TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — It took Mike Glover nearly a month to get over Iona’s loss to St. Peter’s in the MAAC championship game.
The No. 2-seeded Gaels entered the game feeling confident about their chances to make the NCAA Tournament since they had just beaten St. Peter’s a couple of weeks before.
Instead, St. Peter’s stunned Iona, 62-57, March 7 in Bridgeport, Conn., to win the MAAC’s automatic bid.
“It pretty much took over about three weeks [to get over it],” Glover said Tuesday night at the Haggerty Awards dinner at the Westchester Marriott.
Glover, a 6-foot-7 junior forward from The Bronx, and teammate Scott Machado earned First-Team All-Met honors, joining Hofstra’s Charles Jenkins, St. John’s Dwight Hardy, Seton Hall’s Jeremy Hazell and LIU’s Julian Boyd on the first team.
Glover knows Jenkins from the New York playgrounds and was happy to see him win his third straight Haggerty Award.
“I’m really proud of Charles Jenkins winning it three years in a row,” Glover said. “I think he earned it, him being a senior. Next year if I get my chance, me coming into my senior year I think I have the opportunity to do a lot of great things.”
Glover led the Gaels at 18.4 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. He is the first Iona player to average more than 10 rebounds and a double-double since Jeff Ruland in 1979-80. Glover shot 61.0 percent from the field in his first year at Iona, with 21 double-doubles on the season.
Machado, who played for Dan Hurley at St. Benedict’s Prep, was Iona’s No. 2 scorer, averaging a career-best 13.2 points and a team-high 7.6 assists per game. He ranked No. 2 among all NCAA Division I players in assists per game.
Both players will return next season, along with Kyle Smyth and Jermel Jenkins, the team’s third- and fourth-leading scorers.
“With five seniors coming back next year, I think we have a tremendous chance to do something real special next year and I pretty much can’t wait for that to happen,” Glover said.
Tim Cluess’ team will also add three players, including 6-1, 183-pound junior Ra’Shad James of White Plains, who sat out the 2010-11 season due to NCAA transfer regulations but had a full season of practice with the team. James is an incredible athlete with extraordinary leaping ability who also has can hit the 3-pointer. He figures to get time at the two-guard spot.
“Ra’Shad is as good an athlete as you will see in Division I basketball,” said Cluess. “It was a pleasure to have him in practice this past season as his ability helped push our guards to improve their overall game.”
With all this talent returning and coming into the program, Glover can’t wait to get started.
“I wish everything started tomorrow,” Glover said. “I’m just ready to get back on it tomorrow. I’m just so excited.”
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