Pulling Rank
6/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Pirate Blue
June 5, 2014
In advance of the 2014 Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony which will honor the 1988-89 national runner-up men's basketball team, SHUPirates.com will take you through the moments that comprised the Pirates' magical run to the Kingdome and the Final Four - one that ignited passions, defied the odds and left an indelible mark on the program and the university alike.
Yesterday we began by recalling the Pirates' championship run at the 1988 Great Alaska Shootout. In part two, we will take a look at the subsequent return home and the commanding victories that convinced national pollsters to give The Hall a place among the top-20 teams in the country, one which it would retain for the remainder of the season.
Perhaps there were a few smiles on the Seton Hall flight home from Anchorage.
The Pirates had after all upended three quality opponents in a four-day span.
Maybe they reveled in the victory for a short time.
The Hall returned to the Garden State with a clear understanding that the job was far from finished however; the voyage just beginning. Next up was a three-game homestand, the first two of which constituted the Seton Hall Tipoff Tournament - another chance to add hardware to a trophy case that now featured one new inhabitant and would see a number of welcome addition over the course of a historic campaign.
Despite their triumphant turn at the Great Alaska Shootout, Associated Press voters remained unconvinced that a Seton Hall team pegged to be nothing more than a cellar dweller in the BIG EAST deserved a place among the nation's elite, choosing instead to rate three conference foes in Georgetown, Syracuse and Villanova among the top-20 men's basketball squads in the nation.
In the home opener against Central Connecticut, the Pirates went about assuaging those doubts before a capacity crowd inside Historic Walsh Gymnasium. Senior John Morton turned in his second 22-point performance of the young season while classmate Ramon Ramos registered his second double-double in four games, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in limited action to spearhead an 81-42 drubbing of the Blue Devils that was the first of 10 20+-point victories The Hall scored over the course of the year.
The following night, the Seton Hall faithful once again turned out in droves to watch the Pirates take on Mount Saint Mary in the title game. P.J. Carlesimo's squad stepped on the throttle from the opening tip, racing past the overwhelmed visitors and lighting up the scoreboard for 107 points in a 32-point victory. Andrew Gaze paced the team with 21 points but the story was a balanced attack that saw all 14 members of the team hit the floor and 10 score five points or more. Junior Michael Cooper tallied a season-high 13 points as the substitutes chipped in 45 points to fuel the rout.
Now armed with two in-season tournament trophies and an unblemished 5-0 ledger, Seton Hall had forced voters to take notice of the heavyweight emerging in South Orange. On December 6, 1988, The Hall cracked the poll at #20 as one of five BIG EAST squads to be included in the rankings. Later that night, Morton poured in 17 more points as the entire Pirate contingent once again saw action in a 90-63 win over in-state foe Saint Peter's.
The result affirmed Seton Hall's status as one of the most potent teams in the nation while also marking the best start for the program since a Dan Callandrillo-led squad jumped out to 6-0 in 1981-82, the year before Carlesimo assumed the reins. Extending the unbeaten streak also served as a springboard for a team with burgeoning confidence heading into a pair of contests against the top competition the metropolitan area had to offer.
Tomorrow SHUPirates.com will explore the Pirates' dominance in an early season set of rivalry games, including a win that put an end to a streak that had spanned three-quarters of a century.
A limited number of seats remain available for the 2014 Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony to be held on Wednesday, June 18 inside Historic Walsh Gymnasium. For more information on attending and sponsorship opportunities, please click here.
