Kevin Willard didn’t like Creighton cutting down the nets and unfurling a banner proclaiming themselves “Big East Champions” after the Bluejays routed Seton Hall, 77-60, on Saturday.
Creighton, Villanova and Seton Hall are co-champions with 13-5 records atop the Big East, although the Bluejays will have the No. 1 seed at next week’s Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden. Villanova is the 2 seed and Seton Hall the 3. Creighton swept Seton Hall 2-0 this season.
“I’m really pissed off that people are cutting down the nets and my guys are down there [in the locker room],” Willard said in his postgame radio interview with Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin following the No. 8 Pirates’ loss to No 11 Creighton.
“I should’ve brought them out, but they’re not in a very good mood right now.”
Seton Hall could’ve won the program’s first outright Big East crown since 1993 either by beating Villanova at home on Wednesday, or topping Creighton on the road. They came up short both times. Still, the Pirates won a share of the title despite losing star player Myles Powell to a concussion for two games earlier in the year and their second-best player, Sandro Mamukelashvili, to a fractured wrist for 10.
"I wish I could bring my kids out here right now because they’re cutting down the nets and I’ve got 13 kids who think they failed miserably,” Willard said. “I just tried to tell them, this is an unbelievable accomplishment.
“Yes, we had a chance to win it outright, we had two chances and it didn’t come through for us, but to take away from what this team has done and what this team accomplished, it would be a big mistake."
In the Big East Tournament, Seton Hall will face Marquette, the 6 seed, on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. at the Garden.
“The good Lord must know I like to go to bed at 10 o'clock," Willard cracked, calling the 9:30 start time “purgatory.”
In terms of NCAA Tournament bracketology, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi now has Seton Hall as the 3 seed in the South. They will likely open in Albany and would then move on to the regional in Houston if that’s the case. Before this year, Seton Hall had never been higher than a 6 seed under Willard.
Seton Hall finished 7-2 on the road in the Big East, and 6-3 at home. They have 10 Quad-1 wins, which trails only the 11 that Kansas and Baylor have.
Willard also proclaimed Creighton’s Greg McDermott the Big East Coach of the Year “by far” after the Bluejays were picked seventh in the league.
“I think my guy [Powell] is Player of the Year, and I think he’s Coach of the Year,” Willard said. “[He] and [Providence’s] Ed Cooley, the jobs those guys have done with their teams, I think is really impressive. What [Villanova coach] Jay [Wright] has done to get a piece of this title is really impressive.”
Despite back-to-back losses to close the regular season, Willard said he planned to go home and celebrate with his wife Julie on Saturday night to recharge for March Madness.
“I’m going to go home tonight and for the first time in a while, open up a really nice bottle of wine with my wife and I’m going to toast a regular-season championship,” he said. “I’m going to make sure all my guys understand how proud I am of them, and we’re going to get ready and get back to work on Monday. ... And we’re going to get ready for March.”
Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media.