Seton Hall came into last night’s tilt with No. 11 West Virginia still stinging from Saturday’s 42-point beating at the hands of top-ranked Connecticut. That lopsided loss, combined with an earlier 53-point defeat at then-No. 1 Duke, is the kind of thing that could haunt it, come Selection Sunday.
To be fair, one’s credit score isn’t lowered by wearing a clown suit when applying for a mortgage. Showing up in court wearing one’s beer-league softball uniform isn’t a guarantee of guilt. But impressions do count, and multiple 40-point losses are the kind of red flags the selection committee may notice when reviewing the Hall’s resume.
“Yeah, of course you look at those things and realize that people are not just going to judge you on the games you win, but by how you play,” said center Kelly Whitney. “A loss is a loss in our heads, but in other people’s mind, it’s more than a loss; it’s the way you lose.”
Neither the Elias Sports Bureau nor the NCAA’s statisticians could determine the last time a club had suffered multiple 40-point losses and still reached the Big Dance; but it surely doesn’t reflect positively, despite a No. 34 standin the latest RPI and 26th in strength of schedule.
“We just want to put ourselves in that position,” said coach Louis Orr. “We can’t worry about what’s going to happen or try to figure out what people are going to think. We just got to try to focus on the things we can [control].”