Iona Gaels: 20-13, 11-7 in the MAAC
Head coach: Tim Cluess (8th season)
Players to watch: Rickey McGill (13.5 PPG, 5.6 APG); Roland Griffin (10.9 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 52.1 FG%); Schadrac Casimir (10.4 PPG, 46.3 3PT%)
Season recap: For the first time since 2010, when then-head coach Fran McCaffery led his Siena team to its third straight conference championship, the MAAC will send the same team to the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row. The Gaels are also winners of four of the last six championships.
Averaging 79.8 points per contest, Iona looks to outscore its opponents, and that strategy comes from head coach Tim Cluess, who took over the program in 2010 after a successful stint at Division II LIU Post. With the focus on the offensive end rather than on defense, Cluess has brought in scorers. This season, the Gaels run out five players who score in double figures along with two more players that average more than 8.5 points per game.
Iona entered the MAAC tournament as the fourth seed after losing three of its last four games, finishing four games back of the conference leaders. But the Gaels opened the MAAC conference slate with six wins in their first seven contests. In the nonconference slate, the Gaels traveled north to Syracuse, where they suffered a nine-point defeat.
How they make a run: The Gaels continue to put the ball in the basket in bunches and do enough on the defensive end to pull one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history as a No. 15 seed, adding to Duke's list of stunning early exits this decade.
How they falter: The Gaels fail to shoot at a high percentage and cannot contain the Blue Devils in a blowout loss.
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