With 11 new players, new-look Iona men's basketball get to work under Tobin Anderson

It's late July, but Iona head coach Tobin Anderson is treating summer workouts like he's in the middle of an NCAA Tournament run.

While March Madness isn't on most people's summer plans, Anderson and the Gaels are putting in the work with hopes to get there this upcoming season. Anderson garnered plenty of buzz after guiding Fairleigh Dickinson to only the second 16-over-1 upset in NCAA Tournament history and was hired by Iona shortly after Rick Pitino's departure in March.

The energetic coach was pacing up and down the court, excitedly pumping up his players after making a tough shot and quickly calling them out when he senses them coasting.

"Winning teams bring the energy every single day," Anderson said to his team in a post-workout huddle.

Despite the coaching change and massive roster turnover, the new-look Gaels aim to uphold the program's winning ways and the ultimate goal of winning an NCAA Tournament game remains the same.

There are plenty of newcomers. Osborn Shema is the Gaels' lone returner from last season, with all others lost to the transfer portal or graduation. Anderson and his staff have been busy on the recruiting trail since arriving at New Rochelle, and they've filled in 12 of 13 roster spots.

"I love Iona and I love what Coach Tobin was presenting to me, so that's why I decided to stay," Shema said. "His pitch was wanting to do what hasn't been done at Iona and win a game in the NCAA Tournament. I want to be a part of it. (Everyone new here) is hard working. They're all about winning and want to win, so it's a good thing."

Rebuilding the roster

Anderson is no stranger to rebuilds. Although he doesn't need to lay down the foundation like he previously did at Fairleigh Dickinson or at nearby St. Thomas Aquinas, he had a lot of work to do upon arrival.

Anderson was taking over for a hall of fame coach in Pitino, and despite a successful run with the Knights in the NCAA Tournament, almost every single Gael with remaining eligibility decided to transfer out.

"It is what it is, we kind of expected that to be honest," Anderson said of the player exodus. "We knew that there'd be a lot of guys moving, that's just how it is right now. We went to work on finding the guys who wanted to be at Iona. We got a great group of guys, 12 right now and hopefully 13 – we're waiting on one more. We have guys that all want to be here, love to be here, love the school and the togetherness. All high-character guys and it's been a great group so far, and our focus has always been going forward."

The exits didn't discourage Anderson and he's fired up for the potential of his new team.

"Great, smart, tough guys," he said of his early impressions. "The older guys come from good programs, and the young guys are hungry and ready to go. We've had our ups and downs, there's been a couple slow weeks too, but we've gotten better the last couple weeks. That's how it's supposed to be. You start out slow, but now we're starting to make moves here and get better."

Between workouts and practices four times a week and team bonding trips in between, the Gaels are getting along well.

"We've gelled faster than regular, we're always together," said Wheza Panzo, who transferred in from Stetson. "We're doing all this work together. The other guys really love basketball and we all want to win. We all come from places that haven't won and never made it to the tournament, so that's the big goal for us and we hope to do it this year."

Iona has won six of the last seven MAAC Tournaments, but it is 1-16 overall in the NCAA Tournament. The Gaels' lone win, an 84-78 victory over Holy Cross in 1980, was later vacated by the NCAA after standout center and future Iona coach Jeff Ruland broke amateurism rules.

"I've gone fishing and I definitely turned the page from FDU, awfully quickly after we won," Anderson said. "A lot of good memories. I'll see something on social media or on TV about our win or the game and all that, and you don't forget that. We learned from that experience and it was fun playing in the NCAA Tournament and winning in the NCAA Tournament, so our goal is to get back there and try to make that happen every chance we get."

A new era

Anderson will have some familiar faces to help him out on the coaching staff.

Tom Bonacum and Kam Murrell, who have been with him since his St. Thomas Aquinas days, have followed him to Iona. Ray Savage, who worked with Anderson at Fairleigh Dickinson, is also along for the ride. Director of player development Kyle Washington and assistant coach Luke Testani are newcomers. Former Iona walk-on Parker Weiss is back as a graduate assistant.

The reshuffled Iona roster includes five freshmen, one junior, and six graduate students. Players hail from seven different states and four countries. Division I transfers came in from Harvard, Dartmouth, California, Stetson and Southern University.

"Summer workouts have been a grind," said Brooklyn native Idan Tretout, a graduate transfer from Harvard. "It's a brand-new team. When you're first coming together, the biggest thing is trying to gel and I think we've done that throughout practice every day. It's been about two months now and it's been great. We've come together really well. It's only been two months, but the guys are really starting to play well together."

While Anderson and his staff may have put their time with the Knights behind them, the underdog run helped out with recruitment. Iona will be running a similar system as last year's Fairleigh Dickinson team, an uptempo style that keeps the pressure up on both ends of the court.

"Whenever I watched the FDU run, I just saw the passion on every single one of them, not only the coaches' faces but also the players," Southern University transfer Terrell Williams Jr. said. "They were happy to be there, stoked, having the time of their lives on the court. Seeing Coach Tobin, the way he handled himself and carried himself, as well as the staff, they had a lot of passion and fun, and that's something I wanted to be a part of.

"Every single one of us are in the gym day in and day out. We're in the weight room religiously, trying to improve our bodies. We're all so eager to learn. This coming November and December, I think everybody's going to see how much passion, energy and effort we play with, and just how much we want to win on the court."

Follow Eugene Rapay on Twitter at @erapay5 and on Instagram at @byeugenerapay. 

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Iona men's basketball: Tobin Anderson era welcomes 11 new players