Post by 01- PirateDave on Feb 20, 2015 11:20:37 GMT -6
Meet the Seton Hall basketball star whose perseverance is paying off
February 20, 2015 at 6:00 AM, updated February 20, 2015 at 8:08 AM
Steve Politi
SOUTH ORANGE — Ka-Deidre Simmons thinks about the moment every day and wonders how she'll react. Will she leap for joy? Will she start to cry? Will she play it cool like so many athletes do when their school pops up in the bracket during the NCAA Tournament selection show.
She has no idea. She only knows that this moment — when the words "SETON HALL" finally appear in the field in three weeks — will be even sweeter because of her decision to stick it out in South Orange.
Because, really, leaving would have been the easier route. She stayed through two coaching changes, through a devastating ACL tear, through an eight-win season that was unlike anything the former Shabazz High star had experienced in basketball.
"Brutal," she said of her freshman year. "I've never been a part of anything like that. Depressing. I come from Shabazz and my record was 108-6. It was just bad. But I didn't lose hope."
Still, she wondered: Would this program ever turn the corner? She was recruited by one coach (Phillis Mangina) who resigned before she stepped on the court, then played for another (Ann Donovan) who announced her resignation in the middle of a season, then had to start over with another (Tony Bozzella) three years into her career.
Bozzella and others gave her the sales pitch: Stick around, because Seton Hall is your program. Stick around, because when this team finally reached the NCAA Tournament, you'll go down as one of the greatest to ever wear the uniform.
Stick around, because that moment on Selection Monday will be even sweeter after the long road to get there.
"That moment will definitely ... I don't even know," Simmons said. "It's something you dream of, you look forward to, you prep yourself for. The type of season we're having, you almost think, 'Oh my God, is this really going to happen?'"
It is. Seton Hall, with a 22-4 record and a chance to win the Big East regular-season crown, is having one of the best seasons in its history. The Pirates haven't been to the tournament in 20 years, but barring a collapse in these final three weeks of the season, they'll have a spot this time.
And the guard everyone calls Dee-Dee will be the biggest reason why. Simmons, who is averaging 17.3 points and 5.5 assists a game, is on nearly every national player-of-the-year watch list. Her floater with three seconds left gave the Pirates their second win over conference favorite DePaul this season, and put the Big East regular-season title in reach.
"I've been a head coach for 23 years," Bozzella said. "I've had a lot of hard workers, because in the mid-major level, you get guys who have to overachieve and work hard. No one has worked harder than Dee-Dee."
Bozzella coached the Pirates to a WNIT berth in his first season, a run that ended with a double-overtime loss to eventual winner Rutgers. He figured, with Simmons returning for a graduate-student season, that the Pirates would be better. He knew, when Alabama finally came to its senses and released guard Daisha Simmons after a firestorm of criticism, the Pirates would be much better.
But 22-4 better?
"I think anyone who sits there and say, 'I knew we'd have this kind of record' is an idiot, a liar, just stop," Bozzella said.
Bozzella, if that quote didn't make it clear, is an outspoken, colorful coach who bleeds Seton Hall blue. He remembers watching the Pirates when their games were on Channel 55 (kids, ask your parents what that means) and can point to the exact spot where he sat in the stands and watched P.J. Carlesimo's great teams as an undergraduate.
It was that passion that helped win over Simmons. It was also that, like her head coach, the team leader saw the potential for something special in South Orange with the core of the team returning.
"We have not played anybody who's been better than us," Bozzella said. "We can beat anyone. I don't think there's any team in the country, minus the top five or six, that are going to want to see us in the NCAA Tournament."
First, though, Simmons wants to see Seton Hall in the tournament. Only twice in program history, in 1994 and 1995, have the Pirates made the field, and they have never advanced past the Sweet 16.
"I've spent a lot of time thinking about how I'd react if we were announced in the NCAAs, how emotional I'd be," she said. "It's definitely something I think about every single day, every night. It's something that would mean a lot, not just for me but the whole program."
Will she cheer? Will she cry? Ka-Deidre Simmons has no idea how she'll react. But she's about to find out.
February 20, 2015 at 6:00 AM, updated February 20, 2015 at 8:08 AM
Steve Politi
SOUTH ORANGE — Ka-Deidre Simmons thinks about the moment every day and wonders how she'll react. Will she leap for joy? Will she start to cry? Will she play it cool like so many athletes do when their school pops up in the bracket during the NCAA Tournament selection show.
She has no idea. She only knows that this moment — when the words "SETON HALL" finally appear in the field in three weeks — will be even sweeter because of her decision to stick it out in South Orange.
Because, really, leaving would have been the easier route. She stayed through two coaching changes, through a devastating ACL tear, through an eight-win season that was unlike anything the former Shabazz High star had experienced in basketball.
"Brutal," she said of her freshman year. "I've never been a part of anything like that. Depressing. I come from Shabazz and my record was 108-6. It was just bad. But I didn't lose hope."
Still, she wondered: Would this program ever turn the corner? She was recruited by one coach (Phillis Mangina) who resigned before she stepped on the court, then played for another (Ann Donovan) who announced her resignation in the middle of a season, then had to start over with another (Tony Bozzella) three years into her career.
Bozzella and others gave her the sales pitch: Stick around, because Seton Hall is your program. Stick around, because when this team finally reached the NCAA Tournament, you'll go down as one of the greatest to ever wear the uniform.
Stick around, because that moment on Selection Monday will be even sweeter after the long road to get there.
"That moment will definitely ... I don't even know," Simmons said. "It's something you dream of, you look forward to, you prep yourself for. The type of season we're having, you almost think, 'Oh my God, is this really going to happen?'"
It is. Seton Hall, with a 22-4 record and a chance to win the Big East regular-season crown, is having one of the best seasons in its history. The Pirates haven't been to the tournament in 20 years, but barring a collapse in these final three weeks of the season, they'll have a spot this time.
And the guard everyone calls Dee-Dee will be the biggest reason why. Simmons, who is averaging 17.3 points and 5.5 assists a game, is on nearly every national player-of-the-year watch list. Her floater with three seconds left gave the Pirates their second win over conference favorite DePaul this season, and put the Big East regular-season title in reach.
"I've been a head coach for 23 years," Bozzella said. "I've had a lot of hard workers, because in the mid-major level, you get guys who have to overachieve and work hard. No one has worked harder than Dee-Dee."
Bozzella coached the Pirates to a WNIT berth in his first season, a run that ended with a double-overtime loss to eventual winner Rutgers. He figured, with Simmons returning for a graduate-student season, that the Pirates would be better. He knew, when Alabama finally came to its senses and released guard Daisha Simmons after a firestorm of criticism, the Pirates would be much better.
But 22-4 better?
"I think anyone who sits there and say, 'I knew we'd have this kind of record' is an idiot, a liar, just stop," Bozzella said.
Bozzella, if that quote didn't make it clear, is an outspoken, colorful coach who bleeds Seton Hall blue. He remembers watching the Pirates when their games were on Channel 55 (kids, ask your parents what that means) and can point to the exact spot where he sat in the stands and watched P.J. Carlesimo's great teams as an undergraduate.
It was that passion that helped win over Simmons. It was also that, like her head coach, the team leader saw the potential for something special in South Orange with the core of the team returning.
"We have not played anybody who's been better than us," Bozzella said. "We can beat anyone. I don't think there's any team in the country, minus the top five or six, that are going to want to see us in the NCAA Tournament."
First, though, Simmons wants to see Seton Hall in the tournament. Only twice in program history, in 1994 and 1995, have the Pirates made the field, and they have never advanced past the Sweet 16.
"I've spent a lot of time thinking about how I'd react if we were announced in the NCAAs, how emotional I'd be," she said. "It's definitely something I think about every single day, every night. It's something that would mean a lot, not just for me but the whole program."
Will she cheer? Will she cry? Ka-Deidre Simmons has no idea how she'll react. But she's about to find out.
good luck to all!