Transfers Sam Cassell, Jon Severe Hope to Carry on Iona’s NCAA Tournament Tradition

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — Between them, Sam Cassell Jr. and Jon Severe have attended four high schools and four colleges. The two guards are a combined 46 years old.

Yet they are exactly the type of seasoned college basketball veterans that Iona coach Tim Cluess and his staff have recruited — and been successful with — in recent years as the Gaels have reached the NCAA Tournament in 2012, ’13 and ’16.

With former Iona star A.J. English now playing professionally in Italy and three other starters gone from last year’s NCAA Tournament team, the Gaels are now looking to Cassell Jr. and Severe for ball-handling, scoring and leadership.

“Sam Cassell and Jon Severe are both playing well,” Cluess told me recently of the two graduate transfers. “It helps us with some leadership on the team with so many new guys because you’re not trying to break in a bunch of freshman who have no idea what it’s about. These guys have played against big-time teams in big-time games so they’ve been able to lead in practice, tell guys when they aren’t working.”