Rejuvenated Seton Hall ready to attack Big East with returning players, refreshed Bozzella

Back at full health after being hospitalized for COVID-19 last year, Tony Bozzella leads a hungry Seton Hall team into Big East play. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

NEW YORK — Last season’s helter-skelter, stop-and-start nature afforded many coaches and players newfound perspective in light of competing in the throes of a worldwide pandemic, perhaps none more than Tony Bozzella.

The affable and charismatic women's basketball coach at Seton Hall experienced his own COVID-related disruptions last season, despite his Pirates finishing third in the Big East Conference. Early in the season, Bozzella not only contracted the virus, but was bedridden for a period of time, being forced off the court to recuperate after his daughter, Sam, drove him to the hospital upon noticing something was amiss. Now almost a year later, a healthy Tony prepares for something closer to normal, with a calmer outlook and ever-present gratitude for those who showed him the family-first mentality with which he has always operated his programs.

“I feel good,” the elder Bozzella declared at last month’s Big East media day. “It’s nice to be better. I owe a lot to my doctors and to my family. They’ve really kept me alive, to be honest with you. I’m just glad to be here. I didn’t get to coach last year. I didn’t feel good all year, and thank God for Lauren (DeFalco) and Jose (Rebimbas), and Marissa (Flagg) and Pete (Cinella). They did a great job.”

“I’m enjoying it more because you don’t know. You’re very vulnerable in life and obviously, I want to be there for my family and myself, my players and my staff. I’m enjoying it.”

Giving Bozzella and Seton Hall more reason to be optimistic is the Pirates’ third-place prediction in the preseason Big East poll, a standing attributed to the accelerated development of Lauren Park-Lane and Andra Espinoza-Hunter — both preseason all-conference selections — and a vast of burgeoning stars the likes of Mya Jackson and Curtessia Dean, the latter of whom has also received a clean bill of health after being injured before last season even began.

“I’m thrilled with it, because it shows we have good players,” Bozzella said of his team’s prognostication. “A lot of people say, ‘well, it doesn’t matter where you get picked.’ In the long run, it doesn’t, but if you get picked third, people think you have good players and it means you have a chance. I think at the end of the day, if our kids can play to the level of their abilities and I can put them in the proper spots along with my staff, we have a chance to be very good. Our talent’s much better this year. Our kids are more mature, older, we have a team that’s all bought in, so I’m proud of that.”

“Mya Jackson is the only player in the Big East to shoot 40 percent from 3-point range and average double figures the last two years, and she’s a considerably better player. I think she’s really grown into herself and understands the game, she’s playing with people on the floor that understand her game as well. Mya Bembry and Amari Wright have jumped tenfold as players, and I’m excited about their progression as well.”

Park-Lane added her name to the lineage of elite Bozzella point guards with a sophomore season that turned heads across the nation. And after averaging 18 points per game last year, Bozzella made the bold observation of telling the media that it had ultimately not seen anything yet in terms of her evolution.

“We have another great one,” he gushed. “She’s fantastic. I know people are going to think I’m stupid saying this, but she’s way better than she was last year. How can that be when she averaged 18 points per game? She’s way better. She’s older, stronger, more mature, and understands everything now.”

The same can be said for Espinoza-Hunter, the midseason transfer from Mississippi State who, arguably, may have been the best player in the Big East not named Paige Bueckers one year ago.

“You know what I love about Andra? Andra came in and did one of the most amazing feats you could ever think of,” said an awestruck Bozzella. “Let’s be honest. She came in, practiced five times, and became first team all-Big East. Who does that in the middle of the year? That just shows how special she is, but she continues to work hard, she’s expanded her game tenfold. You’ll see her do many other things she hasn’t done, and I know she’s going to have an even bigger and better year. Her defense is considerably better, she’s rebounding the ball a lot better, doing a lot of other things that other people will see, and I’m really proud of her.”

After a season in which Seton Hall did not reach its full potential, largely because of the pandemic, Bozzella enters the coming year in charge of a roster with tremendous upside, and most importantly, a shared commitment to a common goal.

“I just think our girls are ready to play, and they want to play,” he admitted. “This group is about winning, and only winning. I’m proud to be able to say that, because it’s hard to get a group of kids to do that. And these 14 kids are committed to doing that.”