Rick Pitino Crediting Coronavirus For Helping Him Land A Massive Recruiting Class At Iona Is One Hell Of A Spin Zone
[Source] - “So with me, COVID, we said, how can we use COVID as an ally? That’s a crazy thought. How could COVID be anything but terrible?”
“We had to bring in eight players, this is a reconstruction project because we had to bring in 70 percent of the team,” he said. “If it wasn’t for COVID, we couldn’t have brought in the largest recruiting class in my history as a basketball coach...because if everybody was allowed to visit different places, we couldn’t get eight guys, one from Germany, one from Sweden, one from Rwanda, Nigeria, New York, North Carolina, Florida. They just had to make a decision. I think six out of the eight did not know where Iona was, what county or what state it was in. So COVID helped us in recruiting. And so not only did we look at the glass half full, we looked at filling it up right away.
What an all-time spin zone by Rick Pitino here. Again, I'm so fucking happy he's back in college hoops. Not only do we get a top-5 all time coach, we got a guy who will say whatever the hell he wants. He's a content machine. Spinning that coronavirus helped Iona land an 8-man recruiting class? That's something only Pitino could think of and why he's a genius.
To be fair to Pitino, how many people and not just players can guess where Iona is? Feel like most people would just think Iowa was mistyped. You think guys from Germany, Sweden and Rwanda know that Iona is in New Rochelle, New York? It's not like he's at Kentucky or Louisville or even Providence. You're talking a small ass school outside of New York City.
I'll say this, I'm looking forward to the Clem vs Pitino rivalry. Clem is a good friend of mine and he was begging privately and publicly for his beloved Siena to hire Pitino. Clearly they didn't so Iona hired him. You know who is in the same conference as Siena? Yep, MAACtion life baby. Iona is a damn good mid-major too. They just always win the MAAC Tournament, which of course is played at Siena's court. This is what we need. I need an angry Clem vs Pitino on a Friday night in the MAAC.