MAAC Basketball: Ranking of 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)

4. A. J. English

English is a 6’4 point guard from Wilmington, Delaware who made his way to Iona under Tim Cluess in 2012. English was a minor piece of the puzzle during his freshman year, but his contributions later in his career were really significant. Not only did he become one of the MAAC’s best scorers and overall players, but he helped Iona win a ton of games in the process.

He took a major leap as a sophomore, averaging 17.2 points and 4.3 assists per game, now a full-time starter for the Gaels. He had some really explosive performances during his junior year, including a 37-point game at North Texas and a nice run to end the season, including 32 against Siena in a MAAC Tournament that Iona would not win. For many reasons, senior year was the most special for English. He’d average 22.6 points and 6.2 assists, making 37% of his 3-pointers and finally leading the Gales to the NCAA Tournament. Along the way, he put up 45 points on Monmouth and had 28 against Iowa State in a career-ending Tourney loss to Iowa State.

There are a lot of great things to say about English, who led the MAAC in scoring and assists on multiple occasions in his career. He was First Team All-MAAC for each of those three years as a starter but shockingly never won the conference’s Player of the Year award. Regardless, he helped lead Iona to a 70-31 record in those final three seasons and rose into a role as an offensive star. There’s a few short list of people who outscored English in those final two seasons and his career ended at 2004 career points.