Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - How the media got the Caitlin Clark "You Can't See Me" story wrong, Iowa freshman arrive

Episode Date: June 14, 2023

Trent Condon returns for the latest edition of the Locked on Hawkeyes Podcast.A look at how the media got the Caitlin Clark "You Can't See Me" story wrong,Iowa freshman arrive with a look at the players making their way to Iowa City in men's and women's basketball along with football and who can make an impact in year one.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BirddogsGo to birddogs.com/lockedoncollege and when you enter promo code, LOCKEDONCOLLEGE, they’ll throw in a free custom birddogs Yeti-style tumbler with every order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Caitlin Clark's You Can't See Me. It was a big story during the NCAA tournament, and the media got it wrong. Oh, yes, not only the media. A lot of people missed out on that, and Haley Van Lith filled us in on the details. It's move-in day for Iowa freshmen as people are making their way to campus.

We'll break down the freshmen making their way to Iowa City and what we anticipate coming up in 2023-24 for football, men's basketball, and women's basketball. And speaking of that basketball team, Josh Dix, he was out in Colorado Springs with Team USA. How did it go for the young man from Council Bluffs? And how big of an impact is he going to make during his sophomore campaign? That's all coming up today.

Locked on Hawkeyes. You are 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. Today's episode on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast is brought to you by Bird Dogs. Well, I am getting excited for tomorrow. I've got a big golf tournament, and that means I am going to be wearing my Bird Dogs on the

golf course. Go to birddogs.com slash lockdown college, and when you enter promo code LOCKDOWNCOLLEGE, they'll throw in a free custom Bird Dogs Yeti-style tumbler with every order. Let's get into it here today and kicking things off with a story that just will not go away. Going back to the NCAA tournament as Iowa, of course, made their run into the Final Four and ultimately playing for a national championship against LSU. There was so much conversation about trash talk. There were conversations throughout the course of the season, the last couple of years, about

Kaitlyn Clark. Now, Kaitlyn has a very distinct style, and I think that's what makes her the star that she is. It's not just the incredible basketball player that she is, the handles, the ability to get to the rim, and of course, the deep shooting. And that makes her a player that is incredibly fun to watch. But there's more than that. There's an attitude.

There is swag that comes with the game of Kaitlyn Clark. And it's endearing. It makes it even more fun to watch. It's one thing to watch a talented player, but you got to have a little something extra to get into that superstar stratosphere for a lot of different people. something extra to get into that superstar stratosphere for a lot of different people, unless you're Nikola Jokic, who is kind of his own level. That's something that definitely helps. Kaitlyn Clark, she's not a choir girl, right? That's not what we're talking about here. She's got attitude. She talks trash, and that's okay. After the national championship game,

and that's okay. After the national championship game, when Iowa saw their dreams of a championship coming to a close, and we saw Angel Reese walking, stalking, going after Kaitlyn Clark and doing the John Cena, you can't see me, hand wave in front of her face and pointing at her finger with the ring and a lot of Hawkeye fans really took exception to it

I mean there were some ugly ugly comments on social media Twitter, Facebook, Instagram there were some things said that were frankly out of bounds that went too far.

And I said at the time, we cannot celebrate Kaitlyn Clark for all that she is because the trash talk is a part of that. But one thing that many people got wrong and people continue to miss about it was people were trying to equate what Angel Reese did at the end of the game to what Kaitlyn Clark did. And now one of Angel's future teammates at LSU, Haley Van Lith, as I will knock them off in the regional out in Seattle, Kaitlyn was doing that at the end of the game.

But she wasn't doing it to Haley. She wasn't doing it to an LSU player, a Louisville player, excuse me. She wasn't doing that to anybody on that side of the court. She was doing it to her bench. And at the time when this conversation came up, he said exactly that.

This was out there. This was out there. There were verified sources. There were places that were there. There were people that were covering it. Iowa media that was covering it. national media that was covering it, and said the thing at the exact time. Yet there were people with an agenda. There were people that wanted to make this story more than what it was. They wanted to make it a racial issue.

They wanted to make it a different issue than what it actually was. Angel Reese, do I believe that she went too far? I do. And if it was one time, fine. I don't think that's the way you should do it. But again, as somebody that celebrates Caitlin Clark, not everything Caitlin does, I love too. Some of the trash talking, right?

There's times where like, it can be, I can see it as a little bit cringy. I can be dead wrong on it, but there's times that that happens. And be i can see it as a little bit cringy i can be dead wrong on it but there's times that that happens and it's not just a caitlin clark thing it's not just an angel racing this is across the board there are times so you can't celebrate not the way i would have done it if it was my player and i was a coach i wouldn't be happy with it but it is what it is we went too far but there were so many people out there, both just in general communications and in the media,

that got this story so wrong. And they didn't do the most simplest of research. And they would have found out that that is not what Caitlin Clark was doing. And it's great now to see that this is out there again. Now, are we going to get a retraction from the idiots that wanted to make this

a different kind of story than what it actually was? Absolutely not. But here's another thing. Now, a lot of people were up in arms when the announcement was made, what, a week ago, that I was going to play Virginia Tech

coming up in Charlotte, this upcoming non-conference schedule. And everybody said, well, then why isn't it LSU? You know, the bloviators out there, that's all they do. And it doesn't matter what it is, but they're going to make their most pompous of ideas and thoughts, and they're going to throw it out there. And time in and time out, it doesn't matter what Iowa does.

It doesn't matter what Iowa says. They're going to be the ones out there and say they got this wrong. Instead of celebrating two teams in the Final Four, two teams that returned all Americans from a year ago, what's going to be a great game is going to be what it's not. And I understand why Lisa Bluter doesn't want to go down there again and doesn't want to deal with what this turned into. It wasn't a basketball story.

It's not what it should have been. It should have been celebrated as the most watched women's basketball game in history. And the incredible run out of LSU and what they were able to do, piecing things together, and Kim Mulkey being the weirdo that she is on the sideline, celebrate all that. No, that's not what it was. And there were certain portions that wanted to make it a completely different conversation. And that's what frustrates me.

And that's not the way that it should be. Hopefully, this will be something when those idiots are out there again, making the wrong opinions known and trying to equate the two things that it cannot be equated. They were the same symbol, but they were done different ways. It's not a racial issue. It's not a trash talking issue. It's two different ways of doing things. One was trying to show somebody up and it's okay. And Caitlin Clark didn't care about it. And she's been asked about it a multitude of times and she's moved on. Hopefully we can move on

with this. Excited about this upcoming basketball season. And we got some newbies on campus. We're going to talk about the freshmen. It was move-in day over the weekend on Sunday as the players made their way in, moving into the dorms, getting ready for the off-season camp, summer camp, going through things, the workouts with your teammates, taking a few summer classes. Oh, summer in Iowa City, how jealous I am. We'll talk about those freshmen. Impacts in Iowa City. How jealous I am. We'll talk about those freshman impacts for Iowa football.

Who can come onto the field in their freshman season? We'll talk about men's basketball. Four newcomers there and the two newbies on the women's side. That's as we continue here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Well, bird dogs, I said it earlier and I will say it again. I'm excited to get out on the golf course tomorrow. I'm excited to be wearing my new bird dog. So got a couple of pairs.

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Anti-stink sweat wicking fabric keeps you cool and dry all day long. Going to be a hot one out there. I'm excited about that. Also going on right now, the free Yeti style Tumblr. So what you want to do is go to birddogs.com slash lockedoncollege and enter the promo code. Don't forget, promo code

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on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. As always, thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. So the freshmen are on campus now in Iowa City. Oh, 25 years ago, that's when I made my way for my freshman campaign at the University of Iowa. Yes, I'm an old man. 25 years.

Boy, how fast the time absolutely flies in that one. But orientation, going through, picking classes. I was an idiot. I took German class 8.30 Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Didn't get to those Friday classes very often. A little too much fun on Thursdays. But. Well, the good news is these athletes are going to have people are going to be helping about. They're going to be people are going to be helping them with their schedules and what they're going to put together. In fact, talk to a parent of an incoming freshman last week, and he mentioned to me that getting their schedule set up, morning practice

that Iowa went through and changed, what, eight years ago now and before the 2015 season, it is a long day. You wake up, you got practice. After that, you got classes. You come back, you got training table. You got all kinds of things going on. It is a long, it is a full-time job, no doubt about it, being a Division I athlete. So I want to go through here and talk a little bit about the freshmen coming in. Now, for basketball, it's different. First, for the men's team, for incoming freshmen. We've talked about the transfers coming in. We've talked about the returners a lot. In fact, we got a note on Josh Dix coming up here a little bit later on and what he did out in Colorado Springs as he was trying out for the Team USA under-19 team. But that in just a little bit. Three freshmen come in. So you got Price Sanford. Now, Price is the one that I

know the best. Called a ton of his games in high school. I've seen him play throughout the course of his career now, probably in person, I don't know, 15, 20 times, something like that. It's a big, big number that I've seen throughout his career. He is a more well-rounded player than certainly his brother Peyton was after his senior year. Price can do a little bit more as it pertains to playing in the paint. He's got a beautiful shot, just like his brother, no surprise there. But I would say a more well-rounded game. The thing that Price needs to get is he does have a little bit of that little brother in him. He's got that need to get some toughness. Toughness, not just in terms of physicality

and adding strength, but when things aren't going well, I think that's something that you want to see out of him too. Peyton Sanford developed in his sophomore campaign in a year where he went through a terrible shooting slump for weeks. He was still one of the biggest leaders of this Iowa basketball team this past season. I talk about the end, but remember even the accomplishment of getting to the NCAA tournament with this squad, that was pretty good. And Peyton was that guy as a sophomore. And he's playing with dudes. He playing with 25 year old guys out there

and connor mcafree and philip for raja i mean he's playing with old guys and yet he had those leadership qualities price that's something maybe it's a little brother in him i'm not exactly sure but that's what i want to see because i think overall he can impact the game in more ways than payton does and that's the excitement of Price Sanford, guy that is ranked in the top 100 by most of the recruiting services out there. Next up on the list is Owen Freeman. You know, Owen Freeman is really intriguing. He's been committed to Iowa for a long time.

He is a player that I believe, you look at the offers that he had in high school, Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan State, Butler. I mean, he had big time offers and he wanted to be an Iowa Hawkeye. And then moving to the Quad Cities to Moline to finish up his career and to play with Brock Harding. But his recruiting profile dipped a little bit as his last couple of seasons progressed.

Now, there's a couple of ways this could go. Now, we've seen the bad of it, where those recruiting services are right. Or was it just a guy that is just so workmanlike, not flashy, just going to be nose to the grindstone kind of player, that he is going to be able to go out there and be just that kind of player. I think he gave him some help this year. is going to be able to go out there and be just that kind of player. I think he gave him some help this year. Now, if he can give them 12, 15 minutes a game inside, help out with what they have in cricket, what they have in bronze, I think that would be a good thing, absolutely, to go out there and give them some minutes. Next up on the list is teammate Brock Hardy.

So the point guard, that is small. I mean, there's no two ways about it. He's not, he's smaller than Mike Cassell. He's smaller than Jordan Bohan. And he's smaller than Jeff Horner. This is a slight point guard. I mean, in terms of size, we're talking about, go back to the days of Kevin Smith. I mean, he is real thin. He's got to add weight.

Has become better with this shot, but not a great shooter. Yet, he's just a gamer. And if you watched him over in Illinois, leading his team to the state championship with Owen Freeman, you saw his ability. Yeah, he's not going to be the biggest guy. Yeah, there are going to be times that he's going to be outmanned physically,

but there's just something about his game. That innate ability to make the right play, come up in the big moment, he has that. He's got a tall hill to climb this year in getting minutes at the point guard position. You have, obviously, the return this year of DeSante Bowen, and we anticipate we're going to see a big step forward from him. Is Tony Perkins running the point more this year?

Josh Dix, how much point is he going to run? There are minutes, but how many minutes? Something to be said. And then the final guy is probably the least well-known just because of proximity of the four incoming freshmen for Iowa men's basketball. And that's Laji Debelli. So young man from out in Northeast. He's big. He's a lot bigger than I anticipated. Just looking at the photo when he arrived on campus that Iowa men's basketball put out on Twitter, and you can see he's thick, he's strong. He seems like the kind of skill set that can fit in incredibly well. And, you know,

Fran has done so well with those guys that are developmental. Maybe you could say that he's a developmental kind of guy. We will see on that front, but just the raw tools, some of the people that have seen him play in the past, he's not talked about a ton, but don't be shocked if we hear a whole lot about him going forward. Incoming freshman also for the women's basketball team. Two newbies coming in this year. Kadice Johnson-Etienne will make her way over a diminutive point guard,

add some speed to that backcourt, and we'll see if she can find a role with this veteran-laden squad. The other one, Ava Jones. And if you've missed the Ava Jones story, maybe you've been under a rock. If you haven't, she was the young woman that was in the accident when she was playing in an AU basketball tournament in Louisville where lost a family member. It's been incredibly banged up. Had an opportunity to meet Ava at the Final Four down in Dallas.

My daughter and some of the friends got their picture taken with her, and they thought that was a really cool moment, and I did as well. Ava, just such a sweet person, and you hope that physically she's able to get back out there and do what she wants. Still not there. The road back to recovery to get back to the basketball player she once was is still an incredibly arduous one. And to get back to that level, some people might say it's not likely. But what we do know, she's going to start up her career. She's going to be there. She's going to be helping out in whatever way that she can. And there are going to be a ton of people rooting for Ava Jones. That is the basketball side.

What about football? A little bit different. There's a very deep Iowa football team. There's a very good Iowa football team. Finding a role for the football players. We'll talk about that as we roll through here on Locked On Hawkeyes. A little bit more. The freshmen are on campus.

We'll get into that as we continue here. Back with more in a moment. Trent Conant back with you one final time on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. As always, thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Available wherever you get podcasts every day. Coming up on the Thursday edition, it will be our first throwback Thursday. We will look back

at some of the great teams here throughout these summer months in Iowa program history. Football, basketball, we'll be talking about it all. Maybe throw in some wrestling. Heck, we can do baseball, field hockey, soccer. We can do whatever we want. It's the summertime. We're having fun, right? And that's what we're going to do. Your first throwback edition, Throwback Thursday, coming up tomorrow on the program.

As we wrap things up, we talked about the freshmen for basketball, both men's and women's coming up this season. What about the football team? So incoming freshman class, not one of the more highly regarded recruiting classes that Iowa has had recently. You look overall, I believe on three had them 40th, the rivals, what, 32nd, something in that range. This is not anything that they're the big stars at the top.

They're not the five-star players that are going to come in right away and take over. But there are a few opportunities and always opportunities. And one thing that I was continued to sell is special teams. You can make a name for yourself on special teams. And can you help out? So the first place that I go, and I think the guy that has a really good chance of breaking through and playing more than just the four games that you go, and I think the guy that has a really good chance of breaking through and playing more than just the four games that you can play and still maintain your redshirt status is Ben Keeter. So everybody in Iowa City and everybody across the state of Iowa knows Ben

Keeter. What he was as a football player, I saw him play for City High a couple of times this past season, was really impressed by him as a linebacker. But of course, he's a world champion on the mat in wrestling. Because Tony Cassiope comes back for another season at heavyweight, you would think it's going to be a redshirt year for him on the wrestling mat. That means maybe there's a chance this year. I've told you before, if Keeter keeps getting bigger and he's up there more in that 265, 270 pound range, look, he's not going to be a linebacker at that size.

And if that's the case are we going to see him maybe get a hand on the ground he ends up becoming a rush end maybe taking a few things off the plate don't have to read and react to the same level don't have to make the same kind of plays i think something we could see certainly going forward but ben keeter i think he's going to be out there look linebacker is a position position that Iowa does not have a ton of depth right now. They went out and brought in Nick Jackson. We saw Jay Higgins when he was a season ago, but there's still a lot of question marks there. Guys that have not played a ton of snaps at the Big Ten level, and I think Keeter, just with the raw athletic ability that he has, that he could be a guy that we'll see out there and certainly going to help out in special teams.

Another guy I'm intrigued with in this freshman class for Iowa football is Terrell Washington from down in Texas. So they got him late in the game. He flipped right before signing day back in December. He's a guy though that really good in space. Get the ball out to him, swing passes, get him on a stretch play, those kind of things. He's got some wiggle to his game and also has, it sounds like, some really good receiver skills. Maybe he's a guy that gets a couple of also has, it sounds like, some really good receiver skills. Maybe he's a guy that gets a couple of snaps in the slot. He'd do some different things with him. If we see actually some maturation out of this offense this year, if we see a little bit more, if that could be something. So that's one that I'm intrigued by, seeing if Washington can go out

there. He very well could be a guy that plays four games, but they still maintain his redshirt status because of what they have at the running back spot with Caleb Johnson and obviously the depth that they have built on top of it in the wide receiver room, going out, bringing in Seth Anderson, bringing in Caleb Brown from the transfer portal. Ragaini comes back for another season.

You got him out there. Potentially, we could see that four games coming up for Washington. Now, offensive line is something that I harp on a lot because it is so important. You can't be a good offensive team if your offensive line isn't competent, and it hasn't been the last two years. Trevor Lauk, the most highly regarded of the incoming freshmen in the class at the offensive line position. Is there a spot for him if injuries crop up? Is he a guy that maybe goes out there at minimum, gets a couple of games of experience?

If I was out there and they're blowing out a Western Michigan or a Utah State, if we could see him a little bit more this season, I think something to take a look at. Then finally, speaking of that wide receiver position, we'll see, but do one of the incoming three wide receivers make an impact and are able to get out there and become one of the incoming three wide receivers make an impact and are able to get out there and become part of the rotation from right up the road in Marion, Alex Moda, guy that was recruited as an athlete, kind of played all over the place. Is he a guy that's going to be able to find a spot? You also look at from down in the Kansas City area, Dayton Howard, big size to him, six'5", 195 pounds, very raw.

I think it concerns you there. Kansas and Kansas State didn't offer, but hopefully Iowa found something different. And then Jarrett Buey from down in Florida. We talked to one of our recruiting analysts here, oh, probably about a month ago on lockdown. And one thing that they mentioned is they really like Buey. He was a guy that played for an incredibly good team,

didn't get a ton of run early in his career and maybe slowed down his recruitment a little bit, but they certainly thought that he had a chance and we'll see on that front there. So I think that's a couple of other positions that you can take a look at and opportunities there. We'll talk more about these freshmen in the coming weeks. We'll dive in a little bit deeper and see what else is going to be out there as guys are on campus and how sweet that is. Finally here on Lockdown Hawkeyes, I mentioned Josh Dix. He was out in Colorado Springs trying out for the Team USA

Under-19 squad. Now, he didn't make the cut down to the Final 18. He was a part of the cuts of the 35 or so guys that were invited out there, but heard a couple of encouraging things. Nick Olson, who runs the Iowa State 24-7 site, he was out in Colorado Springs, had him on my radio show earlier in the week, and he mentioned a couple of good things. He was impressed by him. First of all, Dix was a lot bigger than he anticipated seeing him this year. And remember, Josh Dix is coming off just a devastating injury

that he sustained at the end of his high school career as he wasn't able to go. Last summer, we heard, oh, he's back working. Fran said that a couple of times, and we wondered, well, what's working really meant? We saw him. He helped out this team. And now another year removed from that injury,

I think you're going to see more bounciness. He was a guy that was incredibly springy as a high school kid, and I think there's going to see more bounciness. He was a guy that was incredibly springy as a high school kid. And I think there's going to be some good basketball. And there's people out there that believe Josh Dix has a real opportunity to be a starter this year. Then he very well could be the guy at the point guard position. He came in as a combo guard. I wasn't sure about that, but seeing his handles last year in limited minutes, if he can get

some more of that quickness back, if he can get that burst that we saw before the injury, hey, maybe there's something real there. But though he didn't make the cut, it sounded like Josh Dix had a good couple of days out in Colorado Springs. And always great to hear that. That does it here today for Locked On Hawkeyes. Oh boy, what a fun, fun time as the summer is here.

Kids are on campus making their way through Iowa City in the summer. Oh, so, so jealous of those youngsters. We will continue here on Lockdown Hawkeyes every day. Again, we got you covered tomorrow as we will be talking about a throwback edition. Plus more news and notes, Iowa baseball in the transfer portal. Another arm making its way to Iowa City. That's all coming up here this week on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. As always, thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.