| Range | W | L | P | +/- (Units) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yesterday | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | +2.00 |
| Last 30 Days | 7 | 4 | 0.00 | +5.96 |
| Season to Date | 16 | 8 | 0.00 | +15.54 |
RIDER +3½ over Iona
4:00 PM EST. We faded the Gaels on Friday night and our attack against this team is going to continue here. While many saw Iona as a short-sell and virtual sure play on Friday, we saw the writing on the wall with visiting Monmouth and sure enough the Hawks pulled off the upset, erasing Iona’s perfect home record.
Now we find Iona going back on the road where they have struggled mightily on the year. The Gaels are 2-4 on the road with victories over Marist and Quinnipiac. The Gaels porous 287th ranked defense reveals how vulnerable they are against any team with a heartbeat. We know how good A.J English is with his impressive 25.3 points per game and 6.3 assists per game, but he cannot carry this team on his back, as the Gaels 9-7 overall record will attest to. The Gaels have been the heavy favorite in this conference for two years running and they ended up first in the conference both times. This season they are still at the top of the MAAC standings with a 6-1 conference mark, which means there is a price to pay to back them. It should be noted that the Gaels second leading scorer, Jordan Washington has been suspended for two games after he lost his cool after the loss to Monmouth on Friday.
Rider is a lowly 5-12 on the year and we cannot help but chalk most of their downfalls up to stagnant offensive play. Frankly, we couldn’t care less. What we know for sure is that the Broncs have underachieved this season. This is a Rider outfit that was projected to contend for the MAAC crown this season. This is also a team that played then #3 Maryland earlier in the season and lost by just seven points. Subsequently, against then #14 Providence, the Broncs would once again prove to be a tough out, as they lost by just eight. Rider has returned impact seniors in Teddy Okereafor, Zedric Sadler and Shawn Valentine. The Broncs slow start has them undervalued by a wide margin, as the market once again sees wins and losses and not the true story on the court. While we respect the "Anything Can Happen in The MAAC" mantra, we cannot give the same respect to these Gaels as this market does and we absolutely trust that we’re going with the best of it here. The Broncs are NOT a 1-5 MAAC team so ascension is on the way. Pick: Rider +3½ (Risking 2.2 units to win 2).
