Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard didn’t know what to expect.

``I heard a lot through third parties what the kids were like, but I didn’t know,” said Willard, who got the job this past offseason after Bobby Gonzalez was fired.

``But the kids have really been working hard,” he added. ``They are excited about coming back and have been doing what we expect of them.”

Willard won’t say it, but his biggest issue will be trying to change the culture.

Gonzalez loaded up with at-risk kids and that’s part of the reason why he’s no longer employed at Seton Hall.

Now Willard takes over a team that could be competitive – even possibly at NCAA tournament team if everything goes right – in his first season as a head coach in the Big East.

Jeremy Hazell, Jeff Robinson and Herb Pope all decided to withdraw from the NBA Draft and return to school – but the key could be the future of Pope.

Pope spent a few weeks in the hospital after collapsing and Willard has honored the wishes of Pope’s family in not commenting on his 6-foot-8 big man.

``He’s doing great,” is all Willard was able to say.

If Pope does return to the team – which is, according to sources, the hope – Willard would have his top four scorers back from last season in

He also kept signee Fuquan Edwin and added two guys in the spring: 6-foot-9 Czech native Patrik Auda and 6-foot-8 local product Anali Okoloji.

Eugene Lawrence, Robert Mitchell and Melvyn Oliver – who will transfer – are all gone from the Gonzo Era.

Willard said he has already watched every game from last season and about 50 Big East games since getting the job, he hasn’t given much thought to whether his new team can make a run at an NCAA tournament berth next year.

``My focus has really been just to get to know the kids and make sure they get to know me and my staff,” Willard said. ``That’s been the most important issue so far.”

7-FOOT BROTHERS HAVE NO CALIPARI TIES

Kiski School coach Daryn Freedman admits he owes a lot to John Calipari – who he worked for at four different spots for seven years.

But he also says that the Kentucky coach had nothing to do with a pair of 7-footers arriving in Western Pennsylvania.

``Cal is definitely my mentor,” Freedman said. ``But that’s not true at all. He had nothing to do with these guys being here.”

Freedman, who got the job about a year ago due to a connection with the head at Butler High in Pittsburgh, said that Calipari hasn’t even seen the brothers – 7-foot-4 Sim and 7-foot-2 Tanveer Bhullar – play yet.

Sim is a 7-foot-4, 285-pound rising junior while the 7-foot-2 Tanveer is a year younger.

Their parents are from India, but the brothers grew up in Canada.

``Sim shoots the three and dunks on people,” Freedman said. ``He catches everything. He’s agile and athletic.”

``Tanveer just turned 15 and is more of a power forward,” Freedman added. ``He needs to get a little quicker.”

Freedman began at a manager at UMass and then went with Calipari to the Nets as a basketball operations assistant. He then become Calipari’s personal assistant and went with him to the 76ers before becoming a grad assistant and director of basketball operations at Memphis.

Freedman said that former Pittsburgh assistant Tom Herrion, now the head coach at Marshall, saw the Bhullar brothers early in the year. Penn State has been to multiple games and West Virginia assistant Billy Hahn has also been up to Kiski.

``But these kids have developed so quickly,” Freedman said. ``They’ve had a huge slope upward.”

RANDOM NOTES: Saint Joseph’s Bryant Irwin has transferred to Furman. … Boston College transfer Evan Ravenel, a 6-foot-7 sophomore, has transferred to Ohio State. Ravenel averaged 3.3 points last year at BC. … Sources told FOXSports.com that Seton Hall 6-foot-10 freshman Melvyn Oliver has left the program.