Seton Hall Bubble Watch: Plenty at stake in the next week

The Seton Hall Pirates are ready for the NCAA tournament. They have been one of the teams in the “lock” category for some weeks. The only questions now are where will they be seeded and how far will they go?

The Seton Hall Pirates have gone to the NCAA Tournament 13 times, the Sweet Sixteen four times in 1989, 1991, 1992 and 2000, and the Final Four once, in 1989.  This year the Hall wants to win it all. The Pirates are 12-3 in the Big East, good for first place, and 20-7 overall.

Seton Hall has been categorized as a “lock” coming out of the Big East. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi has them as the No. 3 seed in the East. CBS’ Jerry Palm also has the Pirates as a third seed but in the West. Coming off an 81-65 beatdown over the St. John’s Red Storm (it wasn’t as close as the final score indicates), they are tops in the Big East, one game up on both Creighton and Villanova, and sailing to the NCAA Tournament.

To close out the regular season, the Pirates will be playing all ranked teams, including fifth place Marquette, Villanova, and Creighton. So far this season the Pirates have defeated the Marquette Golden Eagles at the Prudential Center, 69-55. They also beat the Villanova Wildcats at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly, 70-64; and lost to the Creighton Bluejays at home 87-82.

As of February 26, Seton Hall is:

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• No. 13 on the AP Top 25.
• No. 13 on the Coaches Poll.
• 17th in RPI.
• 15th in the NCAA’s NET rankings.

Potential Big East Player of the Year Myles Powell is the Pirates leading scorer with 21.3 points per game as well as steals (1.3). The leader in rebounds is Jared Rhoden 6.7 per game; Quincy McKnight is tops with 5.3 assists. 7-2 center Romaro Gill is the team leader in blocks at 3.4 per game.

Powell is looking forward to his last NCAA Tournament and is determined to get to the East Regional at the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, March 27 and 29.

Two wins in the final three games should earn Seton Hall at least a two seed in the Big East Tournament which begins on March 11. The Pirates next play on Saturday, Feb. 29 on the road at Marquette.