Army National Guard of the Week: Kadary Richmond talks leadership, Shaheen Holloway, more
Shaheen Holloway is as passionate as any college basketball coach in America. The former All-Big East guard had a fiery demeanor as a player when he helped lead Seton Hall on a Sweet 16 run in the 2000 NCAA Tournament, and it has translated to the sidelines where he is in his second year as the head coach at his alma mater.
So, it should serve as no surprise that after Seton Hall got off to a 5-4 start this season, which included back-to-back losses to Baylor and unranked Rutgers, Holloway called a team meeting with the goal of making it clear that changes needed to be made.
"He told us that we weren't playing with the passion, the grit and the heart that he thinks we should be playing with," senior guard Kadary Richmond said. "He wanted us to take on the mold of who he was."
Richmond, who began his career at Syracuse before transferring to Seton Hall ahead of the 2021-22 season, recalled the impact that meeting had on him and his teammates during a one-on-one conversation with me this past week.
"After that [meeting], it just all transferred over," Richmond said. "We still own that same thing he's been preaching since then."
Since that point, Richmond and the Pirates have won five of their last six games, including a pair of impressive top-10 victories over UConn and Marquette. Seton Hall currently sits at 10-5 overall and 3-1 in Big East play heading into a Tuesday night conference matchup against Georgetown.
Richmond has been a big reason for the Pirates' recent success. The senior guard from Brooklyn, New York, leads the team in scoring (15.7 PPG), assists (4.4 APG) and steals (2.2 SPG). Richmond's impressive run led to him being named this week's FOX Sports Army National Guard of the Week. With that, we discussed several engaging topics in our conversation, including his development as a leader and his relationship with Holloway.
"It's like a big brother, little brother relationship," Richmond said of his bond with his head coach. "He was a good point guard himself, so he just tries to motivate me. I trust everything that he has planned for me, and it's been working."
Watch my complete interview with Richmond below and follow along at FOXSports.com and on social media, @CBBonFOX, for our next FOX Sports Army National Guard of the Week interview.
Seton Hall's Kadary Richmond is John Fanta's guard of the week
John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him on Twitter @John_Fanta.
