For Seton Hall's Kevin Willard There Are No Excuses This March

Talented Pirates Appear Poised To Make An NCAA Tournament Run

Maybe it was due to the flu-like symptoms that affected much of his roster, as Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard suggested afterward. Maybe that was partly to blame for All-American candidate and 2,000-point scorer Myles Powell shooting 3-for-16 overall and 1-for-11 on 3-pointers and the usually-stout defense being so sluggish on Wednesday night in the Pirates’ 87-82 home loss to Creighton.

All the loss did, in February, was put a serious crimp in Seton Hall’s hopes of being a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

But with the Pirates holding a two-game lead over Villanova and Creighton with six regular-season games left in their quest for the school’s second outright Big East title (it last happened in 1993) a top four seed for the Big Dance seems pretty secure.

And that means it’s up to Willard to finally produce in the NCAA Tournament.

Seton Hall has played 29 NCAA Tournament games in its history and has only lost to a lower-seeded team twice.

The first time was in 1993, with arguably the most talented team in school history, when the No. 2-seeded Pirates were stunned in the second round by No. 7-seeded Western Kentucky, a team coached by Willard’s father Ralph.

As disappointing as that loss was, head coach P.J, Carlesimo could easily be absolved because of the equity he’d built up with a national championship game appearance, an Elite Eight and a Sweet 16 prior to that. Carlesimo was 9-1 against lower-seeded teams and three times beat higher seeded teams.

He had plenty of March Madness salve to absorb the sting from that Western Kentucky loss.

Willard does not.

He has been excellent during the regular season and is on his way to his fifth-straight 20-win campaign. But his lack of success in the NCAA Tournament, where coaching reputations are made and broken, has been hanging over him.

He has led the Pirates to the Big Dance four straight years now. Three of those have resulted in a first-round loss, one as a higher seed. His one victory in five NCAA Tournament games came as a No. 8 seed against No. 9 N.C. State.

So it’s time.

Ten years on the job is enough time. A fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance is enough time. Having talent that rivals that 1993 squad (which featured two first-round NBA Draft picks), with a bona fide senior star in Myles, size, depth and a roster that is March tested, means it’s time as well.

In a wide-open season, with a team that Villanova coach Jay Wright said has “answers at every position,” if Willard can’t make inroads this NCAA Tournament you have to wonder when he will.

As a No. 3 or No. 4 seed, he will be facing higher seeds the first two rounds. In other words, two winnable games to start.

So this is the year, in an anybody-can-win-it season, to make noise in March. It’s the last hurdle Willard has to clear in his coaching career. There are plenty of college basketball experts saying that Seton Hall has Final Four potential. That’s never a fair expectation for a coach not from Duke or North Carolina. But it is fair to expect more than another first-round loss or even a second-round loss.

This Seton Hall team that has been building for this.

Willard has been building for it as well. No excuses this time. Just results.