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If you are looking for a lower seed that can beat a higher seed in this year's NCAA Tournament, do consider the Iona Gaels (ahem...they have Rick Pitino as their head coach), which pays out $200,000 on a $100 bet should they win the tournament. That's enticing for sure but, to get here, they would have to beat Alabama in the first round. The oddsmakers don't see it. They have Iona as a +17 dog against the Crimson Tide and pay out just shy of $1000 on every $100 bet to win against Alabama outright.
Can Iona Go All The Way?
- To pay out $1000, they only have to beat Alabama on the moneyline. Easier said than done of course.
- But Iona has a secret weapon: That's Rick Pitino as head coach.
- The Gaels were one of the best defensive teams in the MAAC this season, holding opponents to 39.9 percent shooting.
- They were also great at shutting teams down from three-point range (30.1 percent).
- There are three players who average more than five rebounds per game.
Iona, being in the Covid-19 epicent of New Rochelle, New York, was hit hard by the virus. They had to shut down all of January and nearly two weeks into February.
Nat Newell of the Indy Star offered this:
Iona's 6-3 record in MAAC was the league's third-best by winning percentage but teams were seeded by wins, dropping it to the No. 9 seed. But it beat No. 8 Quinnipiac, 72-48, top-seeded Siena, 55-52, No. 5 Niagara, 70-65, and seventh-seeded Fairfield. 60-51, in the title game. That's four games in five days after playing five games over the previous 76.
"I'm just really pleased to be at Iona," Pitino said after the victory over Fairfield. "When you grow up in New York, I grew up on 26th Street, on the East Side of Manhattan. I lived in Queens, I lived in Long Island, I lived in Westchester when I was the Knicks coach. I'm New York strong all the way through, and it means a lot to be at Iona."
- Dan Shapiro, Gambling911.com
