Jay Wright and Patrick Ewing both know a thing or two about reaching the Final Four and winning national championships.
Wright has coached Villanova to two of the last four NCAA championships, while Ewing played in three Final Fours and won the 1984 title as a player at Georgetown.
So it’s significant that both men say that Myles Powell and this Seton Hall team (15-4, 7-0 Big East), ranked No. 10 in the AP poll and riding a nine-game winning streak, should be viewed as a legitimate Final Four contender.
“Yeah, I really do think they are a Final Four contender,” Wright said Thursday on a conference call in response to a question from NJ Advance Media.
Wright pointed out that Seton Hall is “still going to get better” when junior forward Sandro Mamukelashvili returns from a fractured wrist in the coming weeks.
“They’re playing without one of their best players, and they’ve been dominant,” Wright said. “They’ve already beaten top teams with the injuries [to Mamukelashvili and Powell]. They’ve got great depth and size and experience. I definitely think they’re one of the best teams in the country.”
Seton Hall entered Thursday at No. 12 in the NET rankings used to help determine the NCAA Tournament field. They are being projected as a 2 or 3 seed in the East Region, which has its regional at Madison Square Garden.
Wright, who led Villanova to NCAA titles in 2016 and ‘18, says Seton Hall has all the ingredients, including experience, to contend for a Final Four and a national championship.
“A lot of those guys played on an outstanding team last year and they’ve been through everything,” Wright said. “They’ve been through tough grinds in the Big East and they’ve played against top teams in the country. They’ve played through injuries, they’ve done it all and they’re all back.”
And, oh by the way, they have a legitimate National Player of the Year candidate in Powell, who is rising up NBA mock draft boards.
“They also have one of the best players in the country,” Wright said. “It’s not just that guy, it’s that guy with talent around him. That’s usually what it takes to be a Final Four-type team. It can’t be just the one guy. They’ve got great talent around him.”
Powell himself acknowledged that after Wednesday’s victory over Providence in which he took just six shots, and made only three. Romaro Gill, Jared Rhoden, Quincy McKnight and Shavar Reynolds all played key roles in the victory.
“I think we’re showing everybody across the country that we’re not just the Myles Powell show,” Powell said.
While Villanova has yet to face Seton Hall this season, Ewing and the Hoyas have already lost once to the Pirates, getting smacked, 78-62, on Jan. 3 at Prudential Center. So Ewing knows full well how good Kevin Willard’s team is.
“We still got a lot of games to go to thinking about the Final Four, but they are a very good team,” Ewing said. “They’re balanced.
“They have shot-blocking in the middle, they have two guys that can protect the rim [Gill and 7-2 Ike Obiagu]. Powell is an elite scorer. They have other guys that are stepping up and getting the job done.
“And they’re a very good defensive team. So if you look at them in all phases of the game, they are very good. As everyone knows, this is not the NBA, it’s not the best out of seven. It’s one game and once you make it, any team can go on a run, but I think they have the quality of a team that that could happen.”
Providence coach Ed Cooley said this week that Seton Hall “should be a favorite to win the national championship,” and he wasn’t changing his tune much after losing on Wednesday.
“Kevin may not want me to say that, but I think they have all the pieces in place to have a good run,” Cooley said. “And you talk about those level of teams, you have to have the right seed, you have to have the right opponents, there’s a lot of luck that goes into that but they have a lot of pieces in place to be very successful.
“How they guard, they have probably the best college basketball player in the country. They have a lot of pieces and they’re still missing an important piece in ‘Mamu.’ They’re long, they cover ground really quick. Kevin’s done a phenomenal job with that group....But right now, man, for them to be undefeated in our league at this point in time, there’s something to be said about that.”
Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media.