Tall Ball: Seton Hall looks to make use of newfound size up front

Shaheen Holloway addresses Seton Hall’s prospects at Big East media day this past Tuesday. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

NEW YORK — Over the last 40 or so years, there's been a trend when it comes to motor vehicles in the United States.

Bigger is better.

SUVs and pickup trucks now dominate the roadways all across the land, taking the place of smaller passenger cars.

In basketball, while bigger does not necessarily always mean better, it is a tall man's game, and last season, the Seton Hall Pirates under new head coach Shaheen Holloway were, to put it mildly, an undersized group. Of their four tallest players, three of them — Tyrese Samuel, Trae Jackson, and Tae Davis — did not possess much bulk, and the one Pirate that did (Alexis Yetna) missed the entire season due to injury. 

That left the 6'6" Dre Davis and 6'7" KC Ndefo to manage things inside, and while The Hall deserves credit for the job it did to try and make up for that lack of size with toughness and a gang-rebounding approach, the Pirates’ leading rebounder in Big East play was point guard Kadary Richmond (5.5 RPG).

After Samuel, Jackson, Davis, and Yetna all departed, and Ndefo exhausted his eligibility, Seton Hall needed to reload its frontcourt this offseason. Enter graduate student Jaden Bediako (6'10", 240), junior Elijah Hutchins-Everett (6'11", 255), sophomore Sadraque NgaNga (6'10", 218), and freshmen Arda Ozdogan (6'10", 231) and David Tubek (6'7", 215) to provide the Pirates with some much-needed additional muscle up front.

“I was looking for bigs who could bang in this league,” Holloway said at Big East media day. “It’s a physical league. We brought in three centers that are different, but they can all bang. We looked for some size at the four spot, guys who could shoot the basketball a little bit, and we did that (too).”

Of the five new post players, three came in as transfers, including two of the three centers. The Orange native Hutchins-Everett possesses the best overall resume of that group, having been a starter at Austin Peay in the Ohio Valley Conference for the last two years while averaging about 12 points and six rebounds per contest. He also displayed a willingness to step outside and shoot the three-ball, and was named the OVC Freshman of the Year in 2021-22.

Bediako played four seasons at Santa Clara, during which he averaged about 5.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, and a block per game, including last season where he served as one of the Broncos' regular starters. His younger brother, Charles Bediako, played the last couple seasons at Alabama, and was recently in training camp with the San Antonio Spurs.

Ozdogan was the latest signee of the group, and also one of the youngest players on the roster. He's dealt with a broken nose in practice leading up to the season, but Holloway said that he was “pleasantly surprised with him” at Seton Hall media day, adding “he's going to give us more than I thought.” He recently played in the Turkish Basketball Super League with Turk Telekom, where he was one of the youngest members of the roster and saw time as a reserve.

“They're all different,” Holloway said of his three new bigs. “You have Elijah, who can shoot the basketball from the outside, more of a skilled guy. You have Jaden, who's more of an old-school banger, a Jake Voskuhl type. Then you have my big Turkish kid Arda, who's young but very talented, and he's kind of in-between those (other) two guys.”

On the power forward front, Tubek was the first of the group to sign with the Hall in April after decommitting from Memphis, and might also be the most raw of the group. From South Sudan, he's only been playing basketball for four years, but has a skill set that could provide some versatility at either forward spot.

NgaNga comes to the program as a former four-star high school prospect who had numerous high-major offers before a knee injury caused him to eventually land at Boise State, where he played in 17 games after a leg injury last year, averaging two points and 1.5 rebounds. Prior to his injury troubles, the Angola native was described as being a versatile post with good size and length, as well as an active defender who rebounds and blocks shots and someone who was very good from the high post where he can shoot, drive, or pass.

One phrase I've heard several times from the Pirates already is “iron sharpens iron,” and the Pirate bigs are evidently doing that already in practice.

“Guys are battling,” Holloway said. “Those three (centers) are battling, and my four-guys are battling, too. Sada (NgaNga), at 6'11", he can shoot the basketball. Dave Tubek, who's 6'8", he's a little banged up right now, but you have Dre in that spot as well, so we've got a couple of different guys at each spot right now.”

Having that presence can only help Seton Hall this season as it navigates a conference in the Big East that always features a lot of physicality and size. And as returning Pirate Al-Amir Dawes said at Big East media day, it's not just helping the other bigs.

“On the defensive end, they're a lot bigger, a lot more active, coordinated, moving their feet,” the Newark native said. “We've been able to get better on the offensive end, too, going up against their defense, (knowing) when to pull up, when to use the floater, when to back it out. I feel like the bigs have helped every aspect of the guards' games as well.”

We'll be able to see that in action this Saturday in Newark when the Pirates make the trip down South Orange Avenue to take on NJIT in a charity scrimmage. Daly Dose will have coverage from the Wellness and Events Center as former Seton Hall center and assistant coach Grant Billmeier combines with his fellow Hall alum in Holloway to raise money for Team Walker.