Seton Hall basketball programs displaced by Ida flooding

Asbury Park Press

Obviously it pales in comparison to the loss of peoples’ lives and homes, but Hurricane Ida impacted Seton Hall University’s basketball programs, too, displacing them on the eve of the 2021-22 season.

The destructive storm flooded the lower level of the Richie Regan Recreation Center, rendering the auxiliary gym, locker rooms and meeting rooms unusable for an undetermined length of time, those familiar with the damage said. Walsh Gym is elevated enough to have escaped the flooding, but with its soup-to-nuts renovation still ongoing — the project is expected to be completed by the end of next week — the Pirates’ men’s and women’s basketball programs have been practicing off campus.

The auxiliary gym in Seton Hall's Richie Regan Recreation Center, shown in the background here in 2019, is out of commission after Ida.

The men’s team is holding preseason workouts at Kean University in Union and Seton Hall Prep in West Orange. The women’s team is working out at Rutgers-Newark. Seton Hall athletic department officials have expressed gratitude to those schools for providing use of their facilities.

Although the Rec Center contains a spacious fieldhouse with basketball courts used for intramural and pickup games, the rubberized all-purpose surface is considered unsuitable for long-term use by the basketball teams due to the potential for injury.

The Rec Center’s basement auxiliary gym, which is where the men’s team practices, was hit hard by Ida and could be out of commission for quite some time. That means both basketball programs and women’s volleyball will be sharing Walsh, which is underdoing the biggest overhaul since it was built in 1940, when the historic gym reopens. Full-scale practices are slated to begin the week of Sept. 27.

The weight room, also located on the lower level, suffered water infiltration but is operational.

The damage caused by Ida is expected to be covered by insurance, those familiar with the situation said.

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.