Let’s be honest, the top of the MAAC caught absolutely zero breaks in the ESPN BracketBusters. Iona is playing on TV, but its a no-win home game against Nevada. Also, if you looked at RPI and accomplishments before the pairings were announced it was quite logical to assume that either Loyola (MD) or Manhattan would get a marquee home game on television as well. Look at the schedule and you’ll find none of it.
Tag: Fairfield
NYC Power Poll – Throwing a change up
We’re changing up the Power Poll moving forward and we’re going to rank the Top 12 teams in the New York metro area. Voters were provided a list of 23 teams and asked to rank the top 12. They’re presented here in your standard poll format so you can see the difference between No. 2 Iona and No. 3 Wagner is razor thin. I think this will be a fun way to go about this moving forward.
MAAC Similarity Scores: Can Iona be Cornell?
The top of the MAAC has four talented teams. The question for each though is how good can they be? Similarity scores help us tease that out a little bit. While it is still early in the season, enough games have been played that the four factors are beginning to stabilize and we can get a good sense of what a team will look like. That allows us to take a long look at similarity scores and find out what a team’s ceiling (or floor) might be. I took a look at the similarity scores for the 2012 versions of Iona, Manhattan, Loyola (MD) and Fairfield through January 17. The comparisons might surprise you.
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Tempo-free MAAC: Iona still in drivers seat
Iona may have lost a last-second game to Manhattan, but the Gaels are definitely still the team to beat in the MAAC. Iona is the top team in the league in efficiency margin, but it comes with a bit of a caveat, the Gaels have also played one of the easiest schedules in the conference thus far this season. Compare that with Manhattan. The Jaspers have played the third hardest conference schedule thus far. That’s by far the hardest schedule of any contender thus far. It also makes me think that the Jaspers, and their impressive defense, are for real.
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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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Three Questions – Iona
As the season approaches every team has questions. This series is going to look at three key ones.
1. How does the late addition of Lamont “Momo” Jones impact team chemistry? – Iona is getting a number of new additions to the roster this season, including Arizona transfer Jones, who was granted a hardship waiver by the NCAA. But Jones isn’t the only player the Gaels add to their roster. Ra’Shad James also will need to find some minutes. Here’s the thing, 76.8 percent of Iona’s offensive possession minutes return, including the two big usage guys – Mike Glover and Scott Machado.
MAAC contenders counting on transfers to make major impact
Now that Lamont “Momo” Jones has been granted a hardship waiver and is eligible to play immediately at Iona after transferring from Arizona, the Gaels join a group of three MAAC teams that are going to be relying on majors conference transfers next season.
How Momo Jones, Rakim Sanders (Boston College to Fairfield) and Jeff Jones (Virginia to Rider) transfer their skills to a different level of basketball is going to go a long way towards determining which team earns an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
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Picking at the previews: Iona
Now, I hate to pick on Brian Lester after yesterday’s discussion about the NEC, but his predictions in Lindy’s for Metro Athletic Athletic Conference just left me scratching my head. Yes, Fairfield is talented, but how could anyone pick Iona third in the MAAC?
Value Added in the MAAC
Next season is shaping up to be a really interesting one in the MAAC. Out of the 10 teams in the conference six will be legitimate postseason candidates and at least three could do damage in the NCAA Tournament if they make it that far.
The first step in evaluating who might come out on top of that logjam is taking a look at returning players. Most observers think that since Iona is returning Michael Glover and Scott Machado the Gaels are the team to beat, but looking at the value added for returning players gives a different result.
Sydney Johnson moves from Princeton to Fairfield
The movement of Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson to Fairfield appears to be a little outside of the scope of this site, but it actually brings to light something interesting about two conferences I’ll be covering moving forward. (And the schools missed being included here by about 30 minutes each.) But first let’s get one thing straight, this move isn’t about going to a “better” conference, despite what people will write.
The MAAC and the Ivy League are fairly comparable. For instance, here’s a look at the Ken Pomeroy and Sagarin ratings for both leagues this season:
- Ivy: 15th conference in KenPom, 15th in Sagarin
- MAAC: 16th conference in KenPom, 15th in Sagarin
Yes, the Ivy League was helped by the emergence of both Princeton and Harvard this season, but the bottom of the MAAC is really the anchor. Schools like Manhattan, Niagara and Marist totalled 11 conference wins between the three of them. The Ivy League’s Ancient Eight has a smaller pool to draw from, and thus the futility of Dartmouth failed to anchor down the conference.
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NYC Buckets Archive 