The Seton Hall Pirates Men's Basketball team competes in the Big East Conference in NCAA basketball competition. The Pirates finished the season with a loss to Marquette in the first round of the Big East Tournament. Seton Hall’s overall record was 17-15 and they finished 7-11 in Big East competition, an improvement over 2007’s 4-12 record in conference play. There were a few bright spots in for a program in a rebuilding year. Senior forward Brian Laing finished second in the Big East scoring race with an average of 18.6 point per game. He was an All-Big East First Team selection. He also led the conference in minutes play per game averaging 38.3 per game. Freshman guard Jeremy Hazell averaged 12.6 points per game and was selected to the Big East All-Rookie Team. As a team the Pirates were second in the conference in steals, averaging 9.5 steals per game. Completing his second season as Head Coach Bobby Gonzalez’s squad posted its second straight improvement in both overall and conference records. His optimistic and take-charge attitude has had an immediate impact on the Pirates’ recruiting, landing freshman standouts Eugene Harvey and Larry Davis. His outstanding contacts and coaching ties to the New York City metropolitan area bodes well for future recruiting efforts. Gonzalez has brought passion and excitement to the Pirates’ program. His defense of his players and his challenges of the quality & abilities of an Big East officiating team, have earned him sanctions from Big East Commissioner, Michael Tranghese, and a one-game suspension, the first Big East conference game of the 2009-2009 season, by the Seton Hall administration. There are two former Pirates currently playing in the NBA one is Samuel Dalembert who plays with the Philadelphia 76ers and the other is a Seattle SuperSonics player Adrian Griffin.