Bozzella, Pirates eager to get season going after shutdown and November pause

 

After losing most of non-conference season due to COVID-related pause, Tony Bozzella and Seton Hall finally get underway Tuesday against Saint Peter’s. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

Before this season even tipped off, Tony Bozzella stressed the concerns of attempting to play it as safely and securely as possible, hoping to get as many games in as time permitted before his Seton Hall team opened Big East Conference play.

A November shutdown due to a positive COVID-19 test within the program curtailed the non-league portion of the schedule, but the Pirates do have three tuneups on their ledger, beginning Tuesday against Saint Peter’s and continuing with Wagner and Fordham before opening the Big East slate in December 17 against the University of Connecticut.

“We’re a lot more thankful every day we can come in and practice,” Bozzella assessed, almost nine months after a team he spoke of lovingly as one of his favorites to coach during a career that now enters its fourth decade in the collegiate ranks had a potential postseason run scrapped by the pandemic. “I think when we first came back at the end of July, early August, the enthusiasm of the kids was fantastic. They come in the gym, they work hard, and I’m blessed.”

When Seton Hall does take the Walsh Gymnasium floor Tuesday afternoon, a familiar face will be missing in Shadeen Samuels, a four-year mainstay in the Pirate blue and white who graduated this past May, and is — by most accounts — an irreplaceable piece of the puzzle in South Orange.

“She was a calming presence out there,” Bozzella said of Samuels. “She never got too high, she never got too low, I could look at her in the game and get that sense of assurance. She became one of my favorite people to coach, too — just a really nice person — and I’m really proud of her for that. She took this team when it was down struggling, and then took us back to being one of the better teams in the Big East, and she’s going to go down as one of the all-time greats.”

Nonetheless, the Pirates will attempt to move on without last season’s Big East Preseason Player of the Year. Samuels’ exit does not necessarily mean the cupboard is bare, as Desiree Elmore returns on the wing to anchor the trademark uptempo attack Bozzella had turned into one of the conference’s more reputable and recognizable outfits over his seven years on the sideline at his alma mater. The coach is also counting on sophomore guards Lauren Park-Lane and Mya Jackson to take a bigger leap forward, as well as Alexia Allesch and Mya Bembry — the latter a transfer from Penn State — up front alongside Elmore. Freshmen Skylar Treadwell and McKenna Minter, whose father, Mike, enjoyed a 10-year National Football League career as a defensive back for the Carolina Panthers, will also figure into the rotation early and often.

“Those kids, we need them to get a little better,” Bozzella cautioned. “And if that happens, I think we’re going to replace Shadeen as a group, not as individuals. Lauren has now become a lethal 3-point shooter, Mya’s a tremendous defender. I see a lot — A LOT — of positives in them. They’ve done a great job. Skylar shoots the ball well, she’s done some great things for us and I’m expecting big things from her this year, and McKenna plays like a football player: Tough and fearless. I’m looking at those two giving us a big boost.”

Bozzella stressed on multiple occasions in the offseason that a 14-day pause was more like 20 days for his program, given the pace and style at which Seton Hall traditionally plays. The Pirates officially shut down November 20, which means Tuesday’s opener will mark 19 days since the team was last on the floor. Nonetheless, Bozzella refused to make excuses, instead doubling down on the need to be able to uphold the strength and conditioning standards that make his brand of basketball run, and will be exhibited firsthand Tuesday.

“We are who we are right now,” he admitted. “Until Lauren and Mya can take the next step, until Alexia Allesch can take the next step, until Desiree becomes the No. 1 as opposed to the No. 2, we’ve got to continue to get better. We have to be able to play at the pace that we want to play at. That’s our key. If we don’t play at our pace, we can’t be good. We’re not one of those teams that can come back and play out of shape. We need to be in the best shape out of anyone.”