Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Gary Dolphin is suspended | Wrestling team loses to #2 OSU | Akrum Wadley injured in AAF

Episode Date: February 25, 2019

The men's basketball team gets a win over Indiana Friday night 76-70 as Jordan Bohannon has another unbelievable performance. The #3 ranked Hawkeyes wrestling team fell to #2 Oklahoma State 27-12 in a match that was much closer than the score, and the women's basketball team no longer controls their own destiny in the Big Ten after falling to Indiana. We touch on Gary Dolphin's comments and the entire situation as well as recapping Akrum Wadley's week three performance in the AAF, which did end with him being injured. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good morning, Hawkeye Nation, and welcome to another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast covering everything you want to know about your University of Iowa Hawkeyes. I'm your host, Andrew Wade, editor over at dearoldgold.com, where you can find analysis pieces on all things black and yellow, and we have another awesome episode coming at you today. On segment number one, we're going to be covering the Iowa versus Indiana game. Iowa got a big win against Indiana, obviously led by Jordan Bohannon's improbable three-point shooting towards the end of that game.

Fantastic way to finish that game out. On segment number two, we're going to be covering kind of a recap of Hawkeye sports. And I would say, unlike last week where we were pretty excited coming into the Monday show, a lot of big wins, not a lot of wins this weekend, especially in some of the Monday show. A lot of big wins. Not a lot of wins this weekend, especially in some of the bigger sports. So we'll be talking about that on segment number two. And on segment number three, we're really going to be doing kind of a hodgepodge of topics. We're going to be talking about Akron Wadley. We're going to be touching on Gary Dolphin for a little bit. We're going to be talking about where the men's and women's basketball teams might end up

ranking when the rankings come out this morning. So make sure to stay tuned for all three segments. Awesome stuff coming up. And then we're going to be giving you full episodes the rest of the week. I know we missed out on last week's episodes on Thursday and Friday. Some personal stuff came up, so my apologies there. But we'll be giving you a full slate of episodes this week and next week, so stay tuned for that. full slate of episodes this week and next week, so stay tuned for that.

Before we jump in, though, make sure you are subscribing to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast at. And make sure, if you have a smart speaker at home, if you want to listen to the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast, just try this out. It's really easy, allows you to listen to the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast right away. Just tell Siri, Google, or Alexa to play podcast Locked on Hawkeyes. It is that easy to listen to the most recent episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. So that being said, let's jump right into it. Iowa versus Indiana, a big win for the Hawks. They really couldn't afford to lose this game. I mean, coming into it, losing it, you know, to Maryland on a last second buzzer beater,

you know, not really last second buzzer, but really a, losing it to Maryland on a last-second buzzer beater. No, not really a last-second buzzer, but really a last-second shot by Maryland. Iowa really couldn't afford to lose their second game in a row. They've had some really good momentum winning some of those close games. And this game against Indiana, again, though, what really frustrated me is that they started off slow. They didn't have things going right away. They were struggling a little bit, but they managed to persevere and come back and come back and come back. But it wasn't until the last probably few minutes

where they actually started getting back in the game. Down five with just over two minutes remaining. Jordan Bohannon hit two free throws. He assisted Tyler Cook on a layup and then hit a ridiculous three-pointer to tie it up. Then, you know, Romeo Langford missed a three and we went to overtime. In overtime, though, that's really where Bohannon started getting a little bit more heated up. He hit three of four three-pointers to account for nine of Iowa's 13 overtime points.

And his one miss, they got the ball immediately back, gave it right back to Bohannon, and he hit that next three. So that was an awesome way to end that game. The Hawks did win 76-70. Some people might point to the fact that Indiana is under 500. I would say Indiana is a talented team that's kind of been struggling with injuries, and then they had a tough slate of games that they've had to play over the last couple weeks, so either way, it's a big win for the Hawks getting that win going into tomorrow night's game against Ohio State. I did expect them to win this past game. I didn't expect it to be as difficult. The spread was six and a half coming into that game.

And I really thought they could win by double digits if they just played the way we know they could. But let's be honest, when you don't get much production from two-fifths of your starting lineup, there's not much you can do. On the night, Iowa didn't shoot the ball particularly well again. It's kind of becoming a theme as of late, just not shooting the ball the way we know they can. They hit 28% of the threes, and they only shot 42% overall from the field. Tyler Cook, Bohannon, and Garza did have big nights, but Weeskamp and Moss were pretty much silent the whole night.

Cook had 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 assists. Bohannon had 17 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. And Garza had 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 assists. So overall, they got the job done. That's all that really matters. I would have liked to see them do it a little bit easier. I would have liked to see their whole team get involved. but a win's a win, especially in the Big Ten, and now Iowa turns their attention to Ohio State tomorrow night. Where they'll be ranked at will

be kind of interesting. I'm excited to see that. We can talk about that on segment number three. The one other thing I wanted to cover, though, is just if you're listening to this and you were at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, we'd love to hear from you what your thoughts were on the crowd that night. I've heard from multiple sources that Carver was bumping, and it was just an absolutely fantastic time to be a part of Hawkeye Nation as Iowa came back in the final few minutes and Bohannon really carried the team in overtime. I heard that Carver was one of the loudest.

That night in Carver was one of the loudest nights in Carver that anyone's ever heard so would love to hear what your thoughts are feel free to tweet at us at LockedOnIowa or email me at LockedOnHawkeyes at gmail.com. I'd love to hear your experiences or thoughts and I'll share that on the air tomorrow if you can get that to me today so feel free to do that. We'll be talking about on segment number two kind of giving a rundown of the Hawkeye athletics that took place over this

past weekend. So stay tuned after a few messages from our sponsors. All right, we are back with segment number two. And just a reminder that if you haven't done this already, make sure you are subscribing to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast at. And if you have a smart speaker at home, all you need to do to listen to the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast

is tell your smart speaker to play podcast Locked on Hawkeyes. It's that easy to listen to the most recent episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. With that being said, let's jump right into segment number two, a recap of the other Hawkeye athletics that took place this past weekend. Like I said, not as exciting as the previous weekend where a lot of teams won. Some big losses coming this weekend, but we have to cover it. That is our job, and we will be doing that.

So we'll start with the easy one, swimming and diving. Nothing really happened this past weekend. They are getting ready for the Big Ten Championships to begin on Wednesday, and they will go until Saturday. So good luck, men and women there. Represent Iowa well. Men's tennis fell to 8-2. They lost to Cornell and Ithaca 2-5.

They take on Texas Tech in Lubbock this upcoming Sunday. Lubbock is not exactly a desirable place to be. I went there for work one time, and it was subpar to say the least. I mean, I went to a Texas Tech basketball game. I guess that was cool. There was some solid food there and some weird spots, but not exactly a place where the Hawkeyes men's tennis team probably wants to be at. Women's tennis though, they also suffered a few losses this weekend. They went into this weekend undefeated. They lost to Northwestern 0-7 and they lost to Penn State 4-3. So they now have two losses on their schedule, both in the Big Ten.

They take on Kansas State in Manhattan next Sunday. Probably the big, most disappointing, not disappointing, but just depressing loss, I would say, of the weekend was the men's wrestling team. Coming into this weekend, they were undefeated. They've been blowing out every single team, but they were getting ready to take on number two Oklahoma State, and ultimately they fell 27-12. The game, the meet, though, was a lot closer than that. Spencer Lee and Austin DeSantos, both top-ranked wrestlers for Iowa,

lost OSU John up to a 12, nothing lead early on. So that was not really a great way to start that. I think it would have been great if Iowa could have even, even split that Spencer Lee got pinned something we don't typically see very often, but I would did rally to make it 12 to two with some of those middle weight rounds before OSU went on a run towards the end of,

you know, those heavier weight rounds and they finished that contest out 27-12. So not exactly a good ending for the Hawks. Maybe this is a good motivation for them, though. Going into the Big Ten Championships, which are March 9th through 10th, this might be the motivation they need to realize we need to pick it back up and continue to work our butts off to make sure we can make a run towards the NCAA Championships.

I will say this, though. The one thing that kind of bugged me about this wrestling meet was the fact that I couldn't freaking watch it on public television. Or, geez, even cable television. I couldn't watch it anywhere. I had to subscribe to one of the Iowa Wrestling's Twitter accounts to get live updates. Not exactly how I anticipated watching this match. It was technically aired on Flow Wrestling. We had to pay $13 or $14 a month to watch that.

Why the heck couldn't this be on ESPN? This is number two versus number three. Everyone wanted to watch this. Everyone on my Twitter, all the Iowa Hawkeye fans, Hawkeye Nation, wanted to see the men's wrestling team. This is a huge meet. I don't understand why the heck this wouldn't be on public television. Heck, ESPN 2 would have gotten pretty good,

pretty good views if they had this game on, but whatever I I'll deal with it a little frustrating, but hopefully we can watch some of the big 10 championships. Women's basketball though. They also lost to Indiana on a lot. Last second shot, 75 to 73. Um,

you know, beating Maryland was huge. It allowed Iowa to control their own destiny in terms of winning the Big 10. This loss puts a huge damper on that. They no longer are in the driver's seat of the Big 10, so they would need Maryland to lose in one of their next couple games, and then Iowa would need to win out versus Nebraska tonight and Northwestern on Sunday, on Senior Day. Women's Gymnastics had a fantastic showing.

They won their Big 5 meet, which is basically a meet where they took on a few Big 10 schools, Nebraska, Penn State, Maryland, and Michigan State. They won with a score of 196.450. They take on Iowa State on Senior Night this Friday, March 1st. As you probably heard if you've listened to the show before, Iowa already has won the CyHawk Series for this year, but it would be great to make it a little bit bigger lead and really put that knife into Iowa State Cyclones. Men's gymnastics, they take on Nebraska and Iowa

City this Saturday, March 2nd. They did not have a match this past weekend. And softball had a fantastic showing after kind of struggling their first two weekends back down in florida they had a great showing going five and oh in the diamond nine citrus classic they beat uab fordham twice morgan state notre dame and the czech national team so fantastic showing from the women's softball team they're also heading back to florida this upcoming weekend to play in the USF series in Clearwater. They have games against Western Michigan, Binghamton, MTSU, so Middle Tennessee State University, USF, and Ball State.

On the men's side, the baseball team split their series with Hawaii going 2-2. They lost their first game 1-7. They won their second two games 10-8 and 6-4, and they dropped their final game 7-8 in extra. Um, so they lost that in 10 innings. They are going to Stillwater this upcoming weekend for a three game series against Oklahoma state. Hopefully it should be a good series. Um, obviously the, the baseball team is kind of getting back into the groove of things going to Hawaii could not be easy, especially with the, the time zone changes and whatnot,

and obviously a lot of distractions there. So hopefully they can rebound against Stillwater, maybe clear out that series 3-0. That'll do it, though, for our Iowa Hawkeye recap of this weekend. Make sure to stay tuned after a few messages from our sponsors for segment number three. We're going to be getting into a few different topics, talking about Gary Dolphin, talking about Akron Wadley, Iowa's Pro Day, and the men and women's rankings,

where they should be at when those rankings come out this morning. So stay tuned for that on segment number three. All right, we are back with segment number three. Quickly, like I said, we want to touch on a lot of different topics for today, so we're going to try to get through the most of these pretty quickly. First, though, let's talk about the men and the women's basketball teams. The men have been in an interesting position the last month. They haven't risen in the rankings. After beating Michigan, they went to number 20,

and they dropped to 21st after winning games. So I don't really understand kind of what's going on with the AP poll, but the four teams in front of them all lost games this past weekend, really this past week. So, you know, we have Iowa State, we have Louisville, we have Villanova. They all lost and lost both of their games. So I could see Iowa jumping up over them. Maryland, though, obviously beat Iowa,

and they've been on a little bit of a winning streak, so Maryland will likely jump Iowa. So if Iowa can jump those three teams that lost both their games this past week, Maryland jumps Iowa. That should put them at number 19. So that's kind of where I'm expecting them to be at, but as we've seen with the AP poll, it's kind of garbage, and Iowa has not been getting the respect they deserve. On the women's side, losing to Indiana, and what I've seen from kind of the inverse of the rankings on the women's side compared to the men's side, Iowa gets a ton of love here.

So even when they lose, they don't typically drop very far. I honestly think that losing to Indiana on the last second shot, not the worst loss. I say they're probably going to stick at number 10 or even at the minimum drop down to 12. So I can't see them getting lower than 12. I do think they'll probably stick at 10 when the rankings come out this morning. Also in news, Iowa's Pro Day is March 25th.

A time has yet to be determined. That has not officially been announced from Kirk Ferentz, but that is something that was reported on NFL.com for their established pro days. And I would expect that date to be established because a lot of those Hawkeye football players need some time to know when their pro day is going to be, especially the ones who didn't get invited to the combine. So a Nick Easley, a Keegan Render, a Ross Reynolds, those guys need to know when that

pro day is. They need to be training for that day. That's a huge opportunity for them to show scouts what they're made of. And we'll touch on that a lot more over the next couple weeks. Also, the NFL Combine is coming up this week, so we'll be giving you kind of up-to-date takes on where those guys are, Anthony Nelson, Imani Hooker, TJ Hawkinson, and Noah Fant. They are all there at the NFL Combine.

This week, we'll be making sure to give you some updates on where they're doing, updates on where they're at, what they're doing, how they're doing, that kind of thing. Also in the American Alliance of Football League, Akram Wadley had his second opportunity to play for the Atlanta Legends this past weekend, actually yesterday to be specific. And he, you know, kind of one of the things coming into this, he had a really great debut to be specific. And he, you know, kind of one of the things coming into this, he had a really great debut last week after sitting out the first week of play. And so coming into this game, though, it was going to be interesting to see if he got a lot of playing time, whether that was enough to show them what he could do, especially with Denard Robinson coming back to the same Denard Robinson who played quarterback at Michigan and played for the Jaguars for a little bit. And it did look like

Wadley was, you getting some opportunities he had the second most rushing yards on the team for the day with just nine which is a little bit sad in terms of the nine yards but he was the highest you know the best running back on the team for the day Matt Sam's their quarterback was the one who had the most rushing yards on the day Wadley also brought in a few catches for 29 yards, including a screen pass where he could have been wrapped up in the backfield, took it for 17 yards and a first down, showing that explosiveness that we saw at Iowa in some of the things that we thought he could show in the NFL. He doesn't have the natural straight line speed, but his quickness and

agility can really make a difference at the next level. So love seeing that. Unfortunately, though, he did get injured later in the game with a leg injury. Hopefully he can come back soon. Wadley seemed to be in optimistic spirits on Twitter when he said, you know, minor setback for a major comeback. So excited to see kind of what he can do. Hopefully he can get back in action this coming weekend, if not here very soon, so we can show the NFL what he can do. And, you know, if they were to bring him on to one of their teams, at least on a practice squad

or nothing, if nothing else. And then finally, I wanted to cover the Gary Dolphin comments and want to talk a little bit about that. First, I want to give you kind of the situation about what happened. I'm going to then give you his, you know his uh announcement afterwards about kind of where he was at and i want to give you just a brief kind of thought on my opinions and feel free to let me know kind of what your thoughts are i think this is a very touchy subject i think there's a lot of different opinions on it and i want to make sure that i'm i'm being fair to everyone's opinion on this one so just to kind of give the context behind it, late in the game versus Maryland, Bruno Fernando, Maryland 6'10 center, he was able to rebound the ball,

put it back for really kind of the game-winning shot against Iowa. He was a beast on the boards. I mean, he had 10 or 11 rebounds, I believe, and 10 or 11 points, and he's an NBA prospect, so he's a fantastic player. Just really tormented Iowa all game with his size and his athleticism. Towards the end of the game though, Gary Barta made a reference to Bruno Fernando basically saying Bruno Fernando was King Kong towards the end of that game. All right, so let's jump into kind of what Gary Barter, or sorry, not Gary Barter, but what Gary Dolphin said at the end of the game. Not the end of the game, but what he said for his press announcement in terms of the feedback he got on this.

He said, during the broadcast, I used a comparison when trying to describe a talented Maryland basketball player. In no way did I intend to offend or disparage the player. I take full responsibility for my inappropriate word choice and offer a sincere apology to him and anyone else who was offended. I wish the Iowa Hawkeye players, coaches, and fans all the very best as they head into the final stretch of the season. I will use this as an opportunity to grow as a person and learn more about unconscious bias.

So my thoughts on this, a couple things. I think Barta did a really terrible job of handling this, announcing this just a few hours before Iowa's home game against Indiana. That was a little bit ridiculous. I think you need to be able to get out in front of this, and this has just been another kind of black eye on Iowa Hawkeye athletics just because of, you know, Dolphin has been suspended twice now. First, he got suspended for making, you know,

hot mic comments on Macy Daly earlier in the season, saying along the lines of Macy Daly kind of dribbling with his head down into double teams and why can't we recruit better players? Not the worst comment, but probably not appropriate on air. He didn't realize he was on air, though. And then this happened. And I think, for me personally, the reference to King Kong is not appropriate. 100% agree with that i that being

said though i don't think when gary dolphin said it that he meant it in any sort of racial tone and i i hope that doesn't offend anyone i just don't think that he intentionally used that word in a malicious and racist context i think he was legitimately trying to find a comparison to how dominant he was being. And Scott Dauterman at The Athletic made a good comparison. He said if he would have called him Superman or Godzilla, that would have been a lot different. But in the same lines of what he was trying to do, he was trying to make a comparison saying just how extraordinary Fernando was on the boards unfortunately instead of choosing a Superman or a Godzilla he chose King Kong which is technically a giant ape and I can 100% see where the uproar was from that again I don't think he meant to do it in that way but his words were spoken and they are and can be considered derogatory in a sense.

So unfortunate situation all around. We'll keep you posted on how that kind of plays out over the next couple of weeks. We'll see if you know whether or not Dolphin is going to be the on-air voice for the football team anymore. Is he coming back for basketball? I highly doubt it, but it'd be a huge loss in the Iowa Hawkeye community. He does a lot for the program and the community as the play-by-play announcer. That being said, again, doesn't take away from the fact that what he said was inappropriate, even if I don't necessarily think that he meant to do it in that way. Still inappropriate, and you still need to be conscious

of the words you're using. I have to be conscious of the words I'm using every single day when I'm on site for work or wherever it may be. So it's still something they need to be cognizant of a hundred percent of the time. That being said though, ending that kind of on a, a more damper light here, we're going to end the show though.

We're going to be back tomorrow talking about the Iowa versus Ohio state game and a few other kinds of surprise topics though. So make sure you're staying tuned for that. Also, thank you for joining in with us on this Monday morning. Hopefully it's not a too terrible of a Monday morning. I know Iowa was getting, you know, battering rammed with snow this past weekend. So hopefully you all were safe and driving safe this morning as well. But that'll do it though.

I'm your host, Andrew Wade, and you can find me on Twitter at Wade underscore Andrew. And you can also follow all the exciting happenings of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast on Twitter at Locked on Iowa. Make sure you're subscribing to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast at, and please leave us a review. Let us know what you think of the show, and you can also reach out to me with questions, comments, or suggestions at Locked on Hawkeyes at gmail.com. Thank you again for joining us on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Have a fantastic day, Hawkeye Nation, and we'll be back tomorrow.