Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Former Hawkeye Kenyon Murray joins to discuss his playing career, the current state of Iowa basketball, and the loss to Illinois

Episode Date: February 1, 2021

We've got an awesome guest for today as former Iowa basketball player and current parent to two Hawkeye basketball players, Kenyon Murray, joins the show today. We discuss Friday night's loss to Illinois, the development of Keagan and Kris, Kenyon's time as an Iowa Hawkeye, and what the current state is of Iowa basketball.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!KeepsIf you’re ready to take action and prevent hair loss, go to Keeps.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE to receive your first month of treatment for free.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to a Monday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast. Your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, and we have a very special episode coming at you today. We are joined by former Iowa Hawkeye, Kenya Murray, and we're going to be talking all about Iowa basketball, about his sons, about his playing career.

All that stuff is coming up on the show today, and today's episode is brought to you by Built Bar. Go to BuiltBar.com and use promo code LOCKEDON, and you'll get 20% off your next order. And as I said, Kenya Murray was nice enough to join us on this show today. Talk about the development of his sons. Talk about his playing career as well and some of the great memories he made as an Iowa Hawkeye. What led him to be an Iowa Hawkeye. Obviously, he stayed in Cedar Rapids, so he loves the state, loves the fans.

He also talked a little bit about the game, the Illinois game, kind of what happened, what transpired, and also why this is, the season is not over, y'all. There's a lot of season left. We talked a lot about that as well. What can this team do? What can this team do this year, but also for the future as well, for the future upcoming year? So we talked all about that on the show today. And without further ado, let's hop into the episode, joined by Kenyon Murray. All right. I'm honored to be joined here by former Iowa Hawkeye, Kenyon Murray. Kenyon, how you doing today, buddy? Doing good. Nice and frigid here in Iowa, but we get by.

You got the snowstorm, right? Yeah, we got like a quarter inch of ice and then like almost six inches of snow in Cedar Rapids last night. Oh, man. Yeah. Yeah, but, you know, it's life in Iowa. I've last night. So, man. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, it's life in Iowa. I've been here since 92. So I'm used to it. Yeah. It's part of the, part of the battle there. Yeah. I'm in Denver now. So I get a little bit of snow, but most

likely just usually melts, but I am from Iowa, lived there for 21 years. I understand the pain of some of the, some of the weather yeah no doubt no doubt awesome man well um let's talk a little bit about your your playing days at Iowa we'll get obviously to Keegan and Chris like we talked about um but first and foremost what was it like playing um you know at Iowa in the 90s the early 90s well I think from a standpoint you know we had a great coach Dr. Tom was was awesome very down to earth obviously the style of play fit me which was one of the big reasons why I came to Iowa up tempo and pressing and that kind of thing but I think more than anything that made it special was just the people

you know I think the Hawkeye fans were honestly instrumental in me coming here and choosing to come to Iowa just the way I saw that they embraced the team and not having any pro sports. I knew we'd be on TV all the time. So that was, that was a big thing too, but, but no, it was, it was great. And like I said, I've been here since 92. So obviously it treated me pretty well. Yeah. You'd never left. I love that. So as far as those, those fans do go, do you feel like there's still that same passionate fan base as you have when you were, you know, in the early nineties, obviously there's been some dips in basketball success prior to fran

but do you feel like that fan base is still kind of that same level of intensity and excitement as it was back in the 90s yeah i think so and social media you know pulls out some people that maybe should not be saying so much about the iowa hawk guys but you know it is what it is you know i i think um the fan base is very impassioned. I think when you look at our roster and see how many kids that are homegrown from Iowa, I think that really helps the fans to connect to them because they pretty much seen these kids grow up in front of their eyes from the great high

school basketball that we have here. And now so many of them playing for the university of Iowa. So yeah, I think the fan base is fantastic. And, you know, it just sucks this year with COVID that they're not enjoying this team in person. I've been fortunate enough to be able to go to the games, but I know there's a lot of fans out there just missing the opportunity to watch these guys in person. Yeah. I mean, it's sad. At least we're getting basketball. I think there's, there's always positives and everything. At least, at least we're getting basketball. I think there's always positives and everything. At least we're getting basketball. I think that's what people need to realize,

that there's a very good chance we may not have had basketball this year, especially with one of the most talented teams we've had come through the Iowa City area in a long time. When you were back in the playing days, though, you started 95 games in over four years. You finished 12th in career points and first in career steals. Obviously, some of those things have changed since then. But what was your favorite memory and what was your, what were you most proud of as your time in an Iowa Hawkeye? You know, I think probably the moment that sticks in everybody's mind.

And I've talked about it a bunch is just coming back after Chris passed and being able to beat Michigan state and coming back to Carver Hawkeye and playing in front of the rabbit fan base. That game was probably the craziest, loudest, I mean, most energetic game I ever played in front of Carver. And so, you know, doing those kind of things with the group of guys that we had was fantastic. I think the bigger thing too is for four years, I played with a bunch of great guys. I mean, I played with NBA players. I played with a bunch of great guys I mean I played with NBA players I played with you know all conference guys um some guys that drove some of our fans nuts um but also um you know it was just a great collection of people and I think the thing I draw from it most is just

still having friendships I don't talk to my my friends my teammates as much as uh no some more than others but I think that there's a bond and a chemistry that, you know, we'll always have. And then having to play for Coach Davis and Coach Close and Coach Walker and Coach DeLeo. I mean, those guys still reach out, you know, especially when Chris and Keegan signed. I got a call from Coach Davis. And so, you know, those things are still really special because we made some memories in those four years I was here. And and yeah, you know, as far as the records, records are made to be broken, hoping that my kids can break some of them, too. But yeah, no, I like I said, it was I had a great career here.

And obviously it's it's meant a lot to me for for the reasons that I'm still here. Absolutely, man. I mean, you played with Jess Settles Ryan Bowen AC Earl and obviously Chris Tree and then I had to throw this one in there I know Keno Davis wasn't a big big time player but I went to Drake Keno was a big time guy I went to Drake the year after he left unfortunately but I had to add those guys in there as well so I mean a pretty legendary group of guys who went to the tournament twice so awesome stuff there and you talked about how you, how exciting it was to play for Iowa, how proud you were being an Iowa Hawkeye. Now your sons are Iowa Hawkeyes. And I got to ask you, is it more thrilling to be on the court or is it more thrilling to watch Keegan and Chris play basketball on the court for Iowa?

It's fun. It's more fun being a fan. You know what I mean? And I always say sometimes being a fan sucks because I'm used to coaching and being able to be on the bench and make some differences. But no, I think, you know, watching those two, you know, live a dream. You know, I honestly didn't know Iowa was their dream school until Fran offered them. And, you know, I thought, you know, they want to play Division One. And I think if I would have said, hey, you know, to go to Iowa go to Iowa that might have put a little more pressure on them but um for me it's it's a dream come true to watch them you know wear the black and gold and play in Carver Hawkeye and and be hot you know just you know and be Hawks I think um people that

have seen them um some people didn't think that they had the ability to be there I think even that he has definitely proven people wrong and And I know once Chris gets his opportunity, he's going to do the same thing for Fran. So for me as a dad, it's great. You know, our fans embracing it. My wife, I mean, it's, you know, for her family to see that her grandparents are watching them play. So, you know, it's just awesome that our family in Michigan, our family in Iowa, our family in South Carolina, they can all see the two on the screen. And so for us, it's just a dream come true as a family. I can only imagine. And I want to get to that in a second, especially about their growth, because when they were offered, you know, there was a

contingent of fans that were like, what the heck is Fran doing? We've, we haven't even heard of these, you know, these two kids. Personally, I personally I was like I trust Fran I don't know anything about Keegan and Chris but I trust Fran and clearly it is paying off very early having them on the roster has been really phenomenal watching both of them play you know Keegan's getting a lot of minutes right now and I think he's showing the fan base what he can do and it seems like Chris has a very similar skill set right would that be about what would you say? I mean, is there any differences between the two in terms of playing style? Yeah, I think, you know, Keegan's always been known as a shooter. That's the one thing I think Iowa fans are really going to see in his development is his shot. He's always been a great

outside shooter. Chris is more of a slasher. You know, he liked to get into the paint and get to the rim. But Chris has really developed his outside shot. And we've seen that Keegan has really embraced the defensive side of the basketball rebound in the ball. Those are things that, you know, I always knew he had the ability to do, but now we're starting to see him to come from fruition. But I think the biggest thing is just their physical development. I mean, they've gone from, you know, six, six to six, six and a half seniors at Prairie weighing about 175,

180 pounds to just a shade under 6'9, and both are right at 215, 220. So for me, just their physical development has been something that, you know, I think has really given them the confidence to play at this level. But I think from their games, I think they're very good together. They do a lot of similar things. But yeah, Keegan has always been known as a shooter, and Chris has always been known as a slasher.

So I think fans will see a little bit of that come out, especially when they're on the court together. All right, I need to quickly pause the conversation with Kenyon because I do need to give you a very important message from those of the folks at betonline.ag, your online sportsbook experts. Betonline.ag, your online sportsbook experts. Betonline.ag is the one place that has you covered and the one place that I personally trust. And right now, if you sign up today, you can get a free account at betonline.ag and use the promo code LOCKEDON.

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Subscribe to Locked On Today wherever you get your podcast at. Yeah, definitely excited to see that. Seems like there's just kind of a log jam in that kind of area on the court. I was talking to a couple of buddies and, you know, they were talking about Chris. And I was like, honestly, I feel like they've got to be pretty close and similar, but it's just tough to get some of those minutes, especially on a veteran-led squad like this team. It's tough this year, but this wasn't expected to be a year where they were probably putting in a ton of key minutes, right? There was supposed to be a development piece,

but anyways, with Fran McCaffrey, you know, it's as a, as a dad, as a father, how do you feel about having your kids be coached by Fran McCaffrey? Obviously you were fortunate enough to be coached by Tom Davis, one of the best in Iowa history. But what does it mean to have Fran McCaffrey as a coach? And what do you personally feel about him, you know, being able to give your kids to him and say, you know, do what you need to do? Yeah.

So, you know, funny story. Fran recruited me to Notre Dame when he was there as an assistant coach. I did not realize that. Yeah, he was an assistant coach under Digger Phelps. And I really love Notre Dame. I love Digger. They did a great job recruiting. But Digger actually resigned the summer before my senior year in high school.

And so even though I love Notre Dame, it kind of took them off the, you know, in my top five schools. And so I was familiar with Fran. You know, it's funny. People always ask, like, you know, Fran's so fiery, you know, or is Kristen Keating going to be able to handle it? I'm like, they play for me. So I was preparing them for fran i think they're gonna be okay but you know the one thing that i'll say um and i give fran all the credit in the world is he was the first coach that recruited him division one division two whatever that really looked at kristen keegan as individuals he saw what chris could do on the floor. He saw what Keegan could do on the floor. He saw what they could do together. And his thing was, I would not offer both of these kids if I

did not think that their skillset would help our program. And so, you know, that to me meant more as a dad, because, you know, I'm always trying to decipher, you know, everyone's always asking, who's better? Is it Chris or is it Keegan? You know, and as a dad, I'm like, well, they're both good. But he was really the first head coach that articulated what he saw out of both of them individually and how they both could add to the program and help, you know, his program grow. So for me, I was, I was more than, you know,

it's been easy for me to kind of take the dad gloves off, the coach gloves off, and just kind of give them and let them grow. Because I know with Fran, with Coach Sparrow, with Coach Dillard, and then obviously Coach Taylor was kind of pivotal in recruiting Chris and Keegan. I know that they've got good guys around them, and the team is awesome. I mean, to be able to learn from a veteran group like this, player of the year, all Big Ten players, you know, I think Chris and Keegan couldn't have gone into a better situation

than they have this year. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it is a veteran squad, a team that's been together for quite a few years, able to coach them up. Obviously, I'm a big fan of Frank McCaffrey. I think, you know, sometimes he can rub people the wrong way. He can be like, he's a little fiery, a little bit. I don't know if you saw the press conference.

People were, some people being a little ridiculous about that, in my personal opinion. I thought you could clearly tell that he was just pissed off. Not at anyone in particular on the media, but he was just pissed off about the way the game played out. Is that kind of what you saw as well? Just, I mean, he's just, he's a passionate guy and I think players love that. Yeah. And the thing is, he's going to go to bat I mean I think he had you know obviously he didn't want to say what he was feeling at the time I mean we all saw it I mean there was two or three calls in that game that you know regardless we lose by five but you know those there were three pivotal calls and actually I would say five when you look at Luka Garza's

third and fourth files that were really pivotal to that game. And what Fran was doing was staying away from it. And he and Chad have a great relationship. That's the thing when outside people that aren't in the press conferences and stuff like that, when they don't know the history between Fran and some of the people in our media, you know, they're going to take it the wrong way. You know, Fran was very finely walking, he was tiptoeing the line and he made his point heard. You know, I just think that when you don't know an entire story and you don't know the backstory to a relationship, especially with the media, then you pretty much need to just kind of keep your nose out of it and let it be what it is because Chad, you know, he didn't take any

offense to it. And so, but yeah, you know, that's the thing you love about Fran. He's going to fight for his guys. And I tell you, you know, there is a reason why former players love him so much because they know he'll run through a wall for them. And, you know, we lost a couple of games where we're still 12-4. We're still, you know, one of the top, you know, 10, 15 teams in the country. And, you know, I think we learn from the losses. I think that's what's going to help us down the stretches, you know, the Indiana game and this Illinois game and stuff like that. So, uh, I mean, yeah, the sky's not falling here. Iowa Hawkeye fans. Yeah, absolutely.

So I wanted to, I mean, we originally talked about maybe doing like a game recap. Um, unfortunately on Saturday, I just, I needed a little bit of therapy for myself. So I just want to talk through it. Uh, cause I was not frustrated at the team. I was just frustrated, like you said, by the officiating. I just need to talk through it. And so I spent 30 minutes just rambling on. So we don't need to go too much into the recap, but I do want to talk about the season,

but I do want to get to the five, the five pivotal moments, because as you said, there were a few pivotal moments. I do agree on the Luka Garza, two fouls. I thought those were very nitpicky, especially when you look at what Kofi was doing to Luka, and he was just rag-dolling him around,

and Luka was still managing to get his points. I think the traveling no-call was pretty, you know, agarious. And then, obviously, the goaltending call was ridiculous. What is the other call that you're referencing? Just want to make sure I'm – No, those are it. I was looking at that, you know, Luka's two fouls. You're looking at the goaltending call that was reversed reversed and even though Joe put it in after it got blocked

you know there's that point then there's the travel and then the other thing I was looking at is is how do we as a team only shoot six free throws in the game I mean Luca Garza is one of the best low post players that we've seen in the history of Iowa basketball. He's been rewriting records in the Big Ten as well. And he shoots one free throw. You know, I mean, I could see it if it was Jordan Bohannon or, you know, one of our perimeter guys that maybe shot one free throw. But Luka's getting banged on, you know, the entire game. And so, you know, I think that was a travesty.

You know, we did have some lapses in our fast break defense. And even breaking down the film, you know, I think that was a travesty. You know, we did have some lapses in our fast break defense. And even breaking down the film, you know, I shot Keegan a quick text. And I was like, yeah, you know, you're a little late on this. Or there was a couple mysteries because a lot of people don't understand what Fran's defense is supposed to do in the zone. Like how do they know where to rotate? And there's certain rotations when the ball hits the corner and things like that. But I was able to talk to Keegan a little bit about it and,

and he agreed, you know, there was just, there was just a couple of lapses in our half court defense that you cut out some of the fast break points. And then, you know, you get a couple of stops on that end, you add in a cause by the referees, and we walk away with that game with a win. And the same thing with, you look at Gonzaga, if we would have shot our free, our free throw percentage and our shooting and our three point percentage in that game, we win that game by eight to 10 points, you know, everything else being equal.

So I think the people that that nitpick and try to break down the game. Oh, and I've said it on the message boards, too. Like if you haven't been in the war room trying to figure out a game plan or watch film and break it down and how to stop players, figure out a game plan or watch film and break it down and how to stop players, then honestly, your opinion really doesn't matter when you try to break down the strategy that goes into a game. And I put myself out there, but I've done it. You know, I've played it. I've coached it at multiple levels. And sometimes it just drives me nuts when, you know, people don't take all those other things into consideration. But, you know, fan is short for fanatic. So, you know, what do we do? Yeah. I mean, everyone likes to be an armchair coach, right?

I mean, that's basically what I do on my show too. I try to stay away from, from the strategy as much as because I don't have that experience. I was terrible at basketball. It was one of my worst sports. I couldn't, I can't shoot the ball to save my life. All my friends would tell you that, but I can at least watch and, you know, I can see trends. I can look at some of the stats and, you know, put together somewhat of a good picture, but obviously that's why I wanted to have you on the show as well, because you can talk a

little bit more about that. One of the things I noticed is that you said you were breaking down the game film. Do you do that for each game and then share kind of your thoughts with Keegan and Chris as well? All right. Last pause of the conversation with Kenyon. I hope you all are enjoying it as much as I did when I was chatting with him, but I do have a very important message for you because if you haven't tried a Bilt Bar, you're missing out. If you need some protein in your life, grab yourself a Bilt Bar. It is the best tasting protein bar on the market. I think I can accurately say that because I have not found a protein bar that tastes anywhere near as good as a Bilt Bar.

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Use the promo code LOCKEDON for 20% off at BiltBar.com. LockedOn for 20% off at BuiltBar.com. All right, before we get back to the show, just a reminder that we have episodes dropping every single day this week. Tomorrow we are joined by the hosts of LockedOn Spartans to give you a crossover episode previewing Iowa versus Michigan State. We also have a crossover episode previewing Iowa versus Ohio State later on in the week. So lots of great content coming at you.

It's an action-packed week. All that's hitting hit on this week right here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Let's turn our attention back to our conversation with Kenyon as we wrap up this interview. Yeah, you know, it just depends because I know Keegan, Fran made the comment in his post-game that Keegan kind of beat himself up because he made some mistakes. And so in a game like that, where I thought defensively,

he was really good on, you know, you know, Fran put him on. That's a big assignment. It is. And if I, and while watching the film, you know, the sumo scored on him twice. And when he was, and there were two like running floating and right-handed shots that he had a chance to block and just didn't get, but when he was in his was in his area in the zone, Keegan did a really good job of containing him. And so from that, I was just like, hey, you did a great job there.

You know, here's a couple of things. And they were freshman things. You know, it was just kind of recognition things that I brought to his attention. It was like, hey, I'm not telling you anything you don't know. And I was just saying, I just want to say, hey, you did a great job. You know, the one where he missed a left-handed layup in the first half I was like on your second step turn it to the rim and go try and dunk on him you know I'm saying so it's stuff like that it's nothing

that's breaking his game down and saying you need to do this you need to do that it's just like hey as your former coach this is what I saw you know make sure you know next time just just work on identifying these things and he'll be fine. And like Fran said, he does, he beats himself up because he knows if I make this player make that play, you know, two plays can win us the game. And so Keegan's always thinking like, what can I do to help this team win? So I break it down, but yeah, I don't do it every game. I just kind of did it the Illinois game because I heard Fran say that Keegan kind of beat himself up. So it was just kind of a dad thing, just saying, hey, this is what I saw.

I thought you played great. Keep grinding. Get ready for Michigan State. Yeah, I mean, I think that's a good message in general for the whole team, because I really, you know, the Gonzaga game, the Indiana game, the Minnesota game, I can see being frustrated by the team performance, not at individuals specifically, but Indiana. We couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. We couldn't hit water. We fell out of a boat in the middle of the ocean. Right. It was, it was just a historically bad shooting game. And it's frustrating to watch, but those happen. It's a throwaway game. You're done. You're out Gonzaga. Like you said, I broke that down.

And I was like, if we hit free throws at a 70% clip and our three-pointers at a 30% clip, which is still far below our season average. We win that game. I mean, that's, that's, that's how close we were. And then the Minnesota game, we should have won that game. It was, you know, we just got, it was tough towards the end, but the Illinois game was probably the toughest one for me because I felt like we played a pretty good basketball game. Yeah. There were mistakes. There are always mistakes. It's hard to be perfect. And especially against a team like Illinois, who's so strong and such a good team. People forget that Illinois

is also in that conversation for the number one team in the big 10 and they've had some losses, but they're close losses. So to me, that was frustrating seeing them kind of, it was tough losing due to some officiating, but as you said, the sky is not falling. So I wanted to get your thoughts as a long winded way of saying, what are your thoughts on this season and where can Iowa go from here and what are your expectations for the rest of the year yeah I think the number one thing is getting CJ healthy you know I think um Fran made the point of you know if if we know it's going to if we put him out there and it's going to possibly have us lose him for two or three weeks, then we're not going to do it.

And so I think the biggest thing is getting C.J. healthy because we know how important he is to the offensive side of basketball. I think we saw some great things out of Tony Perkins. Yeah. And we definitely have seen some things out of Aaron Ulis. I think probably still the biggest, I guess, puzzle to solve with this team is rotation and how every game is a little bit different. And Fran having – I mean, he literally has 12 guys that can play.

It's hard because there's guys that are probably earning minutes in practice, but you don't want to break up that flow, especially this far into the season, but that depth can also help us. So I think number one is just getting CJ healthy, making sure that whatever stretch run we make, he's going to be a part of. I think two is, is continue to shore up our defense.

Like you said, I thought even though we play more zone defense against Illinois, then I thought we, we were going to, because I thought we came out pretty well in our man-to-man. I think you saw some really good things there. There was a couple of mix-ups, but the biggest thing is continue to get better on that defensive end. And I think the loss to Indiana, the loss at Illinois gave us kind of two games were different than what we've

seen all year long. And if we can break those down and get better defensively and rebounding-wise and off of those two games, I think it's going to definitely help us down the stretch. You know, other than that, it's just, you know, just to continue to be the team we are. You know, we know we got to feed Luca. Wheezy's got to continue to be aggressive. I think Keegan, you know, with the minutes, you know,

you're going to start seeing him knock down those outside shots because he's one of the better shooters on the team. And that's not coming from me. That's coming from, you know, Jordan and some of the guys that have seen him play. You know, and then if we can get some some solid minutes from from Tony and Joe or Joe Toussaint coming off the bench, I think we're going to be good. You know, Patty is disruptive. I think he's still trying to find his shot um and consistency there but you can see what he can do with his length um and jack's been great on the defensive end nunji's been great defensive you know blocking shots rebounding the basketball he's he's done that um so there's a lot of positives going we just have to continue to find a way which is tough sometimes how do we get better this deep into the season you know preparing for the stretch run

yeah I mean we have a lot of games coming up we have six games over 16 days coming into this I said I really feel like we probably go four and two and I thought you know there's a chance we go six no the very lowest we could be is two and four but I thought four and two is probably a good mix it's just tough to play that many games back to back to back against this many quality opponents. So losing Illinois, was it tough? Yeah, it was. But it's also not something that to be unexpected. It's a very good team.

Those things just kind of happen. But it does make me feel good that a lot of things you're saying are things I was at least thinking. I had a – on Saturday's call, like I said, I had an episode yesterday. We're recording this on Sunday. This is dropping tomorrow. But on Saturday, I did a little bit of a therapy session. I had some people call in as well. Some fans call in. And the first one I listened to said, Jack Nunji should never play another minute. And I was like,

did you watch the Illinois game? Because what he did to Kofi Coburn, who's one of the best centers in the entire nation, also seven foot tall, 285 pounds. That's a, that is a man. That is a big boy to move around. And Jack Nunji played the best defense I've ever seen. I mean, he was phenomenal on the defense side of the floor. And when he gets his offensive game going, that'll be a huge factor as well. Patrick McCaffrey. I also feel like there's, it's just, it just was waiting for it to click, right? He's one of our best slashers. He can drive the basket. He gets there. He's, he's willing to get there,

but he just doesn't have that touch yet. He's still working it out. But once he does, Holy crap, watch out for him. And I love the dynamic of him and Joe and Keegan Murray. So early on, I mean, that gives you a look into the future. You add Tony Perkins and Aaron Ullis in the mix. Holy crap. I mean, this isn't a team that's going to be competing for national titles this year. This is a team that could be competing for national titles for the next four or five years. I think it's pretty incredible. no I think you're right I think that the depth is

is crazy and you know Jack Nunji you know he one thing he does he knows he's not going to outpower you know a Kofi Coburn he knows he's got to use his length and that's what he did he used his quickness to get around um he waited till he released the shot to block the shot so I think he ended up with four blocks in the Illinois game. So, yeah, so like I said, people are looking at, okay, Jack is not Luka. You know, that's the thing. You know, that's just how it is. Joe Toussaint is not Bohannon, you know.

CJ or Tony Perkins is not CJ. You know what I mean? You know, and even like Keegan is not Patrick, you know. And so there's, you know, I think when people play a certain position, fans look at them like they should do the same thing. It's like, no, the game changes when when Nunchi and Keegan and Patrick and Toussaint come in. It's a different dynamic. They switch the defenses up and they look to score a different way. So it's all about understanding the combinations and what, you know, the play calling changes, those kinds of things. Like there's little nuances that, you know, you who study the

game, you know, and you broadcast on a game and things like that, like you're, you're taking your time to learn those things, you know, armchair coaches, they're just looking at the final result. And if a guy turns the ball over, if he misses a shot or this, that, the other thing, the box scores, you can't go off a box scores and understand what people do to affect the game. And so somebody saying that Jack Nunji shouldn't play, I'm going to, you know, keep my lips tight on what, you know, where that person can go. But I just think that, you know, you talk about, you know, six games in 16 days. And I think that's where our depth can be a benefit for us that other teams in the league don't have. Yeah. And I also wanted to point out too can be a benefit for us that other teams in the league don't have. Yeah.

And I also wanted to point out too, you mentioned rotations and getting those figured out because it can be tough. And that, that honestly has been a critique of Fran in the past few years as sometimes it can be almost tough to get all those guys in. He tries to play as many guys as he feels like should be playing. And the rotations can be a little bit cute to an extent, but I feel like he's starting to figure it out with this team. You look at the Rutgers game, you look at the Maryland game,

he puts in a second string unit and they outscore the first string. I mean, that, that is a loaded amount of depth. And I do think as you kind of talked about, as we get through the stretch, we're going to find him tinkering with those rotations a bit more so we can find what makes things work. It also is so unfair for Jack Nunji to be compared to Luka Garza. It's unfair for anyone to be compared to Luka Garza in this day and age. He's going to go down as the best player in Iowa history.

Kenyon, I've kept you on for a long time. I know you have your daughter's volleyball game. I know you're trying to get away a little bit, make sure your wife isn't mad at you for sitting around her too often. But I have one last question for you. Just wanted to get a sense – actually, two last questions. Just wanted to get a sense for actually two last questions. Wanted to get a sense for what you're doing in the community. Cause I looked at your LinkedIn.

It looks like you're pretty involved with a few volunteer efforts. Anything you want to say about those items and kind of what you're doing in the community for Cedar Rapids? Yeah. Yeah. Currently I'm the interim president for the LBA foundation is called a stance for leaders, believers, achievers. It's a organization that we started a number of years ago just to help underprivileged kids get access to not only extracurricular activities, but academic resources and things like that.

Alfonso Bannon, he actually just did an interview on KCRG the other night, just talking about how difficult COVID has made it for us to continue to touch these kids. When we started out our first year, we had about 36 kids in a program. And before COVID, we were touching over 300 kids in the Cedar Rapids area. So, you know, that's, that's one of the things I also, I'm the secretary for the choices network, which is, which was started by a good friend of mine, Jeff Johnston, actually his day, his dad, Dave Johnston was our team doctor at at Iowa. I've known the family for a long time. But Jeff, four years ago, lost his oldest son to a heroin overdose. And so the Choices Network is about helping people cope with addiction to get help for that.

And so, yeah, so that's a really, you know, one thing that's really close to my heart because, you know, they're like family. Seth was – I coached Seth in high school in basketball. We went on family trips with him. So for that I knew how difficult it was. So, yeah, so I'm part of that. And I still help out with Prairie Athletics. My daughter is a freshman at Cedar Rapids Prairie. She started this year as a freshman on varsity.

I kind of helped out in the preseason doing skills and development for the girls. And then other than that, you know, my main job, I've been in the medical field for over a decade now in the dental field. And so, yeah, you know, like I said, my roots are here. There's a lot of great things going on, not only in Cedar Rapids, but across Iowa. And, yeah, I'm just glad to continue to call this home. Absolutely, yeah. I mean, I've been gone for 10 years at this point, but I always talk about,

because my wife and I are not coming back, that's just, it is what it is. But I always talk about how can I instill the values I learned by being in Iowa and by being from the state of Iowa and our kids in a completely different state with a completely different mindset. Because I think the values that I got

from just being in the state of Iowa is something you can't really replicate a lot of places. It's an amazing place to raise a family at. Maybe not the most fun place for a 20 to 30 year old, in my personal opinion, Des Moines has gotten better, but definitely, I love the state of Iowa. Definitely have a soft spot in my heart forever. Last question for you, you also developed the calm process and I wanted to get a sense for what that means or what it stands for. And also, where can you find it at? Because I suck at selling. So I'd just be curious about what you do.

No, no. Well, yeah, I got a copywriter. You know, Calm is just basically I've taken, you know, the 15 years of sales that I've had and broken it down into, you know, four really simple steps. You know, the C is for communication, you know, and I think in any sales environment, that's where everything starts. You have to be able to communicate. And so, yeah, so basically it's just a really simple process that I've taken to heart. That's helped me be successful. And we can't really find it anywhere

right now. Um, I'm kind of keeping it right now to see if, uh, I do any training or anything like that, but you know, if anybody does, if they, if they, you know, have questions about it and what it is, um, you know, like I said, they can always email me or hit me up on LinkedIn, but, uh, but yeah, no, it's just, it's just, like I said, for me, I think sometimes sales can be, um, overthought when it comes to the process and what you have to do. Um, and the biggest thing, honestly, it communication is where it starts. It's about you listening. And then obviously, uh, providing, you know, the resources and stuff that you have to, for your, uh, for your, uh, for the customers that you're serving.

So yeah, that's, that's really all it is. Um, I've got. I've kind of kept it under wraps for a while and hopefully I'll be able to use it here in the future. Absolutely. Well, Kenyon, I really appreciate you taking the time out of your Sunday. We obviously had to reschedule because I forgot I had brunch. So I do appreciate you, you jumping on any last words for Hawkeye nation out there. No, just support the guys. and I think be ready for a special run because I think these guys have it in them. Absolutely. I'm excited. I cannot wait for for Indianapolis this year. Awesome. Well, thank you, Kenyon. Have a good day, buddy. All right, you too. All right, y'all. And that will do it. I hope you enjoyed the conversation with Kenyon as

much as I did. And as he said, there's a lot of season left. This basketball team is going to achieve great things. Just stay with it. Losses are going to happen. But what he said is this team can learn from these losses. Each of these games, especially Indiana and Illinois, there are different things they can take away, they can learn from and prove on. And they get an opportunity to do that tomorrow night.

So thank you to Kenyon for joining the show. It was a blast talking to him. I hope you all enjoyed it as well. And if you liked the show, give us that five-star review. Subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at. And follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. As always, Hawkeye Nation, I appreciate your love, your support, and your listenership. Have a fantastic Monday, and let's go Hawks.