This was once a strength -- before 6-5 senior Gary Saunders, who tied for the lead in scoring a year ago, was dismissed from the team on Feb. 17 for violating university policy.

That moved all the other reserves up a notch, and it has taken a while for them to adapt to their new roles.

Sophomore Ty Shine is the best backup point guard in the Big East … and proved it against Temple. He would probably be a starter for half the schools in the league.

Al Harris, a 6-8 freshman, has become a helpful player at both ends. Charles Manga, a 6-10 sophomore, provides rebounding and defense when he relieves Dalembert, while 6-7 junior Kevin Wilkins became more of a factor the second half of the season when time became available because of Saunders' departure. The bench is neither a strength nor a weakness now. It's just solid.

Offense

The Pirates' offense is predicated on the 3-pointer, and they have four excellent shooters who are threats to go off at any time in Holloway, Kaukenas, Shine and Lane. They began striking a little more balance late in the season as Dalembert gained some offensive confidence in the low post, but this is still a perimeter-oriented team.

Defense

Take Dalembert out of the equation and the Pirates are a nice, solid man-to-man defensive team. Factor in Dalembert's looming presence as a shot-blocker -- he basically plays a one-man zone -- and opponents can easily be worked out of any intentions of going inside. No one keeps stats on altered shots, but Dalembert has changed games simply by being in them.