Report: Seton Hall's problems include racial tension; Isaiah Whitehead's "posse"

On Monday, the AP's Jim Hague wrote, on his personal blog, a long piece detailing Seton Hall's problems of late. Below are a couple excerpts.

"There has been chemistry difficulties. Mobley questioned some of his teammates' motives after one loss. Sina packed his bags and left the team for good after he took the last two shots in a frustrating loss at home to Marquette. Sina felt like he was an outsider, getting called names because others felt he was getting favoritism from Willard, mentioning the color of Sina's skin as the reason". -On Jaren Sina's departure

However, Hague followed up today saying that Sina and his father both denied racial tensions.

"After writing the blog this morning, I received a phone call from Mergin Sina, the father of former Seton Hall guard Jaren Sina, who said for the record that Jaren's departure from the Seton Hall program had nothing to do with any racial discord.

The elder Sina, a highly respected coach at Gill St. Bernard's, said that he didn't want anything out there that said that Jaren left the Pirates' program because of racial tensions. Mergin Sina would not elaborate about the reasons for Jaren's sudden departure from the program last week.

Hague goes on to talk about Isaiah Whitehead

"Whitehead came to South Orange complete with his own personal posse, both on the court and off. He arrives everywhere with teammates Carrington and Rodriguez, but also with five or so others who are not players nor family members. It's not known whether or not they are even Seton Hall students, yet they are constantly in Whitehead's company.

The Whitehead faction has caused a tremendous rift within the core of the Pirates, one that now cannot be repaired, certainly not this season, if not ever.


Whitehead came to South Orange with the thought he might be a "one-and-done," meaning spending one year at Seton Hall, living up to his hype as the preseason Big East Rookie of the Year, then declare his intentions for the NBA Draft."

Regardless of what's true and what is rumor, this piece is still not a good look for Seton Hall. The whole piece can be found here.