State is off to Newark in a bit of a homecoming game for Brandon Costner and Dennis Horner.
We caught a bit of Seton Hall against Penn State recently, when Penn State's Talor Battle unveiled a superb instinct for clutch play. You wouldn't normally say this about Seton Hall and Penn State, but the end of the game was riveting.
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| ACC Standings | |||||||||||||||||||
| Boston College | 1-0 | 1.000 | 8-2 | .800 | |||||||||||||||
| Wake Forest | 1-0 | 1.000 | 8-3 | .727 | |||||||||||||||
| Miami | 0-0 | .000 | 12-0 | 1.000 | |||||||||||||||
| North Carolina | 0-0 | .000 | 11-0 | 1.000 | |||||||||||||||
| Clemson | 0-0 | .000 | 10-1 | .909 | |||||||||||||||
| Duke | 0-0 | .000 | 10-1 | .909 | |||||||||||||||
| Virginia | 0-0 | .000 | 9-2 | .818 | |||||||||||||||
| Florida State | 0-0 | .000 | 10-4 | .714 | |||||||||||||||
| NC State | 0-0 | .000 | 7-3 | .700 | |||||||||||||||
| Georgia Tech | 0-0 | .000 | 5-5 | .500 | |||||||||||||||
| Virginia Tech | 0-1 | .000 | 6-5 | .545 | |||||||||||||||
| Maryland | 0-1 | .000 | 6-6 | .500 | |||||||||||||||
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Penn State won, but Seton Hall is the better team. State may not have an easy game.
The Hall is coached by Bobby Gonzalez, a former Pete Gillen assistant at Virginia. He's a guy who is relentlessly energetic and highly ambitious, although sometimes his desire gets the best of him, as when he reportedly told Miami that he had another offer he would take if they didn't hire him. He didn't, and they didn't.
Nonetheless, don't be surprised to hear his name come up when an ACC job is open. Seton Hall is not a great team, but they're improving and he is a hardcore recruiter, as is his lead assistant, who works New Jersey as well as anyone. Their roster, with the exception of a Nigerian big man, is entirely from New York and New Jersey.
Also, it'll be Gonzalez vs. Gonzalez, as State is turning to freshman Javi Gonzalez to run the show against the Pirates.
UNC has Nevada in town, and while they're off last year's tremendous pace (29-5) and lost Nick Fazekias, Mark Fox has proven to be a better than expected replacement for Trent Johnson. The odds are against Nevada, and UNC would have to help out, but they're not talentless. If the Heels don't take them seriously and they're playing at a high level (a very high level), they could be in the game in the closing minutes. But we wouldn't bet house money on it or anything. On top of everything else, presumably the players went home for Christmas, which means they should have flown out on the 26th. If they had to regroup in Reno and fly out together, that's that much more travel. It's asking a lot, really.
In the other game of the day, Georgia Tech takes a break and plays Tennessee Tech. Tech (the Georgia version) has been rocky, but there's no Rocky Top here that we can see.
Former Tech star Anthony McHenry is back in town as a student assistant, training for a career as a coach.