Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Home from Dallas - Iowa falls in title game, reactions & spring football talk

Episode Date: April 4, 2023

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Back from Dallas. Welcome back into the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Yes, we're back. We are not on the road as we were for yesterday's podcast. And we are ready to roll here. A breakdown of the scene in Dallas, Iowa. Of course, finishes national runners-up. A big accomplishment. And a huge return home for this Hawkeye team. We'll break that down. We'll take a look at next season for Iowa women's basketball, plus a little football and men's basketball all coming your way today on Locked on Hawkeyes.

Locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome in. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. And if you were viewing us after the game last night as I made the

drive home, pulled into the driveway 3.37 a.m., and a couple hours of shut-eye, I'm back roaring here and ready to go for another day. But we got you covered after that one. We're going to take a deeper look into things. I was on the road, didn't have a chance to look at any notes, didn't have a

chance to really look at the box score. Just gave you, you know, that instant reaction that you're always looking for after a big game. Boy, was that a big one. And what a weekend it was for women's basketball as a whole. There's a lot of controversy that has been involved. So we'll talk about that a whole lot more. A little football talk as well as we'll talk spring football

and, of course, men's basketball. And they got some news on the recruiting front we will get into so let's go back and talk about what we saw if you missed it over the weekend we had an instant reaction uh podcast right from dallas both uh as i mentioned on the drive home after the championship game and then on friday night after that win against south carolina it'll go down to the annals of one of the biggest upsets certainly in women's college basketball history it will go down as a game that'll be well remembered South Carolina looking to become a back-to-back champion looking to complete an undefeated season and Iowa came out there and won the game. A great game plan. It was Fitz that came up with the game plan, and that one was one that we'll remember for a long time, but you know, we talked about that, and we talked a little

bit about the game yesterday, but let's dive in a little bit deeper. We're also going to take a look forward here at next year's squad. I know a lot of questions about that. I've had a lot of comments on Twitter. You can find me there at Trent Condon and on the YouTube side of things, always hit us up with the comments there. We got you covered. But so looking back and looking at the game and we talk about the officiating a bit last night, and this will be a little bit of regurgitation, but the officiating became a story and it's unfortunate. College basketball in general, but certainly women's college basketball, refereeing has always been something that has been a huge issue. And with the growth of this sport and where this sport is

and where it still has a chance to go, the television numbers, just shy of 10 million people tuning in to watch a national championship game, outrating so many sporting events. Short of the NFL, women's college basketball is right there. It'll be interesting to see what happens when we get the overnights that'll come in with the UConn-San Diego State game, just how close it is. Now we're talking about prime time versus an afternoon, but we're also talking weekend. We're talking a sport that has a lot more buildup throughout the years on the men's side of things.

But it was absolutely incredible. And yet, for the storyline nationally, to be the referees, and just what a poor job it was. And for the first time ever, to have three female officials calling the game. All three officials on the floor were all females. That's the first time that has ever happened. And they were celebrating it. But it didn't turn out well. Kim Mulkey and

her intimidation factor that she has. And I'm fine with coaches working refs. I don't like it. I don't like the Tom Izzo's and going back to the Bo Ryan's. And I don't like the way that coaches in college basketball, I don't like the way that they are able to manipulate refs. I just don't. I like the NBA style of what coaches do. And if you get out of line very quickly, you're given a technical foul. Kim Mulkey deserved multiple fouls, technical fouls on her. And not just for being on the floor, but for crapping an official,

for berating officials, for intimidating officials. These are all things that absolutely at some point need to be teed up and it didn't happen. But to take the stars out of the game, it was interesting. I've seen a few comments from former director officials on the men's side, and he had some tweets over the weekend as well on Sunday about it. And he was talking a lot about one thing that he always made sure to mention to his guys that were calling games in the Final Four. Don't forget about the stars.

Is it unfortunate? Maybe. You can make that argument. A foul for one person should be a foul for another. If it's a foul, it's a foul, right? We want to see the players. We want to see the best players on the floor. And we were not given that availability in this game

because an officiating crew that was overwhelmed and intimidated and bad. No doubt about it. It's unfortunate that that will be a storyline. And then the other storyline that has continued to build is Angel Reese and her actions at the end of the basketball game. For over a minute, trying to get in the face of Kaitlyn Clark, looking for a reaction.

And that's what she was looking for. When I first saw her, it was at the free throw line, she pointed to her finger and pointed, I'm getting a ring. And I kind of, though I was frustrated, I had a little chuckle inside of me. Saw that in the arena from up in the 300 section that we were. And a little chuckle. But then taking it to another level and pacing around after Caitlin Clark. I mean, it's just a bad look.

It's not a white-black thing. It's not. And it's become this racial issue throughout the course of the last 24 hours, and it's unfortunate that that's the way that this has gone. There are always, not everything is black and white, not literally, but figuratively, in this sense. And there are different areas. She was doing it for a reaction. She was doing it to intimidate. She was doing it to be a bit of an a-hole. That was what her actions were. Kaitlyn Clark, in the heat of a battle, that's going to happen. But one thing to remember,

Hawkeye fans, we can't have it both ways. We cannot enjoy Kaitlyn Clark for everything that she has. We don't just love her because of the playing ability that she has and the deep shots, and that's just obviously a huge part of it, the playmaking ability that she has, and doing things that we haven't seen, certainly an Iowa player do before, and most college basketball players play at this kind of level.

We just haven't seen it. But we also love the extra, that she has some attitude, that there's a little bit of sass to her game. We like that part of her. I think most of us do. And you can't have it both ways. And we can get into the back and forth. Did she take it too far did angel reese go

too far with her actions and i think she did but we can't celebrate caitlyn clark and everything extra that we get with her and then vilify somebody that does it just not the way we want it because guess what there's a lot of fan bases out there that don't like the way that caitlyn clark does it and yet we love her for it we have to to remember that. A little attitude, a little rivalry is not a bad thing. Lisa Bluter, hey, see if LSU wants to do a home and home. That'd be pretty good, wouldn't it? Get a rematch, regular season game. You looking for something November, December? I think a lot of people would tune in for that one too. Give it another opportunity. I'd love to see it.

Defensively, Iowa wasn't good enough. Iowa couldn't get stops on the end of the floor. They just couldn't. And yeah, they had a player that hadn't scored since the Michigan game back in the round of 32 that goes off in the first half of the game. And it's by three-pointers, and Chuck's one up, not even looking at the rim. That was right in front of us.

And she wasn't even looking at the rim. She just flung it. Bank in. They're on fire. Iowa battled back, got it within seven. The unfortunate technical foul. But not only that, remember what happened right there preceding it was a fourth foul on Monica Sinano, which was a brutal call.

And so many of those brutal calls. And you hate for Monica Sinano. You hate for McKenna Warnock. That their careers came to an end, not at a loss. Losses are going to happen. And I think if everything was fine officiating, the way that game played, Iowa wasn't going to win either. But you didn't have that opportunity to let them lay it on the line.

And it was because of the officiating. That's tough to swallow. What we do know is those two women will absolutely have their head held high, as they should. And us as Hawkeye fans, the way that we traveled, the way that we supported, and the way that we have loved this team, a little bit of credit to you as well. We'll continue here on Lockdown Hawkeyes a little bit more.

On the women's basketball team, what does the team look like next season? Well, we mentioned those two seniors departing. What does that mean for the future of Iowa basketball? Is there an opportunity in the transfer portal? What's available scholarship-wise? We'll get into that. Plus a little football and men's basketball talk here as we roll through on a Tuesday

edition. This is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode of Lockdown Hawkeyes is brought to you by our friends at the Built March Madness bracket is here. We know you have a favorite bar or puff. For me it's the Brownie Batter. Now it's time to make

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Trey Cannon back with you again here on Locked On Hawkeyes. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. So we're looking at the future of this women's team after the accomplishments. First Final Four in 30 years. Getting into the second weekend after the disappointment a year ago, falling to Creighton in the round of 32. The national notoriety that surrounded this program and Kaitlyn Clark and everything that they accomplished.

All these things are great, but now it's time to build on it. And build on it, obviously, with Kaitlyn Clark. We've talked about this before, Kaitlyn Clark. She needs to be out at Nike. Phil Knight needs to have her out here. And by the time next college basketball season starts, we better have. Kaitlyn Clark, she needs to be out at Nike. Phil Knight needs to have her out here. And by the time next college basketball season starts, we better have the Kaitlyn Clark ones. We have to have that signature shoe.

I think it will be an absolute seller. We know about that relationship. And they're not going to be alone with Nike. We already know about the endorsement deals around here with Hy-Vee and on and on and on and the things that she has done. But obviously, taking advantage of what she has built, what we saw from her with the gameplay,

with the sportsmanship that she displayed, a lot of great things and a lot of people on Madison Avenue are going to be lining up and trying to get in the Caitlin Clark business with NIL. So the question becomes, what does this team look like for next season? So, Sonano, if you saw Monica her freshman year, to what she became over the last couple of seasons, becomes a 1,000-point score, what she was, elite, 18 points a game,

shooting 65% from the floor, just an incredible, incredible player. But she developed into that. Jan Jensen deserves a ton of credit. What she has done with the post players during her tenure as an assistant coach, it's legendary. It really is. She is incredibly good at what she does and getting those women to understand what they're working to do, the footwork that needs, and the necessary angles of that. Well, Iowa right now, they don't have a scholarship available.

So coming back for next season, more than fifth year, we talked about this about a month ago, Gabby Marshall is going to come back. Elite defender, great knockdown shooter. We saw what Gabby meant as the back half of the year started in the Big Ten. That shot started to come around a little bit, even in the loss to Maryland, one of the low points of the Iowa basketball season this year, that was the one where she found her shot. And I remember talking about that a little bit after the game, that I think that could be a bright light, and that certainly was the case the rest of the season.

She was certainly banged up, took that one terrible fall, fell on her tailbone. She had a cold. She was battling that throughout the weekend. On Saturday, with the media availability at the Final Four, she was not around. She was back in the hotel room. So, you know, getting her back, getting her right, nothing overly debilitating. She was sick. Going to be all good. But that is something certainly to keep an eye on, getting her right. Kaitlyn will be back for her senior year, though she does have two seasons of eligibility

with the COVID year. That was also awarded for the players that were played, not just, of course, the 2020 season that came to an end early, but also players that played in 2020-21 also got another year of eligibility. That was Kaitlyn's freshman year. Molly Davis, we saw this year, came in from Central Michigan. At times, I think a little bit of a disappointment. I anticipate a little bit of a disappointment. I anticipate

a little bit more of a playmaking role for her, but a year making that jump from the Mac to the Big Ten, it's a big jump up, and we saw that at times this season, but you know, she can provide certainly a flurry for this team, and then the captain, Kate Martin, who is so important to what they do, both ends of the floor, shot it well in the championship game. She knocked down some threes. She didn't take a ton of them in comparison for the minutes on the floor, but a more confident shooter, what she became. Shot at a really good percentage, and I think, obviously, there's going to be shots to go around next season.

We're going to see even a bigger offensive role for Kate Martin. Great defender. Another one that is a plus defender on that end of the floor. Can do so many different things for them and a really nice compliment in the backcourt for what they have with Kaitlyn Clark. So those will be your seniors. As I mentioned, Kaitlyn Clark does have another year of eligibility, but final season for Marshall, Davis, and Martin. Sydney Offalter, I thought saw some good moments from her. Her minutes are going to go up, but you're looking for some size inside. Addison O'Grady gave them minutes with the foul troubled.

Certainly that's an auto had during the last couple of games, and I think she went in there and acquitted herself too. Now, is she a player that's going to be able to play the post for 28, 30, 32 minutes a game and do it at the level that we've seen over the last five, six years? I'm not sure. There's work that needs to be done. And that's why if there is a scholarship that becomes available, certainly a post-presence is something that you're going to look at. We saw the difference. And yes, Iowa got the win against South Carolina, but you saw what that height advantage was, that athletic advantage was. That's what they have to be shopping for more than anything in the portal.

If you can find, and it's going to cost them NIL money to make it happen, Iowa Swarm, if you want to donate to them, make that help, and it certainly will, iowaswarm.com is where you can go, an unpaid endorsement for them. Those are important things, though. Those are important things, and in order to be able to get players like that, maybe not somebody like Angel Reese, I mean, to get that kind of player, what we saw with the Brazilian girl from South Carolina at 6'7".

Look, they're going to be, if any of them enter the portal, there are going to be a lot of people, a lot of suitors that are going to be out there. But one definitely to keep an eye on there. I think that's where they have to go. But as mentioned, they do not have a scholarship. A couple others. We have what we saw from Hannah Stulke.

We anticipate she's going to be a starter probably next year. She'll take over that four role, depending on what happens at the center position. A.J. Ettinger, a big prospect coming out of high school from Michigan, I believe. Haven't seen a ton of her at this point. Goodman the center six foot three good size from her what else you got Wettering Kylie Feuerbach who sat out this season with the tour in ACL the Iowa State transfer I know there's some big expectations for her you throw Jada Jimfey in there played at Urbandale and Johnston here in centralowa called a lot of her games and i think there's some upside to her game still work to be done there and also taylor mccabe was also a freshman on this year's team and then the two incoming players this year is kanice johnson

etn who is a point guard five foot eight from illinois the not a huge prospect not a top 100 prospect anything like that didn't have really a bunch of huge offers by any means. Iowa beat out Michigan State, Seton Hall amongst others for her services. And going to be a very crowded backcourt for her to get minutes next year. And then Ava Jones. And had an opportunity to meet Ava. My daughter and a couple of our friends were there and had an opportunity to take a picture with her. Put that up on Twitter.

And rooting for Ava. Now, here's something that I think has been misconstrued a little bit with her. If you forgot the story, she was involved in that terrible accident. Her and her family were just walking down the sidewalk and were struck by a car. Somebody that I believe was on drugs at the time. And a family member, dad lost his life. It was absolutely devastating. And the injuries that she sustained were also devastating. Just getting back on her feet is an accomplishment.

And you can still see she's still got braces on both of her legs. I mean, the road is incredibly difficult for her. But a lot of people anticipated, yeah, great that Iowa's obviously honoring her scholarship, but the anticipation was that it was going to be a hardship waiver. And what that means is you are on scholarship, you're on an athletic scholarship, but you're not able to play. We've seen this happen a bunch of times with football players where injuries have taken them away and they still are going to school at the University of Iowa. They still on scholarship, but it does not count against your scholarship limit.

Well, once you go on one of those waivers, you are no longer eligible to play college sports again. And Ava Jones still wants to give it a shot, wants to go through the rehab, wants to get back out there on the floor, wants to have that opportunity to get her body right and give it a shot wants to go through the rehab wants to get back out there on the floor wants to have that opportunity to get her body right and give it a chance now i'll be honest talking to some people uh in the know the chances are very slim that she'll get back to that level that she'll be a college athlete it's still a long ways to Now, you don't want to bet against her, but we're talking about something that might be still years down the road. And until she makes the decision that I'm going to finish up as a student, and I'm sure still be part of the team,

but not eligible to play on the hardwood, that's a decision that they're going to leave up to her. But she will not be on medical hardship, at least at this point in time. That is the talk, because once she is on there again, she will not be eligible to come off and never play college basketball, NCAA basketball again in her career. And that's tough to give up. You completely understand that. So Iowa is out without a scholarship right now.

They're at the 15 scholarship limit. Is there a possibility where we'll see a player or two that decide to transfer? Absolutely, you can see that. But the other part is, it's hard to see Lisa Bluter and that staff run anybody off. We see the circle, right, that they were in during practice, before games, all about that circle, the tight-knit circle, and then everything we need is inside the circle. They talked about that a lot. You don't anticipate you see that, but players can see writing on the wall. And honestly, Iowa needs help. They're going to get to that level again.

They're going to play at that level. I think they need another big and maybe even another wing type of player that can help them with a little bit more size. So those are the couple of things, but until a scholarship opens up, that's what they're going to have. So I know there was a lot of questions about that

and just filling you in a little bit about what it looks like next season. That is the roster as it's currently constructed for women's basketball. Wrapping things up, a couple of notes on football and men's basketball when we come back. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Tricotta back with you one final time on Lock Lockdown Hawkeyes. As always, thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. So mentioned there's a lot going on, not just what is happening obviously on the women's basketball side and what a season that it was. But Iowa on the men's

side is looking in the transfer portal. And they're also, as the women's team, if the scholarship becomes available, will be looking for a big. That'll be the same for this Iowa basketball team after the departure of Phillip Robracha. They will be out there, and they have picked up an official visit coming in from St. Francis of Pennsylvania. It'll be Josh Cohen that'll come in.

Now, looking at Cohen, he averaged 21.8 points per game. He has two years of eligibility remaining. 8.3 rebounds, a block, and also 2.5 assists. Not bad for the big guy. Listed at 6'10", 220 pounds. Also, Iowa is going to be hosting another transfer prospect coming up this weekend in Jordan Miner. A little bit shorter, 6'8",

but a guy that really played well inside. A little bit of a pick-and-pop to his game, but mostly does most of his work inside. Good defender though. And boy, is that a welcome sight there. So I don't think it would be a shock either if Iowa looked to bring in a couple of bigs on next year's team. I don't think that is anything that would come as a surprise. A couple of their names that are out there, Rank Bass, a ton of him at Bradley, really skilled forward, power forward for them. 6'9", could do a lot of different things.

Can shoot it from the outside. Good defender inside. That'd be one to keep your eye on. Also Valpo forward. Ben Crick is also in the transfer portal. There's been some connections. There's a ton of names out there. We see interest all the time.

I had the Wofford guy that we've talked about a little bit in the past. So that's certainly going on a little bit in the past. So that's certainly going on. Just keep your eye out. This NIL world has completely changed the way that recruiting is. Building a roster is completely different. Frank McCaffrey is working it though, and he understands the importance of continuing this momentum for Iowa basketball. Eight tournaments the last 10 years, something that hasn't been done in Iowa basketball history. They have never before made eight tournaments in 10 years, and yet that's where they are at this point in time under one head coach. Now we don't get to the second weekend. We know all that. We've gone through it time in and time out. We know the

importance there. Finally, football. And I want to talk some more football later this week. Hopefully we can track down LaShawn and talk with him a little bit more about spring practice, but we'll start to return our attention. This women's basketball team, just, they grabbed it all and what we saw, but want to, want to get perspective on this team and what they're going through with Cade McNamara and hearing a few reports. And let's be honest, it's very difficult to decipher some of the reports that you get from time to time. I get these from people. Hey, I got my nephew. He is on the staff doing whatever.

He is in the training room. He is a ball boy. He is all the different things. And I hear plenty of these. And you want to be careful because A, you don't know exactly how truthful this information is or how it's misconstrued. And that can happen plenty of times. You have to be careful with that, but just throwing it out there to throw it out there. Now it's no surprise. The defense is a lot better than the offense. Shocker. And Cade McNamara is not a full go.

In fact, really all he is doing is seven-on-seven work at this point in time. He's not taking snaps from under center. They're keeping him basically away from the offensive line. This offensive line has been so banged up, and that's where my concern really goes. At one point last week in a practice, I only had six scholarship offense alignment that were available to even practice. This offensive line has been bad for two years. And really, this offensive line has not been very good for a long time.

Yeah, there's been great individual pieces, from Tyler Linderbaum to Tristan Wirth, so we can go on and on and on. There's been great individual pieces, but when's the last time Iowa's had a great offensive line? Yeah, I know in 2015, they won the Joe Moore Award as the best offensive line in the country. Honestly, that was a bit of a joke.

You look at statistically some of the other numbers that were out there and some of the other nominees in that season, Iowa had the 12-0 regular season. That helped. That was not the best offensive line in the country. That wasn't one of the best 25 offensive lines in the country. But they got that award. Maybe Kirk Ferentz and Joe Moore's connection helped out a little bit lines in the country. But they got that award. Maybe Kirk Ferentz and Joe Moore's connection

helped out a little bit there in the voting. We'll never know. When's the last time we've had one through five a dominant offensive line? An offensive line that has been as bad as it's been the last two years, and now they're dealing with even more injuries? That's a problem.

You know why a receiver is a problem? McNamara's not out there. It'll look different. But what are they implementing? What are they doing? Are they just running it back? Is this just going to be the Iowa offense again, just with a better signal caller, and we hope for the best? Or are they really doing real work, tangible work, to improve the offense?

I'm not sure. From what I've heard, and again, it's scattered reports, but from what I have heard, don't expect a whole lot of change. It's going to be a whole lot of what we've seen. Now it can be good. Was it the 2019 Iowa team when they had Nate Stanley out there? That was a prolific offense at times. Consistency was an issue, no doubt.

And when they played some of the elite teams, they take a step back. But there were teams with Stanley that they could really move the ball up and down the field. That's the hope. That's the hope they can get back to that level because the defense was very good at that time, and it's gone up and up the level. I think this defense is going to be great. The depth that they have at defensive line is absolutely incredible. Jackson coming in to run middle linebacker along with Higgins.

You're going to be in good shape there as long as injuries don't hit at the linebacker spot. We know what they have in the defensive backfield. Always looking for depth back there, but one through four, one through five, depending on the way that you look at it when they go with the cash position. The starters are in really, really good shape in the defensive backfield. They're going to be elite again defensively. Can they be competent offensively?

That remains the great question. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you get podcasts. Make sure you hit that subscribe button if you're on YouTube and give us a five-star review if you're on the podcast side. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Help out the analytics. Always greatly appreciate all you out there. Happy to be home from Dallas. Not a whole lot of shut-eye. We will get a little bit

more and get roaring. Get back to a normal schedule here as we make our way through April. We got Iowa baseball. We got Iowa softball going on track and field lot happening in the world of Hawkeye spring football. The transfer portal is open. There's always plenty to talk about in the world of Hawkeye athletics. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.