Seton Hall Hoops: DePaul Game Canceled + Powell Makes NBA Debut

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ —The Seton Hall men's basketball team learned on Monday that its Big East Conference game scheduled for Thursday at DePaul has been canceled due to COVID issues within the DePaul program.

The Pirates, who are ranked No. 15 in this week's Associated Press poll, were 9-1 after beating Rutgers on Dec. 12. But then a COVID outbreak within the Seton Hall program forced the cancellation of their Saturday game against Iona and Monday's game against St. John's.

Though Seton Hall appears to be ready to take the court again, that will not happen Thursday in Chicago because DePaul remains in COVID shutdown.

According to current Big East policy, that means DePaul will forfeit the game and a loss will be assigned in the conference standings, while Seton Hall will pick up a win.

According to Big East.com, the conference's COVID policy, which was implemented prior to the season, states:

"Under the new policy, if a conference game cannot be played on its originally scheduled date because one team is unable to begin or complete the game due to an insufficient number of players, including as a result of COVID-19, that team will have forfeited the game, with a loss assigned to that team in the conference standings. A win will be assigned to its opponent.

"Additionally, if a conference game cannot be played on its original date because both teams are unable to begin or complete a game due to an insufficient number of players, including as a result of COVID-19, both teams shall be assigned forfeits, which will be applied to the conference standings."

However, Jon Rothstein, a basketball analyst for CBS Sports, reported Tuesday that some conferences may be having second thoughts about their COVID forfeit rules.

In a tweet, Rothstein wrote: "Sources: Multiple conferences in college basketball are prudently reexamining COVID-19 forfeit policies. The initial policies were put in place when the pandemic was in a much different place."

Rothstein did not specifically mention the Big East, nor did he say if any policies would be applied retroactively to games already considered as forfeits.

Under the current policy, Seton Hall will start the conference season 1-1, after being charged with a loss for the cancellation of the St. John's game, and getting a win for the canceled game at DePaul.

As of now, the Pirates' next scheduled game is at 7 p.m. on Dec. 29 at Providence. The next scheduled home game is at 2 p.m. on Jan. 1, when Villanova visits Prudential Center.

Powell Makes NBA Debut

Former Seton Hall standout Myles Powell made his NBA debut Monday night for the Philadelphia 76ers. The Trenton native played eight minutes and did not score in Philadelphia's 108-103 win over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.

Powell, a guard, joined the 76ers organization a day earlier when the team signed him to a two-way contract.

"Everyone in the locker room made me feel very welcome, from coach down to the last man on the bench," Powell said after his NBA debut. "I felt like I've been here. To be from Trenton, to be from New Jersey, for my first NBA game to be with the Philadelphia 76ers is something I'll remember for the rest of my life."

The 6-foot-2 Powell, the 2019-20 Big East Player of the Year, had played one game this season for the G League's Westchester Knicks, where he also played last season. Powell was undrafted in 2020.

The two-way contract with the Sixers will allow Powell to move between the NBA team and its G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats. According to NBA rules, teams are permitted to have a maximum of two players under two-way contracts in addition to the players under standard NBA contracts.

In July, Powell filed a lawsuit against Seton Hall, Pirates basketball coach Kevin Willard and Director of Sports Medicine Tony Testa, claiming Powell was not told of the serious nature of a knee injury suffered during his senior season of 2019-20.

In August, the university filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming it is shielded from Powell's negligence claims under state law governing schools, charities or other nonprofit institutions, according to ESPN.

The school also argued, according to ESPN, that Powell's other claims of breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty misinterpret the law, and that Powell misidentified Testa in the lawsuit as a medical doctor when he is not one.