Big East Tournament: Seton Hall Pirates Show No Progress

The camera caught a Seton Hall player looking dejected in the middle of the second half. He knew the game was over for his team, and his team would be heading to the NIT.

Seton Hall needed to get at least two Big East tournament wins to qualify for the NCAA tournament, but instead, they settled for only one victory after taking a 68-56 loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Madison Square Garden Wednesday night.

The Pirates blew it after losing to Marquette at home few weeks ago. They wouldn't be fighting for their playoff lives had they done their job at home.

That's when they lost their bid. It had nothing to do with tonight's game, when one analyzes what really went wrong for the Pirates.

It wasn't surprising the Hall lost to the Irish. Yes, they defeated them in January, but their opponent is a different team now than back then. The Irish had won six of seven heading into the Big East Tournament.

In this game, it came down to a superstar. Notre Dame has one and Seton Hall doesn't.

When Seton Hall struggled to make baskets in a tight game, the Fighting Irish knew they would— thanks to Luke Harangody.

Harangody scored in the middle of the first half, and he helped give the Irish a nice lead heading to halftime.

By then, the Pirates never recovered. The Irish continued to score by running their fast break to start the second half.

The Pirates would make it interesting, but everyone knew the Irish would not blow this lead. If it came down to that situation, Harangody would bail them out.

Of course, they didn't need him in that situation.

There's something to learn from this game. Until the Pirates get a star like Harangody, they are going to be fighting for a tournament spot every year.

Marginal players are not enough to win in the Big East. It works for the mid-major conferences, but as Bobby Gonzalez finds out, it does not work here.

Gonzalez has not found success in getting the stars to play at Seton Hall. The stars know they can win and be good players for better programs in the Big East.

The Seton Hall coach settles with getting guys from junior-college instead. He feels he can develop them into stars, but that's hard to do.

They can only do so much. So far, it hasn't worked either.

Herb Pope and Jordan Theodore have not exactly panned out as stars. Keon Lawrence does not perform much.

It's one thing to play well against the bad teams, but it's another thing to go up against the great teams.

Something has to be done. This can't go on.

Either Gonzalez needs to hire someone to help him recruit those guys or he has to do a better job. One wonders if his reputation scares off others.

If that's the case, maybe it's time for the school to go in another direction.

They might as well. Does anyone think Gonzalez is the guy to lead the Pirates to where they want to be?

Seton Hall fans called for Louis Orr to be fired for two reasons. For one thing, he didn't recruit well enough, and secondly, he never took them far into the postseason.

Gonzalez is in the same situation, however, fans seem to believe in him for whatever reason.

It's hard to believe. It's been three years with nothing to show for it.

Seton Hall will stick with their guy for a while, but if this is the best he can do for the next two years, they need to think long and hard about firing him.

They probably should, but they won't.

Gonzalez will talk about how his team overachieved and how being in the NIT is a good thing for his program. Who's he kidding?

By now, they should be a tournament team under Gonzalez's leadership every year.

They're no better than they were under Orr.

Hard to believe things are changing anytime soon.