Seton Hall sits on NCAA bubble after loss to Notre Dame

BY MIKE VORKUNOV

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

BIG EAST TOURNAMENT

NEW YORK — As Bobby Gonzalez passed Notre Dame coach Mike Brey and Luke Harangody in the depths of Madison Square Garden last night, he stopped for a moment to deliver a message and a handshake.

"I'm rooting for you," said Gonzalez, acknowledging that the Fighting Irish's future will include a trip to the NCAA Tournament. At the same time it sounded like a resignation that the only interest Seton Hall will have in the tournament is a rooting one.

What does the future hold for Seton Hall? As of right now, just a lot of watching, waiting and hoping. In what some dubbed a play-in game for the Big Dance, they fell to Notre Dame 68-56 in the second round of the Big East Tournament.

As a bubble team that was projected on the wrong side of it even coming into the evening, the Seton Hall (19-12, 9-9) knew what the stakes were as Gonzalez addressed the team before the game instead of ignoring the situation.

BOXSCORE: Notre Dame 68, Seton Hall 56

Still, motivation can only take you so far when your body won't comply. The Pirates observationally seemed a step slower than Notre Dame (22-10, 10-8) and fighting dead legs from the delirious end to the previous night.

So as soon as the final buzzer went off the premature prognostication and pre-emptive politicking began.

"So you know, I think we should be on the board," said Gonzalez. "I think all this talk about the bubble has burst and now we're out and we're done and we lost and that's it and it's over, I don't think people know what they're talking about. I don't think they have a clue."

Seton Hall potentially would not need to depend on the ignorant and clueless if they had won last night. But they were done in by fatigue and an Irish gameplan that both surprised and frustrated them. Notre Dame, a changed team since star forward Luke Harangody went out with a right knee injury almost a month ago at the Prudential Center, forced its methodical, painstaking pace on the Pirates. They milked the shot clock, working it down to single digits before running a play, forcing a Hall team that has played four games in the last week to defend for 30-seconds plus instead of getting into the fast and loose game they expected and prefer.

Herb Pope said that the team was surprised by slowed down pace of the Irish, and Gonzalez said that weary legs were a symptom. Their 34.5 percent shooting from the floor, hitting just 2-of-16 three pointers, reflected that.

"We just plain and simple couldn't make a shot, had no legs and we were beat up," the coach explained. "Notre Dame was fresh. They took advantage of that."

Pope, who finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, wouldn't disagree, "It's much better to be off than turn around and play in 24 hours."

It made for a self-perpetuating cycle. Because the Pirates could not hit shots, they could not press and dictate the flow, the more tired they got and the worse shots they took.

Luke Harangody burned them on the defensive end, scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. He dominated in the first half, scoring 15 of his points then, and turned the paint area into his office as he eschewed his usual variety of jump shots for gritty buckets.

"The microwave was ready to go tonight," said Brey of his star, who was playing in just his second game after missing 17 days.

Before Gonzalez spent the better part of his press conference running down his team's accolades, Brey threw in a piece of advice to the assembled media towards the Pirates' postseason plans

"Take a deep breath before you do anything with Seton Hall, the way this thing is going to play out nationally," he pleaded. "Just give it a few days. Keep Seton Hall on the board. Just keep Seton Hall on the board. Right now I know everybody knee jerks. Give it two days and come back and look at the big picture."

The big picture says that the Pirates were among the last four out as projected by ESPN before the day's games started. Their strength of schedule was 34th and tied for 53rd in RPI. Along with a glaring hole on their resume where a marquee win should be.

At this point the opinion that counts the least is the one in their own locker room but it's obvious which way they are swaying.

"I think so," said Jordan Theodore, who had just five points on 1-of-9 shooting. "I think people should look at us like we're a good team. We don't have any bad losses. We had a good strength of schedule. Our RPI is not bad. We got talent on this team. They shouldn't overlook us."

Whatever they think, Seton Hall will have to wait till Selection Sunday to learn their fate and hope they are one of 31 at-large teams. They are as powerless as can be.

"Only thing we can do now is regroup and rest up like coach said," said Pope. "Just try to hope for the best that somebody loses and we get in as an at-large."

Day 2

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