By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)
NEW YORK — One of the hallmarks of being from New Jersey is having tremendous state pride.
Despite being originally from Queens, Shaheen Holloway, now the fifth-year head coach of the Seton Hall Pirates, knows all about that Jersey pride, having been affiliated with the program for the better part of 30 years around his highly successful stint at fellow North Jersey institution Saint Peter’s.
This offseason, he brought another Jersey guy back home, luring Simeon Wilcher back to the Big East.
Hailing from Plainfield, Wilcher enjoyed a stellar high school career at Roselle Catholic, leading his team to back-to-back state titles in his final two years there while scoring over 1,200 career points. He was named a top-30 recruit by ESPN, and was sought after by many programs and coaches, including Seton Hall and Holloway.
Initially, Wilcher pledged to North Carolina. He then flipped his commitment to St. John’s, spending two years in Queens under Rick Pitino, playing in a reserve role as a freshman before earning 25 starts as a sophomore while averaging 8.0 points per game.
It was that prior in-conference experience that was one of the big factors that drew the Pirates to Wilcher this offseason.
“It was really big to bring in guys who played in this league and had success in this league,” Holloway said at Big East media day Thursday morning. “You look at Simeon, he won a Big East championship and averaged almost 24 minutes a game. He’s a local kid who can play multiple spots.”
Wilcher also acknowledged that his two seasons with the Red Storm will be a huge benefit coming into his senior season.
“There are certain things that happen in this league that don’t happen in other leagues,” he said. “Other leagues are (about) the glitz and the glamour. The Big East is all about (being) gritty, hard work, resilience and things like that. Just knowing that and experiencing that in this league, it not only will help me, but it will help my teammates as well because for the guys that haven’t played in this league, they’ll know what to expect.”
Last season at Texas, Wilcher wasn’t quite able to find his footing, averaging only 3.7 points per game in 25 games, all but one of which were off the bench. When he went back into the transfer portal, a familiar face was the first to reach out.
“(Sha) was literally the first guy to reach out,” Wilcher said on Thursday in New York. “He’s always been real with me. Even in the (high school) recruiting process, he’s always seemed like an honest person. Me being here has only proven that even more. Coach is a real stand-up guy. It’s a blessing to be coached by somebody like that.”
While Wilcher’s road certainly isn’t unique in today’s day and age in college basketball, it was a winding one that prepared him for another go-round in the Big East.
“It’s taught me a lot about adversity, and responding to adversity,” he said. “The real tell-tale (sign) of a man is how he responds to adversity, so the last three years have been just been me going through stuff and learning how to get through it.”
One of the things that has helped so far is a fast chemistry between a lot of newcomers. Holloway has praised it already from early practice sessions, and Wilcher echoed his coach.
“It’s been great. I love these guys,” he quipped. “I haven’t ever clicked with a group of guys as quick as I’ve clicked with these guys. I’m really excited.”
With a new uniform, new teammates, a new coach, and a new environment, there is another notable change for Wilcher. After wearing uniform No. 7 for his first three college seasons, he switched his number this year to No. 4. The reason?
“Just getting back,” Wilcher said. “That’s what I wore in high school. It’s another ‘coming back home’ thing. I feel like it was only right. Getting the opportunity to play back home, I had to get back to my number.”
With Wilcher in the fold, the Pirates are confident that they can out-perform their preseason coaches’ poll ranking of ninth of 11 teams this season. It only goes further to prove that for people from the land of the Turnpike and the Shore, all roads really do lead back to Jersey.
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