Iona Men’s Basketball Named MAAC Preseason Favorite; Stags’ Tyler Nelson Tabbed Preseason Player of the Year
EDISON, NJ – The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) announced today that the back-to-back men’s basketball champions, Iona College, has been tabbed the 2017 MAAC Men’s Basketball Preseason favorite, based on a vote by the league’s 11 head coaches. Fairfield University senior guard Tyler Nelson, was named Preseason Player of the Year.
Iona (22-13, 12-8 MAAC) received nine first-place votes tallying 116 points in the Preseason Coaches’ Poll. The Gaels look to become the first program to win three consecutive MAAC Men’s Basketball Championships since Siena College (2008-10) and former MAAC member La Salle University (1988-90).
The Gaels finished 2016-17 first in the MAAC in three-point field-goal percentage (39.7) and free-throw percentage (76.8), while finishing second in scoring offense (80.4), field-goal percentage (45.4), assists per game (15.5), total assists (541), and assist/turnover ratio (1.3).
Manhattan College finished second in the Preseason Coaches’ Poll with 104 points overall and two-first place votes. The Jaspers return 81 percent of its scoring from a season ago and welcome back redshirt senior Rich Williams into the fold as Manhattan looks for its sixth MAAC Men’s Basketball Championship and its first since 2015.
Monmouth University (101) ranked third in the poll, Fairfield University (85) followed in fourth, and Niagara University (76) was selected fifth. Siena College (63) placed sixth, in seventh place was Rider University (50), and Saint Peter’s University (44) in eighth. Canisius College (42), Marist College (26), and Quinnipiac University (19) rounded out the Preseason Coaches’ Poll in the final three slots.
Nelson is the 2017-18 MAAC Preseason Player of the Year and a unanimous selection to the Preseason All-MAAC First Team. He averaged 19.5 points per game, second-best in the conference during the 2016-17 campaign, while averaging a league-best 36.1 minutes per game. Nelson ranked fourth in the MAAC with 2.6 made three-pointers per game, fifth with an 85.6 free-throw percentage and ninth with 3.6 assists per game.
Canisius senior forward Jermaine Crumpton makes the Preseason All-MAAC First Team after averaging 15.9 points per game for the Griffs last season, which ranked ninth in the conference. The senior was third in the MAAC with a 42.9 three-point field goal percentage.
Manhattan’s senior forward Zane Waterman, earns the Preseason All-MAAC First Team accolades entering his senior season. Waterman was seventh in the MAAC with 7.0 rebounds per game and 13th with 14.5 points per game and a 48.2 field-goal percentage.
Another unanimous selection to the Preseason All-MAAC First Team is Monmouth’s Micah Seaborn. Seaborn is 103 points away from 1,000 in his Hawks career. The former MAAC Rookie of the Year has averaged 13.2 points per game in his first two seasons in West Long Branch.
Rounding out the Preseason All-MAAC first team is senior guard Matt Scott from Niagara. Scott ranked fifth in the MAAC with 17 points per game, sixth with 7.0 rebounds per game, and seventh with 1.4 steals per game last season.
The Preseason All-MAAC Second Team consists of Iona’s Rickey McGill and Deyshonee Much, Manhattan’s Rich Williams, Niagara’s Kahlil Dukes and Siena’s Nico Clareth.
The Preseason All-MAAC Third Team is made up of Manhattan’s Zavier Turner, Marist’s Brian Parker, Quinnipiac’s Chaise Daniels, Rider’s Stevie Jordan and Saint Peter’s Nick Griffin.
The 2018 MAAC Basketball Championships returns to the Times Union Center in Albany, NY for the fourth year in a row and continues to be the host site for the Championships through 2019. The 2018 Men’s and Women’s Championships marks the 19
th time that Albany has hosted the event, more than any other location.
This year’s Men’s Basketball Championship game takes place on Monday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m. and airs live on ESPN or ESPN2 with the winner earning the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
For all information on the 2018 MAAC Basketball Championships, visit
maacsports.com/basketball. Be sure to follow the conversation on all social media platforms by using #MAACHoops.
| Preseason Coaches’ Poll |
| 1. |
Iona (9) |
116 |
| 2. |
Manhattan (2) |
104 |
| 3. |
Monmouth |
101 |
| 4. |
Fairfield |
85 |
| 5. |
Niagara |
76 |
| 6. |
Siena |
63 |
| 7. |
Rider |
50 |
| 8. |
Saint Peter’s |
44 |
| 9. |
Canisius |
42 |
| 10. |
Marist |
26 |
| 11. |
Quinnipiac |
19 |
| Preseason All-MAAC First Team |
| Name |
Position |
Institution |
| Jermaine Crumpton |
Forward |
Canisius |
| Tyler Nelson* |
Guard |
Fairfield |
| Zane Waterman |
Forward |
Manhattan |
| Micah Seaborn* |
Guard |
Monmouth |
| Matt Scott |
Guard |
Niagara |
| Preseason All-MAAC Second Team |
| Name |
Position |
Institution |
| Rickey McGill |
Guard |
Iona |
| Deyshonee Much |
Guard |
Iona |
| Rich Williams |
Guard |
Manhattan |
| Kahlil Dukes |
Guard |
Niagara |
| Nico Clareth |
Guard |
Siena |
| Preseason All-MAAC Third Team |
| Name |
Position |
Institution |
| Zavier Turner |
Guard |
Manhattan |
| Brian Parker |
Guard |
Marist |
| Chaise Daniels |
Forward |
Quinnipiac |
| Stevie Jordan |
Guard |
Rider |
| Nick Griffin |
Guard |
Saint Peter’s |
| Preseason Player of the Year |
| Name |
Position |
Institution |
| Tyler Nelson |
Guard |
Fairfield |
*denotes unanimous selection
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 37
th year of competition during the 2017-18 academic year. Current Conference members include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona College, Manhattan College, Marist College, Monmouth University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter's University, and Siena College.