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Louisville basketball: Ranking the non-conference opponents

By Maxwell Owens

Samuell Williamson #10 of the Louisville Cardinals (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Samuell Williamson #10 of the Louisville Cardinals (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY – DECEMBER 06: Samuell Wiliiamson #10, Quinn Slazinski #11 and Josh Nickelberry #20 of the Louisville Cardinals celebrate during the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers at KFC YUM! Center on December 06, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY – DECEMBER 06: Samuell Wiliiamson #10, Quinn Slazinski #11 and Josh Nickelberry #20 of the Louisville Cardinals celebrate during the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers at KFC YUM! Center on December 06, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

#3 Seton Hall Pirates

Conference: Big East

2019-20  Final KenPom Ranking: 20

2020-21 Preseason KenPom Ranking: 51

Preseason AP Poll: Unranked; Receiving 2 votes

Seton Hall. may have lost All American Myles Powell from their team. But, the Pirates are no slouches coming into the 2020 campaign.

Seton Hall will likely be led by transfer guards in Bryce Aiken and Takal Molson, forward Sandro Mamukelashvili, and guard/forward Jared Rhoden.

Bryce Aiken transferred in from Harvard after being one of the best scorers in the country for the past three seasons.

Aiken has only played in 39 games over the past three seasons despite being an outstanding player. He has just been injured. In 18 games in 2018-2019, Aiken averaged 22.2 points per game and shot about 40 percent from beyond the three point arc.

Molson is a transfer from Canisius College. He averaged 16.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.0 assists as a sophomore in 2018-19. Molson sat out last year due to NCAA transfer rules. Molson will be the guy to get it done at 6’5″ on both ends of the floor.

Mamu (we are going to shorten that name a bit for my sanity) is a skilled big at 6’11”. He can run plays to come around a screen and pull up a three. There are not too many bigs quite like him in the country.

Mamu averaged 11.9 points, 6.0 rebounds, and shot 43.4 percent from three. Yeah, he is as dangerous as they come for offensive bigs.

Rhoden is a player in the mold of former beloved Cardinal Dwayne Sutton. He plays the game in a similar way where he collects rebounds and does just enough on offense to be a consistent threat. Rhoden led the Pirates in rebounds in 2019-20 season despite being just 6’6″.

Whatever Seton Hall lost in Myles Powell, they will be able to come close to replicating with additions of Bryce Aiken and Takal Molson. Seton Hall is a threat once again in the Big East. They garnered two votes received in the latest AP poll as well.

This game will be tough for Louisville to win. It is just the second game of the season for the Cards as they attempt to cope with the losses of Malik Williams and Charles Minlend. Meanwhile, Seton Hall will have two of the most impactful transfers in the country. If I was picking right now, I would pick Seton Hall to win this game.

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