March Madness 2013: Iona Gaels are in the NCAA Tournament

Conference/Record: MAAC (20-13)

Location: New Rochelle, NY

Famous Alums/Attendees: Famous alumni includes St. Louis Cardinals closer Jason Motte, NBA Player/Coach Richie Guerin, and John Gilchrist (“Little Mikey” from Life cereal ads).

Social Media: The official twitter account for the Iona Gaels is @ICGaels.

Random Fun Fact: Iona College’s hometown – New Rochelle, NY – is no stranger to being in the basketball spotlight. Last week, New Rochelle High school Khalil Edney hit the most insane buzzer-beater you’ll ever see to give the school a state championship.

Tournament History/Most Recent: This will be the Gaels 10th apperance in the NCAA Tournament. They earned an at-large bid last year, and lost to BYU (after leading by 15 at the half) in the Opening Round game in Dayton last year.

Good Wins/Bad Losses: In addition to beating BCS-conference teams Georgia (on the road) and Wake Forest (neutral site), Iona’s best win was a season-opening home win over Denver. There’s no shortage of bad losses on their resume, but a 105-104 2OT loss to Marist surely sticks out.

Notable Player(s): Senior Lamont Jones is second in the nation in scoring at 23.3 ppg. A former big-time recruit – Jones graduated from Oak Hill Academy in 2009 and attended the University of Arizona before transferring back home to New York.

All-Important Rankings: 100 (RPI), 97 (Pomeroy), 79 (Seven Overtimes)

Outlook/Seed: Iona is projected to be a 14-seed. This is an experienced team – all five starters experienced a brutal defeat in Dayton as an at-large team last year. They are talented and can be a real threat to whatever major-conference team they get matched up with.

Previous Team Profiles:

James Madison
Florida Gulf Coast
Harvard
Liberty
Creighton
Belmont
Bucknell
Gonzaga