Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - EXCLUSIVE: One on One Interviews with Hoops Coach Ben McCollum & preseason All American Bennett Stirtz

Starting point is 00:00:00 Live from Iowa basketball media days, this is Locked-on Hawkeyes. Why Ben McCollum's team in your number one has a chance to be special, plus some football talk 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. and live from Carver Hawkeye Arena, and this is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day.

Starting point is 00:00:37 I've been covering the Hawkeyes for over 20 years on the radio, including currently on the Iowa Sports Radio Network. You can catch me each weekday from noon to two in stations in Sioux City, the Quad Cities, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, and our flagship 106.3 KX&O. Today's episode of Lockdown Hawkeyes is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, Creighton account. Use code lockdown college for $20 off, your first purchase. Today we are going to hear from a couple of the big tenants for Iowa basketball coming up this season. We will talk to Bennett Sturts, the preseason All-American candidate at point guard for the Hawkeyes and also a conversation with the head man.

Starting point is 00:01:18 Coach Ben McCollum will be joining us here on the show. We got plenty to talk to on the basketball front media day here in Iowa City. But before that, let's talk some football and take a look at this matchup against Penn State. Nittany Lions come in, as we've talked about all week long, a wounded animal, I think more dangerous than they were before the firing of James Franklin, as we talked about yesterday, and you every day or certainly know that. But as I continue to go through it and look at this Penn State team, obviously it has not gone well the last two weeks.

Starting point is 00:01:46 And you really can't even consider three weeks. I understand. It was a big game. It was another loss for James Franklin squad in a top 10 showdown with Oregon. Still, that was a game where they battled back. Forced overtime, had the lead in overtime. You can't consider that one with the other two. But going out to UCLA, a team that themselves had just fired their coach

Starting point is 00:02:05 and Deshaun Foster had just been fired. What happened and what transpired in that football game? They, again, came roaring back in that game and had opportunities, just couldn't get stops late as it was a whole lot of tremendous offensive play by IMAEva and a whole lot more there. So that was a big part of the conversation. And then last week, I mean, even more maybe inexcusable, losing back at home.

Starting point is 00:02:29 The vultures were certainly circling and yet to have it play out in that fashion to lose to at best an average Northwestern team at home. That one was the most head scratching, I think, of them all. Franklin's gone. And now it is going to be Jim Knowles

Starting point is 00:02:43 trying to figure out what's gone wrong with this defense, what they're doing with Kolecki and the offense. This is still an incredibly talented team. And I know Grunk Meyer, the new quarterback, there's going to be a lot of talk about him and what he's going to look like,

Starting point is 00:02:55 what he's going to be. at that position, walking into this environment at Kinnick Stadium. Still, I look at this squad and I look at this matchup and you dive into the numbers, they don't marry with what we've seen on the field these last two weeks. This is still an incredibly talented team. You start in the backfield and what they have with that two-headed monster and just the behemus that they have. Now, Alan is just a tremendous player.

Starting point is 00:03:17 And they got really two of the best running backs in the country. I mean, when you go through and you look at the guys and what it costs to bring both of those guys back for another season, Allen and Singleton. Alan's an average nearly 70 yards of carry. He's got seven touchdowns, six touchdowns this year for Singleton. And you have to anticipate that's going to be the game plan. They're going to line up here and they're going to play some bully ball. They're going to take the ball out of the hands of Ethan Grunkmeyer. They're going to make this a fist fight. I mean, that has to be the game plan for Penn State. And now can Iowa hold up?

Starting point is 00:03:48 We've talked about the defensive line. Great play out of them off front. Aaron Graves, Of course, what he did last week on the ends with Llewellyn, with Hercott, the depth that they've shown as well. But then you get to that linebacker spot. And though I think we're seeing Carson Shire get more comfortable. Still, this is a young guy just making what, his sixth career start. You have in the middle, Jaden Montgomery, making his second career started. And though it went well against Wisconsin.

Starting point is 00:04:13 We know that's an awful Wisconsin team. I mean, that's a badger squad that is just frankly bad. So I think that's going to be the game plan for Penn State. they're going to line up, they're going to try to bully Iowa, and they want to get this one into a fist fight. You know, normally, you don't want to play parents' ball, right? You don't want to get into that kind of fight where you're trying to play the same style that Iowa does, and yet he's been so good year after year, including going back a couple weeks ago in the game against Indiana, of getting teams to play their style.

Starting point is 00:04:41 I think Penn State is happy to play that style, and they probably feel that that is their best path to victory. Make this thing ugly. Make this thing a dog fight. And if you can do that, hang around, maybe they're the ones of them make the play late as Indiana did a couple of weeks ago. I mentioned some of those numbers. And even with all the tumult, all the issues for Penn State this season, these are some numbers, I think, that are pretty eye-opening. Still, these are from pro football focus. Penn State is still power ranked the 17th best team in the country.

Starting point is 00:05:11 Yes, the rankings are different than what you see in the AP poll or the coaches pool. But this is a measure of what you did coupled with the roster talent that you have. and even minus Drew Aller, this is still a team that absolutely has talent on both sides of the football. How about defense? Well, they didn't lose any. Well, they lost one guy. One of their better defenders is out. So this is the fifth ranked defense by the power rankings of pro football focus.

Starting point is 00:05:35 Even the offense that's had concerns, it's 21st in the country. A strike the schedule has not been very difficult, but I think that says a lot to you at this point in time. Another thing, you know, this year, over 54% of the place, of the place, for Penn State, I've been in the passing game. Do not anticipate that's going to be the case, obviously, in this one. Anticipate we're going to see a whole lot more of that ground game, as we mentioned there. I think we're going to have a four-quarter game. I don't think this thing's going to come easy.

Starting point is 00:06:04 The quit factor that maybe was there a week ago for Penn State, I do think you see a bounce back, much like we saw from UCLA, I think this is going to be a Penn State team that maybe is reinvigorated and though frustrated, disappointed, whatever adjective you want to use for the loss of James Franklin. This is going to be a team that is going to be ready to go and ready to fire right away. We continue here, Lockdown, Hawkeyes, and we're going to hear coming up next from Bennett Sturts. He is the All-American preseason point guard in from Drake. We'll talk a little bit about him, about the way camp is gone and getting ready for this season.

Starting point is 00:06:35 They already had a secret secret secret as the numbers got out. We'll talk a little bit about that and a whole lot more. The All-American Bennett Sturts, he joins us next as we continue on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Mazda crafts cards for those who do more than simply move. Mazda delivers confidence with every ride. With more I-IHS top safety pick plus awards than anyone else as of August 2025. You can feel the craftsmanship in every detail from metallic accents to available Napa leather upholstery. You can make everyday drives feel like anything but from smooth handling to great control.

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Starting point is 00:08:26 That's OnePeloton.com. We're joined by Bennett Sturts. Bennett, good to see you here in person. And after watching you over in Des Moines, our flagship, KX&O, now you're over here in Iowa City. So let's start right there, going through it your final time, your final year on the hardwood and making yet another transition. How's the transition gone and going from Des Moines over here to Iowa City now? Yeah, it's been pretty smooth.

Starting point is 00:08:50 People are great here. People are great in the state of Iowa in general. And it helps bringing six guys over from Drake. So, yeah, it's been smooth and it's been super exciting. You know, you look at the transition that you guys made a year ago, making that move up from D2. Coach McCollum said he thought you guys would be able to translate, but he wasn't real sure. Were you sure? I mean, making that move, I know you love hearing you talk about Coach McCollum.

Starting point is 00:09:14 that but were you sure that hey i'm moving up to the d1 level or did you have that hey this is not going to be a big deal for me i actually didn't have a clue if it was going to work or not um until the first game of conference play and uh ended up working out and i think that's what we're taking it this year just having a confidence but a humble confidence um not thinking too highly of yourselves and not having too big of it ego and just being humble about the whole process you make your way over here you mentioned six of you guys coming over from drake that transition it's different now you've gone through it back to back years and coming with a group of guys that you already knew but tell us a little bit about some of the new guys and helping them being

Starting point is 00:09:52 that leader and understanding what coach wants what the staff wants and being able to be that kind of leader is everybody doesn't have to go into this kind of eyes wide open yeah it's you kind of have to be consistent with it you can't have too many off days but it helps that you have six guys because we brought four guys over from d2 to drake and that was easier to establish the culture And now we have six guys who's been in the Max program for a year now. And the whole staff has been for a year. So that helps. So it's not just me.

Starting point is 00:10:20 But yeah, there's going to be some hard days. There's going to be some good days. And that's part of it. And it's what you do on those hard days. That makes it all better. You guys don't mess around. I've seen the videos, talk to coach, and you guys put in the work, that offseason work and what you guys do. Now that's just what you're used to because he played for Coach McCollum for four years now.

Starting point is 00:10:40 But some of the new guys, mentioned I see Cooper down there. He went through it with the different coaching staff last year. Some guys that have been in other programs that are coming in. What have those guys said about going through kind of the spring and summer practices under coach and the coaching staff? Yeah, their heads kind of spinning. Not anymore, but it was. And it's kind of a shock for the freshman and the new guys. But they've had a great attitude all summer and all fall now before we get started in the games here.

Starting point is 00:11:05 And, yeah, this has had a great attitude. and that's what it takes to succeed at this level. You saw a bunch of good point guards a year ago, but it's going to be a step up this season in the Big Ten. You start with preseason All-American, who's not due out a couple of times with Braden Smith over there at Purdue, Dent, who's tremendous at UCLA, former New Mexico player.

Starting point is 00:11:25 You've seen a bunch of them, but you know it's going to be game in and game out. You're going to see some of the best of the best. Who are some of the guys you're excited to face throughout the course of this season? Yeah, all the point guards like Brayden Smith, Donovan Dent, I played with them and got to hang out with them at Chris Paul camp. So that was pretty cool. So we're just all looking forward to the season and just battling against each other.

Starting point is 00:11:46 But yeah, you're right. Every game's going to be a battle and just another couple of guys on that team's NBA talent. So, yeah, pretty much just all the environments I'm looking forward to and each game is going to be tough. So I look forward to it. I want to ask you about a couple of the guys on the team and some new faces, certainly for you. And I think new faces because us with our station and

Starting point is 00:12:05 Boyne. That's where we're based. And though we're statewide on our network, we watch a lot of Drake basketball and saw a lot of you guys a season ago. Want to start with Alvera, Fulgaris, who comes in from Robert Morris. We've seen the joke that maybe Robert Morris didn't have a real great weight trading program. But he's a really skilled guy. He was away for you guys for a while this spring as he was playing for the Spanish national team. Tell us a little bit about his game and how it's going to fit in this system. Yeah, he's a game changer. And he's a pick and pop threat, which we didn't have it Drake last year. So that's nice coming off the ball. screens when you're not just hitting the roller, you can actually hit the pop threat.

Starting point is 00:12:39 So that just spaces out the floor a huge amount. And we have other guys who can pick a pop threat. But then he can also pass, which also expands the floor a little bit with Brendan out there, and me out there who can shoot it. So he's a game changer. And when he wants to go, he can go. And yeah, he'll be huge for us. You mentioned Brendan Howson coming in from K State, started his career of Villanova.

Starting point is 00:12:59 He's played in some big games himself. And you mentioned that shooting ability. Now, we know we can fill it up from the outside. does coach like him shooting those 25, 28 footers, or is coach trying to push him a little bit closer into that line? When he's hot, he can shoot whatever he wants. But it's nice throwing the ball to him and just knowing it's going to go in 95% of the time.

Starting point is 00:13:18 So it's just another threat to have. And yeah, even if he doesn't shoot the ball, gravity goes towards him, as Mack likes to say, and opens up the floor to a lot of other people. Got a lot of different pieces for this group. I think we anticipate the start. orders, the five or four of them that are going to be out there. You probably Brendan in the back court up front with Alvaro and then Manwa in the middle.

Starting point is 00:13:42 Who do you think is going to be that fifth guy? Has it been decided? What did you guys do against St. Louis? Who do you think is going to be that fifth guy out there with you? Yeah, so we won't know until like five minutes before the game. That's how Mack does it. Oh, really? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:13:52 So we don't know who the starting five is. Every game? Every game. Wow. So he keeps us on a toes. I like it because everyone's got to stay ready. So Tavion Banks has been playing well, Isaiah Howard, Kelcombe. So just a bunch of the great great guys have been stepping up, Cooper Cotch.

Starting point is 00:14:07 So it's been good. You've mentioned, now, you don't like to leave the floor, ever? Not at all. Never. I don't like the bench. You play 40 minutes. Yeah. So, but you're not.

Starting point is 00:14:20 I mean, there's going to be something that happens. You're going to need to blow whatever it is. Who do you think is going to be that guy behind you? Who's going to be handling the point when for those 30 seconds that you're out of the game? I mean, anyone can. Kel Combs has taken tremendous steps this season, this offseason. and Peyton McCollum has, it doesn't always have to be me. Brendan Housen can bring the ball up the floor,

Starting point is 00:14:39 Isaiah Howard, Tate Sage, just a bunch of the guys that we have. I know it seems like we don't have a lot of depth in the point guard position, but we do. You mentioned Tate, and that might be one of the more intriguing guys. I mean, he was not widely regarded. You're used to that coming out of high school, so he was committed to Drake. It kind of took a while for him to at least officially make his commitment here to Iowa. And I think there was, from the fan base, maybe some head scratching boy, He's turned some heads. Tell us a little bit about Tate Sage and a guy that maybe can help you guys a little bit right away.

Starting point is 00:15:09 Yeah, he's a dog, just making highlight plays. He had a massive dunk in our scrimmage, and he can shoot the ball. He can guard at a high level. So he's a freshman, but he's still making plays, and he's still getting better each and every day. And I think he can help us out this season. So from there, you guys had your first scrimmage. Tell us a little bit about that because we see the final score. Yeah. Maybe not indicative of a real game. Let's just start right there. What was kind of the, what did the game live? look like yeah um so we played 60 minutes so it's a lot it's not yeah uh everyone played um that's pretty much the whole like structure of it and um we learned a lot about our team and

Starting point is 00:15:44 a lot about our lineups which is good a lot of a lot of work to do but yeah it was super fun getting out there and playing someone else yeah don't have to beat up on each other and you guys have one more scrimmage yep who you guys playing uh Texas tech Texas tech that's right so maybe a little payback right I mean it's not the same it's a scrimmage but last season I mean how much is that lingered because there's There was a lot in that game, woulda, shoulda, you know, this play, that play. You guys were right there and had an opportunity to get to the Sweet 16. I mean, how much has that pushed you maybe throughout this offseason

Starting point is 00:16:13 and getting another shot even in a scrimmage? It pushed me a lot. It obviously lingered for about a couple weeks and then it's on to the next. But just knowing that we could have won that game, we made a lot of mistakes that game. So just thinking about that in the back of my mind, knowing that we can hang with anyone. All right. So we look to this season and we look at this big building that we're in right now, the Carver Hawkeye had you ever been to Carver before you committed never yeah

Starting point is 00:16:36 what do you think the building first of all I love it yeah we can pack this thing out and I'm super excited looking for it like just looking around imagining it being packed pretty cool yeah absolutely 15,000 strong in here and it's tremendous hasn't been for men's basketball though recently you know fan base it kind of checked out under the previous staff with that not just doing what you do between the lines but growing building the brand getting people out here and get excited again for men's basketball ball. What have you done? And what are you planning to do to kind of get this fan base re-energized? Win some ball games? No, but that's the secret and the main thing. If we win ball games, they'll show

Starting point is 00:17:12 out. But just being around the community and showing them what we're all about. We're all blue-collar guys with the chip on our shoulder and who like to work hard and will and will work hard this whole season, no matter what, winter loss. So just showing them what we're about. And if we do that, that's all it takes. You have shown up on a bunch of NBA draft lists. back to when you were playing basketball in high school knowing you're going to go to northwest and where you are today and when just you click an article and you see your name on there what is that like because my name was never on those yeah it's it's I don't believe it it's still kind of a shock to me and it's cool to see my name up there but it doesn't mean anything I haven't played a game

Starting point is 00:17:52 in the big 10 and I haven't proven myself like I think I will or should but it's obviously cool and makes me want to work even harder all right last thing for you of Bennett. And you come from Des Moines. That's where I've been last 20 years, started here college longer than that ago. What's the place? You got you got a restaurant, you got maybe a quarter spot that you like to hang out with. What do you miss about Des Moines as you're now over here in Iowa City? Is there anything that you got to hankering for? Anything like that? Drake Diner, we always used to hang out there. It's okay food. It's average food, but we had some great memories there as a team. Breakfast is good. It's good food. But just the memories we had

Starting point is 00:18:30 hanging out with the guys there that's that's the spot drink diner there it is hey good hanging out with you good talking with you yeah thanks so much for having yep that's ben it starts the preseason all-american for the hawkeyes as he joins us here today welcome the holidays are going to be here before you know it which is exciting but getting your home ready for guests and celebrations can feel like a lot maybe you serve your serveware needs a refresh or a guest room that could need you some new betting. Wayfair has everything you need to get your home holiday ready. From Christmas trees and wreaths to betting, cookware, and outdoor inflatables, it's your one-stop shop for every room in the house. Wayfair makes it easy to personalize your home for the holidays with a

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Starting point is 00:21:26 really an exciting day for Iowa basketball. Yeah, absolutely. You know, it starts to kick things off. You can kind of feel it, you know, where you get your first game. And, you know, I think our guys are ready for that. They're excited for that. And obviously, you know, we're trying to create some buzz around Carver and get the fans out. Had an opportunity to talk with Bennett a little bit earlier.

Starting point is 00:21:46 I think he's excited about your guys' next scrimmage against Texas Tech and maybe getting another opportunity against those guys. It's just a scrimmage. But, you know, a lot of people, there was a lot of play that saw the final score from the scrimmage and probably didn't paint exactly the full picture of what happened against slew so first of all just explain to our listeners a little bit about that and it's a scrimmage yeah they're scored kept but probably doesn't tell the whole story yeah so this is how i do scrimmages and i probably am a little bit unique um i don't like visible scores

Starting point is 00:22:16 and so when we go in we just don't have a visible score uh because if i see a visible score which you still play to win the game but i'm going to play to win the game. And what happens then is maybe a guy can't, he struggles to defend this kind of ball screen. And so then you're just going to take him out and you're just going to play somebody different. But in these types of deals, I just think that crush is confident so quickly. So what we what we've done historically is we don't really scout the scrimmage. And we just kind of go in, you know, we'll show them a little bit of film, but we go in fairly blind. And we try to stick with our basic coverages, whether it's our ball screen coverage or our switches or whatever

Starting point is 00:22:59 we're supposed to do defensively. And then offensively, same concept. You know, we've been working against the show all year, which is, you know, our coverage, essentially where you show on a ball screen. And they switched, and we haven't worked on switched. Okay. And so they press and we haven't worked against the press, which is fine. That's a good thing when you kind of struggle through that.

Starting point is 00:23:21 You know, I don't know what the, I don't even know what it was. was after the first couple and then we started to we subbed quite a few guys after that we might have been up after the first couple i'm not sure it's irrelevant in regards to the score the good part is is why we want to scrimmage them is you get exposed at some things and that's the goal is to get exposed and then to to fix it solution find and then move into your next one and then your next one you're going to scout a little bit more. And then obviously your first game, you're going to scout like crazy. So, yeah, I mean, I remember, and I told the story in the room upstairs.

Starting point is 00:24:06 I remember when my first year at Northwest, and we scrimmaged a team named Mid-American Nazarene, and they're an NAA team. And the guys coaching was Rocky named Milwaukee Lamar. And they were every year a 35-win team. I mean, a Final Four, like, elite NAA team, which usually, elite NAA teams will beat, you know, your kind of middle tier division two. And that's the time we were probably middle of the pack. And I remember going in and we scouted it and we had it all tuned up. And I remember, I think we beat them by like 35. And I'm like, man, we're going to be pretty good.

Starting point is 00:24:39 Yeah. We go on into that season. We're 12 and 15. Oh. And so. And then fast forward, I remember another game. We played a team named William Jewell College. And they ended up beating us by, because at that point, we had won a national championship. And so I'm like, well, you know, we should be pretty good. Well, we go into William Jewell and they ended up beating us by, I don't know, 10, 15 points, something like that. I remember like, man, this is going to be a long year. And that team ended up 38 now.

Starting point is 00:25:10 And so I don't know, I can understand why people read into something. Something like that doesn't always tell the full story. Now, did Slew play really, really well? Yeah, they played really really well. Yeah. Did we play really well? No, we didn't play great at all. But does a score and a scrimmage that wasn't posted when you're playing during the thing and there's different quarters? I mean, all right. Yeah. I got you. I got you. I talked to Bennett about a bunch of his teammates. Two guys I didn't get to. First, Trev and Yurak. And it feels like at least there's going to be a few points at minimum this year. You're going to need his size, maybe foul trouble, those kind of things. What you've seen from Treve, I told you before, I've called probably. 25 of his games in high school. Really a guy that

Starting point is 00:25:58 I know is working hard to transform that body and be Big Ten ready. What have you seen from him and how much can he help you in your one? I think he can help us. The game slows down for him. I think it'll be unique to each situation depending upon the big that he's guarding. That'll be the biggest. But from an offensive

Starting point is 00:26:14 perspective, it'll be no issue at all. Really good offensively. And he's getting better defensively. I think part of it is just the speed in regards to just being in that kind of shape, just being in, you know, super conditioned and whatnot. He's, man, he's, he's, he's, he's even, you know, he's even more mentally tough than you would expect.

Starting point is 00:26:40 He fights through fatigue. He keeps competing. He does all those things. He's a great teammate. You know, you see why he was a winner. But yeah, the game slows down, you know, hopefully he'll play some minutes for us. One other guy didn't have a chance to ask Bennett about was Trey Thompson. And I think it grabbed a lot of attention.

Starting point is 00:26:59 I mean, a guy that everybody in the recruiting services thought he was pegged for Purdue. Hasn't been a whole lot of wins for Iowa basketball recently, beaten Purdue for some prospects. Now, it reclassifies he comes in a little bit behind the eight ball because A's young, coupled with, you know, he didn't get the same kind of workout. You guys did throughout the course of the summer. What have you seen from Trey Thompson and what he can do for you guys in your one? Yeah, you know, he's been, from an offensive perspective,

Starting point is 00:27:22 he's been really good really bouncy can really shoot it i think he's shooting 45 50% somewhere in that range from three um great personality super energetic so he's he's been a good teammate um his biggest thing he'll be picking up the defense and how quick he can you know sounds like that's a lot of these guys huh well it's just when you're when you're a freshman yeah you know and so like that's that's the tricky part about like you know we just talked about the script it's like that's kind of the tricky part about those things is when you put freshmen in the game and they make a defensive mistake and you pull them 10 seconds later, you have now shattered their confidence. And so when they go into these scrimmages and they play, you have to allow them to play through

Starting point is 00:28:06 mistakes. And, you know, the same goes for any freshman that we play. If we put a freshman in the game, we feel like they're ready enough to be able to kind of work through their mistakes or they're ready enough to not make as many mistakes as they originally were defensively. Schedule came together when I talked to you this summer. You were still working on that. You mentioned to me you wanted to make sure you got one power conference game and your guys' exempt tournament. But as we see this one come together,

Starting point is 00:28:31 there are some contracts that already done, some other things. Going forward, what do you anticipate the non-conference schedule is going to look like? What is kind of going to be your goal season and season out, knowing that this wasn't complete control this season? Yeah, I mean, quad ones. You know, I think you want to have quad ones, and then, you know, there's kind of a formula to, to the other teams that you play, the buy games that you play. And so, um, those by games, do you like the 300s and blow them out by 40 or would you rather have the 150s and get a little bump? Yeah, good question.

Starting point is 00:29:01 You know, I need to get out the calculator. Yeah, I think that's the problem. Yeah. This is like, to me, this is my, no one cares what I think, but to me, if you beat a team by one, one point is the same as beating somebody by 50 points. Like the goal is to win the game. Like I don't, it doesn't make any sense to me. The net doesn't say that, though.

Starting point is 00:29:24 I know. It just makes zero sense to me. But I understand why they do it just because it's, how else are we going to calculate that? It's better than the RPI. Yeah. But then you go out and you try to cheat the system. Absolutely.

Starting point is 00:29:37 You know, and you're like, okay, so we got to play this team that can't do this, can't do this. I think we can beat them by 50 and we're going to leave our starters in the whole game. And it's just, like, it doesn't make sense. And then, so then I get blown up naturally for the Drake and you and I thing. And it's, are you scared? It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no one's scared. It's just like, the reason they stopped doing it was specifically because the net came

Starting point is 00:30:00 into the equation and it made no sense to, to do that, to do that. You're better off playing a quad one or a team that may not be as good. Like, for instance, I thought we were pretty good last year. year at trick um but our net was still i don't even know what it was like anywhere 55 to 65 and then there was power five teams that were under 500 or close to it that were higher in the net absolutely it makes absolutely no sense to me and and it's but this that's what it is and so you're in a power conference now though so like if you're trying to predict the future you want to play a power conference team because naturally they'll

Starting point is 00:30:44 play in a power conference and that power conference will naturally inflate their net ranking which ultimately helps you make the NCAA tournament which is kind of your goal so long long explanation but uh you know i i i get blown up for that all this well i don't necessarily people tell me uh this drake fan and then one of my buddies did it uh northwest missouri set he's he sent me is my s id and he sent me a thing that he he posted because he was a u and i grant okay yep yep He posted something like I expect more out of Coach McClellum, like, do we need to keep doing this? I call it. It's Colin McDonough.

Starting point is 00:31:20 I'm calling him out. Do we need to keep down this map? I don't call it. Oh, yeah. And he was just choking because he knows, but it doesn't come across like a joke. Right. Well, Coach, we are out of time. I could talk schedule with you all day long.

Starting point is 00:31:34 I absolutely love schedule stuff. Good catching up with you again. We'll do it again real soon. Good to see you. There is Ben McCollum, the headman for the Iowa Hawkeyes. We're live here from Iowa City, Iowa Men's Basketball Media Day, hour two coming up next.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - EXCLUSIVE: One on One Interviews with Hoops Coach Ben McCollum & preseason All American Bennett Stirtz

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