Category: Iona

Are Iona and Long Island closer than people think?

It seems like the prevailing opinion heading into the season is that the Iona Gaels are the best mid-major team in the New York City area. The team that went to the CIT championship returns all its key players and might add Momo Jones, so Tim Cluess’ squad has a good argument. But Long Island went to the NCAA Tournament last season, returns a number of key pieces – including Julian Boyd – and is bringing in a recruiting class that includes junior college transfer Brandon Thompson. College Sports Madness ranked Iona 81st and Long Island 85th in its preseason preview. Is it really that close?

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The Commitment Project by Luke Winn

This was an absolutely fabulous piece on the high school transfers, college decommitments and collegiate transfers of Top 100 prospects by Luke Winn and his team of summer intern researchers. I highly recommend you check it out. Momo Jones also happens to play a prominent role in the article.

Iona to open Puerto Rico Tip-Off against Purdue

So the Gaels get a shot at the Boilermakers in Puerto Rico. It was announced today that Iona will take on Purdue in the first round of the tournament with the winner advancing to play the winner of Temple and Western Michigan. It’ll certainly be a tough game, but 2011-12 Purdue is going to look nothing like the one that was eliminated by VCU on their run to the Final Four.

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Scheduling details beginning to leak

The 2011-12 schedules are getting set and some of the details are beginning to leak. Today Manhattan announced that it’s first round opponent in the NIT Season Tip-Off will be Syracuse at the Carrier Dome. (Lenn Robbins has more and quotes from head coach Steve Masiello.)

Andy Katz’s blog has some news and notes about both Iona and Long Island’s schedule as well. It looks like it’ll be a long start to the season for the Blackbirds.

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Wishful thinking thanks to Schedulematic

Noted basketball stats maven Ken Pomeroy tried to solve the NCAA’s poor first week of the season by scheduling interesting, local match ups using a system he created and dubbed Schedulematic. Some of the results are really feasible, but when there’s a top mid-major team in a local area the results get a bit harder to fathom.

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2011 Team Similarities: Iona

Last season Iona went 25-12, but a loss to St. Peter’s in the MAAC Tournament gave the Peacocks the automatic NCAA berth and sent the Gaels to the CIT. Tim Cluess’ squad made the most of it, advancing to the finals of the tournament before falling to Santa Clara 76-69. But while it was a good season, the similarity scores for teams like Iona reveal that the Gaels ceiling was a bit higher.

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Michael Glover is one of John Gasaway’s 5 most underrated players

Today Basketball Prospectus’ John Gasaway posted a piece about the five most underrated players in college basketball (Insider). Iona’s Michael Glover is one of three mid-major players on the list. I’m not quite sure how exactly Glover is underrated except for the fact that the casual fan doesn’t know much about him. The Gaels’ First Team All-MAAC forward already had top billing on Rivals’ Preseason All-Mid Major Team back in May. Hopefully this helps Glover get even more recognition.