In my opinion, Isaiah is the MVP of the Gaels team, and has been for some time. Yes, others may score more and get more press and league recognition, but he is the best defender on a team whose defense often leaves a lot to be desired. No one hustles more at both ends of the court, and his blocks, rebounds, put backs, steals, deflections and saves of balls heading out of bounds are instrumental in many of the team's wins. He is a "silent assassin" when he is hitting his 3 point shots and I'm glad to see him becoming a primary scoring weapon instead of deferring to his teammates. It is a joy for me to watch this talented young man, and I hope he continues his high caliber play throughout the rest of the season, and maybe become a mentor to Bebis.
Yeah, well said. There was one sequence today where he forced a turnover, we came down and turned it over, then he forced another or got a rebound and we came down and turned it over, then he forced another and we finally scored. He's got a great motor and he doesn't quit on plays.
There were 2 great plays out of timeouts that were executed perfectly today. The Amayo play at the end of the half and the Williams three out of the TO with 8 seconds left on the shot clock. Showed great patience, drew the defense and when Canisius lost IW, found him wide open for the three. Great coaching, great execution.
I totally agree, resumeman, and have said it several times. Best all around player on the team. Let's the game come to him and never forces it. Amazingly unselfish. Always in the right place and has an uncanny ability to hit the big 3 that puts the nail in the coffin when the opposition mounts a rally. This kid is an amazing underrated talent!
They are an extremely poor shooting team. Best player (Zach Lewis) is there only scoring threat, shooting 32% from the field. Put a hand in there face, and put a strong effort on the defensive end and we should win by 20+. Lets Go Gaels
Somehow we made Canisius look like the Spurs in terms of shooting %.
Nice to pull out the win though. As several have pointed out, IW was huge today. He does everything well. Laury played well again, and Hines contributed. AJ looked lost most of the game and struggles with his handle, but he hit that critical 3 when we needed it. AJ is going to see the double team in the half court offense that he struggled with today from every MAAC team , so he'd better find a solution. With Cluess' help.
Terrible 1st half D for Iona , which nearly cost us the game.
I was impressed with Canisius. They have great height and played aggressive D. Baron had an excellent game plan.
They are an extremely poor shooting team. Best player (Zach Lewis) is there only scoring threat, shooting 32% from the field. Put a hand in there face, and put a strong effort on the defensive end and we should win by 20+. Lets Go Gaels
Somehow we made Canisius look like the Spurs in terms of shooting %.
Nice to pull out the win though. As several have pointed out, IW was huge today. He does everything well. Laury played well again, and Hines contributed. AJ looked lost most of the game and struggles with his handle, but he hit that critical 3 when we needed it. AJ is going to see the double team in the half court offense that he struggled with today from every MAAC team , so he'd better find a solution. With Cluess' help.
Terrible 1st half D for Iona , which nearly cost us the game.
I was impressed with Canisius. They have great height and played aggressive D. Baron had an excellent game plan.
Teams are playing AJ very physically. When they are bodying him, he needs to drive to draw the foul.
Somehow we made Canisius look like the Spurs in terms of shooting %.
Nice to pull out the win though. As several have pointed out, IW was huge today. He does everything well. Laury played well again, and Hines contributed. AJ looked lost most of the game and struggles with his handle, but he hit that critical 3 when we needed it. AJ is going to see the double team in the half court offense that he struggled with today from every MAAC team , so he'd better find a solution. With Cluess' help.
Terrible 1st half D for Iona , which nearly cost us the game.
I was impressed with Canisius. They have great height and played aggressive D. Baron had an excellent game plan.
Teams are playing AJ very physically. When they are bodying him, he needs to drive to draw the foul.
I agree that's what AJ needs to do. But he had a lot of trouble with his handle against a double team, and often against single pressure, in the half court. So he often isn't able to drive and execute.
Aj had 8 assists and just 3 turnovers so he did something right. Also if he doesn't hit that 3 I bet we lose. Lastly he actually played decent d at times, was on Lewis part of the game and I thought was adequate .
That AJ three was from the Iona bench. Hey, I loved it. But let's get a grip: that's maybe a 25% shot. It rims out and we're all depressed. Another classic post timeout play. Canisius was shooting way over their heads. But again, they were given lots of good looks. Take the W. Right now, we have two guys who are playing well above our competition.
1. Give Griffs credit for sure, but we were just totally off our game today. 2. Not much to add about IW other than wow. The spotlight should finally be on him for once as he deserves player of the week. 3. Perimeter defense continues to be cause for concern as we allow opposing offense to shoot +11% what they normally shoot. 4. Solid minutes for Hines who continues to prove himself as a dependable role player in the MAAC. Ideally would like to see him come off the bench, which ultimately will be his role if we can find another impact player or two for next year. 5. As for AJ, not his best game by far, but Joebird is spot on. 8 assists, played physical down low and hit the shot with the game on the line at the end. I think we forget sometimes but last year some of Sean's best games where when he was a non-factor on offense and found other ways to help the team. Thought this was true of AJ today. 6. DL3 is a matchup nightmare for everyone in the league. Only team I can see him having serious trouble with is Manhattan given their athleticism inside and how well coached they are. 7. Amayo's passing ability is extremely underrated, and had that dunk went down it would have been one of the best in Iona history. 8. Inbound plays much better as of late than in previous years. 9. Lewis and Valenti on Canisius are nice players. If they had one more impact player they would be a contender in the conference. 10. Casimir seems to have hit the freshman wall as some have pointed out already. Don't think coach will want to experiment during conference play, but curious to see what would happen if he came off the bench and inserted Amayo into starting lineup in his place.
Couple of thoughts: 1. Ionamike, have to give you a one game suspension for your scouting report. We all/most knew how good a coach Jim Baron is, but from reading your scouting report we weren't worried about their o/s shooting. So all they did was shoot 50.8% from the field and 45.8% from 'three'. (Smiley Face) 2. Z-73, Joebird and Resumeman, imo, are ALL right on about IW. People who say we don't play defense, should amend that opinion to say, other than IW, Iona doesn't play defense. IMO, it's between IW and Drame, because of his blocks and boards, for the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year. And yesterday, I saw IW play one of the greatest games, both ends, in Iona history. And I was at Jeff Ruland's 30 points/20 rebounds game. 3. Tau, we NEVER, or so it seems to me, foul when up three with the clock winding down. And the way we defend, coaches probably worry about a four point play. (Smiley Face)
Agree with everything said about IW--a complete player. I would love to see him occasionally put the ball on the floor and go hard to the hoop. When I saw him in JC he frequently made that move from the corner--totally unstoppable as most defenders were worried about the 3.
Madame Lasagna gazed into her crystal ball and told why this game was close. Iona wins when making 10 or more 3 point shots. When making exactly 10, as in this game, it is cuspy and inclined to be close.