One coach is a 46-year-old former high school math teacher who less than a decade ago was selling Cheetos out of his classroom to fund the school’s basketball program. The other is a 68-year-old Hall of Famer who has coached seven teams to the Final Four. In many ways, when Iona’s Rick Pitino peers across the sidelines Saturday at Alabama’s Nate Oats, he’s seeing a younger version of himself — brash, innovative and unafraid to rankle the establishment.
Beyond the outsized personalities, the game between the No. 2 Crimson Tide and No. 15 Gaels provides an intersection of basketball revolutions from different generations.