DENVER — Some strange things comes out on media days. If you’ve ever seen some of the stuff that comes out of the Super Bowl’s media day then you know this to be true.

Wednesday is essentially a media day for the NCAA tournament, as players and coaches from each team are made available to the media before they play on Thursday.

There was the important stuff, like getting an update on Monté Morris’ shoulder injury, learning about how the Iowa State and Iona matchup and seeing how the players felt about being a trendy upset pick by national pundits.

Then there was the other stuff. Larry Bird comparisons, pregame music choices, smoothies made by Deonte Burton and trying to figure out what the heck a Gael is. All of that stuff and more super serious journalism gets covered here:

Larry Bird 

Larry Bird didn’t make an appearance, but his name was mentioned as an interesting comparison to Georges Niang from Iona coach Tim Cluess.

“I love him,” Cluess said. “I think he’s just a tremendous player. To me he’s a throwback. A little Larry Bird like, maybe not quite as athletic, but does all those things. He passes the heck out of the ball, handles the ball, shoots the ball, posts you up. He just lets the game come to him.”

Niang, a Massachusetts native and fan of Boston sports teams, obviously didn’t mind being compared to an NBA great and Boston Celtics legend.

“Being from the east coast and [Cluess] coaching on the east coast, that’s quite the compliment,” Niang said. “I appreciate that but I got a long ways to go.”

Pregame music

If you’ve ever wondered what Georges Niang and Monté Morris listen to before games, you’re about to find out.

Both players were asked about their pregame hype songs, and the answers might surprise you a little bit. 

Morris uses the shuffle feature, where random songs from a playlist are given to him. 

“It can be from slow jams to hype-vibe music. It could go from Justin Bieber to a Future kind of vibe.”

Niang hesitated and joked about risking his squeaky clean image before revealing his song selection. 

“I’m a real good kid,” Niang said. “I like to think I’m a real good kid. Hopefully if I tell you my music choice that doesn’t throw anybody out.

“To get going, I listen to DMX, ‘Where the Hood at’. That’s what’s blaring in my head just to get me psyched up and ready to rock.”

What is a Gael?

Iona’s school nickname is the Gaels, but nobody seems to know what that is. Jameel McKay, Naz Mitrou-Long, Abdel Nader and Deonte Burton all said they didn’t know what a gael was. 

Burton said he didn’t even know where Iona was. For the record, Gaels are a group of people indigenous to northwestern Europe and associated with the Gaelic languages.

Gaels have historically come from Scottish and Irish ancestries, but the scope has been broadened recently to include more people. So, there is a good chance that some Cyclone fans are actually Gaels. Who knew?

Smoothies from Deonte Burton

The media gets locker room access for a short time before Iowa State took the court for practice.

Deonte Burton was making smoothies, and Georges Niang was asked if he would ever eat a smoothie made by Burton.

It looked like a smoothie was spilt on the table. Burton denied his involvement in the spill, before Niang said he would probably eat a smoothie made by Burton.

Critical information to the Iowa State vs. Iona game? Not so much.

Interesting and entertaining: Yup.