Anonymous Eagle 8-Bit Previews: Seton Hall Edition

CAUTION: Dumb, pirate-themed jokes ahead.

(1) VITAL SCHEMATICS: A year after pillaging their way to a 20-12 record and a near-miss of an NCAA tournament invitation, the Pirates sit 12-5 and 1-3 in the Big East. Their non-conference schedule was silky soft, featuring a home win over Stony Brook and losses to Washington and LSU. Aside from those three games, Seton Hall ran up a 12-1 record by raiding the likes of UMKC, St. Peter's, Long Island, Longwood, and North Carolina AT&T.

The Bucs snagged a road win at DePaul to open their Big East slate, but the seas have gotten rough since then: SHU got run out of the gym at Notre Dame, let Louisville blow open a close game in the last 10 minutes of what became a 15-point loss, and then made a real mess of the decks in a home loss to Providence: the Pirates committed 17 turnovers (including an impressive four in just seven minutes by Brandon Mobley) in falling to the Friars.

(2) PRIMARY WEAPON: FUQUAN BOMB (damage rating: 7.0 out of 10): Seton Hall boasts an impressive effective field goal percentage (eFG%) of 53.3, thanks primarily to excellent shooting from long-range. The Pirates hit from deep on 37.4% of their tries, good for 38th in the nation. A large part of that success comes from junior gunner Fuquan Edwin*, who has inherited the VOLUME SHOOTER mantle from former Pirate Jeremy Hazell, and averages 17.6 points on about 13 attempts a game. In his last three games, though, with Pirates dropping like they've been afflicted with scurvy, Edwin's hoisted an impressive 46 shots, making 20 (including six triples).

* Related: I've yet to see some enterprising Seton Hall fan make a "FOO-Q" paddle, a la O'Bannion's in Dazed and Confused. Get on this, people.

(3) DEFENSIVE MATRIX: PLUNDER PICKPOCKET (armor rating: 5.5 out of 10): Unlike Hazell, Edwin's contributions aren't limited to one side of the floor: Fuquan averages 2.5 steals a game (which, amazingly, is a bit down from his average of 3.0 per game last season), and already has games of six steals (twice), four steals (twice), and three steals (four times). Senior guard Kyle Smyth (1.1 steals per game) and freshman Tom Mayaan (1.8 steals per game) are also getting into the act, although Mayaan's contributions are offset by his 51 turnovers on offense.

(4) EXPLOITABLE WEAKNESS(ES): The Pirate crew is running mighty thin right now, and tired legs were a major issue for the Bucs in the second half of losses to Notre Dame (49 points surrendered in the second half) and Louisville (27 points in the last 10 minutes of the game). They can trade blows for a while, but the short bench has made finishing a problem.