Iona

[BlueDaveil]

Before we can hope to wipe the smile off of Trae Young’s strange looking face or eviscerate another Spartan army like we are the Persian empire... we must beat the Gaels from New Rochelle, New York.

Here are some interesting things I’ve seen about them today:

Iona, the #4 seed, won the MAAC tournament by defeating the #5, 9 and 6 seeds. The top three were all knocked out before the semis.

They are an above average 3 point shooting team but don’t have anyone on the roster averaging over 13.5ppg.

They are ranked 134 in kenpom, 80th in offense and 212th in defense. 108th in RPI.

They are not a particularly tall team, they give up a lot of offensive rebounds and they do not turn teams over.

They have only one win vs kenpom top 150. They lost to Syracuse and St. Johns as well as Rhode Island.

Duke is a 20point favorite in Vegas.

 

[Alaskan_Assassin_21]

Iona came apart late in their 2016 upset bid over #4 seed Iowa State (81-94). Last season they were handled by #3 seed Oregon (77-93)

They are 1-11 all time in the NCAA Tourney

 

[Laettner]

Iona coach(Tim Cleuss) was my bother's high school coach & had Danny Green as well. Gaels like to push the ball but get careless frequently. The MAAC tourney final was sloppy but that is their style. Our height will be a huge problem for Iona but we have to cover 3 pt line. To beat us they'll have to shoot 60-65%.

 

[Showenuff]

I want to see us come out solid. Not overconfident and overlooking. I want a 25+ point win and eyes looking forward as soon as it's over. Somebody better get in war mode. We have all the tools to win this ****ing tournament and I want them to play like it.

 

[skysdad]

I remember big Jeff Ruland from many years ago. Any other note worthy alumni. OFC

 

[dukiejay]

I remember big Jeff Ruland from many years ago. Any other note worthy alumni. OFC

That's the guy I always think of when I hear Iona.

Didn't he coach them for a bit, too, after he had retired from the NBA?

 

[Laettner15]

That's the guy I always think of when I hear Iona.

Didn't he coach them for a bit, too, after he had retired from the NBA?

He did... his daughter was on my best friends daughter’s travel soccer team years ago, he is a really nice guy! Dude is built like a truck

 

[chov1125]

To be honest, I am getting more and more concerned with our effort on defense. We rode pretty high for quite a while, but I don't see the same intensity and focus that we displayed for that recent month stretch. We may have gotten a little complacent and fallen back a bit. Now we played a few talented teams and well coached teams that did a good job of dissecting our zone, but the effort needs to be better. Now don't get me wrong, teams are still not lighting up the scoreboard against us, but I can see a noticeable difference in our energy now as compared to a few weeks ago. We need to get back to playing with a sense of determination on defense.The margin for error is going to shrink very quickly and the consequence for an off night is season over.

I keep saying urgency and I fully believe that is what is keeping me from a real sense of confidence of making a deep run. The flaws earlier in the year have been sewn up nicely to give me confidence that no matter who we play, we have a legitimate chance at winning. What still remains and what gives me most pause is I still don't see a real sense of urgency. The moment that ball goes up we should be balls to the wall trying not just to win, but to win big. And this attitude needs to be for a full 40 minutes every game going forward. The 2015 team had it, not all year, but by tourney time. I am not saying we won't see it starting Thursday, but I haven't seen it yet.

 

[dachampishere2]

To be honest, I am getting more and more concerned with our effort on defense. We rode pretty high for quite a while, but I don't see the same intensity and focus that we displayed for that recent month stretch. We may have gotten a little complacent and fallen back a bit. Now we played a few talented teams and well coached teams that did a good job of dissecting our zone, but the effort needs to be better. Now don't get me wrong, teams are still not lighting up the scoreboard against us, but I can see a noticeable difference in our energy now as compared to a few weeks ago. We need to get back to playing with a sense of determination on defense.The margin for error is going to shrink very quickly and the consequence for an off night is season over.

I keep saying urgency and I fully believe that is what is keeping me from a real sense of confidence of making a deep run. The flaws earlier in the year have been sewn up nicely to give me confidence that no matter who we play, we have a legitimate chance at winning. What still remains and what gives me most pause is I still don't see a real sense of urgency. The moment that ball goes up we should be balls to the wall trying not just to win, but to win big. And this attitude needs to be for a full 40 minutes every game going forward. The 2015 team had it, not all year, but by tourney time. I am not saying we won't see it starting Thursday, but I haven't seen it yet.

No I think we just saw two teams that were well schooled on how to play against the zone and we held them both to less than 40% shooting. North Carolina played 5 games against the zone in the last month of the season. They had it figured out pretty much.

 

[ThemDukeBoys]

18 Turnovers killed us in the UNC game...they had 17 MORE SHOTS....you deserve to lose. I feel that the magic number is 11....if we can keep the TO's to 11 or under, we win out.

 

[DukefanKY]

18 Turnovers killed us in the UNC game...they had 17 MORE SHOTS....you deserve to lose. I feel that the magic number is 11....if we can keep the TO's to 11 or under, we win out.

That's what I've been saying forever. All but two of our losses, we had 16+ turnovers and all of those games but one, we were within 5 points of winning. I believe if those turnovers were reduced to about 10 or 11, we have no more than two losses right now

 

[denverexpat]

That's what I've been saying forever. All but two of our losses, we had 16+ turnovers and all of those games but one, we were within 5 points of winning. I believe if those turnovers were reduced to about 10 or 11, we have no more than two losses right now

A good breakdown to see would be type of TO...forced vs unforced etc...are they from bad passes, charges, throwing it away, steals etc....maybe we are just good at all of them! No idea where to find that stat breakdown though

 

[DukefanKY]

It seems like the majority of the ones I see are bad passes, but I doubt that kind of tracking would be easy to find

 

[j_flo]

You can watch Iona in the MAAC Championship game on the Watch ESPN App (at least in the iOS and Roku apps). I have it on now, surprised to see Jay Bilas on the call with what looks to be a three day beard growth. Lookin’ a bit haggard.

 

[j_flo]

The announcers for the MAAC championship game (Iona v. Fairfield) were ripping on Dan Dakich.

At about 8:40 left in the first half, pretty funny comments. Jay Bilas asked Jason Benetti if he sounded like Dakich when he said something like ‘well if you just play hard good things are going to happen!’. And Benetti said he had no good answer, it was like saying ‘do I look fat in this?’ And ‘if your teeth haven’t fallen out, you are in good shape.’ Then they both laughed.

I guess Dakich has dentures?

In any case, I really do not like Dakich, I think he’s an idiot. I think these announcers were doing a third tier game and were, perhaps, a bit more candid than normal.