P.J. Carlesimo sees a superstar guard. He sees loads of size. He sees an elite defensive team. He sees experience and depth.
When he looks at this Seton Hall team it gives him flashbacks to 1992-1993 — the last time the Pirates won the Big East regular-season crown and he was patrolling the sidelines.
“I would say there are a lot of similarities to the ’93 team,” the former Seton Hall coach told The Post in a phone interview, referring to his group that included Pirates all-time leading scorer Terry Dehere and NBA first-round draft pick Luther Wright. “They’re similar to a couple of our teams — the combination of good defense, good frontline size and a great player or two. They also have good guards. Guards are important all the time, but they’re especially important in March and April. You like to be able to control a game, and they have guards who know how to do that, which is a great luxury to have.”
The 70-year-old Carlesimo — now living in Seattle and working for Westwood One, ESPN and the Pac-12 Network — is excited, like most Seton Hall fans are, about this team’s prospects. He’s formed a close bond with coach Kevin Willard, frequently text-messaging him after games, and tunes in whenever possible. Carlesimo went to college at Fordham, but still sees himself as a Pirate, after leading Seton Hall to six NCAA Tournaments in 12 seasons, three Sweet 16s and the 1989 national championship game.
“Seton Hall feels like my alma mater, and obviously I follow them very, very closely,” he said.
After knocking off Villanova on Saturday — beating the Wildcats on the road for the first time since 1994, when Carlesimo was the coach — the Pirates lead the Big East by three games with seven left. Led by National Player of the Year candidate Myles Powell and an experienced supporting cast, 10th-ranked Seton Hall (18-5, 10-1) is projected as a two- or three-seed by most bracketologists, on pace for a program-record fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Not even Carlesimo was able to do that in his time running the program.
“That to me is maybe the most significant thing,” he said. “When you can do it consistently at Seton Hall, I don’t think you’re doing a good job, you’re doing a great job. Kevin has done a fabulous job.”
Carlesimo and Willard go back a long time — dating to his friendship with Willard’s father, Ralph. Ironically, it was Ralph Willard’s Western Kentucky team that ended the second-seeded 1993 Pirates’ season in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Seton Hall hasn’t been seeded higher than sixth since and last reached the Sweet 16 in 2000. But this has the potential to be a throwback year, especially with the opening weekend of the tournament in Albany and the East Regional being held at Madison Square Garden.
“I thought they could be pretty good [this year]. Frankly, they’re better than that right now,” Carlesimo said. “They’re built very, very well for a good run in the tournament. They’ve got big guys, they defend, they’re obviously well-coached and they have one of the best players in the country. That’s a nice combination.”
Unless Seton Hall is shipped out west, Carlesimo probably won’t get to see them the first two weekends, since he typically stays close to home for those rounds of the tournament, calling the West Regional games on Westwood One. But a reunion could still happen, if the Pirates advance all the way to the Final Four.
“I wish I could get Albany and Madison Square Garden,” he said, “but that doesn’t bother me at all if I hook up with them in Atlanta.”