Category: MAAC

Can Manhattan beat Iona?

Well, the simple answer to that question is “Yes.” Of course the Jaspers can beat the Gaels, even at the Hynes Athletic Center. If you’re playing the percentages Pomeroy gives Manhattan a 14% chance, Team Rankings says 5.8% and Accuscore says 13.8%. Let’s say it’s somewhere around 10%. That means that one out of every ten times Steve Masiello’s club pulls what some would consider a pretty big upset.

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Tempo-free MAAC: Does anyone want to challenge Iona?

There’s a very clear cut No. 1 team in the MAAC this season. Iona has taken all comers and delivered convincing win after convincing win. It’s good enough that the Gaels are currently projected as a 12 seed in ESPN’s latest bracketology (playing Vanderbilt!). The big question now is if any team is going to challenge the Gaels. We’ll find out this week as more of the top teams have games against each other starting on Thursday with Iona vs. Manhattan and Fairfield vs. Loyola (Md.). Let’s look at what the per possessions stats tell us about those four teams.

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Siena’s cool idea needlessly nixed by NFL

The “No Fun League” is back again.

Siena (6-8) is a MAAC school located in Albany, New York. The Saints have had a decent season thus far but had the misfortune of scheduling their game against Niagara (6-10) right at 1 p.m.

What’s 1 p.m. on Sunday in October through January? Football time. Four weeks ago as the Giants lost to the Redskins it didn’t seem like it would matter. There wasn’t going to be a local team in the playoffs.

All of a sudden, after beating the Jets and Cowboys on back-to-back weeks, the Giants are miraculously in the playoffs again and in the premiere Sunday time slot. (Because they’re the Giants.) Siena knew it had a big conflict. Sure, junior O.D. Anisoke is going for a school record 11th straight double-double, but that’s not going to compete with Eli Manning vs. Matt Ryan and Giants vs. Falcons on a Sunday afternoon.

That is until the Saints’ athletic department came up with a creative solution. Offer to show the Giants’ playoff game on the scoreboard during their game. This would be so cool for a number of reasons.

  1. It would’ve allowed fans of the Giants and Saints to watch both games. The only other way you’re doing that is with a television and an ESPN3 account. It’s not the same.
  2. Fans would’ve had an awesome communal experience, something Giants fans desperately need considering how inconsistent their talented, but flawed team is.

It seems like the perfect plan. Fans could watch both; feel the success and heartbreak of both. (I can just imagine a random cheer coming from the crowd during a media timeout as Victor Cruz broke for a long touchdown.)

And this morning NFL executives killed the idea. Apparently the possibility of about 6,500 fans (Siena’s average home attendance) enjoying a football game together is in violation of the NFL’s copyright policy. Showing the game on a screen bigger than one in someone’s home is a no-no.

Something around 25% of all people in the New York City market, the largest in the nation, are going to be watching the Giants play on Sunday, but the NFL couldn’t allow 6,500 fans to watch the game together in Albany?

Apparently not. Siena even had a conference call with the NFL office to straighten this mess out. But the college’s director of athletics John D’Argenio was told that the NFL just doesn’t grant permission for this type of thing. D’Argenio told Mark Singelais of the Albany Times Union, “At the end of the day, I made a rookie mistake, and I’m not a rookie.”

Was trying to energize a fan base for a mid-January basketball game when sitting slightly below .500 that bad of an idea? And is it such a bad precedent for the NFL to set? I doubt many teams would’ve even been creative enough or aware enough of their fan base to come up with a solution like this. Plus, I highly doubt Siena was going to fill the 8,065 seat Times Union Center because it was showing the Giants game on TV.

All it would’ve done was engender a bit of goodwill and let fans enjoy both of their January loves, college basketball and playoff football on a Sunday afternoon.

Creative thinking? Paying attention to your fan base? Not allowed if it involves the “No Fun League.”

Iona’s Sean Armand puts on a show at the Garden

Sean Armand might want to play all of Iona’s games at Madison Square Garden after the show he put on at MSG on Tuesday night against Siena in the Gaels’ 95-59 victory. But it didn’t come without a little bit of extra preparation.

Armand scored a career-high 32 points and hit a school and MAAC record 10 threes as Iona ran all over the Saints in its return to MAAC action. One game after the team shot 6-18 from three during a disappointing 83-75 loss at Hofstra, Armand came back and hit that many threes during the first half for the Gaels.

The Iona sophomore came in early and did some extra shooting before the game to get ready for the big lights of MSG. It paid off.

“I came in a little extra early to get shots up and routine stuff,” Armand said. “Tonight I hit more than usual and I’m happy about it. … My friends and my family are here and at Madison Square Garden there’s no better place to do that.”

With Armand providing the offensive firepower, Iona had no problem showing the 9,528 in attendance for the double-header along with Louisville’s 73-58 victory over St. John’s why it is considered the favorite this season in the MAAC. Even after Loyola (Md.) and Manhattan lost on Monday, the Gaels showed up focused and ready ready to dominate.

Unlike the game against Hofstra where Dwan McMillan, turnovers and poor shooting help thwart Iona’s high-octane attack, the Gaels were able to consistently get out on the break against the Saints. Scott Machado finished with nine points, nine assists and nine rebounds for Iona and his running mate the backcourt, Momo Jones, went for 14 points and seven assists.

“I hate losing and I hate losing the way we lost,” said Iona head coach Tim Cluess about the Hofstra game. “I can understand it if we competed and they beat us great. Now they played very well, but we didn’t compete for half a game. We made uncharacteristic mistakes and we got selfish. So tonight to see that passing and the effort back were the two most important things.”

The Gaels have another high-profile conference game on Friday when they take on Niagara at home on ESPNU at 9 p.m. Niagara dominated the first half against Loyola (Md.) on Monday on the way to a surprising 66-61 victory on the road at Reitz Arena.

Iona controlled the first half against Siena on Tuesday. The Gaels started out on fire and built up a big lead thanks to impressive three-point shooting. The hot hand was passed from Jones to Jermel Jenkins to Armand during the first 20 minutes. Jones and Jenkins each hit three in the first 20 minutes and scored in double-figures before halftime. Armand led the team with 20 points in the first 20 minutes and led Iona to a 57-31 lead at the break.

O.D. Anosike grabbed 10 rebounds for the Saints in the first half. He also scored six points, but picked up three fouls while battling with Mike Glover and the surprisingly active Randy Dezouvre in the first half.

For the game Anosike, who called Siena the “Cadillac program” of the MAAC earlier in the week finished with a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds. Evan Hymes led the Saints with 22 points.

Notes: Kyle Smyth started the game for Iona, but Armand started the second half after his scoring outburst in the first… Hymes is one of the fastest players I’ve ever seen in person… Iona is now 9-2 in MAAC regular season games at neutral sites… The Gaels are now 51-46 (52.6%) all-time against Siena… Glover scored 10 points for Iona, his second lowest total of the season… Jermel Jenkins came off the bench to score 16 points for the Gaels.

UMBC and Niagara with unexpected victories last night

All bets are off when conference play starts and that’s especially true in the smaller conferences. There were some surprising results last night. Here are the most unexpected:

America East: UMBC 82, New Hampshire 76 — The Retrievers beat exactly one Division I team (Towson) during non-conference, but they matched that in their first game of conference play by taking out the Wildcats on the road. Chase Plummer scored 23 points and UMBC had five players in double-figures. The oddest thing is that this was UNH’s worst defensive performance of the season.

MAAC: Niagara 66, Loyola (Md.) 61 — Manhattan wasn’t the only home favorite to fall last night in MAAC play. The Purple Eagles surprised the Greyhounds with 36 first half points and then held on for the road victory. Juan’ya Green scored 18 points in 38 minutes and Antoine Mason also played 38 minutes and scored 17 points. Justin Drummond scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Loyola in the loss.

The one conference that went almost according to plan? The CAA where George Mason, UNC-Wilmington, Old Dominion, Northeastern, Georgia State and VCU all came away with victories. The toughest was ODU’s overtime victory over James Madison. CAA Hoops has you covered with all the answers about it.

Rider gets Manhattan in MAAC season restart

Rider’s record might’ve said 3-11 when its game against Manhattan started, but the only numbers that really mattered were 0-2, as in the Broncs’ record in the MAAC.

The turn of the calendar to 2012 means the return of conference play and having most of those losses left behind in 2011. Rider looked like an unburdened team as it rolled to a 17-point halftime lead and held on for an 88-77 victory over Manhattan at Draddy Gymnasium on Monday night.

“This is a level of basketball where non-conference means nothing,” said Manhattan head coach Steve Masiello. “What matters is what you do in the conference. We go around the whole non-conference and get beat up and get ready for conference play. They’re the epitome of that and they’re ready to play.”

Rider spent most of the past two months having people wonder where the team picked to challenge for the MAAC title had gone. The Broncs lost to Pittsburgh, Drexel, La Salle, Florida, Princeton, Stony Brook and others early in the season. But the win pushed the Broncs’ conference record to 1-2 and helped Rider avoid being swept, even after losing 71-55 to the Jaspers in Lawrenceville earlier this season.

“It’s a new season in the sense this is all league play we’re in,” said Novar Gadson, who led Rider with 21 points. “Manhattan and Marist beat us earlier in the season and we don’t get to swept. For us not to get swept we have to come out aggressive and play with confidence.”

Rider couldn’t miss during the first half, shooting 17-28 from the field during the first half and scoring 52 points, that tied Syracuse for the most points scored in an opening half against Manhattan (9-6, 2-1) this season.

Most of the open looks were handed to the Broncs by slow rotations after Rider broke the press. Playing Manhattan for the second time this season seemed to give players like Jonathan Thompson more conviction against the Jaspers’ traps. While Rider turned the ball over 22 times, it also had 23 assists, led by Thompson’s seven.

Daniel Stewart scored 15 and Brandon Penn scored 12 and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Broncs. Rider shot 12-22 from three as a team and also out scored Manhattan 32-20 in the paint.

“We lost the game at the three-point line,” Masiello said. “They shot 54 percent from three, we shot 48. You cannot let a team like that shoot that percentage from the three.”

The Jaspers struggled with foul trouble during a good part of the opening 20 minutes. George Beamon picked up his second foul with 12:28 remaining in the half and sat the rest of the way. He played 26 minutes overall and scored 13 points on 4-12 shooting. The Jaspers’ hot hand was Kidani Brutus. He shot 5-8 from three and scored 19 points.

After the difficult first half, Manhattan closed to within seven points at 84-77 with 1:30 remaining in the game on Liam McCabe-Moran’s three pointer, but with a chance to get the lead down to five Emmy Andujar couldn’t get his lay up to go down and Rider salted the game away at the free throw line. As a team Manhattan shot just 12-39 (30.8%) on twos.

Conference battles highlight busy Monday night

The New Year holiday is over and it’s time for conference play. America East opens in earnest tonight and the biggest game on the schedule is Stony Brook hosting Vermont. Also, Manhattan starts MAAC play up again by hosting Rider and Hofstra hosts VCU. Here’s what to look for in all of the big games.

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MAAC Projection: Iona hasn’t won yet

Much like I did for the Big East, I ran 10,000 simulations for the MAAC (and a bunch of other conferences coming up in this series this week). The MAAC is a slightly different animal because it played conference games already this season. Four teams: Iona, Fairfield, Loyola (Md.) and Manhattan are ahead of schedule at 2-0. Four teams: Siena, Rider, Niagara and Canisius are behind at 0-2. (Marist and St. Peter’s are stuck in the middle, we’ll see why that’s important in a second.) All of this means that the simulations have to take this into account. It’d be really tough for one of those four bottom teams to take the league title away from one of the top four teams, but as you’ll see, it happened twice.

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Moving in Different Directions

Game #8-220: Fordham Rams at Manhattan Jaspers

December 7, 2011 7:00 pm
Draddy Gymnasium
BBState Stats/Recap

Just walking into Draddy Gymnasium, you knew that this game was different. For one, there were students in the stands. A lot of students. And they were all wearing white. Usually the Jasper Jungle has a few hardy souls that have come to root on Manhattan, but tonight it was full. (We’ll ignore the fact that Jaspers, named after Brother Jasper from the late 19th century, probably shouldn’t be in a jungle in the first place.)

Why was this game different Why were CBS’ Jon Rothstein and other members of the New York media here Why had a couple St. John’s students made the trip up to the Bronx just to watch the game It wasn’t because Manhattan had won its last two games in convincing fashion to start off 2-0 in MAAC play; it was because this was the Battle of the Bronx. Fordham had come across the borough to Riverdale, and this game was for all the marbles.

This was the 104th edition of this game that the two teams have been playing almost continuously for 100 years now. This season, it featured a hot young Manhattan team led by Steve Masiello and Rick Pitino’s Louisville wizardry that he’d brought back to Riverdale. (In fact, Rothstein would tweet during the game that Manhattan looked like a “AAA version” of the current No. 4 team in the nation.) At 5-4 and 2-0 in league play, there was some buzz that maybe this team really was back. A new era of Manhattan basketball was starting.

There was some of that same buzz at Fordham just last season. Tom Pecora took over the Rams after coaching at Hofstra, and it was supposed to be the start of something new. But no one realized just how much work he was going to have to do.

For unlike Masiello, who seems to have inherited the pieces that nicely fit into his pressing, aggressive offensive scheme, Pecora started to build from the ground up. He had a few nice pieces like Chris Gaston, but he needed more.

And then Manhattan zoomed past. Junior George Beamon, Manhattan’s star player, scored eight points before the Rams even knew what hit them. The early hole was too much. The Jaspers kept the Rams at bay for the rest of the first half and then put the pedal to the metal in the second half, roaring away for a convincing 81-47 victory.

The students were delighted. As sophomore Rhamel Brown sent back two Fordham shots in the same possession the crowd yelled with excitement. Both teams have a lot of new faces this season, but it was obvious that these two teams are moving in different directions.

Fordham is struggling. Pecora has recruited talented young players, but they’re still learning to play together. The pieces haven’t gelled quite yet. The wins have been hard to come by. Everything needs to go right.

Manhattan is rising up. A sleeping giant at the end of the 1 train, the Jaspers won 20-plus games in five of the six seasons between 2001-02 and 2005-06. They were once a MAAC titan. Now that energy is back.

When Masiello came to Manhattan he brought with him a fascination for players around 6-foot-6 that can do everything on the court. Classifying Emmy Andujar and Donovan Kates as guards or forwards is a matter of semantics. Andujar, a freshman from the Bronx, is listed as a forward, but he’s got a great basketball IQ and the ability to push the ball by himself in transition.

It was fitting, then, that after the game Andujar was named the MVP of the Battle of the Bronx. He scored 14 points, grabbed seven boards and dished out seven assists, but his contribution was much more than that what was in the box score. He is part of a new group of players at Manhattan.

After the game, Masiello said that even though the Jaspers were 6-4, he wasn’t happy. He expected to be 9-1 after its first 10 games. (I guess he understood that beating Syracuse at the Carrier Dome would’ve been the tallest of orders.) You can live with being unsatisfied if the end result is still this good. For two teams met in an arena on Wednesday night, and left heading in two very different directions.

at MANHATTAN 81, FORDHAM 47
12/07/2011

FORDHAM 3-4 (0-0)– D. McMillan 4-11 4-8 12; B. Smith 1-3 0-0 3; A. Estwick 2-7 0-0 5; B. Frazier 3-8 2-2 9; C. Gaston 4-7 0-0 8; K. Bristol 0-0 0-0 0; R. Canty 2-2 1-3 5; L. Samuell 0-3 1-4 1; M. Dominique 1-2 0-0 2; J. Short 0-4 2-2 2; L. Zivkovic 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 17-50 10-19 47.

MANHATTAN 6-4 (2-0)– E. Andujar 5-7 3-5 14; G. Beamon 5-9 2-4 15; R. Colonette 3-8 1-2 7; M. Alvarado 3-4 5-5 12; K. Brutus 1-4 0-0 2; D. Kates 2-5 4-6 10; L. McCabe-Moran 3-7 2-2 10; R. Brown 3-6 3-4 9; M. Koita 0-1 0-0 0; R. McCoy 0-0 0-0 0; D. Anderson 0-3 0-0 0; K. Laue 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-55 20-28 81.

Three-point goals: FORD 3-17 (A. Estwick 1-4; B. Frazier 1-3; D. McMillan 0-2; J. Short 0-4; B. Smith 1-2; L. Zivkovic 0-2), MAN 9-19 (L. McCabe-Moran 2-6; G. Beamon 3-3; M. Alvarado 1-1; K. Brutus 0-2; D. Anderson 0-1; E. Andujar 1-1; D. Kates 2-5); Rebounds: FORD 28 (K. Bristol 6), MAN 39 (R. Colonette 9); Assists: FORD 5 (B. Frazier 3), MAN 16 (E. Andujar 7); Total Fouls — FORD 23, MAN 20; Fouled Out: FORD-None; MAN-None.