Back to the Duke Blue Devils Newsfeed

2018 NCAA Tournament: A First Look At Iona

So what to make of Iona?

Well, the Gaels are best known around here for being Jim Valvano’s previous stop before he went to NC State, glory, then tragedy.

In case you were wondering, a Gael is simply a Gaelic speaker.

Iona competes in the MAAC which they have dominated. The Gaels have been to 13 NCAA tournaments.

Tim Cluess have been there for eight years and has been pretty successful. Interestingly, he played for St. John’s and was on the team that beat Duke twice in 1978-79.

He was the high school coach of former UNC star Danny Green and State’s Ilian Evtimov.