By Luca Virgilio
Seton Hall, Villanova, Butler, Creighton, De Paul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s and Xavier fought last week on the World Famous Arena parquet for the Big East Conference title and for a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Providence led by Bryce Cotton (G, 6’1’’, Sr.) won the final game over Creighton with the final scoreof 65-58, despite another impressive performance by Doug McDermott (F, 6’8’’, Sr.) and at the end Bluejays, Friars, Wildcats and Musketeers took the pass for the final Dance. During the Big East tournament the biggest surprise was undoubtedly Seton Hall that reached the semifinal after a 6-12 in the regular season. The Pirates first defeated Butler with the final score of 51-50 and then with an incredible upset they overcome 64-63 #1 seed Villanova but their race was stopped by Providence just before the Final. One of main reasons for the good tournament by Seton Hall is undoubtedly related to the positive impact of the European players in the roster. Aaron Geramipoor, Patrick Auda and Haralds Karlis (all coming from the Canarias Basketball Academy) had a significant influence on team performances especially with the red-shirt junior Patrick Auda (F, 6’9’’, Czech Republic, 1989) that averaged 27 minutes, 9 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists per game during the Conference Tournament with a 13 points high in the game against Villanova. The big man from Czech Republic missed lot of games last season due to a season ending injury but this season he played 27 games (21 as starter) with 9.6 points and 4.5 rebounds in 24.4 minutes per game. Aaron Geramipoor (C, 6’11’’, England, 1992) -at the pic- averaged 7 minutes with 1.3 points per game during the Conference tournament and he played 30 games (5 as starter) during the regular season with 2.2 points and 2 rebounds in 10.2 minutes per game. No minutes in the Conference Tournament for junior Haralds Karlis (G, 6’6’’, Latvia, 1991) that averaged 13 minutes, 2 points and 2 rebounds in 28 games (11 as starter). Early in the season there were 4 European players in the SH roster but Tom Maayan (G, 6’2’’, Israel, 1993) returned to Israel in January to complete mandatory military service. The only other European player in the Big East teams roster is senior Marc – Antoine Bourgault (G, 6’7’’, France, 1990) from St. John’s with no minutes during the Conference tournament and 1.5 points in 3.3 minutes during the season.
Twitter of the author: @LucaVirgilio
Photo: John O’Boyle / The Star-Ledger
