World HOt toPPIX

Your best source for quality Seton Hall Pirates news, rumors, analysis, stats and scores from the fan perspective.

Julio Cortez - APMore photos »Sure, this shot is from Sunday, but it may as well have been from Wednesday night. Haralds Karlis (13) scored a new career-high 13 PTS, by the way, as Seton Hall blew out the Red Storm. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

I think everyone who made their way to the Rock for this game left with their jaws dropped at the show put on by the Seton Hall Pirates against St. John's.

I tweeted after the game that it may have been the best I've ever seen the Pirates play live, and it wasn't just because they made shots. It was because everyone was involved and contributing both on offense and defense. You look at the stat sheet from this one and it reads like a great novel. Double-doubles for Jordan Theodore (16 PTS, 10 AST), Herb Pope (10 PTS/10 REB) and Patrik Auda (12 PTS/10 REB). Every time you looked up, there was someone making a play. There was Haralds Karlis, knocking down threes and diving on the floor for loose balls. There was Aaron Cosby showing something more than shooting the three, running a little offense from time to time. There was Brandon Mobley being a beast on the boards. There was Freddie Wilson showing a confident late-game handle. There was Fuquan Edwin being a pest and knocking down a couple shots. Heck, there was Pete Dill with a couple sweet dishes and two steals in just about 90 seconds of playing time.

This was a team win from top to bottom, and I think everyone wearing blue and white tonight left the Rock with a sense of pride in their team, and their third straight conference win since the 6-game losing streak. After a performance like that, it's pretty safe to say that ugly stretch of games is behind this team.

For the second straight season against St. John's, the Pirates literally could not miss from the three point line. Last year they went 12-18 from deep. Last night? 15-24 on deep balls, including makes in their first NINE attempts in the second half to turn a 12-point halftime lead into a blowout. It was a stunning display, and I don't think any of them were bad or forced shots. Just one of those nights for Seton Hall, except instead of being white-hot for a half, or an 8-minute span, they stayed hot.

Tremendous game by Auda, who notched his first career double-double while playing with tremendous confidence. He's finally starting to look like he means business on the court, and his line of 12 PTS and 10 REB in 23 minutes (in my opinion) has to be his best one of the season. It won't be talked about much, but Auda playing well was the icing on the cake for me (in addition to seeing Pete Dill get 2 assists) in this game.

That's a mantra from my high school coach, and it's what St. John's was doing way too much of tonight. They're a young team, on the road, facing a defense like Seton Hall's, so I think we could have seen it coming. But there were several instances where the young Johnnies just didn't do a very good job of either moving the ball or making smart decisions with it. They got frustrated with the Seton Hall matchup zone, and as they did, the Pirates gained confidence that spilled over into the shooting on the offensive end. Things quickly snowballed out of control for St. John's when even close shots would not go down for them, and although they had their moments (a breakaway dunk by Sir'Dominic Pointer and a putback slam by Moe Harkless among them), this night belonged to the Pirates.

Seton Hall, with the win, has now won 4 out of the last 5 against St. John's. Tonight was also the largest margin of victory ever for Seton Hall in the 102-year history of the rivalry, and only the second time the Pirates have ever beaten a Big East opponent by 30 or more points. The Pirates just have St. John's number right now- plain and simple. St. John's also still hasn't beaten the Pirates on the road since 1998.

Seton Hall is now on a three-game win streak and are playing very, very well. Next, they head to Cincinnati for a matchup with the Bearcats that could go a long way in determining seeding for the Big East Tournament. I'll be on the call for WSOU once again, and a full preview will be up on South Orange Juice this Saturday morning.

Show Them The Love! Happy Valentine's Day!!!! 30 points is a triumph but considering SJU looked tired and well? defeated early on, it?s not a great win. Solid is a better word for it. We shot well, even though a lot of shots were uncontested. I saw the SJU game at GOWN and they played a great game. It wasn?t the same team that played us last night. So what did we prove? Very little. CINCY and GTOWN will be our make or break into the tourney. We?re been up and down like an hysterical pregnancy all year. And our game play has been the same. Our last 2 wins against RU and PITT seemed to be fueled by desperation more than anything else. Right now I think we?re not exactly on the bubble. We?re more a suspect team as in what team will show up? The desperate one? The 6 loses in a row one? Or the 30 point winner? We have to show them that the winning SHU will show up. And that means 3 out of the last 4.

by fouline on Feb 15, 2012 12:14 PM EST reply actions What is the matter with SHU fan support......... The Pirates is competing for an NCAA bid. They are 2 wins away from a 20 win season and playing exciting basketball. The Pirates are playing in one of the best arena in the country.

Yet this team isn?t seeing any larger fan support over the 6000 seats filled. Seeing a lot of empty seats at the Pirates game against St Johns has to make Seton Hall one of the worst fan supported teams in the Conference.

by WarmupEwing on Feb 15, 2012 5:51 PM EST up reply actions Holiday The excuse is that it was Valentines day. I understand that people should have been there but you also have to remember that current students do not have the most school spirit. There are too many commuters that do not feel an affinity for the school and something as simple as Valentines Day ? means, date night and not Pirate night.

by TylerHall10 on Feb 15, 2012 1:17 PM EST reply actions Agreed Definitely agree with that. Its a small undergrad population (5,000) and roughly 30% to %40 are commuters. There are a lot of factors that contribute to the problem, its just hard to imagine you are going to improve the attendance that much for a Tuesday game (even of the non-holiday variety) with a 7:00 start.

by jesse.beutell on Feb 15, 2012 2:24 PM EST reply actions Valentine's Day Scheduling... more than anything else. Sure, 7pm starts are tough for people to get to ON-TIME, if you?re working until 5-6PM in the city, or need to commute home after work before the game, but I think yesterday?s attendance had the most to do with Valentine?s Day.

Face it, it?s great for those that can get out of the Hallmark Holiday, but for many of us, including myself (who had to watch the 2nd half on DVR), our women are not going to tolerate ATTENDING basketball games on February 14th, that?s just how it is.

Now the students/student section on the other hand, they don?t have an excuse. If you?re dating someone in college, a game is a great date, but for the older alumni, it just doesn?t work like that anymore.

by GonzoBallSHU on Feb 15, 2012 2:56 PM EST reply actions disagree on the student section Granted their are plenty of students who are not dating anyone and Hall Ball fans but even in my undergraduate years it was tough to take off Valentines Day. Women get what they want that day, no matter how old you are.

I also think a part of it still goes back to the commuters but Seton Hall could do it correctly. In their ?Freshman welcome to the University? class ? they should be teaching the fight song. I only graduated a couple years ago but I?m still maybe one of 5 out of all of my friends who could actually sing the entire fight song; instead of just fight fight fight for the blue and white and the glory of Seton Hall. It would go a long way.

Their new commercials will hopefully start to help as well. This was the first time (like 4 games ago when they were unveiled) where a SHU commercial during a home game actually talked about athletics in an upbeat and proud tone.

by TylerHall10 on Feb 15, 2012 3:44 PM EST reply actions All Bull, Guys! Valentine?s Day, 5000 students, 40% commuters. Bull. Truth be told, older and younger fans of SHU haven?t been ?capitvated? by this team. In other words, they can take them or leave them. Why? Inconsistent. And sad to say, dull. The Knicks sold out Toronto last night because the Knick fan has been ?captivated? by Lin. Also, I hate to say it, as exiting as it was to think about a 30 point spread, the game was boring. SJU was DOA most of the night and for our part well, the half court game was dull. Sports is entertainment. We may have won, but we weren?t very entertaining. Hard for fans to get excited enough to come out for a game. Dull play works better on TV.

by fouline on Feb 15, 2012 4:36 PM EST reply actions St. John's Just wondering how you guys felt about some of the St. John?s players deciding to not avoid flag man as he ran around during the 8 minute mark timeout.

I was also a little disappointed that they didn?t call off the press at all even under 2 minutes left and in turn wound up fouling us a few more times than they should have. I chalked both things up to an extremely young team obviously being embarrassed by a local opponent and just not thinking much. A little upsetting though to see.

As a New York city guy, I?ve never liked St. John?s because I felt they always got more love than the Hall even during some of our better years. This just continued my dislike for them.

One of their players also tried to steal the ball from Dill with time expiring and Seton Hall was running out the clock. Very strange, and signs of a young team, indeed.

by GonzoBallSHU on Feb 15, 2012 6:12 PM EST up reply actions The fans will come Commuters, dorm students and alumni will come back once the team shows a consistent pattern of winning. By that I mean finish this year strong, have another 18-20 win season in 2012 and by the time Carr walks on to the court in 2013, the lower tear will be filled and the black curtain will rise.

Coach Carlisimo could not get more than 5,000 to the Meadowlands until the early 90?s when he started winning consistently with marquee local talent. Once he did there were well in excess of 10,000 at most games.

What also hurts the team?s ability to draw fans is that the actions of Coach Gonzalez, during his last two years, turned off a lot of fans, local players and local coaches. Coach Orr before him also turned off local coaches and made no attempt to attract marquee local players. There has not been an emotional connection betweent the team and its fan base since the Coach Amaker days. This is a lot to overcome.

Another factor is the defacto PSL. Seton Hall has been saying to alumni, since the Rock opened, they have to donate to get seats and donate more to get better seats. While I do not critize SHU for taking this approach, when you have not had 10 positive years in a row since before the mid 60?s, this was and remains a tough pill for many alumni to swallow. This was further complicated by the low expectations for this team in the pre-season coaches poll.

Be patient. Our Coach has come further than anyone expected and did it in a very short period of time. The last piece of the puzzle is always getting the fans back. This too will happen sooner than expected. This is something we should all beleive.

BTW the St. John?s game was exciting. It only looked dull because St. John?s had that defeated look on thier faces by the 10 min mark of the first half.

by 11yearplan on Feb 16, 2012 5:17 AM EST up reply actions Agree with everything you said here The fan support will come if we have continued success, which I think this program is set up to do.

by seton hall and steelers on Feb 15, 2012 9:43 PM EST up reply actions Dont agree here. Look at the Devils. They are at the top of their division year after year. They cant draw in newark and they are currently looking to move the team to another market. You can get Nets tix on Stub Hub for a penny. The nets didnt draw when they were bad, or when they were good, or in Newark. It will be interesting to see how they do in Brooklyn. I know of a few people that have Seton Hall season tix, but only go to a few of the games and they cite ?newark? as the reason not to go out and see the team.

by 2003pirate on Feb 16, 2012 9:35 AM EST up reply actions It doesn't matter to me how many students come out, BUT the people who do need to be a whole lot better than they were last night. It?s standard practice to cheer the team when they come onto the court, right? Well, I was the only one doing that. I actually had to turn around and motion for people to actually get up and clap during the fight song for both pregame and halftime. They reluctantly took their noses out from their phones to stand, but still didn?t clap along with the fight song. NO ONE did the ?S-H-U-SHU? chant either.

I don?t care what day it is. If you as a student come to the game and sit in the student section, you do the things the student section does. The student section was the most dead I?ve seen it since the Richmond game last year, and that day, there was next to no one there anyway because of a blizzard. I expected much better in terms of enthusiasm from the students. MUCH better.

by GonzoBallSHU on Feb 15, 2012 9:07 PM EST up reply actions I was sitting in section 11, right next to the student section and I was embarrassed for them. There were actually stretches where they were sitting down.

by seton hall and steelers on Feb 15, 2012 9:44 PM EST up reply actions Information about the Devils is wrong.......... I have gone to every NJ Devils home games this year and the information given about the Devils not drawing is totally wrong..

The Devils are drawing better then expected considering where they are in the standings. I am seeing crowds of no less then 13000 and I see many close sell-outs when the better teams come in.

You can lie about numbers.... But numbers dont lie. The Devils are one of the worst draws in the league. Look it up. They are in serious financial trouble. thats no secret. Ownership is looking to move the team to another market where they can be profitable. (Note: I said profitable, not ?more profitable?, they are currently in the red $20M a year). The devils should be selling out the Rock every game (like the 18 other teams in the league have no trouble doing) Why do you think they cant?

by 2003pirate on Feb 16, 2012 1:21 PM EST up reply actions It has nothing to do with Newark. The Devil?s problems are that there are three teams in a market than can?t support two and the current owners paid too much for the team. The Nets have no tradition at all and everyone knew they were temporary tenants during the last half of their stay in East Rutherford and thier stay in Newark. They have bounced all over the place, including the RAC, almost never had a winning record and never had a player who defined the franchise. Their fans have never had anything to attach to.

No one who hung around the bars in Vailsburg or ate at the down neck resturants is afarid to go downtown. Once you have walked downtown after midnight, you realize it?s not an issue.

The Rock is a great arena, blows Izod away. It?s easier to get to, easier to leave, has mass transporation options and does not have a cattle corssing.

Seton Hall Basketball: JP's Game Preview- UConn Huskies Live Game Thread - Seton Hall Pirates (15-7, 4-6) @ Connecticut Huskies (14-7, 4-5) 12:00PM (SNY) Seton Hall Basketball: UCONN 69, Seton Hall 46; South Orange, We Have a Problem Seton Hall Basketball: How The Pirates Can Salvage Their Season Seton Hall Basketball: JP's Game Preview- Rutgers Scarlet Knights Live Game Thread - Seton Hall Pirates (15-8, 4-7) @ Rutgers Scarlet Knights (12-12, 4-7) 9:00PM (ESPN2) Seton Hall Basketball: Seton Hall 59, Rutgers 54; Pirates, Cosby Turn the Lights on the Rutgers Blackout Seton Hall Basketball: JP's 5 Thoughts- SHU 59, RU 54 Seton Hall Basketball: JP's SUPER-SIZED Game Preview- Pittsburgh Panthers Live Game Thread - Pittsburgh Panthers (15-10, 4-8) @ Seton Hall Pirates (16-8, 5-7) - 12:00PM (SNY) SBNation.