Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Analyzing the impact of Cordell Pemsl transferring | Could Iowa be in play for two big-name transfers? | A flashback to the 2004 Iowa football team

Episode Date: April 6, 2020

There is a lot of transfer news to unpack on today's episode of the show. Cordell Pemsl is leaving. Where could he wind up and how big of an impact is this to the Iowa basketball team? Plus two other big-name transfers are on the market and both have ties to the Iowa Hawkeyes. With no scholarships left, is this even in play? We also begin our week-long flashback to one of the best Iowa football teams in the history of the program. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I thank God I was born on the good arms of the Midwest, and not on the battlefields of the U.S. It's a time of panic, and it's intercepted! It's picked off right away! Intercepted by Marty Hooker! Pick six! Eight seconds into the game! Buffen sets up deep in the pocket, goes down the field for Smith! Oh! He got it! Smith! Decks down 85 yards! Iowa! Field for Smith. Oh, he got it. Smith. Touchdown. 85 yards. Iowa.

Touchdown, 10. Taking a shot in the end zone. It is caught. No offense. Touchdown. That's either one or you have it. Go ahead and three. Yes.

Two-point lead for the Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, excited to be back for another edition of the show. Your host, Andrew Wade, excited to be back for another edition of the show. I hope you all had a nice and quiet and safe weekend and essentially self-isolation. I know the state of Iowa is not technically in a true lockdown yet, but I hope you did manage to stay safe, stay home, wash your hands, all that kind of stuff to stop the spread of this, and hopefully we can get some real sports back on track very quickly. There is some news in Iowa Hawkeye Nation though and we'll be covering that on today's show.

We're also going to be unveiling a pretty cool idea that we're doing across the network so we're going to be talking about that later on the show as well. So some great stuff on today's show. If you are tuning in for the first time and you do end up liking what you hear today, I sure hope you do. Make sure to like, review, and subscribe. Give us that five-star review and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast out. We are coming out with episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And we have a bonus episode coming out tomorrow. We're going to drop that Bakari Evelyn episode, the interview we did with the Iowa point guard, or Iowa really the swing guard in general. And we're going to be talking with him about his time at Iowa, what led him to transferring to the Hawks, and ultimately what he sees happening

for his pro career. So you do not want to miss that. Also, if you are on social media, make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Without sports, there's a lot of fun what-ifs going on, fun hypotheticals going on, and I'd love to hear from you all. If you have any fun hypotheticals to do on here, feel free to drop that in here. Also, if you have any questions you want to drop, we can do a Fan Friday or kind of a question type of thing. If you just want to ask those, send those in the tweets, DMs, whatever you want to me, and I can make sure to review those on the show and give you my thoughts and perspective. Also, if you're looking for another podcast where they're probably talking about some

Iowa Hawkeye stuff, you can check out Patricia Trena on the Locked On Giants. I actually joined her for an episode we recorded on Saturday morning this weekend, and we talked all about Iowa Hawkeye prospects and kind of what we can expect from them. So stay tuned for that if you are interested in additional draft coverage, not on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, but about your beloved Iowa Hawkeyes. That'll be on the Locked On Giants coming up this week, I believe. So with that being said, let's jump right into it. Some news that happened, and let's start with the big one.

Cordell Pemzel is transferring. So had a pretty, you know, I guess you could come to assume there's an opportunity for him to potentially move away from the Hawkeyes. He was a very, I think he was an underrated piece of the Hawkeyes basketball team. I know a lot of people kind of got frustrated by his play early on in the season. I thought he really did a great job of coming on later in the season, though. And I definitely became a huge Cordell Pemzel fan towards the end. I think he brought a lot of energy off the bench. He was one of those great bench guys. And he was also a guy who protected his teammates. I look back to the

Iowa-Iowa State game last year, and Connor McCaffrey was getting into it with the Iowa State guys. Connor's a pretty feisty guy. I think you can tell the entire Iowa Hawkeye team is a bit feisty. They always played a bit of a chip on their shoulder, but Cordell Pemzel is that guy who's like, you know what? I'm going to be the one that backs this up, and I'm going to step in front of these guys. I want to make sure that my team is safe, and I'm going to make sure that I'm the one that's taking the punch or whatever, being that guy in the middle, and I can really respect the hell out of that. I say whatever you want to say. He wasn't going to be starting next year, but it is a loss, a big loss for the Hawks

to not have a guy like that coming off the bench. He especially, I thought he came on very strong late in the season as a nice option off the bench, especially with such a small bench that Iowa had with so many injuries and issues kind of happening. He did a great job and put together some really nice games as well. Not really a great shooter per se. A guy who always goes with his left hand, so it's pretty easy to read him when you're on defense if you've done any scouting. But he's a guy who's going to be aggressive on the boards. Had a couple pretty

nice rebounding type performances late in the season as well. So again, a big loss for the Hawks to be losing a guy like Cordell Pemzel coming off the bench. It sounds like he does have his fair share of suitors though. According to the 24-7 Sports analyst, David Eichel, I might have butchered his name. David, I'm sorry if you ever listened to this. David's a great guy. If you aren't following him on Twitter, make sure you do that. Does a great job of covering the Hawks and kind of the rumors surrounding recruiting and transferring and whatnot. But it sounds like, according to him, Penzel is drawing interest from, and I'm taking this as a quote from his article he posted on 24-7 Sports. So again, make sure to check that out. But New Mexico State, Cincinnati, Boston College, Eastern Tennessee State, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Toledo, Akron, Illinois State, Albany, South Florida, Seattle, San Diego, Virginia Tech, and Drake.

And it sounds like one more team to add to that is also Virginia Tech. So interesting stuff that I honestly did not expect Cordell Pemzel to get that much attention, I guess. I know, like I said, I think he was a key player for the Hawks this season, but I didn't expect him to be so highly recruited from some major type of programs. That being said, when I was initially putting together kind of the roundup for this show coming into obviously recording prior to seeing David's note about the teams that are specifically interested in Cordell, I really felt like Drake was a fantastic option for him. Typically, when you're going to leave a team like Iowa, a Power 5 type of conference, a major level team or major program like Iowa, and you're coming from

the bench, typically you're leaving to want to get more playing time. I think Pemzel's situation is a little bit more interesting just because of some of the legal troubles he had. And it sounds like he actually already let Fran McCaffrey know that he was going to be transferring at the conclusion of the season early on in this season. So this is a decision that he definitely knew about for a while. And I think he kind of saw the writing on the wall. There isn't going to be a lot of minutes next year. I think there is going to be some concerns about post depth next year, but I also think Iowa has such a fantastic assortment of guards and wings and some guys who can really play a couple different positions

that makes them incredibly flexible. And they might move to kind of a four-guard, one-center formation, depending on where they want to put Jack Nunjad as well. If they want him coming off or Jack Nunes coming off of the bench or they want him to play at that four spot as a starter again. That'll be interesting to see. I think it really depends on how much depth they have. They also have Josh Ogundeli.

Definitely, again, sorry about that. Definitely messing up the name there. But a big-time center recruit coming to Hawks next season. He's a guy to watch out for some some additional depth but you have a guy like Patrick McCaffrey even Connor McCaffrey can guard almost anyone except for big-time centers Joe Wieskamp's a big guy those are three guys who could alternate and play solid defense against taller guys so I didn't think Pemzel was going to get a lot of minutes next year playing for the Iowa Hawkeyes. I thought though, like I said before this, I thought he was probably,

you know, Drake would be a decent option for him, especially after losing Liam Robbins, which we're going to get to later on in the show and whether or not he would be a good fit at Iowa. But last year, Drake started four guards. The tallest guard, I believe, was six foot three Garrett Sturtz, a guy from Newton, Iowa. Fantastic player. Kind of reminds me of Nicholas Bayer in a sense of kind of how he plays the game. And they're losing Liam Robbins. That's their big man. And they do have the Murphy twins. I believe one might have graduated this year, though. So there is definitely some room for a post player to come on there. And Drake, it sounds like it is interested in Cordell Penzel.

Penzel's from the state of Iowa. It would be a great chance for a family to still see him play. And he would get starter minutes right away for a team that is up and coming under Darren DeVries or Darren DeVries. So I think to me, that's a landing spot for him. I think that would make the most sense from a playing time perspective. Also having the family there still being relatively close to,

you know, his friends back in Iowa city and getting that that playing time at the Knapp Center especially a newly redesigned Knapp Center I believe it should be done for next season so that'll do it though for our talk on the Cordell Pemzel situation like I said we still have some more transfer news I want to talk about specifically on DJ Carton and Liam Robbins and whether or not they'd be fits for the Iowa Hawkeyes. And we also have to introduce our newest segment that we're going to be doing across the entire network and specifically right here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.

So that'll be coming up in just a few short seconds. All right, we are back with segment number two of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast, and we're going to switch it up a bit. We're going to finish up with that transfer news, the Liam Robbins, DJ Carton information. We're going to talk about that on the third segment of today's show. But on segment number two, what we are going to be doing is we're going to be unveiling that new segment I've been kind of teasing a little bit. And with sports not happening, we want to be able to have some consistency on the podcast and, again, across the network.

And we're going to be doing a lot of those kind of blast in the past type situations. I kind of started this earlier on with doing that March Madness round, you know, 64 team tournament between all the great Iowa Hawkeye football teams. I didn't get, to be honest, a ton of interest. It was a lot of kind of work and upkeep, but I didn't feel like you all were really enjoying it as much. So I wanted to make sure I'm giving you the content you appreciate. So this is hopefully going to be a little bit of a rebrand of that. And what I mean is we're going to be going through some of the best seasons

in Iowa football history over the next two weeks, followed by some other great content pieces. The last two weeks of the month of April, we're going to be going through some of the greatest moments, and not only of the past year for Iowa Hawkeye Sports, but also the past hundred years. Since Iowa Hawkeye Sports began, we're going to be going through some of those great moments, and that's not just going to be football.

It's not just going to be basketball. We're going to be talking about wrestling, gymnastics, swimming, all the sports. We're going to be covering everything for some of those great moments. So I'm really excited to share that with you. And then finally, after that, we're going to be doing a few what-if type scenarios. So that's kind of the branded content we're going to be putting out on the show over the next month and a half, two months until we start getting some normalcy back, hopefully with with the sports. But again, on this week's show, we're going to be covering the best seasons in franchise history. We're just going to break down two seasons and I'll I'll tease I'll release the next season for next week, probably on Friday's episode.

But on this week's episode, we're going to actually be going back to the early 2000s. And we're going to be covering that 2004 team, that 10-2 Iowa Hawkeye football team. I thought about covering the 2002 team, the Orange Bowl team that lost, or the team that lost in the Orange Bowl. But I just, for me, it's just, I want to cover a team that also had a happy ending

from a bowl perspective. And for me, that's the 2004 Iowa Hawkeye team that finished eighth in the final AP poll, went seven and one in the conference, and overall went 10 and two. That team, I thought, did a fantastic job, obviously winning the Capital One Bowl at the end of that season. A huge win, and I can't wait to cover that a bit more in depth because you all know about that play call. We're going to be talking about that moment as part of the greatest moments in franchise history, in Iowa Hawkeye history,

and we're going to be talking about it on Friday. Hopefully potentially getting some interviews on here. If not, I have talked to Drew Tate in the past. Hopefully maybe get him on to talk a little bit more about that season and his memories with it. But if you go back and remember, that team just couldn't really run the ball. Lots of injuries across the board. And it was really up to Drew Tate to kind of help lead that team. He threw for 2,786 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions.

That Iowa Hawkeye team had a defense led by Javon Johnson, Sean Considine, Chad Greenway, Jonathan Babineau. I mean, some of those guys in that team are just legendary guys that you're not used to seeing that much talent on the field at any one point in time. But that was a truly fantastic team. If it wasn't for the two early season losses that kind of really shook them up, I think this is a team that could have competed for a national title. Coming into the season, they were ranked 19th. Two wins over Kent State and Iowa State got them up to 16th, and then they dropped a pretty big one to Arizona State at Arizona State.

I remember talking to Drew about that, and it was a pretty gross loss. It was 44-7, just really one of those games where nothing went right. The following weekend, they couldn't really get back on track. Lost 30-17 at Michigan in the big house before getting it back on track and going and reeling off quite a few wins, taking down number 25 Ohio State 33-7, taking down Penn State 6-4. I can't wait to cover how ugly of a game that was. 23 to 13 win over Illinois, 23 to 20 win over Purdue, 29 to 27 win over Minnesota. And then finally a 30 to seven win over number nine, Wisconsin, the only ranked win of the regular season for the Hawks. But nevertheless, they got it done when they needed to. And then

they took down number 12 LSU, 30-25 with that incredible moment that I think people will always remember where they were when they saw Drew Tate throw the ball to Warren Holloway for that game-winning touchdown. I remember I was in my buddy's basement watching this game back in Newton, Iowa. Tanner Otten and I were watching that game. And I remember sitting there watching that happen and just could not believe that we actually – I just had never seen that happen for one of my teams. And it was just truly one of the most amazing experiences and feelings to see that actually happen.

But like I said, on the show, we're going to be covering that over the next couple shows, talking a bit more about that season, breaking down some of the key memories from that season, some of the key moments from that season, ideally getting maybe a guy or two on the show as well to talk a bit more about that season and bringing up some potentially some old newspaper archives about kind of the thoughts and feelings of that team, especially after those two losses. Where were we at from an Iowa fan perspective thinking about this team when Iowa was 2-2 before reeling off a straight win?

So I really hope you enjoy these segments that we're going to be doing. If you have, and one of the things actually, maybe I'll do this on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram, but feel free to send me in your favorite memories from that season, that 2004 season. What are your favorite memories outside of the Capital One Bowl? What are some of the things that really stick out to you and your thoughts and feelings? I would love to share that on the show today as well,

or on the show on Wednesday and Friday, excuse me. That being said, though, we're going to wrap it up for segment number two. Excited to continue our discovery and breakdown of the 2004 team that went 10-2. But on segment number three, we're going to be talking about Liam Robbins and DJ Carton. And could they be fits at Iowa? And how could Iowa make that work from a scholarship perspective?

So stay tuned after a few messages from our sponsors. We are back with segment number three of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. And as I teased before, we took a quick break. There are two transfers that I think Iowa fans are questioning whether or not, A, we should go for them from an Iowa Hawkeye perspective, and B, would they want to come to Iowa? This basketball team, I will say, this is not a team that needs a lot more injection of talent. This is a team, if we have everyone else return, this is a team that could compete for a national title next year.

But here's the potential losses we could see. From the current roster, we know that Riley Till's not coming back. Bakari Evelyn's not coming back. He has graduated. Ryan Creener is not coming back. He has graduated as well, finished or exhausted his eligibility. Cordell Pemzel has transferred. We could potentially see Joe Wieskamp and Luka Garza declare for the NBA draft and stay

in the NBA draft, although I talked about that on our Friday morning episode, I did not think that was going to happen, but it definitely is a possibility nonetheless. We saw it happen with Tyler Cook last year. I thought he was potentially returning. He ultimately decided to not return and he went into the NBA and actually carved out a little bit of playing time

in the NBA. He's kind of bounced around a bit, but still kind of making his mark. So kudos to him. Theoretically, we don't know how Patrick McCaffrey is recovering. I know he was getting some shots up and practicing late in the season.

There was concerns about lingering effects from the cancer that he had a while back. We don't know how he's going to heal from that if he is going to be healthy next season. You know, we also, Con Connor McCaffrey is a guy who probably his future is going to be in baseball. And I think with the college baseball season being canceled, that means there's not as much tape on Connor McCaffrey. It sounds like the MLB draft could be shortened as well. So I think there's a solid chance that Connor McCaffrey returns.

But he is eligible, could be someone that we could see drafted potentially and leave. Although again, I think that is pretty slim. So there's not a lot of room on this roster. And from a scholarship perspective, if you look at it purely from the numbers, there is no room on this roster. Iowa gets 13 scholarships. They have 13 scholarships filled filled so could they actually pursue a Liam Robbins or a DJ Carton I think the answer is yes and no yes for Robbins no for Carton they pursued DJ Carton coming out of high school an Iowa player five-star recruit pursued him but they really weren't as high on his list they made the top six for him coming out of high school but didn't

really go past that he went to Ohio Ohio State, started as a freshman, had some mental health issues, and then decided to transfer. And let me just make a quick statement. If you have something to say on Twitter to a teenager who's suffering mental health issues, get off the show. I don't want you listening. To me, that is completely unacceptable to be talking crap to a guy like that who's going through whatever he's going through. We need to be supportive of these people, and especially in these days. Be supportive of everyone. Be positive.

Just be kind to people. So I'll get off my soapbox, but again, I don't think Carton is a guy who is going to be going to Iowa anytime soon or ever at all. It does sound like he has been getting a bit of interest from a few other programs. Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Creighton, DePaul, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Seton Hall, and USC. Those are definitely a couple of those teams we will be seeing in the future. Obviously, Illinois, Minnesota, and Nebraska teams that we would have to be playing against every single year. So it might be seeing him. There is a chance that he does get a waiver to play immediately, depending on what he says with his transfer rules or, you know,

with his appeal to potentially get immediate playing time. I also heard the potential that Drake and Iowa State are rumored to potentially land him and that he's looking for the best fit for him. Not necessarily, you know, where immediate playing time is, but just the best fit for him in general. And I think, you know, maybe it's a being,

maybe it's being in state and being close to family. So maybe we do see him go to Iowa state, or maybe we see him pull a surprise decision and go somewhere a little bit smaller like Drake, but I just don't see him being a fit at Iowa. I think Fran McCaffrey is pretty content with what they have from a back court perspective. You don't,

if, if Carton wants to go to Iowa, you definitely take him, but I just don't think you actively recruit him at this point with Joe Toussaint there, with CJ Frederick, Aaron Ulas coming in, Tony Perkins. I think he's going to really surprise a lot of us coming out of high school and potentially being an impact player immediately as a freshman. We actually had an opportunity to interview Tony Perkins earlier on in this past year. And if you didn't get an opportunity to look at that, make sure to check out that interview. I had a fantastic time talking to him about his fit with the Iowa Hawkeyes. So I just don't think Carton is really a guy that Iowa is going to be pursuing.

That being said, I think Liam Robbins could be. He is a seven-foot center from Drake. A lot of you probably don't watch a lot of Drake basketball. I am a former Drake grad, so I do care a lot about how Drake is doing in addition to how I was doing. 7-foot, 235 pounds. Last year averaged 14.1 points per game, 7.1 rebounds per game, and 2.9 blocks. I believe there was a statistic that said he actually had more blocks than like eight teams in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Something ridiculous like that. So just a block machine. I don't feel like the one thing here, though, is his fit is kind of interesting. He is a very traditional center, more of a defensive minded center. Not you're not a Luka Garza type where he's going to be able to step back and shoot the three, although he does take a little over one three per game, but he's shooting 24% from behind the arc. He's shooting 50% from the field in general. When you're seven foot tall and in the Missouri Valley Conference, just under 50% isn't exactly great per se, especially when you're not shooting

a lot of deep shots. He's shooting a lot of shots at the basket or right near the basket, say, especially when you're not shooting a lot of deep shots, he's shooting a lot of shots at the basket or right near the basket. But he is a very good defensive presence. For Iowa, it would make a lot of sense. If you lose Luka Garza, well, sorry, you're going to lose Luka Garza next year because he is graduating. He could be a potential replacement for him. And with the offensive fire power around them, you don't necessarily need a center who is going to be a dominant center. You need a guy who can stop the other big men in the Big Ten. And I think from a Liam Robbins perspective, he's probably looking for some big time minutes for a big time program. I personally don't want people to think, I don't think he's, he's not a Luka Garza by any

means, but he does have talent and he has played his way out of Drake. Unfortunately, as a, as a Drake fan as well, he's played his way a bit out of there. So I think he's looking for some opportunity to get some more national airtime and, and show what he can do on a bigger stage. He wouldn't be able to play right away. He'd have to sit out. So he wouldn't necessarily be vying for minutes in a very clogged rotation this upcoming season. But the following year, like I said, when Lucauka Garza's gone, when Jordan Bohannon's gone, he could get some key minutes for the Iowa Hawkeyes at that center position.

He might even have the opportunity to start for the Hawks as well. So I think if you're Iowa and Liam Robbins is interested, a Davenport assumption kid, I think you do want to take that risk. Now what it boils down to is what do you do from a scholarship perspective? Do you let him just play in state and pay his way for the first year and then put him on scholarship the following year when you have potentially a few more spots open? Or do you put him on scholarship right away and just let him sit out?

There is a little bit of flexibility, I think, specifically with the McCaffrey brothers. Because, and again, I think when you earn a scholarship, I think there's some sentimental value to being on scholarship as well. There's really an aura to that. You've earned your scholarship. I think Connor and Patrick have absolutely earned their scholarship. There is not nepotism going on with these players, even though some Iowa fans would like to have you believe that. I think these two players definitely earned their scholarship spot. That being said, I think when it comes to the team,

both of those guys are very unselfish and would be potentially willing to play or pay their way to go to school and play in D1 athletics and potentially open up a spot for Liam Robbins to play on scholarship. So I think it's definitely a possibility. I think if you're Iowa, you have to entertain it for sure, giving you that center depth from a guy who's a proven commodity in college basketball, a guy who's performed very well at the Missouri Valley Conference,

and you would love to see what Luka Garza could potentially help him with as a big man. Maybe Luka Garza can help him develop that outside shot. Maybe he can help him develop an even better work ethic that could make him a great force to be reckoned with come his junior season for the Iowa Hawkeyes. So I think if Liam Robbins is interested, you absolutely have to entertain it. It sounds like Iowa could be a dark horse contender for him. He's going to have a lot of suitors though, regardless. So it'll be interesting to see how that all plays out.

But we'll definitely be covering that right here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. That'll do it though. That'll wrap up our Monday morning episode of the show. Just a quick reminder again, that we will have an episode coming out tomorrow. It'll be a bonus episode with our Bakari Evelyn interview. I think you're really going to enjoy it.

I absolutely loved having Bakari on the show. And just a little bit, not an inside joke, but I'm hoping he doesn't kick my butt in Call of Duty next time I get on and he's potentially there. So that'll be – hopefully he's a nice enough guy. He doesn't want to do that to me, right? But you'll learn about that and kind of what he's doing to kill time during this kind of lockdown on tomorrow's episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. And if you liked what you heard today, make sure to like, review, and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at. Give us that support, that love. That will help more listeners potentially find our show or more potential listeners, I should say, find our show.

And if you like not only the Iowa Hawkeyes, but talking about the Big Ten in general, make sure to follow our conference show. So each of the conferences are starting to develop a little bit more. The Big Ten is probably one of the most developed conferences from a show perspective on the network. We also have a locked on Big Ten show hosted by Ben Stevens.

I've been on there a couple of times for guest appearances and really have enjoyed talking to Ben. Very energetic guy who has a great grasp on all things Big Ten. He is a kind of Nebraska fan, but I won't hold that against him. He doesn't put his Nebraska bias in there, and he's one of the good ones. So I think you'll really enjoy that show if you get an opportunity to.

If you want some more shows to listen to, make sure to check out Locked On Big Ten with Ben Stevens airing Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. That'll do it, though, for our show today. Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Also, make sure you're staying home, staying safe out there. We want all of you to be as healthy as possible, so stay safe out there, Hawkeye Nation, and let's go Hawks. We'll see you next time.