AD Newsletter with Bryan Felt - January 2021 - Seton Hall University Athletics

Dear Pirates Nation,

Happy New Year! We are starting 2021 with great positivity and optimism as we return all of our student-athletes for the start of the spring semester and begin preparations for all 14 teams to compete!

Basketball is Rolling at The Hall!

While this season has been a roller coaster with regards to postponements and scheduling, both of our basketball teams have been up to the challenge because they are talented, well-coached and enjoying playing the game that they love.

Our men's team is 6-3 in the BIG EAST and was off to the second-best start to conference play in program history. The team is in the top-10 in the nation in "Quad 1" games played and "Quad 1" wins and has looked like a squad destined to return to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight time.

Seton Hall Womens Basketball Team

Our women's team has won five games in a row and is now 6-2 in the BIG EAST! The team has a huge resume win over Marquette, and has some big opportunities ahead of it with five games remaining against Connecticut, DePaul, Marquette and Villanova. The Pirates are playing their best basketball right now and are aiming to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.

Most of the men's games are on FS1 with a FOX or CBS Sports Network broadcast sprinkled in. And you can listen to the radio feed with Gary Cohen and Dave Popkin with most games airing on AM970 The Answer, simulcast on the web via the Pirate Sports Network.

All of our women's basketball conference games are now on FloSports, an online streaming service which requires a subscription giving you access not only to all BIG EAST women's basketball games, but also college football as well as baseball, motorsports, cycling, softball, wrestling, grappling, cheerleading and more. You can also catch our women's games on the radio via our student station WSOU 89.5 FM or WSOU.net.

The Latest Academic Report Shows We've Eclipsed Another Record!

Last week, we received the latest academic report for our student-athletes, and once again we are in awe about the work the Pirates do in the classroom. Our department has combined for yet another record-high grade point average; after the fall 2020 semester, our cumulative GPA sits at 3.491!

That is an incredible number considering how easy it could have been for our student-athletes to lose focus during a very difficult semester full of quarantines, pivoting between in-person and remote learning and still trying to practice and train.

Congratulations to all our student-athletes for continuing to make academics a priority as they prepare for their futures, and congratulations to our academic support staff, coaches and administrators for all the hard work they do to recruit bright students to Seton Hall and keep them on track to maximize their potential.

On our website, you can read more about our academic success.

Help Us Virtually Sell Out Villanova!

Prudential Center Crowd During Seton Hall vs. Villanova March 4, 2020

We have missed our fans so much this year. While we are blessed to be able to have our basketball teams competing, it hasn't been the same without the raucous cheering of our beloved Pirates fans.

The men's basketball team has a huge week ahead of it with two home games against nationally ranked teams, including Saturday's rematch with No. 3 Villanova, which we've designated as our "Virtual Sellout" game.

As you're well aware, not being able to host fans at our basketball games has hurt our University financially, and we are still trying to find way to generate revenue that we can use to not only support the basketball programs, but all 14 of our programs and our over-250 student-athletes.

We hope that by virtually selling out the lower bowl of Prudential Center for the Villanova game that we can continue to put our student-athletes in the best possible position to compete for championships. While purchasing a virtual ticket package won't get you a physical seat at the game, it will get you some great giveaways and incentives, including hospitality access at a 2021-22 men's basketball game, a limited edition 2020-21 team poster, your name engraved on a department film room chair or even a pregame shootaround at Prudential Center in 2021-22!

You can purchase a Virtual Sellout Ticket Package online now, and thank you all for your support as we continue to navigate this pandemic with the goal of supporting our terrific student-athletes.

We've Got Excitement in the Spring Semester!

Mike Sheppard, Sr. Stadium at Owen Carroll Field

This week, we have been feeling the energy in the Regan Center because all of our teams are back from winter break. Full team activities for our 12 non-basketball programs start Monday, and spring semester classes for all of our student-athletes start on Wednesday. Everything we do, we do it for the betterment of these young men and women, and not having all of our teams around the last seven weeks has been difficult.

But we're staying positive here, and we are thankful that we have gotten to a place where we will be seeing our teams compete once more. The BIG EAST Conference announced its formats for regular season and championship competition this semester, and we cannot wait for student-athletes to get after it. Our cross country teams will be up first on the championship schedule, competing March 5 in Cary, N.C.

Our men's golf team will be the first team to go into any competition as the Pirates will play in a tournament at Florida Atlantic on Feb. 1. Then, while nothing has been made official yet with respect to non-conference games, we are expecting to see our soccer, volleyball, tennis, baseball and softball teams all play home games the week of Feb. 14-21.

It's going to be an exciting time for the Pirates, and we cannot wait. It's been too long!

Be sure to stay up to date with schedules by visiting SHUPirates.com, the site that will have the most accurate information about when and where the Pirates are competing.

STAY SAFE & GO PIRATES!