After a pretty challenging 2020, lots of people are certainly looking forward to what 2021 has to offer. for fans of college basketball, one of the most anticipated events that were previously affected by the pandemic was March Madness.
Thankfully, the highly-acclaimed tournament series will be making a return this year to the delights of millions of fans and teams that have been working hard to be a part of it. After Selection Sunday on Monday 14, the action will continue through to the Final Four (national semifinals) on April 3 followed by the National Championship on April 5.
Also just as highly anticipated is the prospects of various teams from different states being part of all that action. In Iowa, the Hawkeye basketball has been generating the most buzz in as far as the 2021 March Madness is concerned. The Northern Iowa Panthers have also been doing quite well despite having faltered a bit last year. Still, it seems like all eyes are fixed on the Iowa Hawkeyes.
The Most Popular Bet to Win
As mentioned earlier, last year turned out to be a horrible year for most sporting activities, the NCAA tournament included. The COVID-19 pandemic saw to it that no tournament winner was announced thus cutting short some highly-anticipated basketball showdowns.
This, however, did not stop dedicated fans from keeping the fun going in anticipation of the next tournament – lots of them had already started placing some futures bets using offshore sportsbooks for March Madness ahead of time. This was way back in March and the favorite to win the March Madness 2021 on some popular online sports betting sites was Iowa.
While the odds have certainly changed over the last several months, the Hawkeyes’ prospects of being part of one of the biggest tournaments in the United States is still pretty high. If their recent track record is anything to go by, that cannot be easily dismissed.
Eyes on the Prize
Perhaps the best indicator of the Hawkeye’s prospects of being part of March Madness 2021 is the good offseason that they have had. Now, the team is hard at work getting ready for a potential Big Ten Title. They are also very busy getting ready to face off a national championship-caliber team. However, that does not mean that the team is oblivious of everything that has been happening. Other teams have been working very hard as well.
“Whatever you’re ranked in a preseason has no effect of what you’re ranked when the season’s over, and that’s where you want to be. You know, in the top five. You want to be in the Final Four, you want to contend for a national championship. It’s great to talk about it. And yes, I think we have the ability to do it. But there are a number of other teams that have the same ability, and we have to be respectful of our opponents,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery commented.
This is the first time in decades that Iowa basketball will have a legitimate chance of competing for a national championship. As it stands, they have a great offense as depicted by advanced statistics that study adjusted offensive efficiency. However, that will not be enough to secure them a win. Some slights improvements are needed for their defense – hopefully, they are paying attention to that.
