Proctor fits right in with his 3 point shooting and will be a big part of the future.
Casimir with an injured groin explains a lot of why the team looked so poor the first couple of games and why he hasn't been shooting and not able to get open, and missing when he is open. Do like how he handled the ball tonight allowing Proctor and AJ to get shots off the ball.
Washington with a great start and then got some foul trouble and in the second half got in the dog house early on. He is a good one and will be a big part of the next two years.
Bessick-Like that he showed good defensive ability, giving him a role on the team
Roundtree-Shoots too much. He doesn't do it for me, I see him as a complimentary player off the bench who can help when we get into foul trouble or need help on defense.
Much-Didn't play as well tonight and probably will need to fight Proctor for minutes going forward
IW-10 first half rebounds, looked like he had his spring back and had several big hustle plays. Still not on from 3
IBN-just a few minutes tonight
Amayo-looked pretty hurt on the bench, wondering how long he will be out, would not be stunned if he sits out the year.
Noticed Cluess's son on the bench, is he a manager or a potential future walk on?
Team started out poor but managed to play very well about 12 minutes into the game.
Don't think we would have won nearly as easy if Gilbert didn't get hurt.
Today this team showed it is one of the best 3 point shooting teams in the country if not the best, but they need to do it against a good defense. Also a concern is can this team beat a decent team if they are not hitting 3's? However there are a lot of options from 3 so hard for all of them to be off, and wait to IW gets hot and Sed gets healthy.
Overall good and historic night.
Joebird--check out Johnson's tweets about his team's D this week--top 20 in the country. Was this convincing enough for you?
Proctor fits right in with his 3 point shooting and will be a big part of the future.
Casimir with an injured groin explains a lot of why the team looked so poor the first couple of games and why he hasn't been shooting and not able to get open, and missing when he is open. Do like how he handled the ball tonight allowing Proctor and AJ to get shots off the ball.
Washington with a great start and then got some foul trouble and in the second half got in the dog house early on. He is a good one and will be a big part of the next two years.
Bessick-Like that he showed good defensive ability, giving him a role on the team
Roundtree-Shoots too much. He doesn't do it for me, I see him as a complimentary player off the bench who can help when we get into foul trouble or need help on defense.
Much-Didn't play as well tonight and probably will need to fight Proctor for minutes going forward
IW-10 first half rebounds, looked like he had his spring back and had several big hustle plays. Still not on from 3
IBN-just a few minutes tonight
Amayo-looked pretty hurt on the bench, wondering how long he will be out, would not be stunned if he sits out the year.
Noticed Cluess's son on the bench, is he a manager or a potential future walk on?
Team started out poor but managed to play very well about 12 minutes into the game.
Don't think we would have won nearly as easy if Gilbert didn't get hurt.
Today this team showed it is one of the best 3 point shooting teams in the country if not the best, but they need to do it against a good defense. Also a concern is can this team beat a decent team if they are not hitting 3's? However there are a lot of options from 3 so hard for all of them to be off, and wait to IW gets hot and Sed gets healthy.
Overall good and historic night.
Joebird--check out Johnson's tweets about his team's D this week--top 20 in the country. Was this convincing enough for you?
Just read them, #1 in Maac in FG% D is pretty good, but their d didn't pass the eye test to me tonight, maybe Gilbert makes a big difference. I will say AJ was unconscious and hitting shots no matter how close the defender was, what a quick release. Overall AJ and Proctor's shooting tonight was very impressive.
Proctor fits right in with his 3 point shooting and will be a big part of the future.
Casimir with an injured groin explains a lot of why the team looked so poor the first couple of games and why he hasn't been shooting and not able to get open, and missing when he is open. Do like how he handled the ball tonight allowing Proctor and AJ to get shots off the ball.
Washington with a great start and then got some foul trouble and in the second half got in the dog house early on. He is a good one and will be a big part of the next two years.
Bessick-Like that he showed good defensive ability, giving him a role on the team
Roundtree-Shoots too much. He doesn't do it for me, I see him as a complimentary player off the bench who can help when we get into foul trouble or need help on defense.
Much-Didn't play as well tonight and probably will need to fight Proctor for minutes going forward
IW-10 first half rebounds, looked like he had his spring back and had several big hustle plays. Still not on from 3
IBN-just a few minutes tonight
Amayo-looked pretty hurt on the bench, wondering how long he will be out, would not be stunned if he sits out the year.
Noticed Cluess's son on the bench, is he a manager or a potential future walk on?
Team started out poor but managed to play very well about 12 minutes into the game.
Don't think we would have won nearly as easy if Gilbert didn't get hurt.
Today this team showed it is one of the best 3 point shooting teams in the country if not the best, but they need to do it against a good defense. Also a concern is can this team beat a decent team if they are not hitting 3's? However there are a lot of options from 3 so hard for all of them to be off, and wait to IW gets hot and Sed gets healthy.
Overall good and historic night.
Great post, and I'm in agreement in just about every area.
Need to take care of Marist and then go win at Tulsa.
The greatest poster in the history of the MAAC as determined by THREE separate polls.
My thoughts: 1. Iona still a work in progress. Players need to become more comfortable in their roles, and I guess that will take time. From past seasons I know that IW and CC are deadly from the corners, and last night I believe that IW had one attempt from the corner, making his only three. And with CC handling the ball a great deal, he's mostly out on top. 2. Later, around 11PM, I was watching the NC-MD game and Jay Bilas, who was doing the color, gave a shout out to AJ and his 46 point performance. Nice to hear. 3. Washington is a load down low, but doesn't have the post moves that DL had. He still is a double double threat, and when we are hitting from deep, there are not many bigs in the MAAC who can match up with him. 4. Aaron Rountree had an off night shooting the ball (FG and FT), but if you think he had a poor game, I think you're missing the boat. He's a good mid-range shooter, and has a great feel for the game.He did have five boards, three assists, zero TO's, along with a block and a steal. IMO, he is our best defender at a number of positions. But I understand that scoring gets the headlines. 5. Proctor had a great game, but now let's see how he handles other team's paying more attention to him. Going 8-11, and 4-6 had to make Marist game plan for him. One thing he has going for him is that he's a coach's son, so I'm sure he has a good feel for the game. 6. Don't sleep on the Stags, as they are MUCH IMPROVED from last year. And that was having to play w/o Marcus Gilbert (for the most part). Segura, their soph PG, had eight assists, and would have had more once their frosh bigs learn to get use to playing with him. A couple of his passes were Scott Machado like. And just about everyone on the team can shoot the three, and Cobb, another freshman, can drive to the rim as well. In my mind they are about even with Canisius for the four, five spot. And both teams have similar styles.
I'll close by re-stating that we're a work in progress. A lot of talent, but a lot of learning needed, as well.
My thoughts: 1. Iona still a work in progress. Players need to become more comfortable in their roles, and I guess that will take time. From past seasons I know that IW and CC are deadly from the corners, and last night I believe that IW had one attempt from the corner, making his only three. And with CC handling the ball a great deal, he's mostly out on top. 2. Later, around 11PM, I was watching the NC-MD game and Jay Bilas, who was doing the color, gave a shout out to AJ and his 46 point performance. Nice to hear. 3. Washington is a load down low, but doesn't have the post moves that DL had. He still is a double double threat, and when we are hitting from deep, there are not many bigs in the MAAC who can match up with him. 4. Aaron Rountree had an off night shooting the ball (FG and FT), but if you think he had a poor game, I think you're missing the boat. He's a good mid-range shooter, and has a great feel for the game.He did have five boards, three assists, zero TO's, along with a block and a steal. IMO, he is our best defender at a number of positions. But I understand that scoring gets the headlines. 5. Proctor had a great game, but now let's see how he handles other team's paying more attention to him. Going 8-11, and 4-6 had to make Marist game plan for him. One thing he has going for him is that he's a coach's son, so I'm sure he has a good feel for the game. 6. Don't sleep on the Stags, as they are MUCH IMPROVED from last year. And that was having to play w/o Marcus Gilbert (for the most part). Segura, their soph PG, had eight assists, and would have had more once their frosh bigs learn to get use to playing with him. A couple of his passes were Scott Machado like. And just about everyone on the team can shoot the three, and Cobb, another freshman, can drive to the rim as well. In my mind they are about even with Canisius for the four, five spot. And both teams have similar styles.
I'll close by re-stating that we're a work in progress. A lot of talent, but a lot of learning needed, as well.
Spot on every point here. Couldn't agree more. Last night was pretty, especially late. We haven't reached our potential yet, IMO. We can play better, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Great individual performance by AJ, who really did shoot within the flow of the offense for the most part.
My thoughts: 1. Iona still a work in progress. Players need to become more comfortable in their roles, and I guess that will take time. From past seasons I know that IW and CC are deadly from the corners, and last night I believe that IW had one attempt from the corner, making his only three. And with CC handling the ball a great deal, he's mostly out on top. 2. Later, around 11PM, I was watching the NC-MD game and Jay Bilas, who was doing the color, gave a shout out to AJ and his 46 point performance. Nice to hear. 3. Washington is a load down low, but doesn't have the post moves that DL had. He still is a double double threat, and when we are hitting from deep, there are not many bigs in the MAAC who can match up with him. 4. Aaron Rountree had an off night shooting the ball (FG and FT), but if you think he had a poor game, I think you're missing the boat. He's a good mid-range shooter, and has a great feel for the game.He did have five boards, three assists, zero TO's, along with a block and a steal. IMO, he is our best defender at a number of positions. But I understand that scoring gets the headlines. 5. Proctor had a great game, but now let's see how he handles other team's paying more attention to him. Going 8-11, and 4-6 had to make Marist game plan for him. One thing he has going for him is that he's a coach's son, so I'm sure he has a good feel for the game. 6. Don't sleep on the Stags, as they are MUCH IMPROVED from last year. And that was having to play w/o Marcus Gilbert (for the most part). Segura, their soph PG, had eight assists, and would have had more once their frosh bigs learn to get use to playing with him. A couple of his passes were Scott Machado like. And just about everyone on the team can shoot the three, and Cobb, another freshman, can drive to the rim as well. In my mind they are about even with Canisius for the four, five spot. And both teams have similar styles.
I'll close by re-stating that we're a work in progress. A lot of talent, but a lot of learning needed, as well.
Spot on every point here. Couldn't agree more. Last night was pretty, especially late. We haven't reached our potential yet, IMO. We can play better, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Great individual performance by AJ, who really did shoot within the flow of the offense for the most part.
Agree with your post IC59. On thing though, Marist can't game plan everyone and Proctor will be pretty far down the list I would think (AJ, IW, Washington, etc.)
I'm very impressed with Proctor. Seems to really understand where to be on the floor at all times. Was very impressed when later in the game, after a couple of threes, he had a semi-contested shot opportunity which he could have taken without drawing anyone's ire, but passed it up for an open big under the basket. A lot of frosh would bomb away in that situation. Kid is high hoops IQ.
A shame that the game was not available on ESPN3 so we could replay and enjoy. Congrats to AJ English on his performance in front of his fans. I listened to the game and was encouraged by what the team did last night. Taking into account that the team is without Kelvin Amayo and Ryden Hines coupled with a diminished Schadrac Casimir has meant that newcomers have had to step up to fill the voids and fit the Cluess scheme. Key stats were 27 assists, 10 turnovers and 15 offensive rebounds. Very unselfish play evident with 27 assists. In my opinion this is the secret to Iona's success along with keeping turnovers down. Always better to move the ball through the air than by the dribble to create open shots. Having Jahaad Proctor's production coming off the bench hopefully indicates what we can expect in the future. As noted by others the production/contributions from the bench will be key this year when teams employ the lockdown on AJ and try to slow Iona down. It will be interesting to watch who is in the rotation and when as the season progresses. I pray Kelvin Amayo can get healthy as it is heartbreaking to see him hurt. This team is starting to show that the individual players will do what is needed in the moment to get the win as evidenced by Schadrac's and Isaiah's stat lines. If Schadrac can continue to develop his point guard skills the team will reap the benefits when AJ can just work on getting open ala Ray Allen. As stated by others this team is a work in progress, but last night was another positive step. Looking forward to Marist on friday.
There is no doubt Cluess and his staff have one of the Nations best eye for future little heard of stars in College Basketball...Never a year goes by without one popping up...Procter appears the latest who will carry out the tradition...English a little heard of recruit has developed from a underweight undeveloped freshman into one of College Basketball best players...As the next 4 years go by it will be a pleasure to watch Proctor follow that path...
IMO Iona scheduling especially the first two games has prevented us from much higher rating as has the 'soft cake' schedule of other local teams....I am well aware of the schedule difficulties, but we bit off more then we could chew so early in the year, so now we have to regain rating ground so strongly worked for...
Last nights game has re-opened eyes and once again the realization that Iona is not yet ready to relinquish its spot as ''The class of the MAAC''.