Iona College men's basketball head coach Kevin Willard has entered the world of blogging and will talk about his team in preparation for the Gaels' Toronto exhibition tour next weekend (Aug. 29-Sep. 1). Coach Willard will look to give Gael fans an inside perspective on the training that the team has gone through prior to heading to Ontario.

FRIDAY'S BLOG

Good morning, I hope everyone had a great weekend. Sorry this was not posted yesterday but we just finished our eighth practice in five days and I was beat last night. I would like to say thank you to SUNY Purchase and New Rochelle High School for letting us use their facilities this weekend. Without their time and effort we would not have been able to have such a productive weekend.

When we decided to do this trip in May we all thought that this would help us a little and give us a head start come October, I can tell you we were wrong. This trip has given us an unbelievable head start.

After a summer of working out and our practice sessions over the last five days, I wanted to talk a little bit about our newcomers. While we will continue to be strong this season in the front court with our veteran leaders in Gary, Dev, Huff and Alejo, our success will truly hinge on how well our freshmen can adapt to the college game. I think we have two really good point guards in Scott Machado and Jermel Jenkins, two great scorers in Trinity Fields and Kyle Smyth and two up and coming post players in Keon Williams and Derek Wolfley. Our two walk-ons - Maurice Hicks, Jr. and Kyle Rawson - are also very talented and their presence can only help us prepare for the upcoming season. Freshmen are freshmen and we'll definitely have some growing pains, but this ability to practice now - before the season - puts us ahead of the learning curve and will only be beneficial come January, February and especially March.

Scott Machado - Scott is a true point guard that makes everyone around him better – he really has a great feel for the game and will only get better as he gets stronger. I compared him to Mark Jackson earlier and I am going to stick to that. He doesn’t blow you away with athleticism or quickness but you want him running your team.

Jermel Jenkins – Jermel is also a true point but has a little more of a scorer’s mentality to him who can also knock down the three ball. He also is our best on-the-ball defender and can really bring heat to the ball handler. His ability to shoot and his quick first step have been surprising. Remember – he is Shaheen Holloway’s nephew – and we all know Sha never passed the ball!

Trinity Fields – Trinity is having the biggest adjustment to college because we have moved him to the two-guard position. He is used to having the ball in his hands a lot more than he does now – so it will take him some time to adjust. But he has a great scorer’s mentality and can flat out shoot – when he gets stronger he will be fun to watch.

Kyle Smyth – Kyle has the unique gift of knowing how to play the game. One coach watching our practice asked if he was a junior or senior. You could throw Kyle into any team’s practice at any level and he would know how to play right away. He will benefit tremendously from the weight room. His ankle looks good, not great, but that is expected. He is a tough son of a gun.

Keon Williams – If any of you remember the old WWF wrestling league they had a wrestler named Junk Yard Dog – that is Keon. He is tough – plays extremely hard on every possession and battles like there is no tomorrow. I feel bad for the post players because he is tough.

Derek Wolfley – Derek has had the toughest time adjusting because he is just getting over mono and is trying to get back into shape. He had the worst first practice of any freshman I have ever seen – even worse than Rashon Dwight last year. But he has come back strong and is starting to play very well. He is a great passer and has a very good 17 foot jump shot. Derek’s new best friend is Khyl Farrison our strength coach. I feel bad for Derek.

We have two walk-ons practicing with us and both are doing a tremendous job. Mo Hicks and Kyle Rawson have really added to practice and are both very good players. Mo is more of a point guard who has good quickness while Kyle has a smooth jump shot.

Thanks again for your time and Go Gaels!

I would like to start by saying thank you to our wonderful fan base and all of our alumni for making my first year at Iona a very special one. My family and I have enjoyed our first year and we feel extremely lucky to be part of the Iona College family. I hope you have had a wonderful summer – for ours has been not only exciting but also extremely productive. First, my wife and I welcomed the newest Gael to our family on June 19th – Chase Michael Willard was born at 1:30 in the afternoon and mom and baby are doing great.

Next, I welcomed seven newcomers to campus on July 6th as our incoming freshman class arrived on campus. They joined the seven returning players and hit the ground running. Here is an update on our returning players. They all worked extremely hard this summer, lifting as a team at 7:00 am five days a week. We hired a new strength coach at the end of last year and he has done a tremendous job – so a special thanks to Khyl Farrison for his hard work with our guys.

Gary Springer had a great summer and has added 15 pounds of muscle and now weighs around 245 and is eight percent body fat. Gary had a great summer in the classroom to getting two A’s and he will graduate in December.

Devon Clarke graduated on time and will use his fifth year of eligibility to get a second major. Dev also had a good summer in the weight room and has added significant strength and quickness.

Milan Prodanovic has slimmed down while adding strength and worked extremely hard on his game. Milan is an excellent student and one of the hardest working kids I have ever been around.

Jonathan Huffman has worked as hard as anyone in the weight room and has improved his body tremendously. Huff will never be a world record holder in the weight room, but he has really improved his speed and quickness which he needed badly. Jonathan has also really turned the corner academically and had a great summer in the classroom.

Rashon Dwight had as good a summer as you could have. He has added 15 pounds of muscle and is doing great in the classroom. Ra has turned into the team leader because he leads by example – works hard and has the best attitude about life you can have.

Alejo Rodriguez is healthy! Thanks to the wonderful doctors at the Hospital for Special Surgery he has made a great recovery. Alejo is also doing terrific in the classroom.

Kashif Pratt has had a good summer but not great. He has improved his body and did a good job in the weight room but he has yet to reach his potential in the classroom. As Kash and I have talked, he will reach that potential or he will be a world class runner at the end of his career.

I will talk about our freshman and how practice is going on Monday after we have had a couple of more practices.

Have a great weekend and Go Gaels!