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Manhattan
Mar 1, 2014 0:10:19 GMT -5
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Post by java on Mar 1, 2014 0:10:19 GMT -5
On a neutral court Iona can beat any team in this league.
The key is having all hands on deck and if a player is not having a good night (as AJ showed tonight) the entire team has to believe that the player having an off night will be able to turn things around.
We are fortunate to have the top coach in the league and I'm confident TC will make all in game adjustments necessary to give our team the best opportunity to play in the March Madness tourney.
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Post by iona05 on Mar 1, 2014 0:25:00 GMT -5
How many days until round 3 of the rivarly? Some thoughts from the game:
1. Bitter taste in all of our mouths after a heartbreaking loss, but putting things into perspective this was the best possible loss we could've hoped for. Road loss in rival gym with the conference already clinched, played like garbage first half, rallied and played great second half, and lost a close one that could've went either way in OT, now with a home game on the backend to right the ship and get the momentum back heading into Springfield. Not the worst thing in the world.
2. Turning points of the game were small but crucial moments: (a) IW terrible pass to lead to transition bucket down the stretch, (b) no call on long rebound for Armand when he was clearly pushed out of bounds, (c) missed FT for Sean after hitting and one 3 pointer, (d) AJ plays it too casual on a long rebound and lets it get away.
3. Ugly game from AJ capped off by a poor decision to take a contested 3 pointer with plenty of time left on the clock instead of passing up the ball to a wide open Armand coming off a screen on the baseline. That decision represents the polar opposite of everything that got us to this point.
4. Thought we should've called a TO at the end of regulation after AJ lost the ball and it fell into Tre's hands. At that point the play had broken down, and you could see we were winging it. Thought that a TO would've been put to good use in that situation. Also, no excuse for leaving 4 seconds on the clock after our shot. We got lucky that Manhattan didn't score there, they should've won the game right there on a completely avoidable mistake by us.
5. Great turnout by our students tonight, who showed much more class than the Manhattan faithful. Between the f*** Iona chants during national anthems and the anti-Sledge signs in the student section I thought they crossed the line a bit, although I guess that's part of the passion that makes it a great rivalry.
6. Nice job by Masiello to game plan for the all out press against AJ, which clearly worked out well for them. They shook AJ up early and clearly threw him off his game. Not sure why he was handling the ball on the final possession given what had transpired previously.
7. Also credit to our coaching staff for making some nice adjustments at halftime. Other than the clock management on the final possession of regulation I thought they did a nice job.
8. Ball movement was terrific again tonight with some great backdoor screens and typical Iona unselfishness.
9. I'm convinced our defensive strategy is to play hands off and avoid fouls in the first half even if it comes at the expense of giving up uncontested shots, only to keep some fouls in the bank and play more aggressive in the second half. Only explanation I could think of for some of the matador defense we were playing in the first half. We clearly ratcheted it up a notch and played good defense in the second.
10. We are a better team than Manhattan period. We made some uncharacteristic mistakes in the first half with sloppy turnovers but that won't happen next time around. We are more talented, have better coaching and are just all around the better team. Hopefully we get the chance to prove it the third time around.
Now it's on to Senior Day. Let's finish up strong and then show our best stuff in Springfield. Go Gaels!!!
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Post by widespreadpanic on Mar 1, 2014 1:56:19 GMT -5
Grats on the moral victory.
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Post by ic1983 on Mar 1, 2014 7:20:18 GMT -5
Great post 05. IW and DL played some inspired D in the 2nd half. We'll beat Manhattan in the tourney if we meet them.
One other thought, though it won't help us this year. If Amayo had been eligible Andjuar would not have been able to give us all that trouble last night.
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Post by iona05 on Mar 1, 2014 7:27:23 GMT -5
I think last night's loss also locks us into a bad 13 or good 14 seed in the dance if we make it. Don't see us getting a 12 unless a lot of things fall our way in other conf tourneys.
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Post by ic59 on Mar 1, 2014 7:48:31 GMT -5
My take: 1. Ctbill, if you think that TC told the team to just go out and have fun, I'd be very surprised if that were true. Granted I only know TC for a relatively short period of time, but one of my close friends is a long time Floral Park neighbor of TC and he has told me how competitive he is. 2. WP, his bait on the MAAC Board, would have reeled in many responses. The posters on this board, once again, showed me that they are smarter than the posters on that other board. Congrats. 3. Masiello did a much better job than what he did in the first game. And the best thing he did was to increase the PT for the Gael Killer, Emmy Andujar, from 18 to 37 minutes. Hence his scoring went from 11 to 28. And you can throw in six rebounds, three assists and three steals. To me that makes him the POG. 4. I thought that TC did a solid coaching job as well. I would have liked to have seen SA get a couple of plays in the OT where he could have launched a couple of three's. 5. 05, you indicated that we played like garbage, first half, and then great, second half. Score wise and defensively, you're correct, but we did shoot 50% in the first and 39% in the second. Definitely agree with your take on the students. They were great. 6. I know from my post on another thread that none/few of you are worried about AJ, but I must confess that I still am. I recognize that he's had a much better year than probably any of us could have hoped for, but he's learning a new position, which happens to be the most important position. And in the Tourney I'm expecting any team we play to press us most of the game. 7. Asst Coach, Bill O'Keefe, had a couple of interesting things say in the post game interview: *When pressed, most of the credit/blame for how you handle it is the play of the PG. *O'Keefe said that he was "old school" and when you beat the press you have to try to score. We usually don't. 8. Thought that this was DL's best defensive game. He played 42 minutes, grabbed 14 boards, had three blocks and two steals. 9. I wanted Mike Poole in the game in OT, but couldn't think of anyone that I'd sit. 10.And like everyone else, I thought the game showed the MAAC in a good light.
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Post by iona05 on Mar 1, 2014 8:06:26 GMT -5
59...in the first half we played horrible. Sloppy passing, lazy defense, too many turnovers. The hot shooting kept the game within reach, otherwise we would've been losing by 20 going into half.
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Post by jcgael on Mar 1, 2014 8:24:31 GMT -5
Never happy with a loss but I think that going into the tourney on a long win streak might make us too overconfident. Jaspers played well and on Senior night in their gym that is a tall order to walk out with a W. Still we had our chances. I thought AJ was clearly shoved on the late inbounds play although the announcers said he was really acting. Not upset with Tre taking that ball to the rack. If they foul him we might have won the game right there. Time for the fellas to step back take a deep breath, realize that there is no damage done here and then help our Seniors enjoy their Senior night before focusing on the MAAC Tourney!
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Post by hawaii bill on Mar 1, 2014 8:29:52 GMT -5
I thought Cluess gave the guys a long leash to have fun and be "creative." A lot of back and forth attacking and one on one displays. Nice to show off your stuff on national TV. How about DL's behind the back handle at 6'9"? He was bringing the ball up against the press like a guard. That's cool if that's what Tim did. A couple of times AJ didn't recognize the trap quickly enough and got snared. He's learning the PG position on the job. Maybe next year he runs the half court O, while sledge runs the transition and breaks the press. I love that AJ is calm with the ball, but sometimes it seems he's too casual. The lollipop passes from all of our guys against an agressive D like Manhattan are just asking to be intercepted.
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Post by Joebird on Mar 1, 2014 8:36:57 GMT -5
Couple of things:
The 8 seed can be either spu, marist or rider per maac tiebreaker page, so many scenarios including a coin flip. All 3 scare me.
Also would like to see Poole play more because he played so well last game against manhattan but agree don't know who to sit.
English may have hit freshmen wall this year since he did not have full season as a frosh.
IW sports center top 10.
Billy baron scares me more than manhattan.
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Post by Z-73 on Mar 1, 2014 8:52:02 GMT -5
IW played like a man possessed last night. He is omnipresent on the court. I did love the effort that this team showed in a truly great MAAC contest. These guys could have folded the tent at the half being down 10, but they came out with a lot of intensity. Any loss hurts, but this wasn't a bad one considering that we made a great comeback and lost in OT to a good team on their home court.
We can beat anyone in the MAAC Tourney, but I suppose we can lose to anyone, also. Let's take care of business tomorrow against Rider for the Seniors and then go on a 6 or 7 game win streak.
Go Gaels!!!
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Post by iona05 on Mar 1, 2014 8:54:32 GMT -5
Joebird...as far as Springfield seeding goes, I would like the 4 seed to be whomever Siena would match up best with. Easiest road to Monday night for us would be to knock off Monmouth in QF, then get Siena in the SF after they upset the 4 seed. I personally think Siena matches up better with Canisius than Manhattan, so I'll be rooting for Manhattan to win tomorrow, dropping Canisius to the 4 seed and then hoping for an upset by Siena over them in the QF so we can avoid playing Baron and the refs in the SF game.
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Post by Cjb on Mar 1, 2014 8:59:56 GMT -5
Joebird...as far as Springfield seeding goes, I would like the 4 seed to be whomever Siena would match up best with. Easiest road to Monday night for us would be to knock off Monmouth in QF, then get Siena in the SF after they upset the 4 seed. I personally think Siena matches up better with Canisius than Manhattan, so I'll be rooting for Manhattan to win tomorrow, dropping Canisius to the 4 seed and then hoping for an upset by Siena over them in the QF so we can avoid playing Baron and the refs in the SF game. Any team but St. Peters. Dunne always concocts something unpleasant specifically for us.
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Post by java on Mar 1, 2014 9:37:01 GMT -5
Joebird...as far as Springfield seeding goes, I would like the 4 seed to be whomever Siena would match up best with. Easiest road to Monday night for us would be to knock off Monmouth in QF, then get Siena in the SF after they upset the 4 seed. I personally think Siena matches up better with Canisius than Manhattan, so I'll be rooting for Manhattan to win tomorrow, dropping Canisius to the 4 seed and then hoping for an upset by Siena over them in the QF so we can avoid playing Baron and the refs in the SF game. 05, In this scenario who would be your "sleeper" in the other side of the bracket? Alvarado seems to make Beamon a better player and if Alvarado is not available or 100% does that open it up for Quinnipiac or perhaps a long shot like Fairfield to advance to the final game?
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Post by GuyF on Mar 1, 2014 10:10:02 GMT -5
I think SPC can do damage if they finish 6th or 7th. They won't lose their PIG game and then they get a day of rest before the quarters. They finished very strong and can beat anyone seeded 2-3.
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