NEW YORK — Myles Powell has been eyeing the NCAA Tournament East Regional at Madison Square Garden since the beginning of his senior season.
The Trenton native knows that Seton Hall could be assigned to open the Big Dance in Albany for two games, and then advance to the East Regional at the Garden from March 27-29, if the Pirates keep winning.
After scoring 29 points, including the 2,000th of his career in Saturday’s 82-79 win over St. John’s on the Garden floor, Powell wasn’t shy about looking ahead to March Madness in the Big Apple.
“When we come in this building, it’s a special place for us,” Powell said. “We feel like this is our second home. We’ll be looking forward to coming back here in the [NCAA] Tournament.”
Of course, Powell and the Pirates — now 14-4 overall and 6-0 atop the Big East — will return to the Garden for the Big East Tournament, March 11-14. They were the preseason pick to win the regular-season title and will be seeking their second Big East Tournament title in three seasons. A year ago, the Pirates lost to Villanova, 74-72, in the final.
Entering Saturday, several bracketologists, including ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and Fox’s Mike DeCourcy, had Seton Hall as a top seed in the East. Lunardi had the Pirates as a No. 4 seed, opening in Albany, while Decourcy had them as a No. 3 in Albany.
Both mocks had Duke as the No. 1 seed in the East, meaning the Blue Devils, too, could play the East Regional at the Garden. Despite being 33-11 under Mike Krzyzewski at the Garden, the Blue Devils have never played an NCAA Tournament game there.
This will mark just the third time since 1960 that the Garden is a Regional site (2014, ‘17).
Pirates coach Kevin Willard is 16-11 all-time at the Garden, and he would love to be back in the building in late March.
“I grew up in this building,” he said. “I was a ballboy when I was in fifth and sixth grade, I used to take the train in by myself to be in this building because my dad [Ralph Willard] was an assistant here [with the Knicks].
“The championship team [in 2016] had Isaiah [Whitehead], Khadeen [Carrington] and Angel [Delgado], all New York City guys, New York Knick fans. For most of us who are local, this building is the greatest place to play a basketball game in the world. And so when you step foot in here especially as local guys, I think it means just a little bit more.”
Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media.