Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Fran McCaffery and Jordan Bohannon cement Iowa basketball legacies with Big Ten Tournament win

Episode Date: March 14, 2022

The Iowa basketball team took care of business against Purdue on Sunday winning their fourth game in as many days to win the first Big Ten Tournament title under Fran McCaffery. More impressively, the Iowa Hawkeyes didn't just win, they dominated throughout the weekend breaking several tournament records, coming up clutch when it mattered, and showing the nation that they are a team to worry about in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.After discussing the impressive victory, we break down the Iowa Hawkeye's seed in the 2022 NCAA Tournament and why their path to the Elite Eight isn't unrealistic at all.We wrap up with a breakdown of the Iowa women's team seeding in the 2022 NCAA Tournament and who stands in their way of advancing to the Elite Eight with National Player of the Year candidate Caitlin Clark.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.RunYourPoolIf you want to play against us for a shot at a cash prize join us at RunYourPool.com/LockedOn. And while you’re there, create your own pool for your friends and family. Enter ‘PUREMADNESS’ at checkout for $10 off your custom pool.StatHeroStatHero is reshaping the way the way you play fantasy sports. Dozens of house based games to play daily. No sharks, no funky props, just your skill vs the lineups you choose. Sign-up today at StatHero.com/LockedOn 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 another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Podcast Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, and we have a phenomenal episode for you today. Our men's Iowa Hawkeyes basketball team, they are Big Ten tournament champions.

We're going to be talking about that win over Purdue, but also getting to the big stuff, right? The March Madness NCAA tournament. Iowa has officially been seeded in that, and they have a pretty pretty nice clear path to a Sweet 16 if not an Elite 8 run for this team. So we're going to be talking about that on today's show

and also talking a little bit about the women's team and their seeding. It is going to be a fun week here at the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Make sure you are tuning in to everything we have going on and I want to thank you all for making the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. You can find the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. You can find the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast for free wherever you get podcasts at and

also on YouTube by searching Lockdown Hawkeyes. And today's episode of Lockdown Hawkeyes is brought to you by Run Your Pool. March Madness is here and Run Your Pool has a better way to create your bracket. RunYourPool.com, the premier sports pool hosting service. So let's get into it. But before we get to that, I want to thank you all for just being patient with the show. Right now is a phenomenal time in my life. My wife gave birth to our first son on Friday or Saturday morning, I guess, at 1222 a.m.

Maverick Campos Wade has entered this world, the latest addition to Iowa Hawkeye Nation. So I was the whole weekend I was in the hospital. We actually just left this afternoon, this Monday afternoon. So I apologize for not getting a show out to you all sooner. But I hope you can understand there are some pretty big things, pretty amazing things happening in my life. And that takes precedent every every single time. I'm also not doing this on YouTube for this show. I only have certain pockets of time between baby feeding, baby needing attention, crying, etc. that I'm able to record and unfortunately did not have access to the restream.

So I apologize for that, for you not getting this on YouTube. We have a great week coming up though. So we're going to get into the show. I know I've been talking a lot. We're going to get into the show. But we have several former Richmond players coming on to talk about the Richmond Spiders and what to expect on Thursday's game. We also have Kyle Huseman of Hawkeye Report to come in and discuss this women's basketball

team and their seating as well. A bit more in detail than what we're going to discuss on today's show. And we're looking at getting some other big names on the show to talk about Iowa's run. So we'll get to that, though. That'll all be coming up this week. We have a few bonus episodes as well because there is just so much content to cover. I'm not going to be able to get to it all in just five episodes. So as I mentioned, this men's basketball team is officially the Big Ten tournament champions

against Purdue. What an incredible game. Honestly, just what a phenomenal game to watch. Iowa versus Purdue. It was a game that Iowa needed to get that monkey off its back. They have struggled versus Purdue in the past. They've lost to Purdue twice this year. Purdue is a team that matches up really well against the Hawks. You have a ridiculously athletic guard in Jaden Ivey. You have potent three-point shooters across the board for Purdue. You have not one, but two very talented big men in Zach Eadie and Travion Williams. And Travion Williams, a very skilled passer, as we saw in this game. It gives Iowa a lot of matchup problems.

And the fact that Iowa walked away from this game. It gives Iowa a lot of matchup problems. And the fact that Iowa walked away from this game winning 75 to 66 just proves the point that this team is ready to make a run. And that Fran McCaffrey is operating at 100% capacity right now. He is firing on all cylinders when it comes to his coaching decisions. And that was none more evident than in this game. Where Iowa went to their bench. And they had 10 guys get 10 minutes or more of playing time. And the buttons he was pushing worked out so ridiculously well. Three of the five guys he brought off the bench for more than 10 minutes or more. Had offensive ratings of over 100.

And the guy I really want to call out, there's two guys actually, Peyton Sanford. He is a guy to watch out for next year. He is going to be a guy that could challenge some of Jordan Bohannon's shooting records. Peyton Sanford came out of this game as a true freshman who has had interesting spurts of no playing time versus a lot of playing time.

He came in in one of the biggest games of his life and he produced. He did not play that much against Indiana. He did not play that much against Rutgers. Seven minutes against Indiana, nine minutes against Rutgers. Didn't even play in the game against Michigan. Four minutes against Nebraska, one minute against Rutgers, didn't even play in the game against Michigan,

4 minutes against Nebraska, 1 minute against Ohio State. There were several games in January where he barely played. 6 minutes against Purdue, did not play against Penn State, 3 against Rutgers, 9 against Minnesota, 1 against Indiana, and 2 against Maryland. He comes into the biggest game of his life and goes 4-4 from the field with 10 points and a steal. Two incredibly clutch three-point shots from Peyton Sanford. Joshua Gundelay, another guy to call out. Offensively, maybe not the best performance,

but overall, Joshua Gundelay gave us so many good minutes against Zach Eaddy and Travion Williams. That was going to be the biggest issue we have from a matchup perspective. We don't have the bigs to handle those guys. And Josh put in the time, and he was battling, absolutely battling on the glass. And Joe Toussaint, I know he had some turnovers, I know he had some bad plays,

but what Joe Toussaint has been bringing throughout this tournament has been nothing short of impressive. 10 minutes against Purdue, 14 against Indiana, 15 against Rutgers. He has been a nightmare in this tournament for opposing offenses. In four games, in just over, let's say, 50 minutes of play, he has forced 8 steals. 8 turnovers by him. Putting in the work the only way he knows how to do. He was being scrappy and absolutely doing a great job of disrupting the offense of Purdue. And that goes to my second point of, Fran McCaffrey has been pushing all of the right buttons in these games.

Fran McCaffrey has been pushing all of the right buttons in these games. Who would have expected Josh to get any sort of real playing time this season? After we did not see him really... He played a little bit against Kofi for a few minutes. But Josh came in and gave us fantastic minutes. Peyton Sanford came in and gave fantastic minutes. We're seeing Fran McCaffrey do the right things with his bench. I think also the fact that they came into this game and I guarantee they knew they were

going to be playing Josh and Riley a bit. It gave Phillip Abracha a little bit more wiggle room. He had the ability to foul where he felt necessary to stop Purdue from scoring. Put them at the line. Make them shoot those free throws. And this was not

a game where Iowa played all that well. They shot 28% from three. They got out-rebounded by 18 boards. They were a little sloppy early on in the first half as well. But they found a way to win. They found a way to get the W. Keegan Murray was not necessarily shooting out of this world, but he found a way to get the W. Keegan Murray was not necessarily shooting out of this world, but he found a way to get the W. 19 points, 3 of 8 from 3, 11 boards, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 steals.

Another amazing performance from Keegan Murray. This team just finds a way to win. And what an impressive tournament. A tournament that I think. Just cemented the legacy of Fran McCaffrey. And Jordan Bohannon. Both player and coach. Who have been ridiculed and tormented by this fan base. In varying degrees.

Not everyone. But certain people have been really critical of both those guys. And they found a way to get it done. In this tournament, setting records for points scored, field goals made, field goals attempted, three points made, three points attempted, assists. Keegan Murray had the tournament record for points scored. Ultimately leading him to a tournament MVP and Jordan Mohannon getting named to the all tournament team.

Just one of the best four games I've ever seen this Iowa basketball team play. And while I want them to go far in the NCAA tournament, and I expect them to go far in the NCAA tournament, which I'm going to be covering on a bonus episode, just why I think Iowa can go far, I can walk away happy with how Iowa played in this season. The fact they are rising to the occasion late in the season. Had they beaten Illinois, and I thought Illinois was a very interesting game

from an officiating perspective and from a lot of different things, especially Kofi being able to basically get away with anything. Maybe you hit that last shot. Iowa would have won their last 10 games, including very difficult quad one games against Illinois, Purdue, and Indiana. Yes, they fell to Illinois, but this team is hitting a stride at the right time. And I'm going to talk about that coming up in a few short moments as we talk about the men's basketball tournament and the seeding for that.

Iowa get the fifth seed. I think that's probably low. They should probably have gotten the fourth seed. But nevertheless, I'm here to tell you why this team has the ability to go far because their matchups, their seeding, their side of the bracket bodes very well for the Iowa Hawkeyes. And as we were talking about, March Madness is this week. It is beginning tomorrow with the play-in games. That means you need to start thinking now about where you're going to be running your brackets this year.

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Promo code locked on. Terms and conditions apply. And thank you again for making the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. Make sure to check out the Locked On Bracket Breakdown March 14th right here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast feed and YouTube channel. College basketball experts Chris Gordy, Andy

Patton, and betting expert Lee Sterling give you in-depth breakdowns on every single matchup. So let's get into those matchups. Let's talk about the Iowa Hawkeyes seeds. Iowa getting seeded fifth in the Midwest region, and they are playing Thursday afternoon against 12th seeded Richmond. After that, they either get 4th seeded Providence or 13th seeded South Dakota State.

The next likely matchup after that is number one seeded Kansas. And I'm here to tell you, that is a phenomenal draw for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Yes, I would have loved to see Iowa get that fourth seed. I think they were deserving of that fourth seed. There's several things I could point you to that say they were deserving. Heck, even the coaches believe they were one of the top 16 teams in the nation. The final AP poll coming out, they were 16th in the nation. They just beat several high quality teams.

They added several quality quad one wins to their resume. And when you look at their net ranking, they're fantastic. Their Kempom ranking is also fantastic. The top Big Ten team in the nation. The top team in the Big Ten, I should say. Not the top Big... Well, both work.

So why were they not bumped up to fourth? How was Purdue third? It was very clear to me that the bracket selection committee did not take into account those championship games on Sunday, which I think is absolutely an atrocity. How do you not

take into account a big time game like that? It's not that difficult. If you want to, obviously I know they were able, they wanted to get those seedings out very quickly, but maybe you say, here's the seedings. If Iowa beats Purdue, here's the seedings. If Iowa does not beat Purdue and then you release them after that. I don't know. I just, I think it's ridiculous. I think it's dumb that Iowa did not get a fourth seed. However, I'm very happy with where Iowa was ultimately seeded at. When you look at Richmond, they are peaking at the right time. They just won their conference tournament,

which got them into the tournament. They would not have been in there without that. But they're not a team that should overly concern Hawkeye fans. They're 83rd in Kenpom. They're 68th in offensive adjusted efficiency. But they're not a team that should overly concern Hawkeye fans. They're 83rd in Kenpom. They're 68th in offensive adjusted efficiency. 104th in defensive adjusted efficiency. They're a solid team.

They played pretty well this season, 23 and 12. But their best wins, all three of their best wins this season came in the tournament. Against 67th VCU, 57th Dayton, and 41st Davidson. They have very solid guards who are great at forcing turnovers, quick athletic guards, but they don't really have anyone that can match up overly well with Keegan Murray. No one who has either the size or the athletic ability to take on Keegan Murray 1v1. That is going to be a matchup nightmare, and also adding the fact

that we don't have one Keegan Murray, for one v one. That is going to be a matchup nightmare. And also adding the fact that we don't have one Keegan Murray, we have two, we got Keegan and we got Chris Murray on the team, both brothers who do a phenomenal job of creating mismatch problems. Now, if Patrick McCaffrey is playing better, that is also a mismatch problem for any team going up against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

And then when you look at what Rich Richmond does, they don't shoot the three overly well, 175th in the nation. They're also 327th in offensive rebounding. Iowa defensively played arguably its best game in the entire season, one of its best defensive games I've seen in the Fran McCaffrey era against Purdue. That intensity, if they carry that over, should stifle the heck out of Richmond, despite their strong guard play that they have.

Iowa should be able to dominate the glass as well, end possessions early, and get out in transition and run. Richmond is not a team that likes to run, but you better believe Iowa is going to get them off their game and force them to want to run with them, and that is going to help out Iowa only more, especially against a team like Richmond, who maybe isn't the best offensive team in the tournament. Following that up, Iowa gets a matchup with either 4th seeded Providence or 13th seeded South Dakota State.

I'm going to focus on Providence here. Providence is a team that is overrated to this point. They are 49th in Kenpom,st in adjusted offenses efficiency, and 79th in defensive adjusted efficiency. They have an incredibly slow pace of play, but they are first in luck according to Ken Palm. Now here's what that means. It essentially means the balls have bounced their way more often than not. It means those close games that can be 50-50 type of games have gone their way more often than not. They have won by less traditional strong indicators of good play than other teams in the country.

That is not to say Providence is not a good team. Providence is a very good team, but they are not a team that scares me as much as playing a Kansas, for example. Right? This is not a team that worries me as much as playing even a Houston, for example. This is not a team that worries me as much as playing even a Houston, for example. And Providence is coming off a little bit of a rough stretch. They just got blown out by Creighton in the Big East Tournament 85-58.

They did win 25 games out of their 30 games, but again, when you look at that a little bit closer, a lot of those games are very close games. They're very good in the clutch. But I do not think they have the ability to handle Iowa's offense, and I believe by looking at the roster, by looking at what they've done, by looking

at their body of work, Iowa matches up very well against the Providence Friars. After that, Iowa gets Kansas. More than likely Kansas. Now there are several other teams they could get, but they are more than likely getting Kansas. More than likely Kansas. Now there are several other teams they could get, but they are more than likely getting Kansas. I really, truly like Iowa matching up against Kansas better than I do any of the one seeds in the entire tournament.

And we're going to be talking about that on a future episode of the show, probably dropping that show Wednesday as a bonus episode, so be on the lookout for that. But overall, Iowa, I don't agree with the seed, but I appreciate the path they have in the NCAA tournament. I believe this is a tournament, this is a path that Iowa has the ability to make a run in. And we're seeing a lot of media members pick Iowa to go to the Final Four. We're seeing some pick them to go to the National Championship game.

I'll be completely honest here. If Iowa makes the Sweet 16, based off my expectations coming into the season, that is going to, by far, surpass all expectations. You see an Elite Eight run or a Final Four run, though? I'm crying when those wins are happening. That is going to be big time for this Iowa Hawkeye team and everything they've done over this last two months gives me every ounce of belief that this team can

do it. I know it has been tough, right? Iowa fans are a tough bunch. We support the heck out of our Iowa Hawkeye teams. But we don't typically get these nice things, right? We don't typically get to see our teams go far. We had one of the best teams in the nation last year,

and we got to go against a team that we matched up terrible with in the second round in Oregon, a team that also did not have to play a game before that. They were well-rested, quick athletic, and dominated the Hawkeyes. Iowa does not get nice things, but it is okay to believe and to feel inspired after what we just saw from this Iowa basketball team and think this team has the ability to go to an Elite Eight or a Final Four or even a National Championship game. Anything can happen at March Madness. That's why they call it March Madness.

And this team is positioning itself very well to make that anything become the thing. And we're going to be talking about, again, that on a future episode. We're going to be dropping a bonus episode of that coming up. We're going to talk a little bit about this women's basketball tournament as well. I'm very happy with Iowa's seed, but not happy with their path. Basically, the exact inverse of this men's team. We're going to be talking about that and then giving you some previews of some of the shows

coming up on future episodes of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Before we get to that, though, it is that time of the year. The tournament is upon us. I know you're filling out your brackets, but why don't you put some money on it as well? You can get all of your betting needs accomplished at betonline.net. So not only can you go fill out a bracket elsewhere, go to betonline.net, get all the latest odds, contests, and player props for all of your sports betting needs and info. Betonline.net remains the best spot for all of your sports scores, podcasts, and news of the season. And

it's not just basketball. Betonline is your continued source for all of your sports wagering information needs, including live betting and your favorite Vegas casino games. Again, you can go fill out a bracket, but why not go bet on each individual game and put some extra money in your favorite Vegas casino games. Again, you can go fill out a bracket, but why not go bet on each individual game and put some extra money in your pocket throughout the next couple of days? There are a lot of opportunities there, right? A lot of seeding advantages that you can take advantage of

coming into this tournament. So head over to their website today or use your mobile device and learn more about the trends in action, betonline.net. It is where the game starts. All right, y'all. We've talked a lot about the men's basketball team.

I do not want to overshadow the women's basketball team, which also got their seed last night as the bracket was revealed after the men's bracket. The Iowa women's basketball team getting a number two seed in the NCAA tournament. And that is absolutely huge. They were not, by all metrics, maybe not qualified to be that number two seed in the NCAA tournament. And that is absolutely huge. They were not, by all metrics, maybe not qualified to be that number two seed. I gave some reasonings why I thought they could be the number two seed.

But the bracket committee clearly valuing what Iowa has done over the last couple of months, what Iowa has done in comparison to where they had some of those COVID issues as well. So I really appreciate what the tournament committee did and looking at that, evaluating the body of work and how it came to be and understanding that Iowa had some struggles early on because of those COVID pauses and rewarding them for a job well done.

They get that number two seed, which in theory would make them the second best team in that bracket, which would put them in the elite Eight before facing the number one team, which is South Carolina. There's a lot of storylines to watch out for in this bracket, though. Iowa gets two home games at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. They start off with what should be a pretty easy game. They get number 15-seeded Illinois State,

which only qualified because they won the Missouri Valley Conference despite being the fourth best team in the Missouri Valley Conference. They are currently 119th in net ranking, and they are 18-13. It should be a pretty easy matchup in that first round of 64 game. And again, anytime you're playing in Carver, it is going to be a better game. Following that up, they get either Creighton or Colorado. It's also worth noting that Iowa plays, I believe, on Friday, and then they'll get their second round game on that Sunday.

So we're going to have men's basketball Thursday and Saturday, women's basketball Friday and Sunday. They get that either Creighton or Colorado on that Sunday. Creighton, 32nd in that ranking, 20-9, 2-5 in Quad 1 games. Colorado, 29th in that ranking, 22-8, 5-7 in Quad 1 games. These are quality teams at that 7-10 seeded spot. It is not going to be an easy cakewalk for Iowa. But you win that, and you are getting into the real meat of the tournament

because you are more than likely facing the third-seeded Iowa State Cyclones, a team that has beaten Iowa early, a team that does have a lot of good strengths, a team that is not going to be easy for Iowa to get past, and that is going to be quite a matchup. I do not like the fact that the tournament committee pitted those two teams against each other at that early venture. I would love to see Iowa State on another side of the bracket because Iowa State is also a team that has the ability to make a tournament run in it. But nevertheless, we will probably see an Iowa versus Iowa State Sweet 16 matchup to have the opportunity to go face South Carolina, the number one team in that bracket, and Elijah Boston, a player who a lot of people think for some reason deserves the National Player of the Year award over Kaitlyn Clark.

That would be quite the matchup for the Iowa Hawkeyes. So again, Iowa getting two home games at Carver Hawkeye Arena. They get the 15-seeded Illinois State, followed by 7th or 10th-seeded Creighton in Colorado, followed by more than likely the 3rd-seeded Iowa State, and then the number 1-seeded South Carolina. On tomorrow's episode of the show, we'll be breaking down that entire bracket with Kyle Huseman, going into more details about all these games, what Iowa needs to do to be successful, and what we expect, what our predictions are for this women's basketball team, seeded number two in the 2022 NCAA tournament. It is a great time to be an Iowa Hawkeye.

It is going to be a lot of fun. And don't forget about the National Wrestling Championships as well. Iowa trying to get a back-to-back team title at the NCAAs. We're going to be talking about that at some point this week as well, so be on the lookout for that. And again, I appreciate

you making the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. Now it is time to make your second listen to the Lockdown NFL Draft podcast, hosted by Ryan Tracy and former NFL cornerback Eric Crocker. They bring the NFL draft to life every single day with insight and analysis on college football prospects

and NFL front offices. And it's free and available wherever you get your podcast at. That will do it for our show today though. I appreciate you all tuning in. I appreciate your patience as it took me a little bit of time to get this show out.

We will have our shows coming out at a more timely juncture throughout the week, so be on the lookout for that. A lot of great content, a lot of experts coming on the show to talk about all things Iowa basketball, men's and women's, so be on the lookout for that. Again, thank you all for tuning in to today's episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, the podcast covering your Big Ten tournament champions on both the men and the women's side.

I'm your host, Andrew Wade. Have a fantastic Monday, and as always, Hawkeye Nation, let's go Hawks!