Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - How high is Iowa's ceiling this year after two B1G wins this weekend?

Episode Date: January 11, 2021

Iowa is coming off two Big Ten wins this weekend. What is their ceiling this season and what did we learn from their last two games?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 “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, and today's episode is brought to you by Bilt Bar. Go to BiltBar.com and use promo code LOCKEDON and you'll get 20% off your next order. And we have a lot to cover. I know I didn't get a shout out on Friday morning.

I apologize. I was on PTO for my full-time job and was busy and just couldn't get around to it. I do apologize. It is nice to sometimes take a break. I wish I could have given you a better heads up. So I apologize there, but we are back today. A little bit delayed again. I'm still on PTO, but I will be delivering you shows every single day this week.

And we are coming off of two Iowa basketball wins. Huge stuff there. Double-digit wins over two Big Ten teams. Taking out Maryland 89-67 on Thursday, which was a very interesting game to watch, especially early on. Got a little bit concerning. Then Iowa also took down the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a revenge game 86-71 yesterday. We're going to be talking about those two games, what we learned, what is good and what is bad going forward, and where the Hawks currently lie right now at this point.

We're also going to be talking a little bit of women's basketball. Kaitlyn Clark is absolutely crushing it, which we all know, but how well is she doing compared to the rest of the nation? We'll talk about that on today's show. And we're also going to get into some NFL and college football notes as well. So let's kick it off there, actually. We'll touch on the basketball piece on the last two segments. Let's kick it off with actually we'll touch on the basketball piece on the last two segments let's kick it off with some of the nfl news uh first and foremost congratulations to all

the iowa hawkeyes who advanced in the nfl playoffs especially adrian clayborne with the browns austin blythe and jake gervais with the rams i butker micah hyde aj epineza with the bills and tristan werfs and anthony Anthony Nelson with the Buccaneers. Adrian Claiborne is the one I really want to focus on, mostly because the Browns haven't won a playoff game in my lifetime. And Adrian Claiborne, one assist and two QB hits, getting his job, doing his job well against the Pittsburgh Steelers to allow the Browns to advance. And I say my lifetime, I mean since the Browns have come back, I should say.

Also on that note, Brandon Sheriff, named to the AP NFL All-Pro First Team. Honestly, feel like Tristan Wirfs could have been on there as well, but he is going to be there for quite some time putting together one of the most, if not the most, impressive rookie season for a tackle we have ever seen. He is a guy who honestly should be considered as Offensive Rookie of the Year, but since that is an award that only goes to skill position players it's not going to happen however it should is my personal opinion on the college football front eli sanders the running back out of arizona the former boise state commit is visiting iowa on 115 and the iowa guys as we talked about last week are hot on his

trail uh i know arlen bruce is is meshing in quite a bit, so awesome stuff there. On the flip side of that, whereas we're looking at the guys that are coming in, Iowa State is looking at the guys who are returning, and they are returning a lot of players heading into next season. Should make for a very fun Cy Hawk series game, which will be interesting because, again, they return Brock Purdy, Charlie Kohler. Brees Hall just is returning naturally because he isn't able to leave. So that will be a lot of fun watching that.

For us, the guys that are leaving, Jack Heflin heading to the Hula Bowl, accepted his official invite. I am going to be going to the Senior Bowl. Hopefully maybe he can parlay that into a Senior Bowl invite as well. But right now, Larrick Jackson is the only Iowa Hawkeye going to the Senior Bowl, which I'll be covering him down there in Mobile at the end of the month. And Davian Nixon officially became a unanimous All-American, the ninth in Iowa history. So congratulations to Davian Nixon there. Moving towards the basketball front, Tyler Cook is heading to the Iowa Wolves. So once they're

allowing more fans in the stands, you can go watch former Iowa great Tyler Cook perform for the Iowa Wolves. Get in while it lasts because there's a good chance he'll end up back in the NBA sooner rather than later, making kind of a name for himself in terms of being a bench player and bringing that energy off the bench. But with the Wolves expecting to be more of a scorer and more of an all-around player that we haven't had to see since Iowa. Now moving over to the women's basketball side, they fell to Northwestern 77-67 on Saturday. They have number 16 ranked Ohio State coming into town January 13th this Wednesday.

Ohio State currently undefeated. A great opportunity for Iowa to get a win under its belt against a prominent team in Ohio State they've done a great job of taking care of business against some of the lower teams but haven't had a chance to really jump over that hump yet with some of the top teams in the Big 10 but when you look at it what is really impressive is the core of players they have and specifically Clayton Clark we've talked a lot about this but Caitlin should be a should be one of the favorites for national player of the year and undoubtedly Big 10 player of the year as well currently fourth in the nation in points per game at 26.4 she's the only freshman in the top 32 she's also eighth in

the nation in assists per game the only freshman in the top 15 Monica Chinano is third in the nation in field goal percentage at 68.8 and again again, it's impressive what we're seeing Kaitlyn Clark do. And just remembering that she is a true freshman leading this team. This is not a bad Iowa basketball team. This is not out of necessity. This is because Kaitlyn Clark is just really that good. This is the kind of player who could win multiple Big Ten Player of the Years and try to get her name on that women's basketball Mount Rushmore.

I mean, that's how good she is. If you have an opportunity to watch this women's basketball team, I highly recommend you do it because you don't want to miss out on this. Just like we're seeing with the men's basketball team and Luka Garza, greatness doesn't just come around every single year. And you want to be able to see that and remember those experiences, especially on that women's side when we don't get as many nationally televised games. Try to check out the women's basketball team and support them as much as possible.

I know we all wish we could be in Carver and rocking Carver for them, but we cannot. So by default, we've got to watch it on TV and make sure we're giving them the clout they deserve. Coming up on segment number two, we're going to dive into the Maryland and the Minnesota win and also talk a little bit about what is the ceiling for this team. I think people's impressions and opinions have really changed over the last couple of weeks because this team is winning in a variety of different ways, which gives you a lot of hope as to could this team win a national championship.

Our very own Paramount Sports' Lee Sterling, who's on Locked On Bets every single day, he believes they can. So we're going to talk about all that on segment number two and segment number three. So stay tuned with us for that. But as I said, I mentioned Lee Sterling. I mentioned Locked On Bets. And he's getting these lines, these national odds from betonline.ag. It's your online premier sportsbook website.

So right now, don't sit on the sidelines anymore. Get in on the action and do not forget to use our promo code LOCKEDON. You'll receive a 50% welcome bonus with your first deposit. Right now, we have the NFL playoffs going on. We have college basketball. Tonight, we have the national championship. NHL is kicking off. The NBA.

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hosted by your boy Q and Lee Sterling. 2020 is mercifully over. It's time for a fresh start and a few more wins. If you're betting this year and want more wins, We'll be right back. Let's get into our basketball talk, though. As I said, Lisa Erling thinks Iowa has an opportunity to win a national championship, which we all do, but after that Minnesota loss on Christmas Day, left kind of a sour taste in our mouth. However, it seems like it left a sour taste in Iowa's mouth as well because they came out and would not let Minnesota get back in the game yesterday, even though it looked like there was a chance after Minnesota took down a 22-point lead, I believe, to five points.

It looked like they could possibly be making a comeback. Iowa said not a chance. And it sounds like there was a little bit of a trash talk as well. And Jordan Bohannon even mentioned it. He said they talked some trash when they were walking out of the court last time, and they wanted to get a win today. They wanted to make sure they got it done. So we're going to basically go back to the Maryland game,

talk a little bit about the Minnesota game, and then give you the ceiling for this team. And I think most of it is going to be main takeaways, right? I know you've already talked about the Maryland game. I know you've probably done some research on it. You watched it yourselves, or if you didn't, you've already looked at the box score, all that fun stuff. But what really impressed me about the Maryland game

was the fact that two of our top four players, I'm going to say Joey's camp, CJ Frederick, were really struggling. Maryland got off to a hot start. And honestly, it looked like it could be a really bad game. As you may know, anytime you go on the road in the Big Ten, it can be a little bit rough. Iowa gets down 17-7.

And then they switch it up a little bit. They go Joe, Toussaint, J-Bo, Patrick, Luka, Conor. And all of a sudden, we're seeing a little bit of a comeback here. That's pretty darn impressive. Then you get another lineup change. It's now Jack Nunji, Patrick McCaffrey, Joe T, Conor McCaffrey, and Keegan Murray. Iowa is down 7. They bring in those guys guys and they go on

a freaking run so they go up 21 up to 21 points sorry with a an amazing Patrick McCaffrey drive to the basket which again if you don't like Patrick McCaffrey you need to watch what he's actually doing he's not all of his drives are following but the fact that he's able to drive does create a mismatch and an opportunity on the offensive side for Iowa because we don't typically have those kind of players that are going to be able to drive and get to the basket as easily but again Iowa goes on a huge 18 and 0 run with this group of guys with the backup players they brought in our bench players and go on a run and that says there's two things you can take away from that a I was Iowa's incredibly deep, and they're deep for the long run. This is not a team that is going to be a national title contender this year and be gone next year.

Now, anytime you lose a Luka Garza and a Jordan Bohannon, possibly a Joe Weiskamp, that is a significant loss. Do not let me understate that. However, what I'm saying is, this is not like the situation where we lost Jared Uthoff and those guys, and all of a sudden we were one of the worst teams in the Big Ten. That is not going to happen after these core group of guys leave, our Big Three leave. So that's my first takeaway. Second takeaway is the fact that these guys brought the energy off the bench, and Fran McCaffrey is not afraid to go to his bench to bring that spark in.

And there was a message being sent, and it was specifically to Joe Wieskamp and C.J. Frederick, both of whom didn't play nearly as much as you typically see them play. For example, let's look at the minutes for our players against the Maryland basketball squad. It's a little bit telling. our players against the Maryland basketball squad. It's a little bit telling. And what I mean by that is Joey's camp, CJ Frederick,

both under or 18 minutes or less. Patrick McCaffrey, Keegan Murray, both played more minutes than that. Again, that is, that is frame McCaffrey trusting his players to do what is needed to be done. And he felt like Keegan Murray and Patrick McCaffrey brought more off the

bench than CJ Frederick and Joey's camp. He basically sat them the entire first half when the defensive energy just wasn't there Maryland was getting up big and Keegan Murray finishes 21 minutes Patrick McCaffrey 18 minutes and look at their box scores too Keegan Murray 12 points on six of nine shooting five rebounds two blocks one steal a plus minus a ridiculous plus minus of 30 Patrick McCaffrey 18 minutes 10 points three rebounds one assist four or six shooting two or Again, these are the guys we need to carry our team, but if they are not doing it, Frank McCaffrey is not afraid to put in a few other guys and able to go to our deep bench and get the spark that we needed.

When you can go on a 20-something run with your bench players, that goes to show you how deep your team is and how strong your team is. He then ultimately put in Joey's camp, SJ Frederick, to start the game, left them out a little bit longer than you typically would see your starter stay in after that second half. But again, that is Fran McCaffrey being very intelligent about these lineup decisions. I've had a lot of issues with Fran McCaffrey's lineup decisions in the past. I haven't always been a big fan, but what he's doing right now seems to be clicking. Of course, easy for me to say I like it when it's working, right? It's always easy for me to say I like

something when it's working, but the mental fortitude behind what he is doing, the fact that he decided to take Joey's camp and CJ Frederick out, and like I said, send a message. There's a reason they were not playing, and he wanted to say, you know what? You're not playing the way I want you to play. You're on the bench, and then the second half, he gives them more time to get stuff going. And they weren't able to really get a lot going, but they weren't bad. They weren't holding Iowa back per se.

But then that is basically saying you struggled, but here's my vote of confidence. You are still the starter. And I really appreciate that, what Frank McCaffrey is doing with that. I think it goes to show you just how smart of a coach Frank McCaffrey can be. And holy cow, Keegan Murray is just so phenomenal on the defensive end,

just bringing that energy. He's Nicholas Bayer now. And I think that's truly impressive that he's not afraid to play in the big moments, which is something that you can't always say about a true freshman, especially a true freshman that people were not really that high on. Let's call a spade a spade. I wasn't sure what to think about Keegan Murray. I wanted to trust Fran McCaffrey, but it is tough when you extend two scholarship offers

to twins who you've never heard of really before, who weren't on really any recruiting radar and had to go to prep schools prior. It can be a little bit difficult to get behind that, but clearly Fran saw something that we have not, and that is why we need to trust Fran in these decisions. Connor McCaffrey also did a good job of shooting, not typically his forte, but they were sacking off him quite a bit. He went 2-6 from the field, but 2-4 from three, two huge threes in that game, finished with 10 assists against Maryland. And again, the big thing here is just I really liked what the bench was doing. Maryland. And again, the big thing here is just, I really liked what the bench was doing. Also,

you know, when you have Keegan Murray, Aaron Ullis, Tony Perkins against that, that Maryland squad, you know, they brought some energy in a couple minutes of that game. And I really appreciated seeing that happen. And they also got to finish out that game as well, which is again, when you get up to big lead, you get a chance to get your younger guys a little bit more experience, but we've seen them be able to step up and play in moments and not be too small for those moments or those moments not be too big for them. So really, really enjoyed watching that, watching the resilience of that Iowa basketball squad to not give up after being down pretty big early in that first half. Coming up on segment number three, we're going to get into the Rutgers game

and then go into more about the ceiling, or sorry, not the Rutgers game, the Maryland game, excuse me. Oh my gosh, the Minnesota game, excuse me. And then we're going to get into the ceiling of this team. That'll all be coming up on segment number three of the show today. Before we get into any of that though,

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of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast, breaking down the win over Minnesota. I know I apologize for messing up the name over and over again. For some reason, Rutgers just in my mind. Again, it's been a long weekend. I did have a chance to watch all the games. So I was involved and active in watching those games and doing my analysis. I just haven't had a chance to talk about it. But Iowa gets a big win over Minnesota and it was a win that you kind of felt like they

had to get in and coming into this game the spread was you know hovering between nine and ten and I basically said I think Iowa's gonna crush this because they're motivated and initially it looked pretty good and then it started looking bad towards the end of the first half and then it looked good in the second half and then it looked bad good. And then it started looking bad towards the end of the first half. And then it looked good in the second half. And then it looked bad when Minnesota cut that lead. But ultimately, Iowa gets the win. They win by double digits. And they get their fifth Big Ten win of the season,

which moves them into second place in the Big Ten, right behind Michigan. Which, to be honest, I'm not as worried about Michigan as maybe some others are. They've looked good, but they haven't had as strong of a schedule to this point. But Iowa gets that win, 86-71, closes that out strong. And the story from this is the bench wasn't there. Keegan Murray struggled. He had three fouls early, only had 11 minutes of playing time, got four rebounds, was a minus eight for the day,

which is the worst of all the Iowa Hawkeye players that played. Joe Toussaint only played seven minutes, was a minus eight for the day, which is the worst of all the Iowa Hawkeye players that played. Joe Toussaint only played seven minutes, was a minus three. Had one turnover, two personal fouls, and two points and two assists. Patrick McCaffrey, not as good of a day either. Four points, four boards, two of five shooting, minus two. Jack Nunji has been a really interesting question mark throughout the season because offensively that's where he was supposed to be a star at right he offensively he was supposed to be the replacement for Luka Garza off the bench and we saw that happen early in the season but since

really struggled 17 minutes playing time three points but 10 rebounds that's huge you cannot understate the 10 rebounds second on the team in rebounds but one of four shooting had a seven plus minus but where this team really got going was the big three the three guys you expected to be the top three players coming into this season joey's camp jordan bohannon and luca garza all scoring over 19 points luca garza of course getting that 33 points 13 of 20 shooting five rebounds three assists one or two from three and a plus minus of 20 jordan bohannonannon just has been on fire lately and we talked about it early in the season it was frustrating to watch him continue to shoot the ball even when Iowa was

down and he wasn't hitting it very well clearly off but you let him shoot those out now we're Jordan we're out with Jordan Bohannon who is hot and on fire 19 points four of seven from behind the arc 14 assists a career high there and sevenounds, 3 rebounds away from a triple-double. And Joe Wieskamp shooting really well, 7 of 9 from the field, 3 of 3 from behind the arc, 20 points, 6 boards, 2 assists, and a plus-minus of 15. CJ Frederick had a very quiet 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, a plus-minus of 21. So in theory, the team was the strongest when he was on the court, but it's interesting seeing this happen again where what we're finding is Iowa's finding unique

ways to win it's not every night you just go to Luka Garza which is that's probably the most consistent option but you cannot just win by just going through Luka Garza they're getting everyone else involved and they're winning either by Keegan Murray having a phenomenal game, Jack Nunji playing stellar defense, Joe Toussaint driving to the basketball, Conor McCaffrey hitting a few threes. But lately we've been playing without C.J. Frederick being able to hit his shot. And he's a big-time shooter who typically plays a lot of confidence but hasn't been doing so as much lately,

whether that's because he's delegating that up or because he's not feeling confident. We'll be interested to kind of watch over the next couple of weeks because if Iowa can get all those guys going, they can win a national title. Now, against some of these lower teams in the Big Ten, it's okay if not everyone's having a great game. But against some of the top teams like Gonzaga, you need everyone to be involved and be productive and be able to provide that spark in case you want in order to win now that being said having a triple or big

three of Joe Weiskamp Jordan Bohannon and Luka Garza hitting their shots that will get you pretty darn far that can at least compete with a Gonzaga but again you want to see these guys all kind of have a big game it's nice though that the fact that you know there's each night there's someone else who can step up and take it away a couple things i wanted to note from this game again keegan murray got in foul trouble early um jordan mohanan had that career high 14 assists luca garza was absolutely crushing liam robbins in the second half and liam robbins at drake transfer he wanted to go to the big 10 because he wanted to play against some of the premier centers in college basketball and he's getting what he wished for.

He was doing all right in the first half, but defensively, which is what he's known for, was not able to slow down Luka Garza at all. And offensively, where Liam Robbins has maybe shined a little bit more for Minnesota this year, only 10 points, 3 of 10 shooting, and 6 rebounds. He did have two blocks early in the game, but Luka Garza started to get his, especially in transition. I really liked how Luka Garza was doing easy work of Liam Robbins in transition for the Iowa Hawkeyes. The minutes was very interesting again. Foul trouble definitely didn't help that.

The fact that Keegan Murray got fouls early. Connor McCaffrey finished with four fouls in only 20 minutes. Jack Nunji was the leader off the bench with 17 minutes. Patrick McCaffrey, 14. Joe Toussaint, only seven, which I thought was very interesting. You know, he's the guy who is always expected to be that spark off the bench, especially defensively, but we haven't seen that as much lately, whether or not he's still kind of recovering from the ankle injury.

I know he hasn't been listed really as questionable, but it seems like he's still struggling a little bit. Maybe Frank McCaffrey is trying to work him in there. Maybe he's just really liking what he's seeing from Patrick mccaffrey and jack nungi off the bench which could be the case especially because we just we are so deep from a ball handler perspective you don't necessarily need a joe tucson on the floor at all or all the time now what i really like about this game though is the fact that again we saw the big three step up whereas the maryland game we saw the bench step up and this is I actually think because of this I actually

feel a lot more confident going into the remaining part of our schedule where Iowa can be a national title contender that game against Gonzaga it feels like eons ago and I truly believe Iowa can match up well with Gonzaga if they're playing the right game and defensively they're starting to get better they're starting to play more consistent defense and when the starters are not playing solid defense Fran McCaffrey is not afraid to bring in the bench guys who bring a lot more energy on the defensive end of the ball and have been forcing a lot more turnovers than what we typically seen Iowa do now they're still having some issues closing out on three-point shooters there's always going to be that I mean there was a play against you know yesterday against Minnesota where they left two guys wide open on the perimeter because they

crashed down to get the you know the I think it's Liam Robbins at the ball down in the paint they crashed down and left almost everyone wide open that is an issue you can't allow that to happen especially against a guy like Liam Robbins who isn't as strong offensively but Iowa's defense is getting better currently 72nd in Kenpom third overall and second in offensive efficiency a couple other news notes from that game before I get into the ceiling of this team Joey's camp became the 50th men's basketball player to surpass 1,000 career points Luka Garza becomes the all-time leading scorer for Iowa in big 10 games and Jordan Bohannon moves to seventh all-time in three-pointers and if you look at it they would have beat Minnesota which they should have on Christmas Day you don't blow a seven-point lead they should be 12-1 right now but they get Michigan State at home on Thursday

the 44th ranked team in Kempom Northwestern on the road Sunday and as I said Iowa is currently second in the Big Ten right behind Michigan and it makes a little bit easier now that Illinois fell to Maryland at home Wisconsin's 4-1 and on the heels of Iowa but hasn't played the toughest schedule. Also lost to Maryland and you know Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin which are the three teams Iowa's really competing with right now for the number one spot in the Big Ten. They haven't played the hardest schedule. Now granted Iowa hasn't as well compared to the other teams in the Big Ten but but they played a harder schedule than those three teams, which is something I also find interesting. But the next four games for Iowa is huge. Right now they're sitting at 11-2.

They have the opportunity to be 16-2 heading into a game versus Illinois. They have to take care of the games that are easier games. No game in the Big Ten is easy except for Nebraska, but you still need to be able to take care of these games. That's Michigan State, Northwestern, Indiana, and Nebraska, with Indiana likely being the toughest test there. But again, this team is showing me the things I want to see coming into the stretch of Big Ten games. They're fifth in net ranking. There's a quality win over Minnesota, a Q1, Quadrant 1 win. They're now 2-2 in Quadrant 1 wins. Again, moving up to third in Kempom. The AP rankings haven't came out yet, but they're likely going to two in quadrant one wins again moving up to third in kempom the ap rankings

haven't came out yet but they're likely going to be moving up in the ap rankings as well after getting multiple ranked wins there's a basketball team though that you all should get on if you're not on board with you should be watching now and and leave the criticism of specific players off of twitter i know it's a weird tangent to go on, but every week we see a different player step up. And the week before that, that player might've been struggling. I know there's been a lot of criticism on Patrick McCaffrey. There was some criticism on Jack Nunji.

And I think it's okay to give constructive criticism or talk about it like on a show like this. But also with the caveat that don't say they suck. Don't say they should never be playing. Fran McCaffrey knows what he's doing. And the last couple of weeks has really impressed me with how he's managed this bench and found, clicked the right buttons to make sure that Iowa can move and operate the way he wants them to move and operate.

And each game we're seeing someone else step up. Now there's a lot of room for improvement across the board, but again, I really appreciate how he's pushed these buttons to help them step up. And if you're pissed off about someone doing something, try to not tweet at them. That is absolutely ridiculous. But that's my tangent for today. Hope you all enjoyed this show, the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Apologize for getting it out a little bit later today.

Have a fantastic Monday out there, Hawkeye Nation. And let's go Hawks.