When Myles Powell FaceTimed with former Seton Hall teammate Desi Rodriguez on Sunday, Rodriguez guaranteed Powell would cry during the Senior Night festivities on Wednesday at Prudential Center.
Powell and fellow seniors Asiah Avent, Romaro Gill and Quincy McKnight will all be honored prior to their final home game when No. 8 Seton Hall hosts No. 14 Villanova at 8:30 (FS1).
“I was telling him I was going to hold my tears back but I feel like I am going to cry,” Powell confessed Monday before practice. “I don’t know really what to expect. I’m just going to take it as a regular game.”
But of course, this isn’t any regular game. On top of the Senior Night festivities, Seton Hall (21-7, 13-3 Big East) can clinch its first outright Big East regular-season crown since 1993 with a win. Thanks to St. John’s win over Creighton on Sunday, the Pirates already own at least a share of the Big East crown.
In the weeks ahead, Powell and Seton Hall also hope to contend for another Big East Tournament title and then a deep run in March Madness.
“[It’s] a dream come true,” Powell said. “As a kid, when you talk about college basketball, these are the things you dream about, so I mean, I’m sitting back and thinking my last two memories in the Prudential Center could be me winning the [Big East] championship and then in May me graduating from college. So this is what I came back to school for.”
Powell expects to have his parents, aunts, uncles, little brothers and sisters and former coaches Jimmy Salmon of the NJ Playaz and Fred Falci of Trenton Catholic on hand to support him. The other seniors will also have family members at The Rock.
A year ago, after talking with coach Kevin Willard in Los Angeles, Powell opted to come back to Seton Hall for his senior season after working out for several NBA teams and getting the feedback that he needed to develop his game.
Now, Willard has a hard time putting into words what Powell and the fellow seniors have meant to the university.
Gill is 25, McKnight 24 and Powell 22, so they are a combined 71 years old. Asked what it meant to see them come to Seton Hall as boys and leave as men, Willard joked, “Well, a couple of them are really men. I can’t yell at Ro and Quincy because they’re like 40 years old. I gotta talk to them like I’m talking to an adult.
“I think to see each one of them [make a] transformation, and each one’s been a little different. But I think as a group to kind of see them take big steps as players, big steps as students, big steps as a program, I think that’s been the most fun and what I’m going to be thinking about and reminiscing about as they’re walking out on Wednesday night.”
All three players are in the mix for some major Big East hardware, too.
The 6-foot-2 Powell is the favorite to win Big East Player of the Year honors after being named Preseason Player of the Year, and he’s also in the mix for various National Player of the Year awards. Marquette’s Markus Howard, Powell’s good friend and the nation’s leading scorer, figures to get some strong consideration but Powell’s team is in first place, while Marquette is 8-8 in the league. Powell is averaging 21.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
“Myles Powell has to be right up there in the conversation for me,” Donny Marshall said on FSI during the Marquette game.
The 7-2 Gill has been a dominant defensive force in the paint and his offensive game has evolved, too. He’s is in the mix for both Big East Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player. He’s averaging 7.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.4 blocks after averaging 2.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.3 a year ago.
Willard said Gill “absolutely” deserves Most Improved Player honors.
“There’s a lot of guys that have really gotten better in the league,” Willard said. “I think that’s one of the reasons why the league’s really good but I think Ro’s jump has been as significant as anybody’s in a long time.”
Said Gill: “It’s been a journey to where I came from to where I’m at now. I think I’ve grown a lot since I got here the first day and to be nominated to be Most Improved Player or Big East Defensive Player, I think that’s a great honor and that just makes me hungry and want to go out there and win that title.”
A natural scoring guard, McKnight has transitioned to point guard since transferring from Sacred Heart and has been the engine that makes Seton Hall go this year. He’s averaging 11.6 points, 5.4 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.6 steals.
“It wasn’t that hard,” he said of the transition to lead guard. “Even at Sacred Heart I tried to pass the ball, so it wasn’t really tough. When you got a guy like Myles on the team who can score the ball at a high level and get hot so quick, it’s kind of easy when you see the all go through the net. And I’m getting assists from it, so I might be going down in points but my assists are going up so the team’s winning, so it doesn’t really matter.”
McKnight was named to the Midseason Team for the Naismith Men's Defensive Player of the Year and could also get votes for Big East Defensive Player.
Asked who should win Defensive Player of the Year honors, Willard cracked, “One of my guys. Either one, you pick.”
Whatever happens Wednesday, the season won’t end then.
There is the Big East Tournament next week followed by Selection Sunday and the Big Dance, where the Pirates are currently projecting as a 2 seed.
Willard — and Powell — have won just one NCAA Tournament game in their Seton Hall careers, but this year was always set up for high expectations.
Led by this trio and a balanced, supporting cast, there is no reason Seton Hall can’t make a deep run, perhaps to the Final Four in Atlanta.
“That’s what I’m saying,” Powell said. “That’s our mindset right now, that we don’t want it to end and the only way that we can do that now around this time is to keep winning.
“But that’s always been the mindset since the summertime when we took the trip in Italy. We just been talking about the championship talk since then. We talked it into existence, now it’s just time to handle business.”
Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media.