Scouting Iona

[Benny B]

We all know Iona is tops in the country when it comes to PPG, APG & FG%, but will this trend translate to a potential NCAA tourney match-up with Marquette?  Marquette played the 17th toughest schedule in the country this year; Iona played the 144th (out of 344 teams).  It's not too difficult to argue that MU would top Iona in those categories had they played Iona's schedule.

According to KenPom, Iona's adj. offense/defense/tempo rank is 16/118/22 (compared to MU's 25/19/15).  It's no secret that Iona is going to score, and score often.  Iona has six losses on the year -- they are 0-2 vs. RPI-50 (Purdue-n, Marshall-a), and their worst loss is Siena (RPI-217, KP-226); their best win is St. Joe's (RPI-69, KP-65).

For most teams in the country, the key to winning is to slow Iona down; however in this case, tempo plays to MU's advantage more than Iona's: MU is 1) a slightly faster, 2) a slightly worse offensive, and 3) a significantly better defensive team.  MU has been called one of the best, if not the best, transition scoring team in the country.  Iona may not be far behind, but the difference is that MU plays better defense out of transition.  Assuming transition points are a wash for both teams, MU will play the better half-court game.

Three players - Scott Machado, Momo Jones, & Mike Glover - average over 33 mpg; Iona goes 8-deep, but only one of the remaining five (Sean Armand) has come on to average more than 20 mpg in conference play.  Their top scorer (Glover) stands only 6-7; their only player over 6-7 (Josh Gomez) has played a grand total of 38 minutes since Jan 3.  Even to Marquette, they are wildly undersized.

Momo and Machado each average double-digit points, but less than a third of those points come from the perimeter... they do a very good job at scoring everywhere: the floor, the paint, the perimeter and the line.  Their top perimeter shooter is Armand, averaging 2.4 makes (on 5.2 attempts) per game, but aside from his 10 for 19 performance against Siena on Jan 3rd, he has hit more than three perimeter shots in only 6 games this season (not exactly sniper numbers) and has been posting foul numbers like a post lately (averaging 2.75 over the last 8 games, fouling out once).

The way Iona likes to win is lots of points, lots of assists, and lots of transition... same as Marquette.  If they push the pace, Iona won't beat MU at its own game.  If they try to slow things down, MU will shut down their offense.  Glover is going to face his toughest challenge of the year in Crowder, and Iona is going to go all out to get Jae in foul trouble early.  Without a big man down low for Iona, it will be incumbent upon DG and Jamil to shut down the slash and drive game.  Either way, against an inside defense like Marquette's, Iona is going to be forced to shoot from the perimeter, and so Vander and Todd need to keep Armand out of the game.  However, Momo and Machado are also deadly on the perimeter, but only if left alone... DJO and JC will be able to alter their perimeter shots on defense if they can stay in Momo's and Machado's faces.

Mizzou, Iona and Marquette are all very similar teams in composition, strength & weakness; the most significant difference is that MU and Mizzou have seen first-hand what works against their offensive game plan from much higher quality competition... if they can turn this experience around against Iona, that is going to be a serious advantage for MU on Thursday.

...if Iona beats BYU.

[mr.MUskie]

Thanks for the info!

[downtown85]

Thank you Benny!  This is the best I've seen on Iona.  Looking forward to your BYU summary.   

[JTBMU7]

agreed. this is outstanding.

i'm guessing we employ a similar strategy as we did against Tu Holloway last year and have his man and the help defender hedge him(Machado) out as far from the basket as possible. Xavier was completely lost when Tu wasnt allowed to initiate offense so hopefully we can replicate that, or something equally effective.

my main fear is that we slow them down but they drill a bunch of prayer 3's and force us to come away from the paint.

[boyonthedock]

Why do I read so much about Iona's fast pace when BYU plays a faster pace than Mu or Iona? 5th in the country? and I actually read articles about how BYU needs to slow Iona down? Am I taking crazy pills or does no one look at the numbers? (not you, obviously this is good stuff, but I am reading national columnists suggesting the opposite)

[Skatastrophy]

Really great writeup!  Thanks for that

[Hoopaloop]

Iona shoots the three very well.  Near 40% as a team and 16th in the country.  I've never felt our 3 point defense has been that great and I say that going back the last 15 years.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/statistics/team/_/stat/3-points

[brewcity77]

Why do I read so much about Iona's fast pace when BYU plays a faster pace than Mu or Iona? 5th in the country? and I actually read articles about how BYU needs to slow Iona down? Am I taking crazy pills or does no one look at the numbers? (not you, obviously this is good stuff, but I am reading national columnists suggesting the opposite)

Nope, no crazy pills, I saw that too. I think the main difference is that Iona is just more efficient on offense than BYU is, and teams that play small are always viewed as the faster team, even when that isn't necessarily the case. Tonight's game should be a fun, up-and-down affair regardless. Both of these teams play very quick.

[sjl4mubball]

Bennie you truly are ALL AMERICAN.  Thank you for the scouting report.  I will use it tonight viewing their game.

[Benny B]

Thank you Benny!  This is the best I've seen on Iona.  Looking forward to your BYU summary.   

Sorry... I got sidetracked earlier and wasn't able to scout BYU.  Although, I'm watching the game right now, and I'm glad I didn't waste my time... having seen only 5 minutes of the game, the BYU scouting report is crystal clear:

"BYU's defense sucks."

[Hards Alumni]

Sorry... I got sidetracked earlier and wasn't able to scout BYU.  Although, I'm watching the game right now, and I'm glad I didn't waste my time... having seen only 5 minutes of the game, the BYU scouting report is crystal clear:

"BYU's defense sucks."

Allowed 17 points in the 2nd half... against a team that scored 55 in the first half... I'd say they are alright.

[MU B2002]

Sorry... I got sidetracked earlier and wasn't able to scout BYU.  Although, I'm watching the game right now, and I'm glad I didn't waste my time... having seen only 5 minutes of the game, the BYU scouting report is crystal clear:

"BYU's defense sucks."

You may have watched the wrong 5  minutes. 

Scouting BYU
1. Don't let Hartsock shoot midrange jumpers
2. When they go zone, actually try to penetrate instead of passing back and forth at the top of the key.
3. Push Carlino into bad decisions.

[Hards Alumni]

You may have watched the wrong 5  minutes. 

Scouting BYU
1. Don't let Hartsock shoot midrange jumpers
2. When they go zone, actually try to penetrate instead of passing back and forth at the top of the key.
3. Push Carlino into bad decisions.

4. Run the court, and force turnovers.

[MUMac]

4. Run the court, and force turnovers.

Watching Carlino, I think our pressure will hurt him.  I can see a run MU makes when they employ the 3/4 court trap or the half court trap.  He was a bit loose with the handle and paniced. 

[Benny B]

You may have watched the wrong 5  minutes. 

Scouting BYU
1. Don't let Hartsock shoot midrange jumpers
2. When they go zone, actually try to penetrate instead of passing back and forth at the top of the key.
3. Push Carlino into bad decisions.

Actually, that 5 minutes seemed to be indicative of BYU's entire performance last night as far as I could tell... it just so happened that Iona screwed their own pooch over the last 20 minutes.  BYU's defense was still horrible in the second half; Iona's offense simply went into a tailspin.  Sure, the Cougs made an adjustment to its defense, and it was enough to throw Iona off its entire game, but the same adjustment (the "collapse minus one" I call it) against MU won't work.  I couldn't watch the entire 2nd half last night, but the snippets I did see basically had BYU collapsing 4 players on the ball, leaving one at home... if they collapsed high, they always left a man on Glover; if they collapsed low, they left a man on either Machado or Momo.  That's a great stack if i) the other team only has one scoring threat down low or ii) the other team doesn't/can't play an inside-out game, but MU has at least two scoring threats both high and low all the time (Iona typically only had 2 on the perimeter & 1 inside).  MU is going to slash & pass until they get an open look in the half court... Iona simply didn't have that patience and took the first shot they had, leading to some very poor shots in the 2nd half.  Moreover, Jae and Jamil are going to stretch BYU's defense... Hartsock and Davies looked out of place the moment they moved 3 feet off the paint on defense... but it worked last night because all they had to do last night was put their arms up and force a bad shot.  If they do this tomorrow, one additional pass is going to lead to numerous open perimeter shots for Jae, dunks for DG, and/or layups for DJO.  I will be surprised if we don't see - at least once - a three-Cougar pile on the floor leading to a wide open shot/dunk for MU at some point tomorrow.  MU is going to make these guys dizzy on transition and in the half-court.

Bottom line --- BYU simply doesn't have the manpower on defense to manage four MU players who can score from anywhere on the floor.