Iona Basketball

Iona men's basketball coach Rick Pitino became just the third coach in NCAA Division I men's hoops history to take five different programs to the NCAA tournament when the Gaels defeated Fairfield 60-51 to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship on Saturday.

Lon Kruger and Tubby Smith were the first two coaches to earn that distinction, per Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio.

Pitino also led Boston University, Providence, Kentucky and Louisville to the NCAA tournament. Rick Bozich of WDRB.com detailed the three coaches' achievements.

The 68-year-old got the job done in his first year running the Iona program. The Gaels entered the conference tournament as the No. 9 seed but defeated Quinnipiac, Siena, Niagara and Fairfield en route to the crown.

Pitino led Kentucky and Louisville to national titles and has made five other Final Four appearances during his career.

Iona will wait to hear its name called when the NCAA tournament bracket is revealed beginning at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday. CBS will air the selection show.

Hall of Fame basketball coach Rick Pitino said Tuesday that he tested positive for COVID-19 days after he received the first of two doses of the vaccine for the virus.

In an appearance on The Michael Kay Show, Pitino said he thinks he picked up the virus from his players ahead of his positive test on Jan. 16 (h/t Adam Zagoria of the New York Times). A university spokesperson told Josh Thomson of the Rockland/Westchester Journal News that nine of the team's 17 players, two coaches and two managers have tested positive for COVID-19 since Jan. 4.

Speaking to reporters, the Iona College coach said he was no longer quarantining and "didn't have the severe symptoms that many people have had." He later told the New York Times that he has tested negative "several times."

The 68-year-old said he is still planning to get the second dose of the vaccine.

The virus has heavily impacted Iona during Pitino's first season. According to Zagoria, the program has been suspended three different times and hasn't played since Dec. 23. Its next game is scheduled for Feb. 3, which would amount to a 42-day separation between games.

Pitino was among coaches that were in favor of delaying the season amid the pandemic, and he promoted the postponement of the NCAA tournament to May.

I’ll say it again, to anyone who will listen, push the season back to March, and then have May Madness. Give the Vaccine a chance. In the best interest of all involved!

— Rick Pitino (@RealPitino) November 23, 2020

"I'm a little bit of a political animal," he said, via Zagoria. "I follow the science of it all, and that's why I tried to move it back to May Madness for the health of everybody involved."

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski questioned the NCAA's decision to play on through the pandemic. While he noted the financial necessity to play an NCAA tournament a year after losing $800 million because of the cancellation of the 2020 event, he urged the governing body to reconsider.

"I would just like for the safety, the mental and physical health of players and staff to assess where we're at," he said last month.

The Duke women's basketball team decided on Dec. 25 to cancel its season because of concerns about the virus.

The entirety of this year's men's basketball tournament will be held at six venues in and around Indianapolis in what president Mark Emmert said is an effort "to provide a healthy, safe environment" amid a "pandemic (that) is still very much alive."

Iona Gaels men's basketball coach Rick Pitino called for a delay to the start of the college basketball season Saturday as cases of the coronavirus surge across the United States.

While advocating for "May Madness," rather than holding the NCAA tournament in March, Pitino said it's "impossible to play right now."

Save the Season. Move the start back. Play league schedule and have May Madness. Spiking and protocols make it impossible to play right now.

— Rick Pitino (@RealPitino) November 14, 2020

NCAA guidelines required Iona to halt team activities for 14 days beginning Nov. 11 after a member of the program tested positive for COVID-19. 

Pitino's tweet comes only days after the Ivy League became the first Division I conference to cancel winter sports for the 2020-21 season—including both men's and women's basketball. 

The league pointed directly to health and safety of its students and faculty as reasons for its decision:

"Regrettably, the current trends regarding transmission of the COVID-19 virus and subsequent protocols that must be put in place are impeding our strong desire to return to intercollegiate athletics competition in a safe manner.
 
"Student-athletes, their families and coaches are again being asked to make enormous sacrifices for the good of public health — and we do not make this decision lightly. While these decisions come with great disappointment and frustration, our commitment to the safety and lasting health of our student-athletes and wider communities must remain our highest priority." 

In the following days, Seton Hall was forced to pause its practices after a member of the program tested positive. Iona's need to go on hiatus will likely disrupt its scheduled season-opener against Fordham on Nov. 25, and Pitino said Wednesday the school would attempt to reschedule the game. 

The first wave of the coronavirus in spring forced the cancelation of the NCAA tournament among other collegiate championships. The dramatic decision abruptly ended the careers of numerous college athletes without an opportunity to win a national title. 

Pitino's plea seeks to avoid a similar fate in 2021. 

According to ESPN's Myron Medcalf, multiple men's basketball coaches have echoed Pitino's sentiments in private, with a "high-profile" coach calling the current college landscape "scary." To that end, Medcalf reported the NCAA may have more flexibility with March Madness this season, with executives exploring all available options to ensure the tournament is played. 

As Rick Pitino prepares for his first season at Iona College, the veteran coach thinks the college basketball season should be pushed back due to the coronavirus.

Suggestion to the NCAA, push the start of the season back to January and only play league games. Buy some more time for a vaccine and to get things under control. Although I can’t wait to be back on the sidelines, the health of my players and staff is what’s really important.

— Rick Pitino (@RealPitino) July 1, 2020

The sport was one of the first in the United States to be affected by the pandemic with men's and women's tournaments being canceled in March. College sports remained suspended throughout the spring, with football players only beginning to return to campus last month for practices.

Summer basketball activities are allowed to begin on July 20.

NCAA president Mark Emmert recently suggested the 2020-21 season could begin even earlier to account for potential positive COVID-19 tests.

"You may have to say, 'Look, we're going to stop playing for two weeks.' Well, if you started the season earlier and you've shortened the number of contests, you could afford to have some disruptions and still get a full season in," Emmert told Seth Davis of The Athletic.

Pitino's plan could help reduce the risk even further by giving more time to treat the disease.

The 67-year-old coach is best known for his time with Kentucky and Louisville, winning a national championship with each school. He spent the past few seasons in Greece after being fired by Louisville in 2017, but he will return to NCAA basketball this season with Iona.

Iona men's basketball coach Rick Pitino appeared on the Dan Patrick Show Monday and discussed what led him to the job as well as his next moves.

"I was blackballed incorrectly for two-and-a-half years," he said of his time away from college basketball.

In an interview with WFAN, Pitino took full responsibility for his actions and said he "deserved to be fired by Louisville" (around 2:30 mark):

Pitino was named Iona's next men's basketball head coach on Saturday.

He also noted he was considering Providence and Holy Cross before landing in his current spot:

.@RealPitino told us he was looking at 3 jobs during this process of returning to College Basketball. pic.twitter.com/BUmGgIx1Yl

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) March 16, 2020

The coach emphatically said he wouldn't schedule a matchup against Louisville, but there could be a game against another of his former teams. 

"I would love to schedule Kentucky in the Garden in the Jimmy V Classic," he said Monday, per Adam Zagoria of the New York Times. "I think that would be a great draw and that would be exciting and I hope John [Calipari] would entertain that."

The 67-year-old Pitino had been coaching Panathinaikos of the Euroleague and Greek Basket League prior to striking a deal with the Gaels.

A two-time NCAA Division I national champion, Pitino is one of men's college basketball's most decorated coaches.

The owner of a 770-271 coaching record at five Division I stops, Pitino also led the New York Knicks for two seasons and the Boston Celtics for three-plus years.

He's most known for his times at Kentucky and Louisville. At UK, Pitino led the 1995-96 team to a national championship. At Louisville, he took the 2012-13 Cardinals all the way.

The NCAA record shows a vacated title for the 2012-13 season, however, as the organization imposed sanctions in response to a sex scandal during Pitino's era.

Jacob Bogage and Roman Stubbs of the Washington Post provided details in a February 20, 2018 piece:

"The program was also stripped of 123 wins dating from 2012 to 2015 after an NCAA investigation found that a member of the coaching staff had provided prostitutes and strippers to players and recruits. Louisville also must pay the NCAA roughly $600,000 in fines, interim university president Greg Postel said at a news conference Tuesday, which stems from revenue the school earned by NCAA tournament appearances from 2012 to 2015."

The FBI also put Louisville and other schools under investigation for a "pay for play" scandal. Thomas Novelly of the Courier-Journal wrote that "an Adidas executive conspired to pay $100,000 to the family of a top-ranked national recruit to play at Louisville and to represent Adidas when he turned pro." Novelly mentioned other allegations as well.

Pitino denied knowing about any of the incidents, but the University of Louisville Athletic Association board fired him in October 2017 for "just cause," per Jeff Borzello of ESPN. He joined Panathinaikos in Dec. 2018 before deciding to return to the college ranks.

"I took the job wanting it to be my last job," Pitino told Zach Braziller of the New York Post in a phone interview.

"I spoke to numerous people about it, and I’m glad I’m ending [my career] with a small Catholic school that has the potential to be built up into a major power, regardless of what people think. I’m super excited about it. It’s a perfect fit at a perfect time in my life."

Iona, which made the NCAA tournament each season from 2016-2019, finished 12-16 last year.

As Rick Pitino prepares for his return to college basketball as head coach at Iona, one thing that may have factored into his decision to leave Greek team Panathinaikos was the difference between college and professional players.

Per CBS Sports' Matt Norlander, one source said Pitino "hated coaching pros" and "complained about it every day."

Iona announced Pitino's hiring Saturday, along with a statement from the Hall of Fame coach:

"My passion in basketball started in New York and will end there at Iona College. Tim Cluess has done a spectacular job creating success and a winning spirit. I wish Tim a speedy recovery and Iona will always cherish his accomplishments. At Iona, I will work with the same passion, hunger and drive that I've had for over forty years. There is a real professionalism in how things are run here and this is a very tight, strong community. The priority in New Rochelle right now is helping students continue their education online in light of the coronavirus and I very much look forward to the day when the community is back on campus and to get to work on further elevating this strong program."

Norlander noted Pitino recently informed Panathinaikos players he would be returning to coach college basketball at the conclusion of the Euroleague season.

The Euroleague suspended its season on Thursday because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Iona's head coaching job opened up Friday when Tim Cluess, who has been with the program since 2010-11, announced he was stepping down to focus on recovering from recent health concerns.

Panathinaikos was Pitino's first job after Louisville fired him in October 2017 amid the fraud and corruption scandal throughout college basketball. The Greek team hired him in December 2018, and he has led the team to a 24-23 record in Euroleague play.

Pitino has spent a total of 32 seasons coaching in college with five different schools. His time with Panathinaikos was just his third time coaching professional players. He previously spent two seasons with the New York Knicks (1987-89) and three-plus seasons with the Boston Celtics from 1997 to 2001.

Senior forward Roland Griffin was dismissed from the Iona basketball program Wednesday after allegedly getting into a physical altercation with assistant coach Ricky Johns.

According to Stadium's Jeff Goodman, Griffin said he punched Johns in self-defense after the coach grabbed him in the locker room:

"We got in each other's face. It was really heated. He eventually grabbed me by the jacket and tried to throw me down on the ground physically. We were against the locker, wrestling against the locker. He was grabbing me and holding me.

"He tried to wrestle me down, and I ended up on top. I'm not going to let another man physically do that to me. I punched him four or five times, then I stopped."

Griffin said the altercation happened Monday after Johns told him to go to study hall and began yelling at him even though he wasn't scheduled for study hall that day.

Griffin told Goodman he was temporarily suspended Monday before a hearing Tuesday. On Wednesday, he was suspended from the school through May 31, 2020, and he is not eligible to return to the basketball team when his suspension ends.

Johns reportedly spent eight hours in the hospital following the altercation and was treated for a head injury. Johns said Griffin started the altercation, according to Goodman.

Iona has not taken any action against Johns.

Last season was Griffin's first at Iona after he played at Illinois State and Midland College, and he made a significant impact by averaging 11.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.

The 6'7", 215-pound Aurora, Illinois, native helped lead the Gaels to the NCAA tournament. They lost 89-67 to the Duke Blue Devils in the first round.

Griffin was Iona's third-leading scorer last season, and he was expected to be a significant contributor for a team looking to win its fourth consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament.

Iona’s basketball team—players and coaches—are restless. Some are standing up, some are stretching and some are changing their seats. It was like trying to keep the shook soda bottle from exploding.

The 2013 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champions were watching Selection Sunday from the Hynes Center at Iona College, and they just saw three regions worth of matchups announced without their name being called.

Until, finally, the cap on the soda exploded.

The No. 15-seed Iona College Gaels (20-13) were called, drawing the No. 2-seed Ohio State (26-7) in Dayton, Ohio this Friday.

Iona head coach Tim Cluess said of the suspense, “It felt like the end of the game waiting for the clock to run out.”

To say that Iona College will be an underdog against Ohio State is an understatement. But junior guard and the MAAC’s seventh-leading scorer Sean Armand was confident the Gaels will pull out the upset win.

“I’m not worried about nothin’,” Armand said. “I’m just ready to play.”

The Gaels had a tough stretch in Feb., losing six of seven games between Jan. 31 and Feb. 23, but the Gaels rebounded in March, winning all five games.

Cluess said that must-win atmosphere Iona played with in March will help them in Dayton on Friday.

“We’ve been in a situation where you have to win to keep playing, and I think that’s been great that we have those kind of games.” said Cluess. “They were all close games, and that will get them ready for [the tournament].”

All year long, Iona has been an offensive team, averaging a conference-leading 80 points per game, but recently its defense has stepped up. It has held opponents to under 70 points in four of the last seven games, including the MAAC championship game, where it held Manhattan to 57.

Cluess said the improvement on defense was a direct result of his team getting healthy, and it’s the defense that separates this year’s team from last year’s team, which lost to BYU 78-72 in the first round of the tournament after leading by 25.

“Last year’s team was more talented, but this year’s team finds a way and has a will on the defensive end,” Cluess said. “We’re a better overall defensive team.”

All quotes, information and multimedia were obtained firsthand.

Tonight's 60-57 win by the Iona Gaels over the Manhattan Jaspers in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship game symbolized the journey the program has traveled over the last year.

After being suffocated by Manhattan's defense during the first half along with getting in foul trouble, the Gaels used a 17-2 run over a 5:51 stretch in the second half to win their first MAAC Championship in seven years.

They also used one of their best defensive efforts of the season to contain the Jaspers. Manhattan made 17 field goals and was held to 40.5 percent shooting on the night.

Furthermore, the 57 points Iona allowed are the fewest conceded by the Gaels this season.

Leading the Gaels in the win was junior Tre Bowman, who had 20 points off the bench to give a spark that was needed with leading scorers senior Lamont "Momo" Jones and junior Sean Armand held to a combined 21 points.

Jones and Armand were with the program in their trip to the NCAA tournament last March that was prematurely cut short after holding a 25-point first-half lead against Brigham Young.

They experienced the loss of transfer Michael Haynes, who was murdered last August shortly before he was supposed to join the Gaels. 

Tonight's win may not erase the memory of loss to BYU or of Haynes. Both are serving as motivation for the team this season.

However, winning the MAAC will serve as another memory of a season that has propelled the Gaels and their program forward. 

Following tonight's result, the Gaels have won their eighth MAAC championship, the most of any school in the conference's 31-year history.

It also brings Iona to consecutive NCAA tournaments for the first time since the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 seasons.

Iona, who have won 20 games in four consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1980s, are now in a position to be considered to be a mid-major power.

Under Tim Cluess, the Gaels have won 70 games in which the former C.W. Post coach has been in charge of the Maroon and Gold.

Using Cluess' free-flowing offensive style, the Gaels averaged 83.3 points per game, finishing first in the country in the category during the 2011-12 campaign.

This season, Iona has averaged 81.3 points per game, the second-highest total in the nation.

Cluess' style has convinced several players from programs in major conferences to come to the New Rochelle-based school, including Bowman (Penn State), Jones (Arizona) and Tavon Sledge (Iowa State).

The Gaels have also produced several professional basketball players who have graduated since Cluess became coach in 2010. This includes Scott Machado, the first Iona basketball player to play in the NBA since Sean Green in 1994.

With these new players, the Gaels have defeated notable nonconference programs like Maryland, Saint Joseph's, Richmond, Nevada, Wake Forest, Georgia and St. Bonaventure during the last two seasons.

The combination of Cluess and his players allowed the Gaels to reach the final of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) in 2011 before earning an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament last year.

By winning the MAAC, Cluess has made himself a more appealing coach to future recruits in the New York City area.

He also puts the Gaels into a position on the national stage where they will likely have to play stronger opponents.

Although Jones, Ridley, Nyandigisi "Diggs" Moikobu and Curtis Dennis will see their Iona careers end in the coming weeks, they will leave Iona as players who will have helped to lay the foundation for a mid-major power.

Considering the adversity they had to deal with this season, a spot as one of the 68 teams in the NCAA tournament is a fitting way for them to finish their collegiate careers and for the program to continue to advance.

Follow me on Twitter @Andrew_Jordan

With four minutes left to play in a two-point game, junior guard Sean Armand missed a three. The ball hit the rim and hovered in the air until junior guard Tre Bowman dunked the rebound through.

The Iona crowd erupted into “oohs and ahs” after the top-10esque play. Loyola head coach Jimmy Patsos was livid over his team’s lack of effort getting the rebound and was called for a technical. Senior guard Lamont “Momo” Jones and Bowman are raising their arms, signaling for the crowd to get louder. The Iona team is chest bumping and high-fiving each other. Queen’s song “We Will Rock You” bounced around the walls of the Hynes Center.

Momentum is now sitting on the Iona bench, and that is where it remained for the rest of the game. The Gaels never relinquished the lead from that point on and won 90-86, securing at worst a sixth seed in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, which avoids the play-in game.

“That won us the game,” Jones said afterwards. “We haven’t had a play like that all season.”

After losing the last three games and six of the last seven games by a combined 11 points, Iona head coach Tim Cluess said, “We needed that electrifying play.”

Jones, the nation's No. 2 scorer, had a game-high 35 points, but Armand, the second half of the most prolific scoring duo this year in Division I (along with Jones), was held to just eight points as his recent struggles continued.

So it was poetic justice that Bowman dunked Armand’s miss, symbolizing other players on Iona stepping up during their captain’s cold streak.

Cluess applauded his two bigs—sophomore forward David Laury, who finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, and senior forward Taaj Ridley, who finished with 15 points and four rebounds—for stepping up as well.

“David [Laury] played much better today,” Cluess said, “And Taaj [Ridley] battled underneath. We needed those two in this game against their size.”

Early on in this game, Iona threw away a 15-point lead with ill-advised passes and poor ball security, resulting in eight turnovers and 10 Loyola points.

The Greyhounds scored 10 unanswered points to close out the half and tie the game at 36. This seemed eerily similar to recent games for the Gaels.

The second half was back and forth with no lead extending beyond six points.

That was until Bowman’s dunk, which sparked an 11-6 Iona run, giving the Gaels a 82-72 lead with two minutes to play.

Loyola cut the lead to five, 82-77, but with just 56 seconds left on the clock, the Greyhounds had to start fouling to preserve the precious seconds.

The No. 3 free-throw shooting team in the nation welcomed the opportunity to shoot from line, converting 6-8 free throws inside the one minute mark.

“They could’ve layed down at any time, but they continued to fight,” Cluess said. “I’ve never seen a team work as hard as they do…They never felt sorry for themselves.”

Iona will take on Manhattan this Sunday at 2 p.m. for this year’s senior day. 

All quotes and information were obtained firsthand.