IONA, LIU B’KLYN READY FOR ROLES AS CINDERELLAS
Iona gets Duke in NCAA opening round
AT LEAST Iona senior forward TK Edogi won’t have to explain to his mother who the Iona Gaels will be playing in their opening game of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday in Pittsburgh.
“My mom [Timiadi] doesn’t know much about college basketball, but she knows Duke,” Edogi said moments after the Gaels were seeded 15th in the Midwest Region against the second-seeded Blue Devils from Durham, N.C. “I don’t know why she knows Duke, but she’s always talking about Duke. I guess it’s because they’re an historic program and they’re always good every year with great talent. All she knows is Duke.”
The Gaels (20-13) earned a third-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament by winning the MAAC Tournament last week. Infused by new faces and transfers, it took a while for Iona to f ind its rhythm and win three straight games in Albany. Now the Gaels face a tall challenge in Duke (26-7), which features ACC player and rookie of the year Marvin Bagley III, a 6foot-11 forward, who will be one of the top three picks in the upcoming NBA draft.
“We know there’s a formidable challenge ahead of us,” head coach Tim Cluess said. “But you have to go play the game. You’ve got to love basketball because things can happen on any given day. You just have to be better one time.”
Iona is hoping the third time will be the charm. The Gaels, as a 14th-seed last year, lost to No.3 seed Oregon, 93-77. In 2016, they were eliminated in the opening round, losing to Iowa State, 94-81, when they were also a No. 14 seed. Overall, Iona is 1-12 in the NCAA Tournament, the lone win coming over Holy Cross in 1980.
“We know Duke is an historic program,” Edogi said. “We just want to go out there and compete with them. They’ve got the height over us, but we feel like we can give them a run offensively.”
Duke, making its 23rd straight trip to the NCAA Tournament and 34th in the past 35 years, was in Brooklyn over the weekend competing in the ACC Tournament at Barclays Center. Bagley had 33 points and 17 rebounds in the Blue Devils’ 88-70 win over Notre Dame. But Duke was eliminated in the semifinals by North Carolina. The Blue Devils are looking to go deeper in the NCAA Tournament than they did last year, when they were beaten by South Carolina in the f irst weekend.
“Everyone is 0-0 starting next week,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said after losing to the Tar Heels. “That’s the way we’re looking at it. I think we’re much better prepared for the NCAA Tournament than we were a month ago.”
Iona feels better about itself, too, after its success in the MAAC Tournament and hopes to feed off the momentum it created in Albany.
“Our players really started leading,” Cluess said. “Zach Lewis really started taking a leadership role. Schadrac Casimir took a leadership role and I think it got contagious within our team. Our guys started not only pulling for each other, but correcting each other and taking ownership in what they did. That’s how it came together.”
The Gaels insist they won’t be intimidated by playing Duke.
“To get an opportunity to play in the national championship tournament is a dream come true,” said Roland Griff in, a junior transfer from Illinois State, who scored 29 points in the MAAC title game against Fairf ield. “You always want to play the best people in the country anywhere, anytime. It’s exciting for me and the team.”