Rhode Island MBB Schedules Iona - My Likes and Dislikes
As reported by Jon Rothstein, Rhode Island MBB will be playing host to the Iona Gaels during the non-conference portion of their 2017-2018 season.
Just like I did for the announcement of Rhode Island MBB's home-and-home series with Alabama, these are my likes and dislikes about the matchup.
Likes:
1. This is an opponent that Dan Hurley's team is VERY familiar with. In the 2014-2015 season, URI beat them 88-75 in the first round of the NIT. Then, in the 2015-2016 season, URI beat the Gaels 79-74 in overtime, off the back of a career scoring performance by Hassan Martin (27 points).
2. The game will be played inside the Ryan Center. Playing in front of the home fans helps greatly when facing off against out of conference opponents. Plus, in recent history, both of URI's victories over Iona were accomplished in Kingston, RI.
3. In both Hurley-led victories over Iona, Rhode Island was the favorite to win the games; as they will be again when these two teams match up in 2017. URI should want to DESTROY Iona in this game because they would have played Iona in the Round of 32, if Iona had managed to upset Oregon. We all know what Oregon went on to accomplish.
4. There is no one to fear on the Iona men's basketball team. The Gaels made the 2016 NCAA tournament off the back of star guard, A.J. English. English is now long gone and there is no longer any star power on this team.
5. Iona should do enough to remain competitive in the grand scheme of college basketball and not damage Rhode Island's MBB resume in any way. After all, the Gaels have made the past two consecutive NCAA tournaments and they have four NCAA tournament berths since 2012.
Dislikes:
1. If you want to schedule any team from the MAAC, ideally you would schedule Monmouth. In some (pessimistic) respects, this scheduling spot could have been filled by a more quality opposition.
