This year the Gaels graduated All MAAC center David Laury, however he is being replaced by three formidable big men, including a 6'9" 255 pounder who is a real stud. I would not be surprised to see them in the top 60-70 CSM rankings, which is great for the MAAC.
Laury will be a big loss, but James Madision transfer, Tyler Bessick, will be be an immediate starter as his replacement. Iona will still be very good as they continue to have a starting line-up of All-MAAC caliber players. English is a POY type player..... along with Williams, Casimir and Amayo, which are All MAAC 2nd or 3rd team type players. Gaels will continue to be short on scholarship type players..... maybe only 8 or 9 players. Last year they played with 7. Their focus on having only 5 players with All-MAAC ability has worked well for them.
However, Laury was very important to Iona. I expect them to slip a bit, but still be be the MAAC Favorite.
From all the Postings above, our schedule looks like the following:
Nov 13 vs Yale in CT-6 (at CentralCT) Nov 15 at North Carolina Nov 18 at Northwestern Nov 21 vs SHU Nov 24 at Maryland Eastern Shore
vs Columbia 2 other games TBD
Dec 22 vs Loyola Dec 27 at Bucknell
With the 2 open games likely to be easier games, the overall schedule looks to be reasonable this year and gives us a chance to incorporate Jerry Johnson, Cobb, Kasibabu and Scott King into the line-up. Give us a chance to be at least 6-4. However, I see us 1-2 or 0-3 to start the season.
From all the Postings above, our schedule looks like the following:
Nov 13 vs Yale in CT-6 (at CentralCT) Nov 15 at North Carolina Nov 18 at Northwestern Nov 21 vs SHU Nov 24 at Maryland Eastern Shore
vs Columbia 2 other games TBD
Dec 22 vs Loyola Dec 27 at Bucknell
With the 2 open games likely to be easier games, the overall schedule looks to be reasonable this year and gives us a chance to incorporate Jerry Johnson, Cobb, Kasibabu and Scott King into the line-up. Give us a chance to be at least 6-4. However, I see us 1-2 or 0-3 to start the season.
As mentioned before in an earlier post Yale will probably be a slight favorite in the opener. A lot of experience coming back from a great team although they do lose some real key people. I watched their first game in Australia (believe it or not it was available for free on the web). They have a lot of work to do, but considering travel and little practice time their poor performance that night was understandable. But winning the opener is huge considering the need for confidence for the players, coaches (and fans). With UNC and Northwestern looming in the next two I would hate to go 0-3 to begin the year.
Strange that Canisius has a game scheduled at Dartmouth on January 12th when no other MAAC team has a nonconference game scheduled in 2016 at this time.
According to nycbuckets.com, Marist, Rider, and Manhattan are the only MAAC teams to have officially announced their complete nonconference schedules at this point. Manhattan has an exhibition game scheduled with Bridgeport on November 9th.
Post by bridgeport on Aug 15, 2015 18:26:30 GMT -5
Dartmouth & paul cormier will be in bridgeport on january 4, 2016 - - a source tells me. he will have his basketball team with him. tip off a couple of hours after it gets dark.
Yale lost their first game by 10 points. They played the regular season champs from a highly rated league. One big reason, they shot the ball very poorly from the 3-point line. And their opponent (Ringwood) kept Justin Sears from having a big game. Like I said before, results from these trips are always difficult to judge whether they mean anything as to the overall power of a team. And also, the Bulldogs could not use any freshmen and also Brandon Sherrod (because he didn't play last year). But results are interesting for this hoops starved fan. Three more will be coming up in the next week!
Bulldogs won their second game by 16 points.
Yale won their final two games on the trip by rather large margins. Competition appeared to be weak.
Good find Jennings. So add this one to Dartmouth coming in (as posted by Bridgeport) may mean the schedule is complete if we are playing 30 games. I would like it if they played 31 however. Anyway, from what has been posted (although nothing officially from Fairfield), OOC home games-SHU, Columbia, Wagner, Loyola and Dartmouth. OOC away-UNC, Northwestern, UMES and Bucknell. Neutral-Yale (Conn. 6). Certainly a reasonable chance for some wins to try to gain some needed confidence.
From all the Postings above, our schedule looks like the following:
Nov 13 vs Yale in CT-6 (at CentralCT) Nov 15 at North Carolina Nov 18 at Northwestern Nov 21 vs SHU Nov 24 at Maryland Eastern Shore ? vs Columbia Dec 18 vs Wagner Jan 04 vs Dartmouth Dec 22 vs Loyola Dec 27 at Bucknell
I see us at 6-4 right now..... with 2 scenarios
- Starting 0-3, going 6-0, and ending 0-1 vs Bucknell. - Starting 1-2, going 6-1, and ending 0-1 vs Bucknell.
Post by jenningsbeach on Aug 28, 2015 14:02:37 GMT -5
Over the first weekend in December, Columbia is hosting St. Joseph's and Delaware at Levien Gym, a venue barely a notch above the Yanitelli Center in Jersey City. Two nice home games for the Lions.
Don't sleep on Columbia. Likely a preseason top 3 (behind Yale and Harvard), the Lions will showcase the Ivy's leading candidate for POY (and possibly the best player in school history), Maodo Lo. The kid is a three-point machine and, although undersized at 6-3, a legitimate NBA prospect.
Other then the SHU game, the other OOC games won't average 2k in attendance and that figure is suspect based on the way game Attendance figures are determined.