This is crazy. Does a rising Gaels lifts all boats?
Actually in some ways it will. If the Gaels go out there and start winning some tough OOC games, that can only help the NET rating of the other MAAC teams as well as the overall rating of the league. For instance next year they are already slated to play Seton Hall in the Garden plus be the league representative in the annual tournament in Orlando. So as much as most of us hate Pitino and the program, success for Iona could in a strange way benefit the Stags (and the others) when all is said and done. The problem of course is actually defeating them when it counts in the league ending tournament, something that will become more difficult than this past season. But in a one game situation you never know. Scenario for 2021-22, the Stags this time defeat Iona in the final with the Gaels earning an at-large bid for the league. (keep dreaming Nashville).
Unless of course the NCAA (or the Fed) sticks it to Ricky.
They just took down one a Louisville assistant (and MAAC head coach).
Louisville also is accused of failing to adequately monitor the recruitment of an incoming, high-profile student-athlete.
The NCAA alleges that Pitino, who now coaches at Iona, did not satisfy his head-coaching responsibility when he failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance.
A bit of a rambling post here reacting to the posts since Iona announced their transfer from Louisville. If Iona does become the Gonzaga of the MAAC, then the history of the WCC tourney since 2000 does not bode well for a team other than Iona to win the MAAC tourney. Only five times in that span has a team other than Gonzaga won the WCC tourney.
There's no denying Iona is bringing in higher than the usual MAAC level talent. Add in low academic standards and it would appear that the rest of the MAAC will be looking up at Iona as far as the standings go.
However, for next season there still is the possibility as VA pointed out that the NCAA might decide to tell Iona that Pitino might need to sit out some games due to violations which occurred at Louisville while he was the head coach there. Then again Pitino might not be punished at all by the NCAA.
Finally, knowing Pitino's past history --- if Iona does crack the top 25 nationally during the regular season next year or in the near future --- and the NCAA doesn't punish Pitino at all --- then I believe he would take the first great paying high major job that is offered to him. I think he'd rather compete in a power 5 conference than beat up on Niagara and Canisius year after year[private jet vs. bus ride to Buffalo]. Plus there's a much better chance of getting a NCAA bid from a high major conference than having to deal with the uncertainty of what could happen in a MAAC tourney. Pitino claimed after the MAAC tourney that it had been a long time since he experienced the trepidation that comes from knowing that winning the conference tournament is the only way to get a NCAA bid.
Post by dannynoonan on May 20, 2021 12:18:08 GMT -5
I wouldn't trust St. Rick any further than I could throw him. But he will be 69 before next season starts, so it is possible that he might be happy to settle in at Iona and be a big fish in a little pond for his twilight coaching years.
If Fairfield's plan to compete with Iona is to wait until Pitino either goes to another job, is arrested, retires, or Iona moves to another conference... we're lost.
I hope JY’s reputation for big man player development bears fruit as we need lots of improvement from Maidoh, Crisler, Cheff, Jason, and Cook for us to be able to hopefully break the Iona stranglehold on MAAC tourney titles.
Post by nashvillestag on Jun 7, 2021 23:13:49 GMT -5
Mikey Dixon, remember him as a star freshman at Quinnipiac? The guy has certainly been around (St. John's, Grand Canyon as well as a Bobcat). Add one more to the list. He's transferring to Idaho.
Wow that's interesting. I had thought I had read about a month ago that he was going to go to a prep school for a postgraduate year at St. Andrew's in Rhode Island. What do I think about him? Well of course I couldn't watch him this past season so it would really be unfair to opine much on how good he might be in the future. I did see him as a junior for two or three games however, and at that time I could see that as a 6-7, maybe 6-8 player with skills, he obviously had the potential to be as good as any big man in the state (not named Clingan) as he got set to move into this past season. First team All-State honors means he obviously performed well. Will he become a good or great player for the Bobcats? Again, it's hard to predict without actually having watched him for over a year, but my instincts suggest that a year of prep school, apparently his original plan, might have been a better way to go for him. It will be interesting to watch his progress, especially if he becomes another state product who the Stags might have recruited who comes back to hurt them on the court.
Last Edit: Jun 8, 2021 9:03:57 GMT -5 by nashvillestag
Mikey Dixon, remember him as a star freshman at Quinnipiac? The guy has certainly been around (St. John's, Grand Canyon as well as a Bobcat). Add one more to the list. He's transferring to Idaho.
Grand Canyon was the WAC representative in the NCAAs last season and lost a first round game to Iowa by 12 points. Idaho was 1-17 last season. Dixon played 25 mpg and scored a little over 8 ppg for GCU last season. Was it a personality clash with the head coach at GCU, a desire to be “the man” on the floor as opposed to being a member of a winning team, a desire to see the Pacific Northwest after being in the Southwest most recently, or an appreciation of freshly harvested potatoes that best explains Dixon’s transfer decision.
Mikey Dixon, remember him as a star freshman at Quinnipiac? The guy has certainly been around (St. John's, Grand Canyon as well as a Bobcat). Add one more to the list. He's transferring to Idaho.
Grand Canyon was the WAC representative in the NCAAs last season and lost a first round game to Iowa by 12 points. Idaho was 1-17 last season. Dixon played 25 mpg and scored a little over 8 ppg for GCU last season. Was it a personality clash with the head coach at GCU, a desire to be “the man” on the floor as opposed to being a member of a winning team, a desire to see the Pacific Northwest after being in the Southwest most recently, or an appreciation of freshly harvested potatoes that best explains Dixon’s transfer decision.
Well it's obviously that last thing you mention. But seriously though, I think in his case the decision to leave Quinnipiac for greener pastures years ago has not worked out well, at least basketball-wise for this kid, proving once again that any guy considering jumping ship from a good situation better think long and hard before actually doing it. Now looking back to that time, his coach Tom Moore had just gotten fired and therefore that decision was more understandable. But still, he was becoming a star in the MAAC as a freshman and quite frankly hasn't been nearly as successful since. And again thinking back, ironically it was probably true that the Bobcats and new coach Baker Dunleavy, desperate for a point guard to replace Dixon, offered a scholarship to the underrated at the time Rich Kelly. So in summary a new star was born because he decided to leave the program.
St Peters losing former 3-star recruit Noah Kamba to transfer. He only played one year in Jersey City after transferring in from Murray State. Was getting looks from some high-level programs.
Kamba didn't produce much in his two years. Goes to show that a 3-star rating doesn't guarantee anything.
A side note is that Monmouth player Gob Gabriel is also transferring. We had some interest in him during the SJ era and he was getting some looks from higher-level programs. But he too did not produce much in his two years in Long Branch.