I have gone out of my way to make outrageous statements about this team lately, and have had no takers join me.. "Cluess's best team, "one of the best 3 point shooting teams in the country", " a top 50 starting 5". I know a lot of you feel it is way too early to make these statements, and your probably right but like a new fledging company I am buying stock cheap on this team, I see greatness. The starting 5 is stacked.
English- may be the best scoring point guard Iona ever had Armand- will end up as at worst the 3rd leading scorer in Iona history and is easily the best 3 point shooter in Iona history Bowman- can do a little of everything, a top10 Maac player and his shooting makes Armand even more dangerous Laury- potential double double every night and one of the best ball handling big men in the country. A unique talent Williams- the wildcard, sky's the limit potential, just how good he becomes this year may be the difference between a sweet 16 spot and a cit bid.
I also like Poole's overall ability as a perfect sixth man and sledges unique athletic ability gives us a nice pick up off the bench. Yes the one big weakness is no true front court but other teams have proven you can win today in college basketball with 4 guards- Villanova and Missouri in past years.
I love this teams length and it plays better defense than any previous Cluess team and in Cluess it has one of the best offensive minds in the country and he knows how to give his best players minutes, that is how we ended up with a future star in English at the point. This team has talent no Iona team has had since the early 80's. the sky is the limit with this team and I think by the end of the month more of you will be on board with this thinking.
Now I will admit they are a Laury injury away from ending this talk, but right now I see gold at the end of the rainbow.
I am very excited about this season and am hoping I am right. This may be a fun ride. March to the Garden!
Wow joebird way to keep everyone up at night just before they were getting ready for bed!
I think we all see a lot of the same potential that you see in this team. Three quick things to add on this topic:
1. I agree that this is shaping up to be one of the most talented rosters that I can ever remember seeing since I've been following Iona in the late 80s. This team is stacked with talent and pretty safe to say that 3/5 of our starting lineup would start on many BCS programs, and the two that wouldn't would get serious minutes.
2. For me before I fully throw my expectations through the roof I would like to see this team win a nail biter or two on the road against a worthy opponent, like a Dayton or Nevada. When that happens I will be all hands on deck. If we lose this weekend at Fairfield i think we need to reset expectations.
3. From what I've seen so far the biggest thing this team has going for it that we are all overlooking is the improvements that cluess has made in his coaching game plans. Feel like he's made major strides and went from a very good maac coach to an elite coach in the past year. An extremely encouraging sign and one that I think will benefit us more than anything else come end of season.
I have gone out of my way to make outrageous statements about this team lately, and have had no takers join me.. "Cluess's best team, "one of the best 3 point shooting teams in the country", " a top 50 starting 5". I know a lot of you feel it is way too early to make these statements, and your probably right but like a new fledging company I am buying stock cheap on this team, I see greatness. The starting 5 is stacked.
English- may be the best scoring point guard Iona ever had Armand- will end up as at worst the 3rd leading scorer in Iona history and is easily the best 3 point shooter in Iona history Bowman- can do a little of everything, a top10 Maac player and his shooting makes Armand even more dangerous Laury- potential double double every night and one of the best ball handling big men in the country. A unique talent Williams- the wildcard, sky's the limit potential, just how good he becomes this year may be the difference between a sweet 16 spot and a cit bid.
I also like Poole's overall ability as a perfect sixth man and sledges unique athletic ability gives us a nice pick up off the bench. Yes the one big weakness is no true front court but other teams have proven you can win today in college basketball with 4 guards- Villanova and Missouri in past years.
I love this teams length and it plays better defense than any previous Cluess team and in Cluess it has one of the best offensive minds in the country and he knows how to give his best players minutes, that is how we ended up with a future star in English at the point. This team has talent no Iona team has had since the early 80's. the sky is the limit with this team and I think by the end of the month more of you will be on board with this thinking.
Now I will admit they are a Laury injury away from ending this talk, but right now I see gold at the end of the rainbow.
I am very excited about this season and am hoping I am right. This may be a fun ride. March to the Garden!
Joebird- To me this is the 1998 team "in training". Solid offense and signs that the D can get after it.
While watching the Marist game I was looking forward to seeing Ryden Hines play. His defensive energy and hustle can be contagious. While we have a team with 4 legitimate outside threats, I noticed that the majority of our 17 3's were made withe NO ONE underneath to rebound in the event of a miss. This concerns me and hopefully DL will have some consistent inside help.
I'm guarded with my optimism and I agree with 05 that we need to win a nip and tuck close one on the road against a Day or Nev.
Joebird, I'll wait till after the OOC part of the sked to give my opinion of how good the team is. I do agree with most of your assessments, though. Where I'm not sure: *AJ English is our best scoring PG? I'm assuming you consider MoMo an OG. That said, John McDonald/Glenn Vickers/Alvin Lott could all pass and score the ball. *Haven't kept track of where Sean stands career point wise, but he is definitely our best three point shooter, ever. And if Grant Ellis continues to see his PT grow, he'll be our fifth great 3pt shooter. *Agree with Mike Poole being an excellent sixth man because of his versatility. *As far as rebounding missed threes, I'm not sure under the basket is where you want to be as they often result in long rebounds. *Seeing that we are thin up front, I'm now hoping that Shack Scott gets better sooner rather than later. Also, hoping that DaShawn Gomez will be on the court soon and that Tavon Sledge shakes off the rust. *As for the two Bigs, Robinson has a long road ahead before he will contribute, imo. But Ryden Hines looks like he can step in and play now, provided he's healthy. *If and it's a BIG IF, DL can improve his free throw shooting, he could average 20 ppg, if and it's another BIG IF, he can stay out of foul trouble. Very few guys in the MAAC, can guard him.
Yes IC59 I consider momo a 2g as both years someone else started at the point. I think English is a better true scorer than all others you mentioned, especially considering he is just a soph.
As for java's comparison to 98, I think this is a much better 3 point team, while that team was much better defensively and had a better inside game. It would be great to end up as good as that team as long as the ending isn't as heartbreaking, but I think these are 2 very different teams except they both had a lot of length.
Joebird, AJ has potential, but Vickers and Lott were great scorers, and much higher rated coming out of HS. If AJ averages more than either Glenn or Alvin in his junior and senior years, we will truly have a VG to Great player. I hope so. B/t/w, AJ is a better perimeter shooter than Vickers but not as good passing or going to the basket. Lott (only 5'9)was a better long range shooter than AJ, but he spent his first two years at St. Bonnie's and his Iona team was not as good as this year's imo.
Joebird, AJ has potential, but Vickers and Lott were great scorers, and much higher rated coming out of HS. If AJ averages more than either Glenn or Alvin in his junior and senior years, we will truly have a VG to Great player. I hope so. B/t/w, AJ is a better perimeter shooter than Vickers but not as good passing or going to the basket. Lott (only 5'9)was a better long range shooter than AJ, but he spent his first two years at St. Bonnie's and his Iona team was not as good as this year's imo.
My opinion AJ will end up the better prospect. I think he will be as good a shooter as Lott and I think he will end up averaging around 20 by his senior year, which would be better than both of them. Also AJ's size is a big advantage over Lott. One other comment John McDonald was a very good scorer at the point for the Gaels as well, but that was really just one year.
Joebird, AJ has potential, but Vickers and Lott were great scorers, and much higher rated coming out of HS. If AJ averages more than either Glenn or Alvin in his junior and senior years, we will truly have a VG to Great player. I hope so. B/t/w, AJ is a better perimeter shooter than Vickers but not as good passing or going to the basket. Lott (only 5'9)was a better long range shooter than AJ, but he spent his first two years at St. Bonnie's and his Iona team was not as good as this year's imo.
The fact that we are talking about AJ and mentioning the name Vickers in the same sentence is good enough for me!
Interesting stats from a Talk of the Sound article from last week: KING OF THE HILL, TOP OF THE LIST • No team among the 14 NYC Metropolitan Area Division I basketball programs within 30 miles of the center of NY College basketball, Madison Square Garden has won more games than Iona College in the last 19 seasons (326; Hofstra #2, 312) • In 2012-13, the Gaels tied for the most wins and second best win percentage its the Metro Area compatriots, the second straight season Iona accomplished the feat. • Since 2009-10, Iona’s 94 wins and .671 win pct. are the highest in both categories. • Since 1995-96, Iona holds the lead in wins (327, 15 more than Hofstra and 30 more than No. 3 St. John’s and the top win percentage (.575).
