Iona

[Huskyforlife]

This is 100% a game where the centers need to dominate both rims. Wear out their only decent center by the second half, get him in foul trouble, and Clingan will absolutely feast on the second unit. But Sanogo needs to be better on help D, his man isn’t a huge threat, so get over and contest some layups big guy.

 

[UCSouth]

I really honestly don't care if the cupcake I play is ranked 200 or 400. It just doesn't matter at all to me. It might matter to the SOS you're quoting. But I will say it again: beating Alabama and Iowa State should mean something. I mean UConn football played Michigan, NC State and Syracuse last year. Very tough OOC. Maybe one of the toughest OOCs in the nation.

If it doesn't fit the @shizzle787 narrative, you'll be wrong. Don't sweat the small stuff.

 

[Blakeon18]

According to ESPN....4:30 Friday. The 5/12 game is at 2:00

 

[WhereistheDove?]

And as many have pointed out, they PLAYED NO ONE EVEN DECENT this year. You have to take their stats with a grain of salt. If Pitino wants to press hard for 40 minutes, his team will be gassed early in the 2nd half.

1000% this. It's really hard to keep pressure going all game when you match up athletically, it's damn near impossible to do when you're athletically outmatched.

 

[Kolumbo]

The method is that they have the play 4 games in one day at the site. Can’t please everyone. Tickets are $150 and it’s St Patrick’s day. Attendance will be fine.

I get that, but Drake vs Miami at 7:25 isn't exactly prime time material. Forgot it was St. Patty's Day so I suppose the early start works better for the kegs & eggs crowd of which there will be no shortage on Friday I'm sure. I'd like to see how many buses are headin up from Storrs.

Also curious to hear how MVP Arena compares to the XL Center.

 

[BFieldHusky]

I get that, but Drake vs Miami at 7:25 isn't exactly prime time material. Forgot it was St. Patty's Day so I suppose the early start works better for the kegs & eggs crowd of which there will be no shortage on Friday I'm sure. I'd like to see how many buses are headin up from Storrs.

Also curious to hear how MVP Arena compares to the XL Center.

MVP is ok. I believe it was built in 1990, so its not exactly a new building. Nicer than the XL, but it's not amazing.

 

[Tenspro2002]

That is probably more accurate than what you were saying before.

I think them sweeping UConn was one of two factors putting X ahead. The other is related though. They beat PC and UConn on the road. The committee said earlier and showed they favored road wins against Q1 teams.

The only thing I am surprised about is that X got the benefit of the doubt even with the season ending injury to Freemantle. Their record without him is not impressive, and that kind of negates them beating UConn twice with him (I mean their current team did not beat UConn and usually those types of injuries do move teams down a notch).

They were 8-4 without him. Two of those losses were to Marquette but two were to Nova and Butler. They did beat PC twice and Creighton once. The committee must have loved that PC road win without Freemantle.

The Quad designation already accounts for the caliber of opponent at home vs. on the road.

A road win vs. top 75 is Q1. For a home win to count as Q1, they have to be top 30.

If they're saying that road Q1 wins count for more, they need to adjust the criteria.

 

[Com'rGordon]

Iona’s lineup might cause us problems. Their best player is a quick guard, probably too quick for Andre to guard. And they have a 7’0 and then a 6’9 stud named Nelly Junior Joseph. Sanogo will probably have to take the 7’0 by default and I don’t think Karaban can handle NJJ underneath

 

[UCfor3]

Quick name an Iona player without googling. The zeal with which some of you predict doom and gloom after a two point loss to a 2 seed is really something. You would think they got blown out by Marquette like Xavier did.

Agreed. My only caveat is what I said in another post. This team is very confidence driven. When they are rolling, there is this air of invincibility and they play loose and free and look like they are having fun. I hated the end of the PC game because they looked rattled like they were feeling the pressure and doubting themselves. Then in the Marquette game they were kind of bickering and not listening Hurley. The lightness seemed to have left them and they seemed a bit tense. Losing to Marquette by 2 isn't a big deal in a vacuum. Marquette is good. Just hope the teams headspace is where it needs to be. The reporters asked Karaban during the post game presser and he had a great answer. Hope he is right.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I've read a ton of posts about how the mastermind that Pitino is will be a hurdle that we may not be able to overcome.

I'm not sure that this is the case as I've been trying to think of when he last won a tournament game against an opponent with clearly superior talent. I can't think of anything more recent than 1987 with Providence.

 

[SportsFan88]

A lot of Iona fans on this board

 

[imno1]

Pitino vs UConn

"Quick name an Iona player without googling."

If Pitino is playing a lot of minutes I like our chances

 

[tzznandrew]

I've read a ton of posts about how the mastermind that Pitino is will be a hurdle that we may not be able to overcome.

I'm not sure that this is the case as I've been trying to think of when he last won a tournament game against an opponent with clearly superior talent. I can't think of anything more recent than 1987 with Providence.

He did go to the Final Four as a 4-seed while still in CUSA in 2005.

But as good a coach as he is—and he is!—he's lost some clunkers. He got blown out as a 9-seed against California in 2010, he got beat by Morehead St. as a 4 in 2011, got beat by a mediocre 8-seed in 2014 when his Louisville team was very very good, and once was defeated in 15 seconds at a restaurant.

This Iona team is a good MAAC team. Which means it's not very good. We should not lose this game.

 

[NotADime89]

Iona’s lineup might cause us problems. Their best player is a quick guard, probably too quick for Andre to guard. And they have a 7’0 and then a 6’9 stud named Nelly Junior Joseph. Sanogo will probably have to take the 7’0 by default and I don’t think Karaban can handle NJJ underneath

The 7 footer is only 220lbs and averages 7 points a game playing in the MAAC, Sanogo will be just fine. Andre will be shutting down Nelly. I'm confident we'll run this team out of the gym. Iona is also one of the worst defensive rebounding teams in the country.

 

[FLDawg16]

The 7 footer is only 220lbs and averages 7 points a game playing in the MAAC, Sanogo will be just fine. Andre will be shutting down Nelly. I'm confident we'll run this team out of the gym. Iona is also one of the worst defensive rebounding teams in the country.

I'm hoping we crash the boards hard and get a ton of second chance points, can help tremendously if we have our typical tournament time shooting slump

 

[Com'rGordon]

The 7 footer is only 220lbs and averages 7 points a game playing in the MAAC, Sanogo will be just fine. Andre will be shutting down Nelly. I'm confident we'll run this team out of the gym. Iona is also one of the worst defensive rebounding teams in the country.

Didn't think about Andre on Nelly. Good call

 

[TRest]

I watched some of the MAAC championship game vs Marist on youtube, Iona cant defend in the half court and if we ever wanted to fiddle with the two bigs lineup it would be hilarious to do it Friday.

 

[Umami Zen]

Expecting to start seeing/hearing Pitino quotes about how much he loves our team leading up to Friday

 

[Scrappy3]

Love to start game with 110% aggression and press the pressers. They’ll never expect it and I think it’s important to set a tone.

 

[Icehawk]

He pretty much says he's leaving Iona BUT he loves it there, he's talked about it before. A bit like Cooley, it's not that they can't go elsewhere but they seem happy and life isn't always about money and (perceived) prestige.


"How did you celebrate last night?"

Long, pregnant, pause.

 

[Rico444]

He pretty much says he's leaving Iona BUT he loves it there, he's talked about it before. A bit like Cooley, it's not that they can't go elsewhere but they seem happy and life isn't always about money and (perceived) prestige.


"How did you celebrate last night?"

Long, pregnant, pause.

The pause was impregnated at an Italian restaurant in New Rochelle.

 

[caw]

The Quad designation already accounts for the caliber of opponent at home vs. on the road.

A road win vs. top 75 is Q1. For a home win to count as Q1, they have to be top 30.

If they're saying that road Q1 wins count for more, they need to adjust the criteria.

Don't disagree, but X and UConn had pretty similar overall metrics by NET in terms of Quad wins. NET and Quad wins are not the only thing the committee looks at. The head to head losses and the lack of road wins are the only difference. If you are trying to make sense of the committees choice those are the two things you can look at.

X was 9-6, 4-2, 4-1, 8-0
UConn was 7-6, 6-1, 4-1, 8-0


I don't agree with it. I would look more at quality OOC wins and wins against the field. There are arguments both ways, so all you can do is try and find the metrics the committee might have used.

UConn had better OOC wins and better wins against the field. X had the head to head and more road wins.

 

[Hungryhusky99]

Didn't think about Andre on Nelly. Good call

Because he won't be on Nelly

 

[caw]

Iona’s lineup might cause us problems. Their best player is a quick guard, probably too quick for Andre to guard. And they have a 7’0 and then a 6’9 stud named Nelly Junior Joseph. Sanogo will probably have to take the 7’0 by default and I don’t think Karaban can handle NJJ underneath

Clayton is pretty good, athletic, good handle. Can shoot. Overall a very good player. Quick hands on defense too. Diarra could be important this game defensively. However, I do think UConn's perimeter length could bother him.

Their frontcourt is good for the MAAC, but nothing Sanogo hasn't seen before. They leave their feet a lot on ball fakes. Or have in the two games I saw.

I want Jackson on Jenkins. Much prefer Jackson shutting down the other teams wing player than trying to stay in front of the other teams PG. I know we loved Ricky for cutting the head off the snake and Jackson is really athletic but he's not quick enough to defend quick guards.

They run a lot of cuts and pass pretty well, but again not sure how they will handle UConns length. Not sure if they will lock in like Marquette did in the BET, because they have a tendency to ball watch on defense and leave shooters open. As stated they jump on pump fakes a lot also.

 

[Kolumbo]

He pretty much says he's leaving Iona BUT he loves it there, he's talked about it before. A bit like Cooley, it's not that they can't go elsewhere but they seem happy and life isn't always about money and (perceived) prestige.


"How did you celebrate last night?"

Long, pregnant, pause.

He's so smooth. He said at one time UCONN was #1 in the country (2:20 mark). Not to be presumptuous but I wonder if would at least take the bus back to New Rochelle or the limo Queens.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

1000% this. It's really hard to keep pressure going all game when you match up athletically, it's damn near impossible to do when you're athletically outmatched.

Pressing sounds like the way to play us . If you’re the right team . He might show it just to screw with Hurley’s head ,but we’re talking about one of the best coaches of his generation. He has taken 3 different teams to FF’s. Including PC.
He understands that speeding up the game which pressing invariably does is a recipe for a rout.
We’re longer and more athletic. He does not want to get embarrassed.
No he wants a rock fight and to get us rattled in a half court game played at a snail pace and hope we choke at the end. I hope we dictate pace and run the heck out of them .

 

[Ripper32]

 

[gtcam]

You would hope by this point in the season and early this week Hurley has the team well prepared for the following things to come:

1. Full Court Pressure a.k.a Newton getting trapped in the corner every time

2. The double team coming at Sanogo when he gets the ball anywhere near the paint

3. A defender in Hawkins grill at all times / face guarding him

You can guarantee every opposing coach has watched our film especially our losses and its not hard to pick up on our weaknesses.

One would hope and question why not before this time?
Of course it’s necessary to say, just asking, not hating.

 

[Candyman]

Iona faced a 8, 5 and 11 seed in their conference tourny, no one remotely good as the other teams they struggled against lost early. They got blown out the gym to QU and Siena in January, barley beat Fairfield twice, lost to Rider, lost to New Mexico and lost to a very very bad SMU team that is 10-22 this season.

During their 14 game win streak I hear people mention they beat Mt. St Mary's 3 times, Manhattan twice, Marist twice, Rider, Canisius, Siena QU, St Peters, Niagra, and Fairfield once. Yes its their conference but its a bad conference.

Even with Pitino they will lose by 15 and be happy.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

He did go to the Final Four as a 4-seed while still in CUSA in 2005.

But as good a coach as he is—and he is!—he's lost some clunkers. He got blown out as a 9-seed against California in 2010, he got beat by Morehead St. as a 4 in 2011, got beat by a mediocre 8-seed in 2014 when his Louisville team was very very good, and once was defeated in 15 seconds at a restaurant.

This Iona team is a good MAAC team. Which means it's not very good. We should not lose this game.

That mediocre 8 seed “Kentucky” made it to the NC game. 5 McDonald’s AM , who was just coming together hardly much of an upset. They had just lost a close one in the SEC tournament to Florida. A top 1-2 team .