Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard throws shade at ACC, Big Ten

After winning the Big East Tournament title, Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard took some shots at the ACC and Big Ten

The Seton Hall Pirates pulled off one of the most surprising conference tournament runs that we’ve seen so far this season, particularly in the power conferences, as the Pirates ran through the 2016 Big East Tournament and defeated the top-two seeds in the semifinals and final to capture their first conference tourney crown since 1993. It was a magical run for head coach Kevin Willard and his group of young men and the Big East was certainly electric over the past week.

However, Willard was interviewed after the big win in the Big East Tournament final and spoke on the conference. Many people have called the Big East all but done as a power conference in college basketball after teams fled to other conferences, including the recently formed American Athletic Conference. However, Willard stood in defiance of those people on Saturday as he called the Big East the “home” of college hoops. More interesting than that, though, Willard also threw some shade at the ACC and Big Ten, calling them “tourists:”

Mind you, the whole statement is actually a bit confusing here from Willard. The whole analogy of other conferences coming to New York and Madison Square Garden as tourists really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when you really think about it.

Even crazier, though, is that Willard felt the need to take shots at other conferences in trying to praise the Big East Tournament. Why was that even necessary? This is just an odd statement from the Seton Hall coach, even if the point that the Big East tourney is still relevant does ultimately ring clearly and true.