Aj is no momo, momo played hard on both ends, at least i dont have to read anymore aj is the greatest gael, if u never played in the tourny u cant be in the didcussion, especilly when the maac is at an all time low, never ranked in the 20's this many years in a row
Not sure what the agenda is against AJ, but still see him as part of the solution not the problem. I read in other threads some people suggesting that he's packed up the season and turned his focus on boosting his NBA prospects. Would find this to be highly surprising and very out of character for him to do this.
A suggestion for you guys: when you're on the home page of this board (not the "main page"), where it gives you the spot to jump to a certain page number, jump around to page 53 or so and start poking around threads. The timeframe you're jumping to is late Feb/early March 2013, and Iona is losing a ton of close games and barely still in the league race. There is talk of "Momo and no one else" on O, zero effort/attention on D, poor job preparing by the coaches, etc. And I was in the same exact mode I'm in right now--we're not great, but the league tourney is a different entity. I flat-out predicted we'd win, to the ridicule of some, a couple of which had us losing in the quarters. But that's how legend is born, I guess. :-)
I can't predict we'd win right now, given that there are two major hurdles to overcome--a very good Monmouth team and a pretty good Siena team playing at home. That team also wasn't missing a key piece or two, they just didn't play as well. But I will say this--very little in the regular season carries over to tournament play. Have we not seen our Gaels sweep someone in the regular season, then get slapped in the tourney? Have we not seen other strong teams fall, even at home (Fairfield in 2011)? Were we not a 4 seed when we topped 1 seed Loyola, which really was a very good basketball team that had no business losing to us?
I have seen too many loaded 1 seeds fall short, so I am not ready to crown Monmouth just yet. I have seen good Siena teams, a good Fairfield team, and good Buffalo area teams blow it at home. And too often we have seen lower seeded teams make runs to glory.
We all know Iona has the horses to do this. Yes, they would have to play better than we have seen. And yes, some of the choking moments we've endured ourselves would have to carry over to these other "favorites." But history has shown that it's not unprecedented. Just go read this board for the evidence.
The greatest poster in the history of the MAAC as determined by THREE separate polls.
Oh, sorry, but one more thing that I touched on above comes into play that I should have expanded on--regular-season sweeps vs 3rd meeting in the tournament. I have long theorized about the difficulties of beating a relatively equal opponent 3 times in one season. Zack on the MAAC board challenged the theory, so I actually ran the numbers and I will say the numbers generally supported my claim, but not to the "guaranteed" state that I was suggesting, which is fine. Additionally, the research showed that Iona has fallen victim to this a bit more than others, thus heightening my sensitivity to the issue.
Odds are, we will lose at Monmouth. If we drift down to the 4 seed and see #1 seeded Monmouth in the semifinals, I'd feel pretty damn good that they wouldn't beat us a third time. Conversely, if we were to go there and win--I would find it hard to believe we would then beat them a second time in Albany. They are better than we are--they should win 2 of 3. But 3 of 3 is a LOT to ask for. Just ask Iona vs Fairfield in 2012 and Iona vs Manhattan last year, just off the top of my head.
The greatest poster in the history of the MAAC as determined by THREE separate polls.
Oh, sorry, but one more thing that I touched on above comes into play that I should have expanded on--regular-season sweeps vs 3rd meeting in the tournament. I have long theorized about the difficulties of beating a relatively equal opponent 3 times in one season. Zack on the MAAC board challenged the theory, so I actually ran the numbers and I will say the numbers generally supported my claim, but not to the "guaranteed" state that I was suggesting, which is fine. Additionally, the research showed that Iona has fallen victim to this a bit more than others, thus heightening my sensitivity to the issue.
Odds are, we will lose at Monmouth. If we drift down to the 4 seed and see #1 seeded Monmouth in the semifinals, I'd feel pretty damn good that they wouldn't beat us a third time. Conversely, if we were to go there and win--I would find it hard to believe we would then beat them a second time in Albany. They are better than we are--they should win 2 of 3. But 3 of 3 is a LOT to ask for. Just ask Iona vs Fairfield in 2012 and Iona vs Manhattan last year, just off the top of my head.
So does this mean you'll be rooting for Monmouth to beat us in a few weeks?
The gloom and doom is pretty prevalent these days and yet there is a lot of the conference schedule yet to go. It is college basketball and things can change from game to game. I am disappointed and frustrated that the team has not shown consistency and under performed in some games, but I remain optimistic that this team will win games. If AJ English went down with a season ending injury then I would join the gloom and doom about the remainder of the season. Way too early to write off this team. There is no way that the players and coaches are resigned to losing. They have too much pride and put in too much time and effort to give up. They have hit a very rough patch that I feel is a matter of confidence that has damaged their focus and rhythm. They appear to be tight and a little hesitant. Playing not to lose versus playing to win. Losing games you shouldn't tends to create this problem and it can be difficult to overcome. I feel if they can regain some confidence and play looser we will see better results. A sports psychologist might be in order to help the team get over beating themselves.
I guess I am one of the "negative guys" , but this team hasn't done a thing ON The road to instill any confidence. We lose to good teams, average teams, and poor teams on the road. Do I think we could get hot for three games at Siena in March? A possibility, but not very likely. Not based on what we have done on the court this year.
A suggestion for you guys: when you're on the home page of this board (not the "main page"), where it gives you the spot to jump to a certain page number, jump around to page 53 or so and start poking around threads. The timeframe you're jumping to is late Feb/early March 2013, and Iona is losing a ton of close games and barely still in the league race. There is talk of "Momo and no one else" on O, zero effort/attention on D, poor job preparing by the coaches, etc. And I was in the same exact mode I'm in right now--we're not great, but the league tourney is a different entity. I flat-out predicted we'd win, to the ridicule of some, a couple of which had us losing in the quarters. But that's how legend is born, I guess. :-)
I can't predict we'd win right now, given that there are two major hurdles to overcome--a very good Monmouth team and a pretty good Siena team playing at home. That team also wasn't missing a key piece or two, they just didn't play as well. But I will say this--very little in the regular season carries over to tournament play. Have we not seen our Gaels sweep someone in the regular season, then get slapped in the tourney? Have we not seen other strong teams fall, even at home (Fairfield in 2011)? Were we not a 4 seed when we topped 1 seed Loyola, which really was a very good basketball team that had no business losing to us?
I have seen too many loaded 1 seeds fall short, so I am not ready to crown Monmouth just yet. I have seen good Siena teams, a good Fairfield team, and good Buffalo area teams blow it at home. And too often we have seen lower seeded teams make runs to glory.
We all know Iona has the horses to do this. Yes, they would have to play better than we have seen. And yes, some of the choking moments we've endured ourselves would have to carry over to these other "favorites." But history has shown that it's not unprecedented. Just go read this board for the evidence.
I'm with PositiveGuyF here.
I'm liking that we aren't the hunted.
AJ is certainly capable of carrying us through the Tourney along Wash. We need consistent play from IW and Much
I said this earlier best thing we have going for us in the Maac tourney are 4 seniors in our top 6. I imagine AJ and IW are not going out without a major fight in them. Despite AJ getting killed here by some I could see him breaking an all time scoring record in the Maac tourney and going out an MVP and a champion.
I said this earlier best thing we have going for us in the Maac tourney are 4 seniors in our top 6. I imagine AJ and IW are not going out without a major fight in them. Despite AJ getting killed here by some I could see him breaking an all time scoring record in the Maac tourney and going out an MVP and a champion.
There is little doubt in my mind that our success over the past 5 years has made us spoiled fans who have forgotten how it feels to loose....The sideline coaches have emerged and the negativity and advise shout out....
As to the Fairfield game...I like most did not like the loss, but after watching the game and a replay closely I saw the revival and determination that was missing from our team, and indicated a warning that time had not yet been reached for our demise...After a time out while losing by 18 late in the game the players for some reason emerged from the time out with a strong resolve in their eyes which was missing for most of the year...This resolve reduced the gap to 3 points with just less then 2 minutes to go and but for a foul caused by a bad bounce rebound a great comeback victory possibility was lost.....
IMO that type team attitude will carry over, as I feel the loss has created a team bonding that will not fare well for MAAC opponents yet to come...
Ok, so despite everything we have done on the road this year, (2-8)?, we will put it all together and win three straight at siena in March? Makes sense.
Ok, so despite everything we have done on the road this year, (2-8)?, we will put it all together and win three straight at siena in March? Makes sense.
Neutral Site unless we play Siena. And we always play well there. Plus the season is early yet. May improve our road record, may not.
Ok, so despite everything we have done on the road this year, (2-8)?, we will put it all together and win three straight at siena in March? Makes sense.
You're right. Let's forfeit.
The greatest poster in the history of the MAAC as determined by THREE separate polls.
Ok, so despite everything we have done on the road this year, (2-8)?, we will put it all together and win three straight at siena in March? Makes sense.
Gonna need consistent strong efforts from role players like Much, Rountree, Proctor, and McGill.
I'm not giving up hope and I feel the staff and players can turn this around.
Guys, Like so many, I am truly disappointed with the results so far this season. I do believe, however, that staff and players have experienced an unbelievable series of misfortunes which help account for the disappointing record.
If we go back to pre-season discussions of this team and its players, the comments generally included: Starters: AJ, Sed, IW, JW, KA (granted some thought KA might be a 6th man or that AR might start)
We lose Sed (1st Team pre-season All-MAAC) & KA (arguably our energizer off the bench) for 15 games each--essentially for the entire season; AJ (pre-season MAAC POY)- 5 games, not including Tulsa where he played with a broken hand; JW -2 games for immaturity. In all, we lost 37 of a potential 95 starts. (I would argue more given the SED & KA situations)
Next up: TB, DM, Ibn, AR, RH
We lose DM, 3rd leading scorer for 3 games (he probably came back too soon) and RH for at least 8.
That's 48 games missed by top 10 players to date.
Throw-ins: McGill, Proctor-has started 5 and played 35 minutes in one game.
No Mention: BN, SW
Don't know many teams that could do well with 2 pre-season all MAAC players out together for 5 games with a total of 20 starts missed between them as well as missing another likely starter for the season.
We all want the team to play better D, etc., but the fact is our pre-season depth disappeared due to injuries and 3 of our top 6 players have been out for a considerable length of time.
I'll hold off on revised season projections until I see how they do on Friday. I'm expecting a confidence-building win.