Iona made the NCAA tournament last season, but now the hard part begins. Tim Cluess returns just four players from last season’s team that lost to BYU in the first round. But he’s reloading with junior college players, transfers and a few freshmen in an effort to keep the momentum going next season.
Continue reading “Iona finds talent in many forms to reload roster”
Well, the awkward holiday week is upon us. Welcome to July. As we get into the dog days of summer the news is starting to slow to a trickle for July and August before exploding right before the season picks up. What we’ve got now is a bunch of recruiting news and the recently completed NBA Draft. If you’re looking for college basketball reads about LIU Brooklyn or Iona, here are some good ones.
Former Iona point guard Scott Machado might be the most interesting players in the NBA Draft. No one seems to know where the Gaels’ former maestro is going to go. The consensus is somewhere in the second round, but draft evaluators are all over the place about the impact the think he’ll have at the next level.
Siena Saints Blog recently posted a Q&A with MAAC Commissioner Rich Ensor that is definitely worth a read. It covers a wide range of topics from the format of the conference tournament, to at-large bids, realignment and even some legal proceedings. In the Q&A Ensor reaffirmed that the MAAC is certainly keeping an eye out as realignment happens, but the conference isn’t ready to move yet, because the right fit just isn’t there. Here’s one key quote:
That’s good in terms of stability and continuity and when we look at other possible members – because we’ve said over a decade ago that we would go to 12 if the right schools were available. Well that list is relatively small because our average enrollment is about 4,000 undergrads and we have a bunch of ranges we work within as well, overall budget for athletics, and then there’s the academic filter as well. When we start looking at schools that fit our mold, there aren’t that many of them out there frankly.
Go read the rest of the Q&A over at Siena Saints Blog.
Mid-Major Madness is a great addition to the college basketball scene. I did a Q&A about Iona’s Scott Machado as he gets ready for the NBA Draft with one of the editors over there. We talked about Machado’s game. The knocks on him, his upside and where he could go in the draft. Personally, I’d take Machado anywhere after pick 20 in the first round, but I know that some other outlets having him go that late in the second. Check it out.
Attendance results are out for the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball season. The results aren’t too surprising, but there is good news for the NEC. The conference set a record high in attendance during the 2012 season attracting 1,353 fans per game, an increase of 116 fans per game over last season. Of course the NEC is still 31st amongst the 31 automatic bid conferences, 121 fans per game behind the Big South, but that’s still a solid gain.
The All-Met Awards are being given out tonight by the Met Basketball Writers Association. Scott Machado is deservedly going to get the Haggerty Award for the top player in the New York Metro Area. Machado was #1 when I did the Top NYC Players at the end of the season, so I think he definitely deserves this honor.
Since there are no real basketball games going on right now, let’s do something fun and talk about simulated basketball games. The Bracket of Champions brings together some of the best teams from the New York area during the Ken Pomeroy era (2003+) and puts them in a bracket against each other. Continue reading “Introducing the “Bracket of Champions””
In case you missed it, I wanted to point you towards the new Recruiting page here on the site. It has the most up-to-date information that I’m aware of on the status of the incoming classes for each of the New York area schools that Big Apple Buckets covers. I’m also trying to collect links of highlight videos and articles about prospects. If you’ve got an interesting link or an important piece of information to share about recruiting feel free to contact me or leave a comment somewhere.
Iona’s class continues to be the hardest to figure out. The Gaels are losing a number of players and thus Tim Cluess is also bringing in a number of guys, including possibly Josiah Turner, another Arizona transfer (wouldn’t that be ironic). Iona locked down two recruits on Sunday according to Adam Zagoria.
Jeff Goodman released his latest version of the End-of-Year Transfer List on CBSSports.com today and there are some notable surprises for New York City programs. The whole list and then some analysis of the biggest names after the jump.
NYC Buckets Archive 