What more is there to say?
Ok, plenty to say.
Seton Hall vs. Indiana State – 7:00 PM EDT, ESPN
It turns out it hasn’t been that long since the NIT’s top two seeds have met in the NIT Championship. It happened in 2014, when second overall seed Minnesota beat first overall seed SMU. Still, it’s a rarity. We’re seeing something special here. The best teams in this tournament came to play.
Indiana State is the favorite. Indiana State is the story. Indiana State is the local school and America’s team, all at once. Indiana State is the program on the come-up, unless Josh Schertz and Robbie Avila and all the rest jump ship, in which case Indiana State is the program trying to seize its greatest opportunity in the last forty years. Indiana State is a veritable phenomenon. Seton Hall?
Seton Hall is a bunch of dogs.
The story’s worth mentioning again: This tournament started with St. John’s opting out and Seton Hall deciding to play. Shaheen Holloway said after the fact that when the Pirates weren’t selected for the NCAA T*urnament, he went to his five starters—his five senior starters—and asked if they wanted to keep playing. They did want to. They did keep playing. Now, here they are. After three boisterous victories at Walsh Gymnasium, the Pirates headed west, away from the NIT’s ancestral homeland, to the old and new of Hinkle Fieldhouse. Upon arrival, they promptly slaughtered Georgia. NIT underdogs are generally a lot worse.
How does the game go?
The matchup’s a conflict of styles. Indiana State is beautiful basketball, all movement and nuance and creativity. There’s a reason Schertz might leave Indiana State. A lot of the country would be ecstatic to have him as their coach. Seton Hall is more discipline, grit, and heart. The Pirates are much better defensively than the Sycamores. The Pirates are old, a lot of players sending out their college careers in style. The Sycamores are young, opportunity blossoming in front of them. Indiana State might have the game’s best star, in the form of Avila, but Seton Hall has the game’s best player, in the form of Kadary Richmond. Richmond is the best player on any team that’s made the NIT. Richmond is better than anyone NC State or Alabama is offering in the other tournament. Richmond is going to be a nightmare for Indiana State’s guards.
The problem, of course, is that Richmond can only guard one of those guards at a time. The chess match should be real here. What’s Holloway’s gameplan? How does Schertz adjust to it? How does Holloway adjust to Schertz’s adjustments? We’re curious if Seton Hall will try to play a lot of booty ball. We’re curious if Indiana State will counter that by pulling back out the zone they used in the second half against SMU. Does this come down to who makes more threes? Indiana State should be expected to produce more open looks, but that’s true on both ends of the floor. It’s a great, great matchup. All parties are expecting a great, great game. We can’t wait.
One game more, friends. For the greatest championship in sports. Indiana State. Seton Hall. Tonight, at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
We’ll see you there.
