Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Big Fish Hunting? Iowa Looks to LAND Top Point Guard to REPLACE Bennett Stirtz
Episode Date: May 19, 2026Iowa Hawkeyes basketball targets five-star point guard Cayden Daugherty for the class of 2027, igniting hopes for a future led by high school recruiting rather than the transfer portal. With Ben McCol...lum and assistant Josh Sash aggressively pursuing Daugherty and new offers going out to top prospects like Jackson Davis and legacy recruit RJ Evans, can Iowa finally land a blue-chip point guard and break the cycle of finishing second in high-stakes recruiting battles? Trent Condon and guest David Eickholt of 247 Sports tackle the evolving strategies of Iowa basketball and football. The discussion covers post-spring football storylines including quarterback competition, wide receiver depth, and recruiting class projections amidst NCAA roster management chaos. On the women’s side, Iowa reloads with portal additions—can depth behind the departures carry the Hawkeyes? Don’t miss this inside look at Iowa’s recruiting momentum and season outlook. Follow Trent Condon on X: https://twitter.com/trentcondon LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-hawkeyes-daily-podcast-on-iowa-hawkeyes-football/id1441592240 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0GTyz5ygevcGXdTF6QSoEo YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnHawkeyes Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get one-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Iowa Hoops is looking for a placement for Bennett Sturts,
and the recruiting for the class of 2007 at the point guard position is looking very good.
You are Locked-on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day.
Trent Condon, and this is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, your daily Iowa Hawkeye podcast.
Today's episode is brought to you by Fandul.
Right now, new customers can bet just five.
and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins.
Head to Fandul.com to get started.
Well, I will begin their Big Ten tournament for baseball coming up on Tuesday.
We'll take a look at the matchup against Illinois and what Iowa has to do
to punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament and the path that's going to take to get there.
We're also going to be joined by David Eichold from Hawkeye Insider.com, part of 24-7 sports.
We'll talk some post-spring football with David.
Get his thoughts on this.
squad. We'll also jump in a little bit to the basketball scene and an update on the recruiting
side of things for both the men and the women. But speaking of recruiting, that's where we begin
today's conversation as things are starting to heat up now for Iowa basketball and recruiting
at the high school level. And one thing we definitely are learning about Ben McCollum in this Iowa
basketball program is the way that they recruit. The way they want to build this program is not
through the portal. It is going to be with high school recruiting. It is certainly a different
vibe that he'd get in some of the programs across the country.
Michigan winning a national championship, all five of their starters began their careers at
different places.
But Ben McCollum, obviously the success speaks for itself.
At the Division II level, the national championships won there.
What he did in one year at Drake and, of course, this past season with the elite eight run
for the Hawkeyes, he's got an idea.
And now it is about knocking down those doors and getting to the level that you're hoping
for year in and year out with this basketball program.
What to start with the Big Fish.
This is at the top of the wish list, I think, for most every Hawkeye fan.
And that is Caden Doherty, a five-star point guard out of Florida.
Now, there are other teams that are involved in his services that certainly are going to be able to spend the money to do it.
But reading through some of his conversations that he has had with the recruiting media over at Hawkeye Insider,
a Hawkeye report, those kind of places, you definitely get the vibe that Iowa is really there.
This is not just some of the things that you see from time to time where, yeah, they're amongst the finalists, but the chances aren't very good.
Now, that's not to say that Iowa is a lock for Caden Doherty, because I think that would be pretty short-sided at this point in time.
But you watch his highlight reel.
You watch the way that he plays.
He's just so smooth, a complete understanding of the game of basketball.
Now what I was selling, and of course selling Bennett Sturts and what he was able to do, they were able to obviously keep Kail Combs for another season.
He's going to be involved in the back court going out and getting Tyree Coleman from the NBC.
And I think he's going to be a really nice fit for what Iowa basketball does.
But when you look towards that future and the selling point now and the proof of concept that Iowa has,
not just with Bennett Sturts and when he is selected in the first round of the NBA draft,
that's definitely going to help things and showing that, hey, look, we can take a guy from the Division 2 level
where he began his career and build him into a first round NBA draft pick.
That definitely helps the sales pitch for the perspective of the Hawkeyes, but you take it a step further,
and you obviously see what they're able to do at the point guard position year after year after year,
going back and having guys from the D2 ranks that went on to the NBA, the success that they've had at that position.
And maybe more importantly, when it comes to recruiting, showing this is what it's going to look like.
And these are the things that are asked of a point guard.
Ben McCollum, year after year.
And I go back to a column we brought up months and months ago here on the show.
but it was somebody that coached against him at the Division 2 level.
And one thing that he mentioned is maybe not on paper, to paraphrase,
they would have the best point guard coming into a season.
But when the season began, they had the best point guard in their league year after year after year.
And that's the way that he can develop.
And that's the way that he builds.
And with everything that is asked of the point guard in the Iowa system,
in the Ben McCollum system, that's what you're going to get.
Dordy, though, definitely at the tap of the wish list.
a guy that's been talked about a whole lot.
Ben McCullum, along with assistant coach Josh Sash,
were at all of his games this weekend in Memphis
for the first of the recruiting period that is going on.
And he had this quote to Sean Bach from 24-7.
I absolutely love, quote,
I'm a winner. I want to win.
Iowa sounds like a pretty good place.
Now, the other teams involved in the services of Caden Doherty
include Michigan, the defending national champion.
Miami and Florida State, both from his home state and USC,
who obviously throughout the years has definitely spent at a high level.
This is going to be difficult, no doubt about it.
I also wondered over the weekend when saw that an offer went out to Jackson Davis,
a four-star out of Illinois point guard rated as a top 50 player nationally from all the recruiting services.
24-7 has him at number 39 Northwestern Michigan involved in his services,
along with Michigan State and Marquette.
So again, another one.
But was this hedging bets in case it already goes elsewhere?
Is it just spreading yourself out a little bit and understanding, look, recruiting is a zero-sum game.
And I think us as Hawkeye fans, we can remember all those times that we finished runner-up and all the times that I will felt they were right there on the doorstep.
I remember growing up and hearing about Isaiah Thomas, who, of course, went to Indiana before his great NBA Hall of Fame career.
And that absolutely loved Louud Olson, loved Iowa, but ultimately Indiana won out and finished second of those.
And we could have a full show of the times that Iowa finished second in recruiting.
And when you don't get them, well, all that that you put into it, all the time, all the effort that you spent, well, you didn't spend it with other prospects.
And that also can be very dangerous because he suddenly go from feeling like you have a great shot of getting a top 20 player like Caden Doherty.
That doesn't happen.
If it doesn't, where are you then?
Because Iowa desperately needs a point guard.
They want to get it out of the high school ranks for the class of 2020.
Those are the two point guards.
And one other news item I thought was incredibly compelling is I was made their first offer to the class of 2029.
These are guys that are just completing their freshman year of high school.
And the first offer for the class of 2029 reportedly went out to RJ Evans.
RJ Evans, the son of Reggie Evans.
And if you're feeling old, you're not alone on that front.
As Reggie's got a kid at the high school level, we've seen that certainly in the past.
but obviously Reggie, Hawkeye fans that remember him,
coming in after his two years at Juko,
and just setting the world on fire in the rebounding department.
A guy that made a 13-year NBA career by doing one thing elite,
and that was rebounding the basketball.
Now, RJ is not quite built at this time like the old man.
You know, though Reggie was undersized,
even for a power forward in the NBA,
that elite-level rebounding kept in the league for more than a decade.
RJ listed at 6,5, 165 pounds.
Got some work to do in the physicality department, but one thing stands out.
Reading through the recruiting, reading through the reports about R.J. Evans,
what you hear time in and time out about him, he is relentless.
He is a guy that is going to work you and work on the hardwood.
That's exactly like his dad was in Reggie Evans.
So a fun connection there.
We'll see lives down in Florida.
What is going to come out of this?
Reggie, though, certainly has an affinity for Iowa.
We've heard that plenty of times in the past,
and we've had some pretty good success in the past also
with some of these legacy recruits that have come in and done a really nice job.
And let's hope that R.J. Evans is the next one on that front.
We're going to talk a little more recruiting and get into that with David Eichold.
We'll talk some basketball.
We've got some post-spring football talks.
It's been a while since we were joined by David Eichold, and he's coming up next.
Stay right there as we continue.
This is Locked on Hawkeyes.
The NBA playoffs are here.
Every possession matters.
If you're looking to get even closer to the action,
Fandual has a great offer to get you started.
Right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins.
That's right.
Turn five bucks into $150 in bonus beds just by getting started.
I like using Fandual during the playoffs because everything I need is right there.
I've told you before, I absolutely love live betting of the NBA.
the wild swings that you have, the back and forth affairs, it is exhilarating, and it is so much fun to jump aboard.
If you like to play same game parleyes, you don't have to do it before the game on Fandual.
You can also do live same game parles on the Fandual app.
Whether you're looking for player props or just your favorite stars, it adds another level of excitement to every game.
And it's really easy to navigate.
You can make playoff basketball even more engaging from start to finish.
Head to fendual.com to get started.
That's Fandual.
and Fanduil.com, Fandual, play your game.
Trent, kind of back with you once again on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast,
your daily Iowa Hawkeye podcast.
And if your daily listener, the Everydayer Club is built for you.
Add free episodes of Lockdown Hawkeyes for you each and every day.
Plus, you can join us on our Discord.
Just go to Lockdownhawkeyes.
com as we're joined by David Eichold from 24-7 sports.
Okay, let me start with the piece you posted here this morning.
on the receiver room, et cetera, et cetera.
Feels like it.
And I know there's a lot of Hawkeye fans pretty excited about this group.
It's been a long time since they've been able to say that, you know,
at this time of year, right, that this is a wide receiver group that actually, I think,
deserves Hawkeye fans' enthusiasm behind them.
anxious to see how this plays out, David.
You and me both.
It's very interesting kind of looking at the room, right?
Because I think on paper, there's a lot more stability.
than there has been in recent years.
I think there's a lot more at least quality debt.
I don't think anybody's going to buy stock until they see it on the field on Saturdays.
And probably rightfully so.
It's like, fool me once, you know, shame on, pull me twice, shame on me.
Fool me, what, nine years in a row worth?
They probably need some big receiver plays.
Everybody should be to blame.
But it'll be really interesting because I think Reese Vandersy and Tony Diaz can be a really solid one, two.
And then you have a bunch of wild cards and guys that we've heard by,
behind the scenes have done nice job, right?
Like KJ Parker was great in the spring game.
We talked about him last year.
He flashed behind the scenes.
Kind of lacked that consistency when he was on the field.
And it symbols catching the football, right?
I think at times he,
you catch it with his hands,
but his whole body would be turned up field looking to make an explosive play.
He would drop some routine,
routine passes him.
But I'm very interested about this team.
I think that there's a lot of things working in their favor.
but you know at the same time I'm also trying to sit back and evaluate why the receivers haven't been up to par with the big 10 I'd say even power conference football even group of five football over the last eight or nine years I think there's a lot of factors so trying to go through all these interesting little fact toys it's been fun to kind of evaluate and give my opinion on it
the quarterback position I think became more muddled during the spring David I believe you were on the hicklensky camp I think almost everybody about
Like they were definitely leading that direction.
Coming out of camp, now more, almost a month removed from that last opportunity,
we had to see them.
Is this thing going to go right up until game week, right in front of that Northern Illinois game
before?
We're really going to find out what the decision is at Kirk Barence and company.
Yeah, and anybody that says they know who's going to be starting quarterback's flying view,
right?
I mean, I've gone back through the tape.
I've talked to a bunch of people behind the scenes.
I know some people have looked at the highlight.
I'll say a couple things.
One, I do still think heckling.
he wins out.
But I do think it's a lot closer of a battle than I thought because I actually thought
Hank Brown played fairly well in the open spring practice.
So we got to see, don't let the completion percentages fool you.
I think a couple of things.
One, his footwork looked worlds better than it did last fall and last spring.
And I think that's something that scares a lot of people, right?
When he gets pressured, the footwork breaks down, the mechanics break down,
you can't go through all the routines sort of things.
I thought Hank Brown's ball placement was actually pretty great.
And I think the one surprising thing to me was how much Hank Brown was willing to throw the football downfield.
I mean, you go back to even that week, we talked to Tim Lester.
He said, look, the one thing I'm worried about Hank is he could go 17 for 20,
but he has 17 yards to his name, right?
Like he'll make good decisions, but he'll check down.
He threw the ball downfield in that.
So I think that's an added where if you can translate that over to end game,
you feel pretty good about what he can bring to the table.
But I just think Jeremy Heckwinsky is a different sort of athlete.
I think his quickness and ability to dodge oncoming defenders and kind of outrun them,
keep his eyes downfield when he does extend to play.
It could be just really interesting.
Again, I will not be surprised if we learn who the starter is when they put out the depth chart on game week.
That's kind of expectation at this point.
Speaking of expectations, they're seemingly for the first time,
in a long time when I look at this roster,
legitimate questions on both sides of the football
and then it even trickles into special teams, right,
with both of the specialists, the kicker,
punter and the kicker.
Is it going to be harder maybe to get a preseason grasp?
Not that your feel is, you know, right every year,
but at least you can back up your opinion, right?
I'm not sure that when it comes to a hot guy football this year,
that that's going to be the case because they're seemingly,
at least to me, so many question marks.
Yeah, and I'm right up there with you.
And it's really funny because, look, I love preseason rankings.
I mean, it's part of the reason why we love the job, right?
It's stupid, but we get to argue about it.
It gives us stuff to talk about.
I've been surprised that Iowa's ranked in the top 20 or 25 as often as they have.
Now, I do believe they are top 20, 25 team.
But where I'm going with that is, if you look back over the past couple of years,
and those Iowa teams that were barely preseason ranked or not ranked,
I think we knew more about those teams than we did this year.
I mean, this is an Iowa team that has under 5,000 career defensive starter snaps coming back this year.
And that's the lowest in power for, right?
But people are buying stocking to Phil Parker.
And it's weird to say, I think we know more about what to expect from the offense
than we do the defense at this point.
And special teams, I do not envy, envy Chris Polisi because, man,
the expectations of that unit, what Kirk Barents has done, replacing all those things.
I really don't think people should be taking that for granted because I do think it's going to
mean up and down sort of thing, but I do think Iowa will have another returner.
But I'm right there with you.
I mean, I have legitimate questions about Iowa's defensive line, especially defensive tackle.
We don't know who the starting quarterback's going to be.
I feel really good about the DJ Venami and I feel really good about the running back depth.
They're going to go four deep.
Again, I think there's stability of wide receivers.
But the other part is, how are these FCS and group of five transfers, especially on the defensive end?
How are they going to integrate themselves in Phil Parker's system and give them a chance to stand out?
So, again, this is great since we're being able to preview all these other things.
But I'm right there with you.
I've been, I think there's a lot more meat on the bone when it comes to actually speculation about what this group could be.
And, you know, it's crazy as it sounds.
I'm usually pre-opinionated.
I don't think there's a lot of wrong opinions because we just don't simply don't know.
Yeah, fair.
It's very difficult with this group to dig your heels in.
Not Iowa State difficult.
Right.
That's a different level because you're talking about 80 new guys on the roster.
But this is different than what we're used to, certainly with an Iowa football program.
And the lack of seniors also on the Iowa side with what 10 scholarship seniors that are on this group, that's going to be completely different.
That goes hand in hand with recruiting.
How big is this recruiting class going to be?
We talked to Elliott last week.
He mentioned that Sean thought it was going to be maybe upwards of 20 over there at hawkye insider.com.
That feels like a lot when he only got 10 and the guy at the transfer portal after the season wraps up here.
What are you hearing on the recruiting ranks in?
This is going to be a big month coming up here, the month of June.
They have all the guys coming in for their official visits.
Just take us a little inside Iowa Hawkeye Football recruiting.
I got to tell you guys.
I mean, I'm right there with Sean, as crazy as it sounds.
But you also have to think about this.
do you know how many dudes are on this year's Iowa team that they probably should not count on coming back next season?
Right.
Because, I mean, I look at Trevor Lough.
I think Trevor Lous could be a top two-round NFL draft pick, I left tackle, right?
Cade Piper could have left this past year and been arguably a first-round pick.
You look at Zach Lutmer, who people, you know, obviously Cooper DeGines had a lot of success for the Eagles.
Zach Lutmer, I don't think it's crazy to believe he could be a top two-round draft pick if he has a great senior year.
So while the senior number is dauntingly low,
I also think you look, just the overall talent that,
look, Iowa will only have a certain amount of NIL dollars.
Will they want to attack the portal again?
Will they want to, you know, give Zach Lutmer an offer you couldn't refuse
or Kate Piper or Trevor Loutk?
I mean, you know, another guy who nobody's really talking about,
DJ Venami is going to be eligible to the NFL fan.
And, you know, he grew up wanting to be a hawk guy.
We know what he could say, I'll tell you, like,
I don't want to put too many expectations on,
but I don't think it's crazy to believe that he could have
one of the best tight end seasons in Iowa history.
He simply has that kind of upside, man.
Like his blockings dramatically improved.
He can get the ball downfield.
He's run after the catch is spectacular.
He's powerful, takes care of the ball.
There's really not a lot of flaws in his game.
So again, I would probably expect it to be around 20.
And then, you know, the other part is Iowa goes four deep
at running back.
All those guys have multiple years of eligibility.
Again, I hate speculating this, but there's only so many carries and there's a lot of talent in that room.
So I think you have to basically say 20.
And if Iowa has to, you know, have a kid Grasher or give them enough NIL money to make or walking on makes it worth it.
I think that's throughout they have to go.
But I don't envy Tyler Barnes's job as general manager and trying to manage everything that goes on in college athletics because it is a mess might be an understatement to say the least.
No, no question about it.
So the last couple of years, when it comes to running backs,
there's been one that's kind of, not snuck up,
but certainly what maybe didn't get the conversation,
the buzz around him, the hype that would ultimately fall his way
based on his performance.
Who do you think that guy is this year?
Who's going to overachieve?
Man, that's a good question.
You know, I don't want to say overachieve,
but here's why I'm going to name the obvious one,
because his numbers should have been better last year.
Camarie Moulton.
Yeah.
This is a guy who had 878 yards, 5 yards of carry.
He only had five touchdowns, and he never broke 100 yards in the game.
Look, L.J. Phillips is going to be a big part of the equation as well.
The South Dakota transfer is nearly 2,000 rushing yards last year.
There's no question.
I think Nathan McNeil is going to be tough to keep off the field.
And then Xavier Williams also popped out, right?
So Jay Norvel has adopted a very, very good group of the running back.
So again, it's the obvious one, but you talk about a guy who I feel like spent on the
cusp of breaking out, a guy that could consistently get you eight to 10 yards.
How many times it was he's shoestring, tackle by his shoestrings last year, right?
I think added strength in the lower half is going to really help him.
I wouldn't be surprised if he's going to, I think he's going to break the thousand yard mark,
if not more than that.
I think he's going to have 10 touchdowns this year.
like, Molton's been a guy that I feel like just been behind the scenes, doing all the right things,
doing whatever's been asked of them.
Because, again, Mark Grinowski was great in a bunch of ways.
But guys, where his touchdowns a little bit inflated?
Because it felt like Moulton would get them within the three or four yard line.
And then Mark Grinowski would take it in.
Again, legitimate strategy.
My thing, Moulton has all the capabilities of being a top five rank back in the Big Ten conference.
I think he can be that good.
What to jump over to some basketball recruiting going on?
There's a lot of stories about that up at Hawkins.
I'm Hawkeye Insider.com.
But David, before we get to the men's side, on the women's side, they got a couple of
portal additions last week.
You cover the women's side of things at Hawkeye Insider.
What can you tell us about those additions?
Are they just depth pieces or is there a real chance that maybe one of the two could
help them out in a not a huge way, but helping some capacity on the floor this season?
It's funny, Trent, because I do think they are ultimately depth pieces.
But when you only have 11 players on the roster, I'm pretty sure everybody should have a
shot at playing, right? So it does sound like that they are going to stick with 11 players on
this year's roster. I mean, that puts a lot pressure on the 27 recruiting class and that portal,
obviously. But I also think you look at Iowa's back court, like it's tough to sell a power five
caliber guard that they can come into Iowa system and make a difference because look,
Danny Carnegie and Chichat, right, they're both to be playing 30 plus minutes. Then you go down
the D3 level. I think, I think, Brea, Medina, I think it's a really gray addition.
23 points a game last year at the D3 level, 5 foot 6.
Not really an outside shooter, only made 21 of them last season,
and only attempted 59, but she can get to the hoop,
crafting mid-range jumper, 87% from the free throw line.
And it's somebody that comes in without an ego, right?
Like, I've talked to you all behind the scenes.
She didn't ask for any guarantee of playing time, didn't ask for any money.
This is somebody who nearly decided not to play basketball in college at all.
She's just grateful for the experience.
Her average attendance last year, Trent and Ken,
was 87 people in game.
It's going to be quite different when there's 15,000 people in Carver Hawke.
So I think that's a really nice piece.
And then LaSondra Barrett's been adamant about trying to get over and have some international prospects.
So for Iowa to go get another four-year player in Ellis Strombelle from Sweden,
a potential stretch for plays in a really high level over in Sweden.
I think she's a nice addition.
I would not anticipate her making an immediate impact, but be able to spread out those scholarships and at least showcase that she could be a potential six foot one, maybe a small lineup stretch for with Iowa going back to that four out offense.
I think it's at least a solid pickup for sure.
Finally, on the men's side, there's been a lot of talk about Caden Doherty, a top 20 player in the country.
Iowa amongst the finalist for him, a tremendous point guard.
But they also offered another point guard in the class of 2007 this week with.
Tyrone Jameson,
does that make you concerned about Doherty?
Or, hey,
if we're just going to be fishing in a lot of different waters here,
what can you tell us about point guard recruiting?
You know,
I think Iowa's become so accustomed to finishing,
like,
you know,
like being the best man,
like with always the brides may never the bride, right?
If Iowa doesn't land the top 20 prospect,
but they land a top 50 or 60,
nobody's going to be complaining, right?
But Tom Bach was in Memphis.
You got to see them all firsthand.
I wouldn't be of any concern because,
you know what the problem is if you know if kean d'arie end up going to michigan and iowa finish
second that recruiting what's everybody's saying well they shouldn't have put all their eggs in one
basket right now now they're playing from behind so i think this is smart of mccullum and company
i think they've made it abundantly clear that you know kane's the top prospect that they want
and i think after watching him this weekend guys drop 37 and 5 on 15 to 23 shooting
you can see why Ben McCollum's really going all in on him.
But I think Iowa recruiting from an overall standpoint,
I think there's a buzz on the national scene like there hasn't been in several years.
But I'll tell you what, exactly what an elite eight run does for you guys.
Absolutely.
You hit the magic words right there.
Good stuff, David Icold.
Appreciate the input.
As always, we'll talk to down the road, Hockey Insider.com.
Thank you, David.
Appreciate you guys.
Take care.
Yeah, good to talk to you.
David, Icold, as we check in on Iowa.
Thanks, as always too, David for his time.
A lot of great insight there, football, basketball.
A little bit of everything with David Eichol.
A little bit of everything here.
We're going to talk Iowa baseball as they get ready to open up the Big Ten tournament against Illinois.
That's on the other side as we continue, Lockdown Hawkeyes.
Trent, kind of back with you one final time on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, your daily Iowa Hawkeye podcast.
Big shout out to our Everydayer Club as well with us each and every day.
And you can get our episodes ad-free with the Everydayer Club at LockdownHawkeyes.
Dot com.
Wrapping things up.
Let's take a peek here at the Big Ten baseball bracket as it was set after the regular season
concluded.
Iowa with the sweep at the hands of Purdue as they get three straight at Principal Park.
And they are up to in the eight nine game against Illinois.
That will be game two coming up on Tuesday.
Game one will be Purdue, the number five seat against 12 seated Michigan State.
So that will be the opener for that one.
9 a.m. for Purdue, Michigan State.
Iowa, Illinois then is a 1 o'clock estimated first pitch for that one.
With a win, they will move on and play at 5 o'clock on the next day on Wednesday.
And with the win there, they move into the main bracket with the four top-seeded teams awaiting.
Iowa goes 2-0.
They get USC.
Iowa gets to the bracket but loses a game in the process.
They will get, excuse me, number one seed, UCLA with their first game of the single elimination.
second side of things. For Iowa to get to the NCAA tournament, the likelihood is, yes, that they are
going to have to run the table. You look at the numbers right now and though that sweep of Purdue
definitely did help things in terms of their RPI. They are up to currently number 62 in the
country of RPI. The biggest knock, though, against this Iowa team currently to even be a bubble
team in consideration is their numbers against Quadrant 1. Yes, we talk about these numbers a whole
lot as it pertains to the NCAA tournament for basketball, but same kind of thing.
Though they still use the antiquated RPI system in baseball, Iowa is 0 and 11 against Quad 1 teams.
I looked at a couple of bubble teams.
Just took a peek at a couple of teams that Baseball America had amongst the last four teams in.
One of those teams, NC State record very similar to Iowa, RPI about 20 spots above.
But the biggest thing, they have six wins against Quad 1 opportunities.
Troy, another team amongst the fours, the last four in, out of the Sunbelt.
They also have six quad one victories.
That is the knock against Iowa, even if they would get another couple of, well, they get their first couple of quad one victories.
Still probably going to have to win the Big Ten tournament to get there.
It's going to be tough, but, and this team can swing it.
They got the bats, no doubt, and a win against Illinois to open things up would always feel good.
That'll do it for today.
We will have reaction to that one coming up after Tuesday's matchup against the.
the Aligni. We got a lot more for you as well as we continue our previews.
Post-spring look at all the position groups here on the football side of things.
Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first list in every day.
Don't forget you can join us with our everyday club each and every day.
Get your episodes ad-free.
Go to lockdown hawkeyes.
com to get started.
That's Lockdownhawkeyes.
Dot supercast.com.
We'll talk to you again tomorrow.
Until then, go Hawks.
