Tony Bozzella and Seton Hall are taking back New Jersey, and doing it their way

Seton Hall unveils Big East championship and NCAA Tournament banners from 2014-15 season, before dominating 77-49 victory over Rutgers. (Photo courtesy of John Fanta via Seton Hall University Athletics)

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ -- On a night where Seton Hall raised two more banners into the Walsh Gymnasium rafters, the testimonials to last season's accolades were only appetizers to the flag the Pirates raised high over the New Jersey basketball landscape.

On this night, the anticipated clash between Seton Hall and Rutgers was; in essence, over before it really started, and not because one team punched the other square in the jaw from the onset, either.

This night was not about revenge. Nor was it about unfinished business. It was simply one team merely being themselves, and doing an exceptional job of that.

"I got it from our priest," an exultant Tony Bozzella proclaimed shortly after his Pirates, whose past two seasons; his first two since returning to resurrect his alma mater's program, were ended at the hands of Rutgers, dominated the Scarlet Knights to the tune of a 77-49 final score reminiscent of a hypothetical matchup between the 1986 New York Giants and the Jets of the Rich Kotite era. "He said 'don't make it a revenge game, just make it a game that you want to win.' It wasn't about revenge to us, it was a different team, different year. We wanted to win because we knew if we could beat a really good team, it's going to help us at the end of the year. We had an understanding that we were going to play our way."

Bozzella's way, for those unfamiliar with the charismatic leader who gets every last drop out of his talented young charges, and has throughout a career that has spanned three decades, prides itself on spreading the floor in an uptempo style. Defensive pressure and a strong transition game are what scoring opportunities are predicated upon in his system, and Monday night's proceedings in the back corner of the Seton Hall campus were host to a full-scale clinic of such a philosophy.

"I told the girls, 'be proud of the name that's on your uniform,'" he proudly declared. "I thought the girls executed it perfectly."

A near-sellout of 1,628 strong, many of whom were clad in Pirate blue, made sure Walsh was a hostile atmosphere for their visitors from Piscataway from the moment they reached the floor. Rutgers may have shot 47 percent from the field, but were destroyed on the offensive glass by a 16-2 margin, and made only two three-point field goals, nine fewer than the 11 recorded by the Pirates. Add this to the key stats, too: The Scarlet Knights were forced into 22 turnovers, which were converted into 34 Seton Hall points.

But for all the numbers that fit the narrative, Monday night was not as much about that as it was an emphatic changing of the guard in New Jersey women's basketball, one eerily similar to the new era in the metropolitan area several years ago when St. John's staked its claim to the top of the food chain among the locals, ironically also at Rutgers' expense. Such a notice was served with the Pirates' in-your-face start to the game on the defensive end, and continued on through the waning moments of the fourth quarter, to the chants of "this is our state" from the perpetually vocal home faithful.

"Shakena (Richardson) had half of Neptune here," Bozzella quipped, eliciting chuckles from the media assembled at his press conference. "We had a great crowd. We got the game on national TV. We had recruits from both teams here, we had families here. It was a tremendous event."

This was what Pat Lyons envisioned when he made the call to hire Bozzella in March of 2013. Seton Hall needed a coach who could not only dream big and inspire others to as well, but also one who could see his dreams come to fruition. For every bit of intensity Bozzella expresses on the court, and as much as he may not publicly admit how much he wanted this win, the satisfaction was prevalent in the passionate inflection the coach carried through a 14-minute postgame address that reinforced just how much he cares about what he has built in South Orange, winning 20 games and reaching a WNIT in his first season before last year's euphoric 28-win campaign and NCAA Tournament berth.

"We've got a good staff," he deflected toward his assistants, once again exhibiting his naturally complimentary demeanor. "I give the staff a lot of credit. Someone asked me, 'what did it mean to unveil the banners?' I said that was really on our staff, because they put up with a lot for a while here. It took a while to build this program, and they were every bit as important because they took it and they dealt with it, and they believed in my vision. They helped execute it more than anybody."

Seton Hall planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway.

And more, much more than this, they did it their way.