One Hundred Reasons to Watch Iona (Recap of Norfolk State vs. Iona)

Last season, I had the pleasure of covering live twelve Iona men's basketball games.  There is no more fun team to watch live in Division I College Basketball than the Iona Gaels.  Yes, I said that and mean that.

What makes Iona fun is their type of play.  Under Head Coach Tim Cluess, they are disciples of Paul Westhead, the "Guru of Go" and his type of play known as "The System".  It's based on simple math - More Possessions + More Shot Attempts = More Points.

The Gaels' last season went 25-8 and made the NCAA Tournament as an at large.  They held a twenty five points lead vs. BYU before the Cougars rallied to defeat the Gaels 78-72. It was the first time Iona had made the NCAA Tournament since 2006. Going into yesterday's game, Cluess' record at Iona is 55-25 through two and a third seasons and has won twenty five games in each of his first two seasons.

Last season's team was an offensive juggernaut.  The Gaels scored 82.9 points per game and shot fifty percent from the field on the season. Yes, that's not a typo. Fifty percent. Iona also averaged 19.3 assists per game.  The man responsible for most of those assists at 9.9 assists per game, Scott Machado, now plays for the NBA's Houston Rockets.

This season, the Gaels are eleventh in the country this season in scoring points at eighty one points per game and are in the top one hundred in most offensive categories, including third in the country in free throw percentage at 79.3 percent.  They are first in the MAAC in field goal percentage at 45.3 percent and first in the MAAC in assists per game at 15.6 assists.  Momo Jones and Sean Armand, key members of last season's NCAA Tournament team, are first and third in the MAAC in scoring - Jones averaging 22.2 points per game and Armand 18.8 points per game.

Yesterday, I took my two sons, Matthew and Jonathan, appropriately dressed in Iona gear and made the drive up to New Rochelle. Surprisingly, despite several crazy shopper drivers on the road, there was only the usual Sunday afternoon traffic. We made good time until the usual backlog starting at Exit Nine on the Hutchinson River Parkway.  Yes, the traffic was for Exit Thirteen, the Cross County/Saw Mill River Parkway exit, which has been that way since the dawn of the highway.  One thing I don't miss living about in South Carolina is New York traffic and I laugh when people in the Palmetto State complain about traffic, which seriously pales in comparison to the Big Apple.

At the Hynes Center, the Gaels were hosting another NCAA Tournament team from a season ago, Norfolk State.  The Spartans knocked off #2 seed Missouri in the second round of the tournament in March and won twenty six games last season.  Norfolk State also has their own NBA player in Kyle O' Quinn.  Quinn, who was the Spartans' leading scorer last season and had twenty six points and fourteen rebounds  in the win over Missouri, plays for the Orlando Magic.  The Spartans third leading scorer from last season, Pendarvis Williams, leads Norfolk State with 15.3 points per game.

So on Festivus, you had two NCAA Tournament teams playing each other.  And the 1,855 in attendance that nicely packed the Hynes Center in New Rochelle were in for a treat.  A treat that Iona gave its fans four times last season (and I saw two of those games).

One of the reasons I believe Iona entered the season at 5-5 is that despite the scoring of Jones and Armand, they lacked the inside scoring presence they had last season with Michael Glover. Glover was their leading scorer in the 2011-12 season averaging 18.3 points per game. Glover required a double team and that opened up passing lanes and other Gaels for open threes or the drive to the basket.

Enter one David Laury.   The highly regarded Laury is a sophomore who just became eligible one game prior to yesterday.  The highly talented six foot eight forward scored twenty one points and had fourteen rebounds in a loss to LaSalle and was making his Iona home game debut.

After Norfolk State jumped out to 4-0 lead, Laury wasted no time making an impact. He scored five of the first twelve Iona points off assists from Da'Shawn Gomez.  His three point play gave the Gaels a 12-6 lead with fourteen and half minutes left in the half.  Laury then extended the lead to ten points, 23-13 on another layup with ten a half minutes.

Williams responded for Norfolk State with two three pointers to cut the lead to six, 25-19.  But again Laury proved to be unstoppable as he scored on his second three point play of the day and the lead was back to nine 28-19.  It would be part of a 10-0 Iona run capped by an A.J. English three pointer and the Gaels were up 35-19 with five and a half minutes left in the half.  The lead would be extended even further to 41-24 with a little over two minutes left in the half.

The other main reason Iona has been a .500 team this season is their defense, or lack thereof.  Entering yesterday's game, Iona was next to last in the MAAC in scoring defense, giving up 75.8 points per game.  The Gaels are 251st in the country in effective field goal percentage defense at 51.1 percent.

So it stood to reason that Norfolk State would get back in the game with an 7-2 spurt in less than a minute to cut the lead to twelve, 43-31.  But there was that man Laury, who again hit another layup to put Iona up fourteen, 45-31 to end the half.  Laury already had twelve first half points.

One of the great things about going to Iona men's home games is the wonderful Iona Pep Band.  The pep band started the day with a jazzy version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Then later, they played some Stevie Wonder and Walk this Way by Aerosmith.  But it would be the Pep Band if they didn't play "Peg" by Steely Dan.  After an emphatic block by Laury led to an under twelve media timeout in the first half, the band fired up a version that Donald Fagin would be proud of and which I tweeted to Jaden Daly who was out covering the Fordham game.

During halftime, there was a girls' basketball game being played.  After one of the girls airballed a wide open jumper, my color analyst, aka my older son Matthew commented "I would have hit that".  Shortly thereafter, Guy Falotico, an Iona alum known as @IonaGuyF on Twitter, joined us and we talked during the first half. Guy knows my love of the Pep Band and when Walt and the boys started up "I Dream of Jeannie", I had to stop and tweet the news, which gave Guy a good laugh.  Later on the great Nick Guerriero, assistant SID for Iona and play by play voice for the women's basketball team stopped by to say hi. It's always good to see the folks at Iona.

The start of the second half saw Iona extend their lead to nineteen, 56-37.  Laury had five points during this time, including his third three point play of the day.  But Jones was the second half scoring force for the Gaels. He would score sixteen second half points.

Norfolk State had slowly whittled the Iona lead back to fourteen, 67-53 with ten minutes left.  But the Gaels would outscore the Spartans 24-8 over the next five minutes.  This is when Armand starting find his rhythm from beyond the arc, nailing three three pointers.  Tre Bowman capped the run with a three pointer of his own and Iona was up 91-61 with five minutes left.

This is when Matthew turned to me and said he wanted to see Iona score one hundred points.  And sure enough, Nyandigisi Moikobu nailed a three pointer with thirty eight seconds left.  There were no coupons for free tacos but the Gaels sent their fans home happy with a 100-72 win.

Jones led all scorers with twenty four points, five assists and was a perfect twelve for twelve from the foul line.  Laury had twenty points and seven rebounds.  Armand had twelve points as he shot four of eight from beyond the arc. He also added seven points, three assists and two steals.  Sledge had twelve points and eight rebounds and Taaj Ridley had ten points and nine rebounds.

Williams, Rashid Gaston and Zieyik Estime all scored in double figures and combined for forty of Norfolk State's seventy two points.   The Spartans were twelve of twenty nine from beyond the arc.Williams and Estime each had four three pointers.

With the win Iona moved to 6-5 on the year.  Matthew had his one hundred points. Jonathan had a good time watching the game and I had another fond memory of the Hynes Center.

Special Thanks to Jamie Fogarty, Senior Associate AD at Iona, for her help on Sunday. Very much appreciated.

It's Late Night With Scott Machado (Recap of Rider vs. Iona)

A couple of days ago, when I went on Iona's web site and saw the game time for last night's home game was 10:00 P.M., I did a double take.  But when you are dealing with the wonderful people in Bristol, Connecticut and their ESPNU channel, anything is possible.  Yes, the World Wide Leader thought it was a brilliant idea to put a MAAC women's game at 6:00 PM; Loyola - Maryland vs. Marist, then a Horizon League game at 8:00 P.M; Green Bay vs Cleveland State, then finally the Rider vs. Iona  MAAC game at 10:00 PM.

So as a result, two east coast teams were playing at a time that's normally reserved for West Coast Conference games (based on Eastern Standard time).  Most sane, normal people would have decided to stay home and watch the game on television.  But basketball fans like you and me are not most sane, normal people.  We like to see good live college basketball at any time.

When I first got home last night, I prepared for the late start...by taking a nap.  Yes, when you're nearly forty six years old and you get up at 6:00 AM to walk your dog to start your day, to stay up late, a brief nap is a requirement.   When I woke up from my nap, it was that exhausted feeling that you get when you didn't get the proper sleep time.  I worked that off with an evening walk with my dog.

Then it was off to New Rochelle.  Well, not exactly.  When I got on the Southern State Parkway, I realized I better check to see if I have my EZ-Pass.   No, it was in my wife's Honda CRV.  So I went back home, got the EZ-Pass from the other car and headed back out.  I made excellent time to the campus of Iona and was there about forty five minutes early.

Once I got my ticket, I went into the Hynes Center.  Since I was there so early, there were few people there.  Maybe I was just tired, maybe because it wasn't crowded yet, but the gym had an early morning glow.  As the Iona Pep Band played a seemingly slower version of Earth Wind and Fire's "Fantasy", which they normally play, I felt like I needed to have eggs and mimosas.  Too bad they don't let food and drink into the gym.

But as it got closer to tipoff, the crowd filled in nicely, especially the students' section.  Oh, to be twenty one again.  Apparently the students loved the idea of a10:00 P.M. start.  It certainly wasn't too late of a start  for them based on their attendance.  Chances are this was only the beginning to their night. The entire general admission/student section would be packed by game time, so much so that the gym entrance ushers started sending students over to our side of the gym.  It made for a very lively atmosphere

I sat with Guy Falotico, otherwise known on Twitter as @IonaGuyF. Guy is an Iona alum and is the moderator for IonaHoops.Com.  He is also a fellow member of John Templon's Big Apple Buckets New York City Power Poll and he knows his basketball. Guy would also provide the funniest moment of the night at the end of the game.

Neither Rider or Iona were phased by the late start as both teams put on a show in the beginning of the game.  In the first three and half minutes, each team scored eight points.  Novar Gadson buried two three pointers.  Unfortunately for the Broncs, Gadson would only score four more points the rest of the night.

Now if you are going to have a late show, you need a late show host.   Sure enough, Scott Machado would fill the Letterman role last night.  Machado, the nation's leader in assists per game at 10.3 assists per game, got off to a hot start as he assisted on the Gaels' first three baskets.  His fourth assist of the game, a layup by Momo Jones ended an Iona 9-1 spurt as the Gaels went up 14-8 with 15:28 left in the half.

The Broncs responded and came back to tie the game at sixteen with eleven minutes left.  The Broncs were scoring most of their points on drives to the baskets.  It looked like Rider was equal to the task of staying with the fourth highest scoring team in the country.

But every good late show not only has a good host, but also superstar special guests. And in Iona's case, they would be Sean Armand, Momo Jones and Michael Glover. Armand came off the bench to perform his specialty; hitting three pointers.  Armand would hit four shots from beyond the arc over the span of five minutes to put the Gaels out in front 32-23 with five and half minutes left in the half.

When Armand wasn't hitting threes, it was Glover working hard inside for layups or getting to the line as the result of fouls, as he had nine first half points. And if it wasn't Armand firing a three pointer, or Glover being the hardest working man on the court, it was Momo Jones knifing his way through the Broncs' defense to the basket.  He had ten first half points, eight of which came on layups.  Meanwile, Iona clamped down on Rider defensively and the Broncs main scoring weapon, the layup, was taken away.

The end of the first half came as a result of good coaching.  After Eddie Mitchell on Rider hit two free throws with three seconds left, Machado dribbled the ball to half court.  Iona Head Coach Tim Cluess called timeout with 2.2 seconds left in the half.  Off the timeout, Machado found Sean Armand who buried his fifth three pointer of the first half.  The Gaels entered the locker room up 46-32.

As the second half started, it appeared that Rider left their perimeter defense back in the locker room. Momo Jones immediately hit two shots from beyond the arc. Then after Jones hit another layup, Machado buried a three pointer.  Not even four minutes into the second half, Iona had gone up by twenty, 60-40.

Things didn't get any better for the Broncs.  Machado hit an old fashioned three point play, then setup Glover for their typical lob and dunk.  In this case, Glover did a nice job corralling the ball and slamming it  home to give the Gaels a 65-40 lead.  But as he dunked the ball awkwardly,  Glover hung on the rim to try to balance himself.  He was called for a technical foul.   Unfortunately for Rider, Jonathan Thompson missed both of their technical foul shots, which was probably his best chance at scoring all evening, as he was scoreless in twenty nine minutes of action.  It just wasn't the Broncs night.

Things would actually get worse for Rider, as Iona would actually extend the lead.  A three point barrage by Jermel Jenkins and Kyle Smyth put the Gaels up 85-56 with over seven minutes remaining.   The game had been no longer in doubt for several minutes and the fans knew this.  Several of them actually started leaving. Guess it was either past their bedtime or they were going on to the next activity for the evening. They had seen enough of a successful Iona show.

But the show always come back to its host.  In fact, Machado was the focus at the end of the game.  Machado had much earlier in the game achieved double digits in assists, as he would have fifteen on the night (with only two turnovers, which is amazing).  He also reached double figures in scoring early in the second half as well.   But Guy had been checking the live statistics and noticed Machado was getting very close to double figures in rebounds.  That would give him the rarely seen triple double, double figures in assists, points and in this case, rebounds.

With fifty one seconds left, Machado grabbed his ninth rebound.  Now the triple double watch was on.  With twenty six seconds left, Glover was at the line shooting a one and one. Machado was at the line on the left hand side of Glover, ready to get the rebound.   But Cluess decided to replace Machado. You could tell on Machado's face he knew about the triple double.  He wanted to stay in and get that tenth rebound.

Now we were only a few rows behind the Iona bench,  and it was quiet enough that Cluess and the players on the bench could hear the fans if they were loud enough.  On cue, Guy started yelling at Cluess "He's got a chance for the triple double, Tim!  Put him back in the game!  Give him the rebound!"   Many of us in our section started laughing hysterically as Guy continued to plead loudly with Cluess to get Machado back in to the game.

Sure enough, Glover missed the free throw and the ball bounded to the left side, right where Machado would have been.  Machado gave an "Aww, man!" look on the bench as the chance for the triple double went away.  Still, eleven points, fifteen assists and nine rebounds was quite an impressive night for Machado, whose reward was to do the post game interview with ESPNU.

Iona won the game 91-71.  Glover had twenty one points and Momo Jones had twenty points to lead Iona. Armand added fifteen points and Smyth chipped in with thirteen to give the Gaels five double digit scorers on the night.  The Gaels shot seveteen of thirty nine from beyond the arc and fifty five percent overall.  Jeff Jones led Rider with seventeen points, one of four Broncs in double figures in scoring.

After I said goodbye to Guy, I headed out back to the parking garage.  Due to many people leaving early, it was actually relatively easy to get out of the Iona lot, which normally is not the case for a men's game.  As I made my way driving back down the Hutchinson River Parkway at 12:30 A.M. in the morning, I had one thought.

Is it too early to stop at a diner for breakfast?

Doubleheader Day in New Rochelle (Recap of Loyola-Md vs. Iona)

The Hynes Center hosted a doubleheader on Sunday.  The women's game was first at 1:00 PM, followed by the men's game at 3:30 PM.  Both conference games were important.   The women's game between Manhattan and Iona was for third place in the conference and to stay above a .500 conference record.  The men's game was for sole possession of first place in the MAAC.

Yesterday, I brought both of my kids with me to the doubleheader since my wife works on Sundays.  Matthew, my older son, loves basketball.  He was excited about the prospect of watching two games.  Jonathan on the other hand did not fare as well.  The women's game he was fine.  But since the gym was so warm yesterday, he needed some hugs in the second game.  Towards the end, he fell asleep on the seat.

In the women's game, Iona rallied from a first half 22-11 deficit and held on to defeat Manhattan 65-60.  It was the Gaels fourth win in their last five games and gave them a 4-2 record in conference.  What makes that even more impressive is that Iona has done all this without their best player, all conference forward Kristina Ford, who has been out with a knee injury.  It's just another example that All of Us is greater than Each of Us.

In the second game, you had two men's teams whose last game involved major second half comebacks.  In Iona's case, they were outscored by twenty points in the last seven minutes and forty eight seconds of their loss to Manhattan on Thursday night.  Meanwhile, Loyola-Maryland rallied from fifteen points back and defeated Fairfield on Friday night.  Having been in attendance for both of those games, I was wondering what these two teams would do for an encore.

The start of the game saw one team building on it's momentum from their win Friday night, Loyola, while the other team was hungover from their stunning loss on Thursday, Iona.  The Greyhounds came out with a lot of confidence and stormed off to a 22-15 lead as they hit five shots from beyond the arc.  Robert Olson, the subject of a lot of Coach Jimmy Patsos' tongue lashings on Friday night, hit two of those five three pointers.

Momo Jones would get Iona back in the game.  He scored seven straight points and nine of the Gaels' eleven points in a 11-1 run as Iona would go out in front 26-23 with nine minutes left in the half.  Jones stepped up in a big way since Michael Glover and Scott Machado each had two fouls in the first half.

Loyola responded with a half ending 13-5 spurt.  Justin Drummond and J'hared Hall combined for nine of those thirteen points. Loyola would go into halftime leading 36-31.  Patsos left with a smile on his face at the end of the half, seemingly pleased with his team's first half performance.

Scott Machado has received a lot of national press for his amazing assists totals and rightfully so.  But the player that makes Iona successful is Michael Glover.  He averaged a double double last season and though he is not averaging a double double this season (averaging 19 points and 8.6 rebounds per game), his field goal percentage is up to sixty seven percent this season. His free throw percentage is also up to seventy percent this season.    When the offense runs through Glover, the Gaels are almost unstoppable.

While he was in foul trouble for a good part of the half, Glover only had four points.  It was clear in the second half what Iona needed to do in the second half.; feed the beast.

Quickly, Glover hit two dunks on assists by Machado and Kyle Smyth.  Loyola though maintained a five point lead, 46-41 as Olson continued to impress with his scoring ability, hitting a layup and a jumper.  But then Iona went on a 9-0 mini spurt as Jones, Machado and Glover combined for all the points to put the Gaels up 50-46 with a little over twelve minutes left.  Loyola came back with four straight points and the game was tied at fifty with about ten minutes left.

Then Glover took over.  He proceeded to score eight of Iona's next fifteen points over a span of four minutes.  The Gaels jumped out to 65-55 lead with six minutes left.  Iona finally seemed to have energy as Machado was piling up the assists and Jones was playing attack point guard for a good part of the game.

The ten point Gaels' lead would have been larger had not Olson scored all five points for Loyola in that span.  Olson was not done yet as he buried two three pointers over the next thirty plus seconds to cut the deficit to six, 69-63 with three and a half minutes left.

But Olson would foul out with a little less than three minutes left and Loyola had no one to pick up the scoring after he went to the bench.  Iona's big three; Glover, Jones and Machado would score the final five points of the game and the Gaels won 74-63.  With the win, Iona had sole possession of first place in the MAAC.

As we left the Hynes Center, I had to wake up Jonathan and carry him out to our car in the parking garage.  On our way home, Matthew fell asleep in the car.  It was a long day for a six year old and a four year old.  But they got to see the home team win twice.

Revenge is a Dish Best Served in Hempstead (Recap of Iona vs. Hofstra)

Exactly a year ago, Mo Cassara's Hofstra Pride traveled to New Rochelle to take on Tim Cluess' Iona Gaels.  It was the first season for both as head coaches in Division I Basketball.   On that night, it was all Iona, as they dominated Hofstra, winning 87-62.  It was the second worst loss of the season (next to a forty two point drubbing by eventual Elite Eight member North Carolina) for a Pride team that won twenty one games and finished third in the CAA.  It was also a Pride team that featured three time Haggerty Award winner and two time CAA Player of the year Charles Jenkins, who now plays for the Golden State Warriors.

So when Iona rolled into town last night sporting a 10-2 record, having won six of their seven previous games on an eight game road trip to face a Hofstra team that has struggled this season at 5-7, things did not look too good for Pride fans.  Throw in the fact that starting point guard Steve Mejia was again out due to a hamstring injury against a Gaels team that loves to press and create turnovers, it seemed like a perfect storm.

Iona is one of the best offensive teams in the country this season. Fourth in points per game at 85.9 points per game. Second in assists in 20.2 per game.  Fifth in field goal percentage at 50.9 percent.  They are ranked eighth in Ken Pomeroy's effective field goal percentage at 56.8 percent , fifth in two point field goal percentage at 56.2 percent and thirty third in the country at offensive turnover percentage at 17.9 percent.  And having seen them in person put up one hundred points twice in home wins over LIU and St. Joseph's in overtime, simply put, they are an offensive juggernaut.

The Gaels were going to be a tall task for a Pride team that had won two in a row after losing their four previous games prior to that.  But Hofstra had faced a similar challenge during this season when they met undefeated Cleveland State, another team highly talked about as potentially getting an at large NCAA bid due to their non conference wins. The Pride handed the Vikings their first loss of the season in Rhode Island, so the potential was there to pull off another upset.

This was the second game of a doubleheader.  The first game was a women's basketball game, where a fundamentally sound Princeton team held off a Hofstra team that had won nine of its first eleven games.   My older son and I had been there for the entire first game, so we were now entering hour three of our hoops festival.

Due to Iona receiving a lot of publicity on the local and national levels because of their high octane offense and their 10-2 record, a large late arriving crowd started filling the Mack Center.  Included in the crowd was New York radio show host Mike Francesca, who sat in the first row of the section next to me.  He was there just like everyone else, wanting to see two of the better New York City metro area college basketball programs square off in the final scheduled non conference game for both teams this season.

Hofstra came right out and made a statement to the crowd of 4,200 plus in attendance. David Imes and Nathaniel Lester combined to score the first eight points as the Pride took an early 8-4 lead.  But Michael Glover had three monster dunks and Kyle Smyth's three pointer gave Iona its first lead at 13-12 with about twelve minutes left in the first half.

Over the next couple of minutes, the teams exchanged leads back and forth.  The game was tied at twenty two with eight and half minutes remaining in the first half.   Hofstra fans had to be pleased that the Pride were going toe to toe with the Gaels, unlike their matchup last season.  What they were about to see in the next fifteen minutes of game action was stunning and completely unexpected.

The warning signs were already there for Iona.  In the first eleven and a half minutes, the Gaels had committed an uncharacteristic eight turnovers for one of the better teams that statistically holds onto the ball.  A lot of credit goes to the Pride defense for their inspired play.  But for the rest of the first half, Iona would actually top that total.  Over the last eight and a half minutes, Iona would commit another ten turnovers.

And Hofstra took full advantage of that.  The Pride would outscore the Gaels 21-6 in that span.  That was due in large part to Imes and Mike Moore, who combined for fifteen of the twenty one Hofstra points.  Imes was particularly impressive as he was very aggressive on the boards, with eight rebounds, three on the offensive end, as Hofstra had nine offensive rebounds in the first half.  

The Pride entered the half up 43-28 much to the delight of the Pride faithful in the crowd. Statistically, it was as if the world had turned on its axis.  The team that prides itself on ball possession, Iona, had turned the ball over eighteen times.  That allowed Hofstra twelve more shot attempts and seven more baskets.than Iona.   Plus Hofstra was outscoring Iona on second chance points nine to one, as a result of Hofstra's nine offensive rebounds.

You could tell Coach Tim Cluess was not happy with his team at the half, because the Gaels came out of the locker room several minutes early.  The team anxiously awaited on the sidelines for several minutes as the halftime CYO game was still being played.  It seemed like Iona was ready to make a run at the start of the second half.

However, inline with the last part of the first half, the Pride continued their onslaught on the Gaels.  The lead actually swelled to nineteen, 57-38, with fourteen and a half minutes left in the game.  Iona had no answer for Moore, who scored eight of the first fourteen Hofstra points in the second half.

But a team doesn't win twelve out of its first twelve games without the ability to rally.  Sure enough, the Gaels finally made their run.  First it was Glover, Momo Jones, and Rashad James who combined for a 11-1 spurt to cut the lead down to nine, 58-49 with a little more than ten minutes left.  The large Iona fan contingent in the arena had finally come to life in support of their Gaels.

Then came the three point barrage.  First it was Nathaniel Lester, who had a huge second half for Hofstra, trading three pointers with Iona's Smyth.  Even Moore got in on the act with Smyth, hitting his own shot beyond the arc.  But Smyth got the final long range shot in, as his third three pointer in the span of two and a half minutes cut the deficit to seven, 67-60 with less than six and a half minutes left.

But Iona would never get any closer than seven points the rest of the way.  Try as the Gaels might, Imes, Lester and Dwan McMillan would combine to score thirteen of the last sixteen points Hofstra would score on the night.  As John Templon, the author of the terrific Big Apple Buckets website noted to me at halftime, fifteen points is a large hole to dig out of as far as comebacks.   Hofstra came away with a hard earned, well deserved 83-75 victory.

The Pride had a balanced attack with four scorers in double digits.  Moore again lead the way with twenty four points, but he had a lot of help.   Lester had a double double with twenty one points and ten rebounds.  Imes had his own double double with sixteen points and fifteen rebounds.  And McMillan nearly made it three double doubles on the night with ten points and nine assists.  He outplayed his more highly touted high school teammate, Iona's Scott Machado, who had ten assists, but only six points before fouling out.

Glover led the way for Iona with his usual double double, twenty points and thirteen rebounds. Jones added twenty points as well.  Finally Smyth added twelve points, all on three pointers.  But the Gaels shot 42.6 percent from the field, well under their season average.  The turnovers killed them, as Hofstra had an eight point advantage on points off turnovers, which was the margin of victory.

So one year later, the tides were turned.  It was Hofstra that dominated most of the game last night, similar to what Iona did to them the year before.  Just like last year,  many fans shook their heads in disbelief as they headed for the exits not expecting the outcome they just witnessed.  The Pride will be ringing in the New Year on a high note. A three game winning streak should fill them with confidence for the battle with VCU on Monday.  Meanwhile the Gaels will have to regroup for conference play on Tuesday at MSG vs. Siena.

That's the wonderful thing about college basketball.  Expect the unexpected.

Miscellaneous Notes and Thoughts

I gave my RSVP for the Hofstra Men's Basketball Season Ticket Holder Practice and Reception on October 27th.   Can't wait for my first taste of college basketball season.  Last year's Hofstra Fanfest gave me a good first look at a much improved David Imes.  Looking forward to see who will surprise me in my first look at Hofstra for the 2011-12 season.

Today, the ESPN/USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll was announced.  North Carolina was voted the #1 team in the poll with 30 out of 31 first place votes.  Kentucky was ranked second.  If you are looking for a  mid major team in the poll, well depending on how you view Xavier and Gonzaga as mid majors, the Musketeers were picked 15th and the Zags were picked 23rd.

What I found most humorous was that the top rated CAA team in the Coaches Poll was George Mason who received 12 votes while Drexel received only 2 votes.  Anyone with significant knowledge of the CAA (Mike Litos, Brian Mull, John Templon, hell even dumb old me) has picked Drexel to finish first.  This is due to the fact that Drexel returns four starters, while Mason has lost three starters; Cam Long to graduation, Luke Hancock transferring to Louisville and Andre Cornelius due to suspension.  Goes to show you how much the Preseason Coaches Poll is really worth in the grand scheme of things .

For a while, I was wondering what was going to occur first, my younger son Jonathan's fourth birthday (November 17) or the NCAA's ruling on granting Momo Jones a waiver to play for Iona this season.  Well, it finally happened today, as the NCAA granted Jones a waiver to play for the Gaels this season.  Needless to say this makes the Gaels the prohibitive favorite in the MAAC.  But more importantly, the Gaels with Jones, Michael Glover and Scott Machado could possibly be one of the best mid major teams in the country.   Better get your tickets now for games at the Hynes Center.  I see lots of sellouts up in New Rochelle this season.  By the way, circle November 28th on your calendar.  Iona is home vs. LIU in what promises to be a very high scoring game.

I know I didn't talk about this in my CAA preview, but if you held a gun to my head, my picks for All First Team CAA this season would be Bradford Burgess (VCU), Quinn McDowell (W&M), Samme Givens (Drexel), Kent Bazemore (ODU)  and Ryan Pearson (George Mason).   If Bazemore's foot doesn't heal properly, then pick one from the following; Devon Saddler (Delaware), Mike Moore (Hofstra) and Chris Fouch (Drexel).  

By the way, I am very upset at the CAA schedule makers this season.  How dare they have Hofstra playing at Delaware on a weeknight?!  I need my fill of Blue Hen Barbecue!!  I guess I will have to go to a different Delaware Saturday home game.  I am targeting January 14 when they host VCU.  VCU and barbecue.  That rhymes!

Speaking of Hofstra, there is a lovely road trip I plan to take Thanksgiving weekend up to Rhode Island to see the Pride play in the Legends Classic along with Rhode Island, Cleveland State and Boston University, three teams who also made the postseason last season.   It will be my first ever road trip alone with my six year old son, Matthew, the college basketball maven.  Father and son bonding while watching college basketball in Rhode Island.   Should be memorable.

Three weeks from tomorrow is Hofstra's first home game vs. LIU.   It's just around the corner.  Thank god!