Tag: Jon Severe

Iona 94. NJIT 80: Keeping Jordan Washington On The Floor

Picture if you will, a basketball world where you can commit as many fouls as you would like, without fear of disqualification. Basketball is virtually the only sport where that’s the case, after all. Sure, other sports have penalties and violent conduct is sure to see you removed from participation in just about any athletic endeavor.

But a specified number of common fouls having a direct link to a player’s removal for the rest of the contest? Only our beloved hoops.

Now picture Iona senior Jordan Washington in that blissful no-foul out utopia. Washington has been borderline unstoppable for the last two seasons, a matchup quandary (especially for mid-major opponents) at 6’8”, especially when surrounded with the shooters that the Gaels seem to breed. He led the nation in usage last season (involved in 38.5% of Iona possessions), and is fifth this season. Washington also checks in second nationally in points per minute (behind the nation’s leading scorer, Central Michigan’s Marcus Keene at 30.8 ppg) and he is also sixth in number of minutes played … on his own team (20.7 minutes per game)?
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Three Thoughts: Iona 90, FDU 73 – Schadrac Casimir’s Road Back

On Dec. 4, 2015, Schadrac Casimir – reigning unanimous MAAC Rookie of the Year – went scoreless in just 23 minutes as Iona played Fairfield. It was a secondary story because the Gaels won, but something was clearly up and a couple of days later it was announced Casimir would miss the rest of the season with a hip labral tear.

With modern medicine, most of the time, that’s it, Casimir would return for 2016-17 with three years of eligibility and be ready to rock and roll by the time practice began in October. But even state of the art medicine is not perfect  and hips can be tricky for athletes, especially basketball players with the constant changing of direction needed. Casimir underwent another surgery on the other hip later in the winter and then a third on a sports hernia which was related to the first two.

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Fordham 89, LIU Brooklyn 84 (OT): Rams Ready For A-10 Or Nah?

Any potential scientific experiment needs a problem statement and Tuesday night at Rose Hill, it was pretty simple to concoct one: Is Fordham good?

Of course, then you need a hypothesis, and I went with a yes, although a little hesitantly. Fordham was indeed 6-1 and went to 7-1 with a hard-fought 89-84 overtime victory over city rival LIU Brooklyn (4-3). That alone is cause for celebration on campus. After all, the Rams only won seven games total in 2010-11 and 2012-13. They won just 10 each in Tom Pecora’s other three seasons, and he was fired after posted a 44-106 mark.

It’s not only likely, but probable that Jeff Neubauer will start his Fordham career 9-1 after beating two of the worst teams in Division I, Coppin St. and Maine (Fordham’s next two games), and then could match Pecora’s high for a campaign at the Barclays Center on Dec. 22 against Boston College, some two weeks before the former Eastern Kentucky coach even makes his Atlantic-10 debut.

Continue reading “Fordham 89, LIU Brooklyn 84 (OT): Rams Ready For A-10 Or Nah?” →