SAN DIEGO — Even if you are Cinderella, it is the finality that makes it so cruel. You show up with a March Madness dream, no matter who you are, and a belief that you have what it takes to make magic happen and carry home with you memories that can last a lifetime.
And then the horn sounds, and all you sleep on is 40 Minutes of Hell … if you can sleep at all.
You are HALL-out.
Beaten Hall, an embarrassing 69-42 loser to TCU … in Seton Hall’s third-largest March Madness loss and their worst in 18 years.
You don’t have to be Saint Peter’s to experience the thrill of victory in March. You don’t have to slay Goliath to dance toward hoop heaven.
Nobody passed a law that said Seton Hall couldn’t star in its own basketball fairytale. P.J. Carlesimo’s 1989 team sure showed everyone that. You can’t make it to the championship game if you can’t survive and advance past the first game.
There was nothing that coach Kevin Willard and those Seton Hall players who were cheated by what they truly believed would have been a magical Final Four run by COVID-19 in 2020 could do about that now, or ever.
But Friday night at Viejas Arena, these resilient Pirates welcomed with open arms this One Shining Moment against TCU that could have given them a Second Shining Moment on Sunday night against mighty Arizona, top seed in the South Region and 87-70 victor over Wright State.
Sadly, the Seton Hall Pirates will now have to look back on more what-if regrets.
The shame of it all is TCU was in the Pirates’ weight class, an eminently beatable team for Seton Hall’s band of brothers who had overcome a two-week COVID-19 pause and the loss of point guard Bryce Aiken to a concussion.
Perhaps Terry Dehere in his prime could have made a difference for the Hall.
But perhaps not.
With a little over six minutes left in Arizona’s victory, the Pirates, clad in their Blue and White “No Quit” shirts, were in the hallway outside their locker room jogging back and forth and limbering up and hopping in place at the behest of masked strength and conditioning coordinator Jason Nehring. Jared Rhoden was singing “Oh oh oh oh oh oh.” Then he barked: “Everything you got.” Myles Cale looked down at a kneeling photographer nodding and smiling. The Pirates mascot arrived to slap hands with the players.
After the Arizona players walked past them, the Pirates took the floor for warm-ups. Then Rhoden sprinted off, leading his teammates back to the locker room. When they emerged, Nehring said: “They look good. Ready to go.”
A little more than two hours later, they were ready to go home.
This was a merciless execution.
“They just had a better night than us,” Rhoden said.
The Horned Frogs defiantly took away the Hall’s offense, and eventually its spirit.
There were times when it seemed as if there were six Horned Frogs on the defensive end. They played with unremitting ferocity, physicality and swag. They were chairmen of the boards. They frazzled and rattled one Pirate after the next from beginning to end. The Hall shot 15-for-52 (28.8 percent), 6-for-21 from 3-point range.
BALL-out.
“I thought they got into us really early in the game and kinda shook us to be honest with you,” Willard said. “I thought they were a lot tougher than us. Just thought they took us out of what we wanted to do.”
With 18:25 left in the second half, Rhoden (2-for-7, five points) trudged to the bench with his fourth foul, the Hall down 12. He returned several desperate minutes later only to foul out on a suspect call with 12:55 left. By then, it was TCU 47, Seton Hall 26.
Willard had opened the second half with Tyrese Samuel and Alexis Yetna desperately seeking more rebounding, but TCU dominated on the glass (39-26).
The school sold 400 tickets and the hopeful Seton Hall contingent, clad in blue behind the bench, chanted “Let’s Go Pirates” while standing and cheering as they did just before tip-off.
Willard had subbed Samuel, Yetna and Jamir Harris early for Cale, Kadary Richmond and Tray Jackson and watched a shot clock violation on their first possession together. Rhoden fouled Chuck O’Bannon as he was attempting a 3-pointer. Cale (4-for-15, 11 points) grabbed his own miss inside, but his follow was swatted away by Emanuel Miller.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Nelson and Cale late in the first half had the Hall fans apoplectic and chanting “Dee-fense, Dee-fense.”
It proved to be their last gasp.
TCU guards Mike Miles Jr. and Damion Baugh reminded Willard of Collin Gillespie and Justin Moore, never a good thing for Villanova opponents.
Rhoden: “I came here as a young boy and I’m leaving as a man.”
Cale: “I came here a boy and I left here a man. Nothing but love when I think about Seton Hall.”
Willard: “I’m proud of this group. It’s a really bad way to end it. Whether you lose by one or 27, it’s the same thing.”
Referring to the chatter that he could be leaving for Maryland, Willard said: “If I’m not here next year, I’d love if Shaheen Holloway was here, that would be the happiest thing to happen to me.”
Willard had watched Holloway’s Saint Peter’s team shock Kentucky and the college basketball world, while eating pizza in his hotel room with his son.
“It was one of my best days as a head coach,” Willard said.
Followed a day later by one of his worst days as a head coach.
HALL-out.
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