After a season where everything came together at the right time for Tim Cluess and the Iona Gaels, they will look to regroup through recruiting to defend their MAAC tournament championship.
Late in the season, after losing six games by the slimmest of margins, the Gaels found the right time to put together their second extended winning streak. Iona won five games in a row, three of them in Springfield at the MAAC championships, earning their second straight NCAA tournament appearance.
This coming season the Gaels will be without graduating senior and MAAC Player of the Year Momo Jones, but Cluess will look to generate production by bringing in a variety of players to aid in Iona’s title defense.
Iona added transfers Mike Poole from Rutgers and Kelvin Amayo from Marshall over the last few months. Cluess said that the Iona staff will pursue waivers to get both eligible to start the fall.
Poole comes from Rutgers where Mike Rice was fired for abusive behavior towards his players. Amayo transferred from Marshall after joining the team in the winter of 2012 and sitting out. Amayo appeared in just three games for Marshall before leaving the school.
Cluess said that it is dependent on the situation when a staff works on the waiver process for a player.
“It takes time to do it and it depends on what the situation is,” Cluess said. “A medical waiver is very simple. You get doctors notes and doctors paper work and then you submit the forms and then it’s up to the NCAA whether they approve or not.”
“We understand there’s a chance both kids will have to sit a year, but we would have taken them either way. We want them as part of our program, but obviously it would be great for them if they were able to play right away.”
Iona has been successful in pursuing waivers for Tavon Sledge (from Iowa State) and Jones (from Arizona) in the past two off seasons.
The Gaels also add junior college transfer wing Isaiah Williams, who has three years of eligibility remaining, and freshman forward Ryden Hines.
Williams won 2013 Suncoast Player of the Year and Cluess said he might be one of the best three-point shooters on the roster, next to senior Sean Armand.
“He’s a 6’7″ wing and can really fill it up,” Cluess said of Williams who averaged 17 points per game with the State College of Florida. “[He] can shoot a three as well as anybody we have. I’d say close to Armand, but not quite as consistent as Sean, but not far off. So he’s going help us a lot in that area defensively he’s very active and has a lot of length to him.”
Cluess said he expects Hines to have to help right away in his rotation, but his best days are ahead of him at Iona.
“Young kid physically, still has to kind of mature but plays with a great motor,” Cluess said. “He plays really hard. Can knock down a jumper, good basketball IQ and I expect him to grow with the program a little bit. He’s going to have to be able to help us some right away, but his better days will be down the road when he’s physically a little bigger and stronger and adjusted to the college game.”
In Cluess’ three seasons as head coach, Iona has been open to taking transfers from either four-year, graduate-year or junior colleges while also building a program with strong four-year players.
“I think we’re just trying to find players that fit the system that I have in place and as we move along, just try to get better pieces,” Cluess said. “A little bit better size than what we’ve had and we’re finding our weaknesses out as we play each year. When you lose a Momo you know you have to replace him so therefore you need to get better in a couple of other spots to make up for that scoring. Scott Machado was a different type of player than a Momo Jones, Mike Glover’s different than David Laury, but we’re just looking for kids who fit our style who are going to work hard and who like to play up and down and have a real passion for basketball and know they’re going to be held accountable on and off the court.”
Iona added DeSean Anderson, DaShawn Gomez, David Laury and Tre Bowman to the roster last season as junior college transfers, graduate transfer Curtis Dennis and received a waiver for Sledge. Cluess said his program needs mature kids and that his program might start to be labeled as a program that welcomes transfers.
“I think we’re becoming a little bit of a home for people who have left the metropolitan area who want to come back to a good program,” Cluess said. “I think that’s something we want to be as well. We want to be good for the right freshmen, but we also want to be good for the right kid who decided that maybe he shouldn’t have went away and get everything he wants right here at home.”
Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo.
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