Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - HEARTBREAK: Iowa Baseball's NCAA Dreams OVER | Can Iowa United LIFT Hawkeye Hoops?

Episode Date: May 25, 2025

Can the Iowa Hawkeyes bridge the gap to top-tier baseball programs? With their season ending against UCLA, the Hawkeyes face a challenging road ahead. This episode dives into the Iowa Hawkeyes' baseball season finale and the crucial month of June for football recruiting. Host Trent Condon and guest Tom Kaker from Hawkeye Report discuss the impact of upcoming commitments on Iowa football's future, highlighting prospects like Isaiah Oliver and Ashton Williamson. The conversation also touches on the Iowa United basketball program's influence, featuring high-profile recruits like Arifan Dan.Explore the dynamics of Iowa sports and discover how these developments could reshape the Hawkeyes' landscape. Tune in for exclusive insights and expert analysis.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

Rapid reaction as Iowa sees their baseball season come to an end. UCLA too much. Season over for the Hawkeyes. You are locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, welcome in. I'm Trent Condon and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast. I've been covering the Hawkeyes for over 20 years on the radio here in the state of Iowa, including currently, you can hear me on the Iowa Sports Radio Network. We have stations in Iowa City, in Cedar Rapids, the Quad City, Sioux City, and our flagship 106.3 KXNO in Des Moines

You can hear me each weekday from noon to two talk in the world of sports with Ken Miller It's called Miller and Condon. Yeah catchy name this episode of Lockdown Hawkeyes is brought to you by Monarch Money Take control of your finances with Monarch Money use the code locked on college at MonarchMoney.com with Monarch Money. Use the code LOCKDOWNCOLLege at MonarchMoney.com for 50% off your first year. Iowa baseball season comes to an end. The next big story for Iowa football, we're going to talk today, is the recruiting. What is going to be happening coming up? Speaking of recruiting, there's a big story also brewing here in the state of Iowa as it pertains to Iowa United. When the top players in the country is playing at the prep level here in the state of Iowa. We'll tell you about him coming up a little bit later on.

Plus Tom Cakert from HawkeyeReport.com, he's going to join us a little bit later on. But we begin today with the end and it is the end of the Iowa baseball season. As that comes to a close against UCLA a game in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament. Now if you would have told most Hawkeye fans coming into the year that this is the way that it was going to be that Iowa was going to make it to the semifinals that I was going to finish third in the Big Ten that Iowa was going to go into the final weekend of the regular season with the chance at a regular season title, most everybody would have taken that. In fact, in a quiet moment,

I believe that Rick Keller would have taken that. But the way that it played out, the end of the season, the sputtering of the wheels at the end, that is going to be a big part about this. And the end that is going to be a big part about this. And one thing that I think we're going to learn looking back is something I've talked about quite a bit. The gap between these upper level teams, what we saw with UCLA on Saturday, what we saw in the series against Oregon and Oregon State and even to a lesser degree Washington,, a program coming from the Pac 12 is those teams are at another level. And it's a level that Iowa obviously wants to get to continues to build and try to get to but overall, it's just a completely different world. I mean, they're playing

at a different level, they recruit at a different level. And that's what you're left with. Now UCLA yesterday, the pitching performance that they got from Barnett and just how on he was right away. And you can see that initially. Just Iowa couldn't get anything going. You know, the injury at the top of the lineup to Wilmes and got to see him out there as a pinch hitter late

in the game, but still not having him out there at the top of the lineup. And there were just so many guys that at the end of the season it looked like they were out of gas you go back to a month ago and it was just 40 dues to having fun right and going out there and playing the game and they're playing at such a high level but it was aided by a schedule that just wasn't that difficult it was aided by overall schedule that just wasn't that difficult. It was aided by overall, luck's not the right word because that's not fair. It was aided by, it was scheduled aided,

as simple as that. So I will finish this here, and people clinging to the hope that when the NCAA Tournament selection show comes, that I was gonna hear their name called because of that third place finish. And really, that's the only thing that you can be clinging your hope to. A record of 31, 22, and 1.

And the Big Ten, not good enough in normal years. Even with that 21 and 9 conference record. Their RPI now, after the loss to UCLA, sits at number 77. Their non-conference strength is scheduled RPI. Excuse me, RPI, excuse me, RPI was 190, strength is scheduled and then non-conference 183. Overall strength is scheduled 95.

These are just, they're not numbers that are based in being a team that's gonna be selected as in at large for the tournament. And it stinks because for so long, we thought this team was gonna to get there, right? We thought they were going to get there. And what we're going to see then on Sunday on the other side is seeing Nebraska there. And I think that stings even more as Nebraska got the win earlier on Saturday morning against

Oregon and then with a tight affair, finally finishing off Penn State. I think there's gonna be, because here's what I wanted to see. And I know I'm not alone in this one. Hawkeye fans, the ones over there in Western Iowa, the ones that are in Omaha, how well that they support the baseball program when they get over there for the Big Ten tournament.

I went over years ago when they played, was it Ohio State in the championship game? My daughter was real little at the time, so this is like eight years ago, something like that. And they took on the Buckeyes, and there were, I don't know, 5,000 people in attendance, maybe more than that, and 98% of them were Iowa fans. That of course is drivable,

and there's a lot of people in Omaha that are Hawkeye fans, so that makes a difference. But what I wanted to see more than anything with the championship on the line, with an NCAA tournament bid on the line, because that's gonna be the case for both Iowa and Nebraska. If we would have got that championship game,

what it would have been like at Charles Schwab Field. Now what the environment would have been like in what would have been certainly a partisan Nebraska. We're talking about something that would have been banged out. I mean people would have been coming out of the woodwork. I remember taking that trip over to Omaha. We just kind of woke up Memorial Day weekend. Hey, let's make the drive over here from Des Moines where I'm based in. So that's something that we were robbed of. Disappointing end. But again, when you look at a big picture and what it was and what it was at the

beginning of the year, to compare to where they finished up, it was a successful year. And after all that they lost a year ago, all those guys that moved on, obviously Brody Brecht at the top of the conversation, at the top of the list from a season ago,. Marcus Morgan, those guys moving on to put together this year doesn't feel good right now. It doesn't but when you look at a big picture, a really good work I'd have done out of coach Heller, the new staff, the new pitching coach, credit to all of them and Springs are

fun when Iowa baseball is relevant, aren't they? They give us something to watch, give us something to extend that year out. Because coming up next, it's a quiet time of year. We got football recruiting that's gonna be happening. June is a huge month for that. We'll likely be getting a ton of commitments for that. We'll be talking a lot about the future of Iowa football. Also, we'll have basketball recruiting.

And a little bit later on, wanna talk about that. So there's a prospect here in the state of Iowa. Oh, he's not a native Iowan. He's not a guy that grew up here, anything like that. But he's playing at Iowa United. That's the program that Dean Oliver is running. Former Hawkeye, great. And some of the talent that he is bringing in in that program, it's ridiculous. I mean, it's absolutely immense. This is a top 35 player nationally that they have

and Iowa offered. Now does Iowa have a shot? We'll talk about that a little bit later on. Speaking of Dean Oliver, his son, Isaiah Oliver, is just finishing up his junior year at Waukee Northwest High School. He's a pretty big prospect himself. Basketball, he plays it, but football is where it is for

Isaiah Oliver. We'll talk about him and more coming up next with Tom Cakert from HawkeyeReport.com. We'll talk recruiting with Tom. Also talk a little bit about Caitlin Clark. That's all coming up. Tom Cakert, HawkeyeReport.com. He's up next on a bonus edition of Lockdown Hawkeye. Stay right there. We're back with more in a moment. Ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money go between dining out, online shopping, and

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Monarch Money makes it easy to check your finances track your spending and even plan long term goals. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money use code locked LockdownCollege at MonarchMoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's MonarchMoney.com with the code LockdownCollege for half off your first year. MonarchMoney.com. Tom Kaikert joins us next on Lockdown Hawkeyes. I'm Katelyn Blank as far as a three pointer in a game since way back against Purdue in 2022. So that's a lot of games, but um, I didn't have time to go back and listen to Rhonda's

report, but I'll take the caller's word for it. Tom Kaker joins us Hawkeye report.com part of on three slash I guess rivals. What are we calling this endeavor now Tom? I have no idea. We're going to, because Rivals is still going to exist. On3 is still going to exist. But yeah, I don't know. Tom Cager will just call you our regular Friday guest, covers the Hawkeyes. How about just like Hawkeye report.

There you go. Just stick with that. Yeah, that covers all the bases. No doubt. Nobody can get mad at me. Yeah, yeah, that's what you want. Let's start with Caitlin Clark. I saw something last night I never seen before, Tom.

You covered most of her games at home going back to when she got there. I saw her, she actually had shot an air ball last night. She missed from three. Never seen that before. I saw her, she actually had shot an air ball last night. She missed from three, never seen that before. I mean, missed everything, never seen it. Yeah, she, um, didn't, the scoring wasn't there, but I think she'll be pretty happy with the win. I thought she was getting into it with Howard. It was Howard, yeah. Yeah, she was getting into it with her. Maybe that got her off, killed her a little bit, but yeah, she's still really good.

Yeah, I'll say. Yeah, no doubt. I mean, it's just weird, right, when she has one, because we're just used to her filling it up in a double-double machine. But they got the win. She had six assists, including a couple of those ones to just make you go, oh my God, she's so good. I said this, I said this to a friend of mine the other day, is it, I wonder if we could

get somebody to put up a number on Will Caitlin Clark average double figures and assists this year? Because I think she might. Wow. What would that any idea? Two to one? Plus 250? Maybe. Well Trent's got some connections. Maybe he can do some asking around and see if you can get that done. Tom Baseball, let's start there. Obviously last night was meaningless, but it's certainly not tomorrow. So what has to happen here? Best case scenario, how can you get Iowa into the, uh, into the dance? Boy, they're gonna get some work to do. Um, you know, I think so. I really do. I was looking at

D1 baseball and they still have them kind of like in the, I don't know, like next seven out or something. So I was looking at their, their, their thing. I was looking at, um, Rocko Miller has a thing, uh, and he, he had them in the, the kind of that next group out. So I think they've probably got to be UCLA and Maybe Penn State's going on another miracle run here who knows but Oregon's got to play

Nebraska for for the right to advance so maybe something blows up on that other side of the bracket and you you feel good now for Iowa and in some sense because You did a bullpen game yesterday. So you just, you've got your aces ready to go. You're two tough guys ready to go for this next game. So, and it's must win against a really good UCLA team. So we'll see what they can do. But yeah, tomorrow night's going to be huge because you got to get to the finals. You got to win the semifinal. So that's their next task. So obviously a quick hook on savory is he'll get the start and then right away to Buter or knowing that you have to win too. I mean, how do you play this? Obviously you want to

get as much out of your number two as possible, but how do you think that coach Heller is going to be coaching this one knowing that one wins not enough that you got to win a championship as well as it pertains to the pitching staff? I think he's probably going to go with with with the resputer. I think we'll ride out of the gate if he has any struggles or if there's any struggles. I think that's what they're just going to do is both guys are going to be available, both the starters, and then you worry about Sunday on Sunday because you've got to win Saturday to get to Sunday. So that's kind of what I think they're going to do is just just go with the races.

Well any idea when the game would be on Sunday should they should should Saturday go their way. I don't even know. OK it's 2 o'clock is it really until I would when we see when could we see over Miller again I can't tell you I'm pressed with I what was it Tuesday night Wednesday and Tuesday night. Wednesday night right today impressed with. I, um, what was it? Tuesday night, Wednesday, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, right? Today's Friday. Um, Tom, he gambled on himself.

I asked Trent this yesterday cause I figured he did when I saw where he was drafted and then I saw him pitch on, on Wednesday and I'm thinking to myself, how was this kid not, uh, you know, working his way through somebody's farm system? Um, Obermüller was fantastic. Gambled on himself, struck out 10, walk one left-handed pitcher. Looks like he's got a chance, Tom, to see that gamble pay off at some point. Yeah. And I was just looking at, um, um, the athletic had their baseball rankings up for the top hundred and I think it

was 93 in their list of guys. And late in the season, he was struggling a little bit with some of the issues that he had last year, where it was just walking guys and where he'd get to third, fourth inning and then just kind of lose it and end up three free bases and all of a sudden you're in trouble. He has not done that most of this year, but he did blast two starts probably. But I think that was a dynamite performance the other night. Boy, he was spotting the ball where he wanted it and big pitches when he needed it. I don't know what his availability would be Sunday, but I will guarantee you he'd probably say, coach, I can give you an inning or two if

you need it. You know, I think that's probably a fair estimate that if they needed something, he'd go to the hill and maybe even just you start them and you see hey we can give us two innings You know might be your bullpen day usually so maybe give us two innings and get out of that and that's just That's two less innings. You got to find somebody for if you have to I think that makes a lot of sense I agree over to a little basketball with you Tom and Ashton Williamson makes his commitment a guy that have visited a few weeks back Kind of on a holding pattern have visited a few weeks back kind

of on a holding pattern him and uh Kiza and are kind of waiting and waiting and waiting now Sturtz is there Sturtz is going to play a ton what kind of role do you see for Ashton Williamson or is this more of a developmental play for McCollum? I think it's they wanted to get a backup point guard um you know I think that was going to be a goal for them to find a guy that and the bonus is he's a guy that you can also develop. He you know was a freshman last year so he's going to get an opportunity to develop learn from benefits dirts and he may not be the guy moving forward you don know, but you'll at least get a full year working with the kid and finding out A, yeah, he's going to be our guy or B, we're going to have to go to the portal and

try and find a point guard next year that we're comfortable with or you find somebody in the prep ranks that you feel really comfortable handing the keys to moving forward. So they'll have options, but I think it's, he's a guy that can give them, you know, 10 minutes a game maybe and spare minutes Sturz, but you know, Sturz was playing what? 38, 39 minutes a game. So he just doesn't come out, but will that, will that be able to be the case in the big 10? I think we're going to, we'll find that out if he can continue to be an Ironman like that. Yeah. Couldn't agree more on that. That point. When do they begin their summer practices?

I mean, I know Iowa States like June 15th, 16th, Iowa same timeline. I actually ran into Coach McCollum in council Bluffs last weekend and, uh, at, at the, the AU event that was at and, and he said June 2nd, they're starting practice right off the bat next week. Yeah. Yeah. And I actually did a podcast with, um, uh, Dave, your curve, uh, the, the player development guy and, um, the, the full girthueres kid is from Robert Morris is already on campus.

So he's already been working him out and just enjoys being around that kid and just really super hard working and putting in a lot of work and he shared with me that he's going to miss him but he's going to be gone for part of the summer too, because got some obligations with the Spanish national team that he's going to be working with. So I think that made it even more important that he get on campus and get some work in with the coaches. A week ago we asked you, are they done? Do you get that feeling now with Williamson on tap that unless something kind of comes out of nowhere

that they're finished up with recruiting? Yeah, unless they could find a big, I think they're probably done. And the price tag for some of these guys, I mean, the kid was asking for 1.5 or something or just something ridiculous. And I saw he was at Seton Hall the other day and I've been, you know, everything I've heard is Seton Hall's broke.

So I don't know if they're going to get that kind of money, but maybe they're using some of their house money to get them. I don't know if even ends up going there. But yeah, I think the price tags are just so high for bigs and point guards right now and shooting, you name it. It's all expensive. It's expensive shopping right now and good luck with that salary cap, everybody in the

college sports. I'm sure that's just going to work out. Yeah, when they get finished with that, go ahead and put this toothpaste back in the tube, will you? Yeah, not going to work out. Yeah. When they get finished with that, go ahead and put this toothpaste back in the tube. Yeah. Not going to happen. So you were in council Bluffs last weekend, watching some basketball over there, snapping pictures of McCollum and a couple of seats down there was Fran, which was a great snapshot. Really? That's awesome. Great snapshot that you had. One guy that intrigues me though is Isaiah Oliver. A Waukee Northwest kid, his dad, Dean Oliver, of course a Hawkeye grade. I'll run him the prep program down in Norwalk. Isaiah Oliver, not a high D1 basketball player, but a football player.

He's getting a ton of interest. He is yoked and he's a lot stronger than his dad ever was, certainly. You had a chance to talk to Isaiah. What can he do, Phyllis, in the details of his recruitment? Yeah, he's an interesting football prospect. You know, he did well in track this year, uh, qualified for state. I know he's been doing that this week, but, um, football seems to be the option for him. And he's been to a lot of Iowa games. He's got all the really

good FCS offers from North Dakota state, South Dakota state, South Dakota, North Dakota. You and I have all offered him, uh, but he's going to camp at Iowa State in Northern Illinois in June. I think he's probably like, just the way he's built and the way he moves, I could see him being a really good cash in Iowa. But he played wide receiver, had you know 36 catches for 430 yards last year. I think he wants to be a wide receiver, but I think his future is at cash or safety. And I think he's an intriguing guy. But the big thing I'm looking for is, is he going to get those offers? And that's, he feels like doing track this year, which is something he hadn't really done in the past,

just helped him with his speed and his athleticism and he thinks that's gonna help him at those camps. Tom Kaker at HawkeyeReport.com, HawkeyeReport.com for Tom. Tom, you have a good weekend, bud. Appreciate what you do for us every single Friday and we'll talk to you in seven days. Okay thanks guys. Thank you. Tom Cake. There he is. Tom Kaker from Hawkeye Report.com. Appreciate Tom's time as always. Talking

recruiting and that big recruitment from the state of Iowa. Football, basketball. That's gonna be the big story here for us on Lockdown Hawkeyes and we'll talk about it next. A weekend edition Lockdown Hawkeyes and we'll talk about it next. A weekend edition Lockdown Hawkeyes bonus edition stay right there we're back with more in a moment. Trent Conda back with you one final time on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Shout out to you every dayers being with us each and every day. Couldn't do it without you.

Hit subscribe if you're watching us on YouTube. Just takes a moment. Or if you're listening on the audio side, a five star review. Let's get into it. And a name that is incredibly intriguing as it pertains to what is happening in the world of recruiting. So Ben McCullum, obviously on the job, this is going through the recruiting process at this level for the first time. He was all over the place a weekend ago with the open recruiting period. They had staff in

Ohio, they had staff in Council Bluffs, including that's where McCullum was for one of the spots. They bounced over was in Indianapolis, I think was the other one. They're all over the place. That's obviously what you want to see, right? I mean, you want to see that. But there's a name in the class of 2026, going to be a senior next year, Arafan Dan, who is from Canada, African background, huge dude, number 35 in the country. And he plays for Iowa United. You might be asking yourself, Iowa United? I've never heard of Iowa United. Is that an AU program? Well, it is, but it's also a prep school. That's where we were just talking with Tom about Dean Oliver, what he's running. And the amount of investment that

has been made to build this program, to put together what they're hoping builds into one of the top prep programs in the country. And this is one of their first big ads. Now this is not going to be easy because with this young man already he has offers from Houston. And if you saw the picture that I mentioned with Tom of Fran and of McCollum, and you see some of the other pictures that are out there of that game that they're both at, you'll also see the Houston staff including Kelvin Sampson. Kelvin Sampson has been in Norwalk to meet up with them. Don't have that happen very often. The Kelvin Sampson's up here recruiting. That shows you, A, what they're building at Iowa United, but also what kind of prospect

Dan is. I was offered, UConn's after him now, Hurley, I believe offered the same day that McCollum did. It's a steep climb and the finances are not crazy. However, more big picture, you know, if this really does develop into something, this Iowa United program develops into a destination for high school players across the country to come in and devote themselves almost exclusively to basketball, this can be a great thing for Iowa. This can be a thing.

It's not that they're gonna get the top prospect a thing. It's not that they're gonna get the top prospect every year. It's not that they're gonna get even maybe the top couple every year. But even if it is that next-tier kid, even if it is getting guys that they normally wouldn't, that's Advantage Iowa. Let's hope this thing works out. One thing I want to do this summer during our slow time of the year is I want to dive a little bit deeper into Iowa United and find what else is out there. Speaking of what else is out there, we're going to be talking a ton of football recruiting. That is going to be kind of the next chapter as we put Iowa baseball to bed. Up next is football recruiting. This is the time that I was going to be making a whole lot of headway. State track finishing up this weekend. There's some incredible performances. Mason Woods, one of those guys who will be coming in in this class is what a great athlete that he is in the long jump going to have in there. But there was a ton of kids that were great. And what other name I want to mention to you and

we'll talk and have kind of a full recap when we get back after the weekend is Brayden Jackson. So again, I know you've heard it every day or you're sick of it. I call high school football every Friday night here in central Iowa and obviously saw a ton of Ankeny Centennial. Brayden Jackson, this is Fred Jackson, yes the former NFL co-college star. Fred Jackson's son. And he was outstanding. So he was just offered a walk-on opportunity at Iowa and took it. He's putting together a great track season. And this dude, except very often you talk about

walk-on running backs, but boy, I think he's got a chance. He is shifty, the offense that they run at Centennial run-based, and there's parts of the system that are old school under the Posettis. But you saw some things out of him that make Braden Jackson special. Just to walk on. Don't want to hype out a white walk on too much. However, keep an eye. Really think there might be something special there with Braden Jackson. We'll talk about that one down the line. We'll talk with you down the line coming back with you on Monday. Hope you have a great Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy it. Difficult loss, tough one

to swallow for Iowa baseballs. They see their season come to a close. Just don't see a path for them to be selected for the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately. Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Enjoy the weekend. We'll talk to you again on Monday. Until then, go Hawks.