There’s some bad news for my pick to surprise in the Big East: Seton Hall transfer guard Keon Lawrence is in trouble with the law and, reportedly, suspended indefinitely. It’s impossible to speculate how long Lawrence will be out, but it’s instructive to look at the potential impact of his absence.

First, Seton Hall can much more afford to lose Lawrence, a guard, then, say, Herb Pope, a forward. With Eugene Harvey, Jamel Jackson and Jordan Theodore — along with Jeremy Hazell on the wing — Seton Hall has some depth in the backcourt. At Missouri, Lawrence was primarily a good perimeter shooter who could nab a steal, and while Bobby Gonzalez could certainly use his scoring punch, his loss shouldn’t be crippling.

Second, it does seem like Gonzo is fated to never have depth, as he’s struggled with short rotations during his tenure, and, now that he thought he had some depth in the backcourt, this happens. Without Lawrence, the Pirates will be very thin again.

Third, if Lawrence does return at some point, then he may miss only the non-conference slate. Seton Hall does have a very friendly non-conference schedule. Here are the tricky games:

at Cornell (Nov. 20)
UMass (Dec. 7)
Temple (Dec. 19)

The conference schedule starts off with West Virginia and Syracuse at home before one last non-conference game — and the toughest one — vs. Virginia Tech in Cancun on Jan. 2. Looking further, it is a brutal start to the conference schedule for SHU. After returning from Cancun, the Pirates travel to Connecticut, then host Cincinnati before heading to Georgetown and hosting Louisville.

It’s unclear now whether Lawrence will ever wear a Seton Hall jersey in a game that matters, and he has only his poor decision-making to blame. As it is, he’s put his team in a difficult spot but not one that the Pirates cannot overcome, even if Lawrence doesn’t see the floor for a single minute this winter.