Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Cooper DeJean's Super Bowl Impact: Why Iowa Hawkeyes Fans Should Celebrate, Iowa Hoops Falls vs. Wisconsin

Starting point is 00:00:00 Cooper Dajin should have been the Super Bowl MVP, but what a birthday it was from Cooper Dajin. We'll talk about the Super Bowl champ and the weekend that was in Iowa sports today. Locked on Hawkeyes. You are locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey welcome in I'm Trent Condon and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available

Starting point is 00:00:41 wherever you find podcasts. You can also watch us on YouTube. While you're there, hit subscribe just takes a moment and helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode of Locked on Hawkeyes is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. Well, we are here on the conclusion of Super Bowl 59 and the Philadelphia Eagles. An absolute laugher. I know in our audience here there are a lot of Chiefs fans, a lot of disappointment. I have that in my house

Starting point is 00:01:17 as my daughter has become, I wouldn't say a Chiefs fan, but a rooting interest Taylor Swift fangled, of course, for her. But I know there are real hardcore Chiefs fans, certainly in Southern and Central Iowa. We've got a bunch of them here. For many of you in Eastern Iowa, it might be a little bit surprise. Where are the Chiefs fans? Well, they weren't bandwagon. They were here well before that. A disappointing end and a chance at a three-paint right out the window. But one of the stories of the game and one of the continued stories is going to be the play of Cooper Dejean. Now of course we know Cooper Dejean, a guy that showed up his freshman campaign. We're hearing about this small town kid,

Starting point is 00:01:56 elite athleticism. We saw the highlights on the basketball floor. He saw what he was and the athleticism that he had, the step drop step dunks that he had, which was just absolutely ridiculous at that level. And of course what he did on the football field playing both ways, what he was as a quarterback and leading to a lot of questions. Boy, we would just played Cooper DeGene a quarterback during his three years in Iowa City, what that had been like, but a conversation for a different day. The Minnesota game is going to live in infamy for a very long time. The invalid fair catch signal and the disappointment that came out of that and the frustration and what ended in a loss. But we knew this dude was a player, right?

Starting point is 00:02:41 An absolute baller and to see him on the biggest stage. Remember, as good as Cooper DeGene has been, and he's been incredible. One of the best nickel corners in the league. A guy that can cover him very different ways. He can go inside, he can go outside, he can cover tight ends, he can cover wide receivers. And we knew this, right? But leading into the draft, well, he's a white cornerback. And because of that, there was knocks against him, just because we don't see him very often. Now we saw right before it, what we saw for Riley Moss and breaking that barrier that had been there for 20 years, two decades, going back to Jason Sehorn,

Starting point is 00:03:23 becoming starter at the cornerback position, as he did the year previous and here comes Cooper. So it's 10-0 at the time like well all right he and City's gonna get their feet underneath them no problem Cooper DeGene makes just an absolutely incredible play a breaking on the ball and as soon as he started to weave out to his right I think all of us as Hawkeye fans, we know where this is going, right? The knack for the end zone, the playmaking ability, of course as a punt returner, after interceptions,

Starting point is 00:03:53 ball in his hands, the ball skills are absolutely incredible. And there was a reason last year why he was eventually injured in that practice because they were trying to find a way to get the ball in his hands. We knew what a ridiculous playmaker it was, and it was a joke that he fell to the second round. I had to fall to an organization like the Eagles. Let's see things at a pretty good level. When you look at their draft history here recently and just how good it has been,

Starting point is 00:04:22 and another reason shows up right there. He is beloved. You could hear the Coops when he was getting ready to return punts and of course after the pick six. It's a guy though that we knew about and there's something special about that. There's something special when it's one of your guys, one of the guys that you watch during their collegiate career, but not just watching their collegiate career and played for your team. But there's also the small town Iowa aspect. Now, maybe that's because I'm also a small town Iowa guy. And maybe that's the reason that this one hit even better. At our Super Bowl party at our house surrounded by Chiefs fans, had a couple of Chiefs fans there that were rooting hard

Starting point is 00:05:02 for the Chiefs. I was rooting for Cooper. On that return, I was all about Coop getting to the end zone, hitting, not just getting his first interception, but his first touchdown, doing it on his 22nd birthday. Just think of that. The guy just turned 22 years old and he's won a Super Bowl and he has a touchdown in a Super Bowl. If you hit that one on your FanDuel app, you are in good, good shape after that performance. I had a little bit on the interception and it was just a fun wager. Nothing big by any means, but the ones that had him to score a touchdown, those odds were pretty immense and I saw a couple of those tickets, people sharing those over the weekend. Back to Cooper and the small town Iowa aspect. A lot of us are from small towns.

Starting point is 00:05:48 It's kind of the backbone of the state of Iowa. Being an agriculture state, being flyover country, all those things, the small town element's there. And even if you didn't grow up in a small town, even if you're from Des Moines or you're from Cedar Rapids, I think we all still have a little bit of that because we're still not talking about major metro areas. And even if you've never been on a farm, or you never did the small town thing, there is a certain element for all of us as Iowans that definitely have that. Or maybe you came from the big city and you went to the University of Iowa and you understand Iowa City, that small community and what it was about. But for a guy growing up out in Western Iowa,

Starting point is 00:06:34 Odebell Arthur, Battle Creek, Idaho Grove, the exploits that we talked about at the top, the highlight package of his dunks and the athleticism on the hardwood, watching him at the Unidomit boy What a stage and what performances he was able to put on there and some back-and-forth games But it wasn't just that as a track athlete his senior year State champion in the hundred meter dash long jump and the four by one basketball he averages twenty five point nine points 7.9 rebounds and seven assists a game his senior year here's his football numbers 3400 yards passing 35 touchdowns through

Starting point is 00:07:14 the air he ran for over 1200 yards had 24 touchdowns on the ground oh on special teams there's another three touchdowns and of course he played defense 53 and a half tackles two tackles for loss, and three interceptions for Cooper Dejean. Oh, and by the way, he did play baseball. And he didn't play his senior year. But in a limited junior season, remember, we're coming off the heels of COVID, he bats over 500.

Starting point is 00:07:41 Not on base percentage, no. Batting average, 511. Slugging percentage, 851. Also had 14 steals. These are the guys that you remember, right? And to be an Iowan, to do it on that stage, and yet I think for all of us as Hawkeye fans, was anybody surprised? If you were, you shouldn't have been because that's what Cooper DeGene does. I still remember the end of his freshman campaign. True freshman, played a little bit early on but that was it and because of injury started to go in there. We saw him, is he gonna be cash? Is he a safety? Cornerback?

Starting point is 00:08:20 I don't know.'ll see and It was Towards the end of the season when he started playing cornerback and the question was asked in one of the I Think after one of the games or maybe it was just relayed regardless Know how much he'd played he never played cornerback before the first time he played cornerback in a game Was in a big Ten game. Think of that. You don't do that and you certainly don't do that as an 18 year old freshman unless you're Cooper Dejean. Unless you are Coop. What a performance. I think he's all

Starting point is 00:08:58 of our MVP even if he didn't win the award. Congratulations to Cooper Dejean and the Eagles Super Bowl 59 champions and Cooper Dejean what a start to his career and I think we're gonna be hearing that name a whole lot more going forward. Let's get into the Hawkeyes wearing the black and gold currently. Iowa basketball over the weekend had an opportunity again at home against a good team against the Badgers. It falls short. We break down what we saw on Saturday from Carver Hawkeye Arena in a look forward. Plus, we still have to get into women's basketball. They're back at it tonight as they take on Nebraska. A big big game

Starting point is 00:09:35 in Iowa. Chance to move up that pecking order in the Big Ten. Bolster their resume. This would be another quad one victory. They got back to back quad one wins with the road win last week against Minnesota. Of wins with the road win last week against Minnesota. Of course the big win last Sunday against USC. So we'll talk about that as well. A little basketball talk as we continue Iowa women and Iowa men on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. When the game tips off, the NBA action is just getting started

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Starting point is 00:10:49 instantly. Right now, new customers of FanDuel can get $150 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. Just visit FanDuel.com to join today. That's FanDuel.comcom for your shot at $150 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with Fandual, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Trent Conner back with you. Locked on Hawkeyes here as we kick off the week on a Monday. Well, it is a busy time of year We mentioned it on Friday show after the wrestling meet as we broke down I went Nebraska if you missed that one, you can always go back

Starting point is 00:11:33 You can check out all the episodes you're watching on YouTube hit subscribe if you're listening on the audio side Five-star review really do appreciate that and helps us out a ton with the metrics. All right, let's get into Saturday. And a game again, very similar to what we saw against Purdue. Both these teams are better than Iowa. Both these teams are significantly better than the Hawkeyes. And the hope is at home that you'd be able to figure out a way, right? You figure out a way to get the victory and they just didn't but I can't be overly constructive of the effort that was one

Starting point is 00:12:14 thing that I think you worried about with this team is were they just going to shut it down you know mentally is this team going to be checked out. Oh, and Freeman was back on the sideline after missing the game with after the hand surgery against Purdue, he was back over there. I had the big rap on his hand. So we got to see him go and at least be there, which was a question. And you wondered, had he tapped out? They're trying. They're just not good enough.

Starting point is 00:12:44 I personally thought maybe needed a little bit more Riley Mulvey, as we saw Wisconsin a bunch of different times just be able to do whatever they wanted inside. And though Crowley-Winner overall weren't great, it was some other components. And then again the three-point shooting. Well, nothing's going to change. And when we look at this program going forward, I think the belief for many people, most people I would say at this point, is that this is it for Fray McCaffrey. And however it plays out, a fire ring, a retirement, a understanding on both sides and some kind of settlement, hey, instead of the $4.2 million buyout that we owe, we'll buy out a certain

Starting point is 00:13:29 portion of that. You will be able to retire. I was all time winning his coach when I had the stain of being fired at the end of his tenure. You move on. You watch Jack play a butler or wherever he goes if butler's looking for a new coach, maybe that's Fray McCaffrey. If Fray wants to go another place, that's absolutely open and available. I can play out that way.

Starting point is 00:13:53 There's a lot of different ways that this is gonna play out here over the last month. But to see Fray again on the sidelines, and you could see a couple of times he was agitated. He was really frustrated a couple of times in this game. This game was there for the taking I could have won this one again and just collapsed down the stretch and when you have that and because of that there is an element

Starting point is 00:14:19 a frustration that comes in but to see again the stoic Fran hands in the pockets, coming over. Hands in the pockets, gets agitated for five seconds and calms himself down. There's nobody now that is going to make me believe anything than what I have built in my own mind. And it could be dead wrong. It probably is. But

Starting point is 00:14:43 in my mind, after the stare down at Michigan State, he was talked to. Because a year ago, we certainly saw a different kind of Fray McCaffrey. And it's gone to another degree this year on the sideline. He is so reserved, so at times lethargic. For Fray McCaffrey, it's one of the most confounding things and this is going to be a part of the end of his tenure. However, it proves to be, end of this year, next year, whenever it is, this is going to be a major part remembering just how odd it was to see Framon Caffrey, red face Framon, Defcon Frcon Fran, all the different terms that have been out there, all the things that we know. When you bring up Fran McCaffrey to a college basketball fan nationally,

Starting point is 00:15:30 what are they going to think about? That guy sitting with his hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth. That's not what they're going to think about, even though that has been the case, certainly this year and over the last couple of years. That's not the memory. And to see that. Does this team need to be lit up? Maybe. But France also said that not every team can be that way. That you can't light up every team. That's true. I think coaches realize it doesn't work the same for every team. You have to carrot and stick, right? Which one are you going to use? And some teams are different. I guess this is one of them.

Starting point is 00:16:11 What I'd love to see again, was Sadio Traore. Now he ended up shooting just 4'13 from the floor, but you can see the athleticism. It is time, because he got 29 minutes a game. This needs to be the case going forward. You have to see exactly what you have in him. If Fran is around next year, you have to see is this a guy that's a big ten starter on a good team? Not this team, but on a

Starting point is 00:16:34 good team. Is he a reserve? Is he more of a six-man role? Whatever it is, is he a small four or more of a power four? Can he rebound well enough to be a power four? These are the questions that you need to answer now in this lost season. Unfortunately, it's not about Peyton Sanford and another rough performance, two of 11 from the floor, one of seven from three. It's not about Peyton, though, in his last go around. It's not about Josh Dix.

Starting point is 00:17:02 It's not about Owen Freeman and maybe his running mate and Brock Harding. It's about the guys that maybe you think you have a chance to stick around. What are you going to see out of Josh Dix? Is there anything that can be done this deep in his career, now nearly three years into it to make him more of an alpha, to get him more aggressive, to get him hunting shots? He hasn't done it at this point. The likelihood isn't going to happen, but keep him happy and hope to keep him around

Starting point is 00:17:30 for another year. Price Samford tipped the ball cap to him. Now, Price, there's been some lulls to his game this year. There's been times where you just wonder, how does he fit in this lineup overall? But he had another good performance, great in the first half, certainly offensively, and did some things on the defensive end of the floor, too. It another good performance, great in the first half, certainly offensively, and did some things on the defensive end of the floor too.

Starting point is 00:17:46 It was good to see, because Price, a better athlete than his older brother, Peyton, in terms of just raw athleticism. He's a better athlete, and he's got the length, he's got a couple of things that you like. We'll see, so he got that dog in him, he's developed that, but I think we saw a little bit of that over the weekend.

Starting point is 00:18:06 But finally, the biggest, and he's my favorite guy on this team, is Drew Thelwell. Not supposed to have favorites, I have favorites. And my favorite is Drew Thelwell on this team. Not just the way that he plays, the way that he tries to get the crowd engaged, that he's working to make that happen, all different things But just something about him So he turns that ankle driving through the lane and when it first happened what was that throwing it up at the rim? Well, you saw turned his ankle pretty significantly Then he gets up. He just hops off the floor

Starting point is 00:18:39 Nope, no help from a couple of guys on each side No, he's just gonna hop all the way back to locker room and he thought well his day is over And yet there he was coming back in there toughness determination fun guy to watch and a good dude truth though well i wish it was going better for him he deserves better than the way that this season's going because it's over There's this team has been hideous on the road, right? They've lost three in a row overall. On top of it, they have now lost six of their last seven. The path to the NCAA tournament is them over these final eight games,

Starting point is 00:19:18 going something like six and two. I mean, come on. This team. With road games at Rutgers, Maryland, Illinois, Northwestern and Nebraska, the home games, Oregon, Washington and Michigan State. That team that hasn't won a game on the road this year is going to suddenly find a way to win four or five of them. It's not happening. It's over. It's a disappointing year. And a lot of the questions and a lot of the conversation is going to be about what happens next. Again, over the weekend, more and more people continue to say and believe that Darren DeVries

Starting point is 00:19:59 is a number one at the top of the list for Iowa basketball. That that is the one that makes the most sense. That's the most gettable that they can go out there. Now, remember West Virginia, they've fallen on hard times. Still, you're number one of a rebuild. And West Virginia themselves had fallen on hard times. They also did it losing one of their best players when the coach's kid, Tucker Vareese. They're also doing into the Big 12, very good basketball conference. If your takeaway is Darren DeVoreese is not the

Starting point is 00:20:33 guy because West Virginia has struggled over the last couple of weeks, I don't know what to tell you. The likely coaches, and again, we like to live in reality right? Not pie in the sky. Bruce Pearl is not coming to Iowa stop he's not. Center sites a little more realistic. Brad Stevens is not leaving the Boston Celtics because him and Beth Getz had a working relationship to coach the Iowa Hawkeyes. Come on. Can we have a little bit of mental understanding about the way this actually is gonna happen? Brad Stevens and Bruce Pearl are not coming,

Starting point is 00:21:15 so stop bringing them up. B.J. Armstrong, Jeff Horner, Dean Oliver, all former players, all great guys, all great Hawkeyes. Does it have to be a Hawkeye? Is that what it needs to be? Does it have to be somebody with an Iowa connection? Well, that's DeVries. It doesn't have to.

Starting point is 00:21:41 Find the best coach. I believe that the best coach, the one that can excite this fan base, get things going, and knows the game at an incredibly high level is De'eran De'Breeze. He's at the top of my list. We'll see. Things of West Virginia. It's a different place to live. It's not Iowa. And as a daughter still in high school, home, is it calling? We don't know. I certainly don't know. But it continues to be out there from a lot of people that believe that that's going to be at the top of the list. We'll see. We got a lot of speculation a lot of time, certainly for that. All right, let's wrap things up here and take a look at the Iowa women tonight. Big matchup against Nebraska. They

Starting point is 00:22:28 take on the Huskers this evening. Payback possibly on the mind for the Iowa women. We'll talk about that one as we come back. Iowa-Nebraska in hoops. It's Lockdown Hawkeyes. back with you one final time locked on Hawkeyes I'm Trent Condon thanks for being with us here today. Alright to Iowa women's hoops this evening as they face off against Nebraska so we get saw this game just a couple of weeks ago right and this is the one in the fourth quarter where I would collapsed So I would came into that one three consecutive losses

Starting point is 00:23:09 Lost the Maryland game the road game at Illinois and against Indiana. Yeah. All right. Well, this is the one that they're gonna bounce back Until they did they're in control. They miss free throws down the stretch The biggest thing though is Nebraska was nuts behind the arc They hit 13 three-pointers and that's how Nebraska's built. They're a three-point shooting team and Iowa's going to have to run them off the line here this evening. Iowa in that game won the rebounding battle. Iowa in that game was a very balanced effort. Guyton had a great game. O'Grady off the bench had 10 points offensively. He saw 14 from Lucy Olson, 16 from Stulkey, a double double from a Folter and Vierbach had 13. Offensively they played well. The one thing

Starting point is 00:23:51 that didn't show up in that game was the defense. And that's why I feel confident about Iowa's chances tonight is because outside of that game, the Iowa defense has been outstanding really since then. After that game, now they defense has been outstanding really since then. After that game, now they lost to Oregon the next time out, but it was 50-49. They ran past Washington, gave up 61 in that one. Gave up 80 against Northwestern when they were just shooting ridiculously lights out. Only 69 against that talented USC team and then 60 up at the barn on Thursday. This team's playing better on the defensive

Starting point is 00:24:25 end of the floor. This team is playing as well as Iowa has defensively here recently. Game plan, keep them off the three point line. Don't let those outstanding shooters get going because if they do and at home, they can definitely run it off. Now, this is an important game for both teams in terms of seeding for the Big Ten tournament and also when you look at the NCAA tournament. Now Nebraska hasn't fallen so far that they're I don't believe on the bubble. They're pushing their way down there. Iowa has worked their way on the right side of the bubble but still another losing streak. Good turn the tide in that one. So they've lost three out of four. Their only one came against a pretty bad Purdue team, but it was on the road.

Starting point is 00:25:06 Losing to Michigan, losing to Indiana, nothing wrong with that, but gotta be ready to go. If Nebraska obviously gets this one, they'll have the tiebreaker in terms of seeding for the Big Ten tournament. They very well could come down to that. Again, I feel relatively confident about this one. The game plan, I think is simple. The defense has improved enough that I'm confident they're gonna be able to find a way to get it done.

Starting point is 00:25:31 Taking a peek right now over at FanDuel. Wanna see if they have the line up, yet they do. Yes, they do, as we sit here. It is two and a half. Iowa favored by two and a half against the Huskers over under at 144 and a half. So you can find that on the FanDuel Sportsbook app. Iowa's slight favorite in this one kind of how I see it playing out. Should be a fun one we will be back with you after the conclusion of it. Late on Monday

Starting point is 00:25:55 night into Tuesday morning we will have the podcast up for you a rapid reaction to this one. We got some more football talk to get into this week. We definitely be doing that I will hear from Scott Dockerman this week a lot of Hawkeye talk with Doc and what he thought of the Super Bowl Cooper Dejean. Doc does a lot of football stuff so we'll talk with him about Cooper and a little bit more football coming up here on tomorrow's program. Again thanks for being with us each and every day we are here with you talking all things Hawkeyes football, basketball, softballs begin. We got baseball happening. There is a lot as we talk the world of the Hawkeyes, the NFL draft right around the corner as we put things to bed with the NFL season. Of course, spring football. We got the

Starting point is 00:26:37 announcement that's gonna be starting up in late March. So, there will be a lot of talking. What things are gonna look about. Mark Gronowski obviously coming in at the quarterback position, the excitement about that. Good time. It's always great to be a Hawkeye. And sometimes some days are even a little bit better. Thanks for being with us. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Until then, go Hawks.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Cooper DeJean's Super Bowl Impact: Why Iowa Hawkeyes Fans Should Celebrate, Iowa Hoops Falls vs. Wisconsin

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