Seton Hall Pirates

Seton Hall basketball plays its home games at the Prudential Center in Newark, giving the Pirates one of the more unique big-city arena setups in the Big East. The program has long been a New York metro-area power, drawing on a dense recruiting footprint and a passionate regional fan base. Seton Hall's identity is built on physical, defense-oriented basketball that has produced some of the most dramatic tournament moments in Big East history. It's a program that came agonizingly close to a national title and has chased that standard ever since.

Seton Hall's defining season came in 1989, when coach P.J. Carlesimo led an unranked-to-start team all the way to the national championship game, falling to Michigan 80-79 in overtime at the Kingdome. That Final Four run remains the high point of Pirates basketball history and produced one of the most memorable title games of the era. Seton Hall has made multiple additional NCAA tournament appearances since, competing as a charter member of the reconstituted Big East. The Pirates have never won a national championship, but the 1989 runner-up finish remains a point of enormous program pride.