DANCING AGAIN! The Hall Headed to Wichita for NCAAs
3/11/2018 9:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball
South Orange, N.J. - The Seton Hall men's basketball team is dancing for a third straight year.
The Pirates, led by head coach Kevin Willard, have earned an at-large berth into the 2018 NCAA Tournament and have been placed in Wichita, Kan., as an eight seed in the Midwest Region and will take on No. 9 seed NC State on Thursday at 4:30 p.m., Eastern, live on TBS.
This is Seton Hall's third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, a feat the program has reached only once before, 1991–94, when the Pirates advanced to four consecutive tournaments. In addition, among the 21 Met Basketball Writers Association schools, Seton Hall is one of only four schools to reach three straight tournaments since the Pirates last did it in 1994:
- Iona (2016, 2017, 2018)
- LIU-Brooklyn (2011, 2012, 2013)
- St. John's (1998, 1999, 2000)
This is also Seton Hall's 12th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance, joining the Pirates teams of 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2016 and 2017. The Hall is 15-11 all-time in NCAA Tournament games and is in search of its first win since defeating Arizona in the 2004 first round.
This is Seton Hall's third NCAA Tournament appearance as the No. 8 seed, and the two previous times resulted in first-round wins. The Pirates topped UTEP in 1988 and Arizona in 2004.
Seton Hall and NC State have five all-time meetings, and the Wolfpack lead the series, 3-2, though they have not met since 2007.
2017-18 Pirate Blue members at the $500 level and above and active Seton Hall University students with valid ID can purchase tickets to the NCAA Tournament first & second rounds through the Seton Hall Athletics ticket office until Sunday night at 10 p.m., and again on Monday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., by calling (973) 275-4255. Fans will be notified by Tuesday at 5 p.m., if their order has been fulfilled. Complete information on tickets is available at SHUPirates.com.
The Pirates are 21-11 overall and finished in a third-place tie in the BIG EAST with a 10-8 record, the third consecutive year that The Hall finished above .500 in the league that has generated 28 NCAA Tournament berths since its rebirth in 2014. Earlier this season, they were nationally ranked for 11 weeks, reaching as high as No. 13, and on Selection Sunday, they were in the top 35 of all the metrics used by the NCAA committee: RPI 32, 31, Strength of Record 26, BPI 28, KenPom 26, Sagarin 25). Seton Hall's top wins on the season included a neutral site win over then-No. 22 Texas Tech, a road win at then-No. 17 Louisville as well as five wins over fellow NCAA Tournament teams from the BIG EAST: Butler, Creighton and Providence. Fourteen of Seton Hall's 21 wins came against the KenPom Top 100.
