It’s the second week of September and Shaheen Holloway is treating this exercise prefer it’s mid-March.
The brand new Seton Corridor coach is in fixed movement, his mouth by no means stopping and his voice booming off the partitions of Walsh Gymnasium, getting so near his gamers in a single drill that it appears like he’s part of it.
The breakout star of final yr’s NCAA Match is demanding all-out effort from his 9 wholesome gamers, intensely working this 90-minute session like he's teaching for his job.
“That’s who I'm,” says the 45-year-old Holloway, Kevin Willard’s alternative on the college the place he was as soon as a star level guard and later an assistant coach. “That’s how I performed. I need guys the identical manner.”
It has been a whirlwind six months for the Queens native, from being a nondescript low-major head coach at Saint Peter’s to the breakout star of March Insanity to touchdown his dream job at Seton Corridor. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Mets recreation, introduced the Jets’ third-round choose (tight finish Jeremy Ruckert) on the NFL draft in Las Vegas, appeared on the “All of the Smoke” podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, and spoke on the Foot Locker Basis gala.
All this whereas bringing in seven new gamers to fill out what was a depleted roster. His reputation at his alma mater is thru the roof. Athletic director Bryan Felt says quite a few season tickets have been purchased the day of Holloway’s introductory press convention, they usually have been on the rise since. Holloway nonetheless will get stopped on campus for pictures. Again within the spring, Seton Corridor’s Heart for Sports activities Media was internet hosting its speaker sequence, and Alex Rodriguez was one of many visitors. Holloway joined him.
“Shaheen goes up on stage to see A-Rod and will get a standing ovation,” Felt recollects. “I’m telling you, this ovation introduced the home down. Even A-Rod is like, ‘What the heck, I didn’t get half of this.’ Afterward, the road to see Sha’ was 10 instances longer than A-Rod’s line.”
He added: “There’s a degree of pleasure along with his arrival round our program that's at one other degree.”
It hasn’t modified the way in which Holloway operates, although. Assistant coach Rasheen Davis jokes that Holloway handled Saint Peter’s like Seton Corridor and Seton Corridor just like the Knicks. He’s decided to win. He doesn’t really feel — or act — like a star.
“As a participant, I had one thing to show, and as a coach, I received one thing to show,” Holloway says. “I’m in a Energy Six convention. What I did final yr, it doesn’t matter. I received to show it to myself, I received to show it to gamers, coaches, individuals within the league.”
There was an adjustment interval for the Seton Corridor gamers, one that's nonetheless ongoing. Holloway solely is aware of the best way to coach a method. He doesn’t perceive how anybody can play basketball with out giving most effort. Watch the NBA, he says — no person performs cool. They’re all hungry with one thing to show. Breaks in his exercises are uncommon. It's one drill adopted by one other and one other.
“At first it was form of like, ‘Oh my God, he’s making an attempt to kill us,’ ” says junior ahead Tyrese Samuel, considered one of 5 returning gamers. “Now we embrace it. Coach Willard’s exercises have been intense. His are simply to a different degree. … He desires all people to play balls to the wall.
“It’s actually contagious. You see him so passionate on the court docket, you wish to play for him. He drives guys.”
Holloway will get on gamers. He expects their finest day-after-day. He breaks guys all the way down to construct them up. That’s the place newcomer KC Ndefo, his star ahead at Saint Peter’s, performs such a giant function. Ndefo has been there many instances earlier than with Holloway. He is aware of what the coach expects. His message to his teammates from the outset was easy:
“It’s not how he sends the message, it’s the message,” Ndefo tells them.
The main focus of this exercise is protection, which comes as no shock to anyone who is aware of Holloway. When he first started as an assistant coach, below Willard at Iona, Willard gave him the protection.
Holloway preaches the significance of that finish of the ground. You received’t see the court docket, he tells his gamers, with out defending. In the course of the follow, Holloway makes a degree of emphasizing physicality. He’s most animated when Samuel blocks a shot on the rim, leaping up and down excitedly. In a five-on-three defensive drill, the gamers should dash if their protection isn’t as much as Holloway’s requirements. He punches the air in frustration after a couple of made baskets. “Hold the ball out of the paint,” the coach roars a number of instances following one poor defensive set. After an offensive participant is clearly fouled on a layup try, Holloway tells him to go up stronger subsequent time. He desires contact throughout follow.
“We begin it there after which we reel it again in,” Holloway says. “However it's a must to begin someplace first.”
Holloway hasn’t coached a Massive East recreation but, and the expectations for him are extremely excessive. His sole focus is getting ready for the season, and making up for floor he believes was misplaced this summer season when Seton Corridor’s exercises have been nearly all talent growth as a result of so many gamers have been damage. Holloway makes it clear this received’t occur rapidly. At Saint Peter’s, it took him 4 years for that magical March run. The Pirates aren’t going to immediately be a top-20 crew. His objective for this yr is to compete for an NCAA Match bid and set the inspiration for the way his program will function. However that doesn’t imply the bar isn’t being set by way of the roof by Holloway. He goals of not simply returning to the Elite Eight, however past.
“For me, it simply made me work tougher, as a result of I wish to be again there,” Holloway says. “I’ve seen that, I’ve felt that feeling. I wish to get again to that. I wish to take my college again to that, and that’s the objective. The objective is to get there, get previous there and get to new heights.”
Requested if it’s reasonable to achieve a Closing 4 at Seton Corridor, Holloway instantly smiles and nods his head.
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