Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - INSTANT REACTION: Hawkeye Hoops pick up huge wins, weekend recap

Starting point is 00:00:00 It's always a great day to be a Hawkeye. This weekend was a little bit better. The women with the big win against No. 2 Ohio State. The Iowa men with the chance of being an NCAA tournament team after going out on the road and beating Northwestern. We break it all down today. Locked on. You are locked on Hawkeyes.

Starting point is 00:00:19 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. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you find podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. While you're there, make sure you hit the subscribe button.

Starting point is 00:00:54 Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. This episode is brought to you by Nissan. Are you the kind of driver that likes to push things a little further? Ever wonder what adventure could be around the next corner, take the Nissan Rogue, Nissan Pathfinder, or Nissan Armada and go find your next big adventure. Check them all out today at NissanUSA.com. Well, here we are after a huge weekend in basketball here

Starting point is 00:01:22 in the state of Iowa, culminating with the Iowa women getting the number two seed in the Big Ten tournament, beating regular season champion Ohio State, and solidifying themselves at minimum as a number two seed in the NCAA tournament. We had the pomp and circumstance of yet another record going down as Kaitlyn Clark stands alone as the highest scoring player in Division I basketball history, passing pistol Pete Maravich. We have that angle to things, but more than anything, it was Senior Day. And an opportunity, though, we will see these players out on the hardwood two more times at Carver Hawkeye Arena, unless something crazy happens

Starting point is 00:02:00 and Iowa loses in the first round of the NCAA tournament. We'll get to see them two more times and then hopefully send them off to the Sweet 16 and have an opportunity for them to make another run in this tournament. We've said it all season long. We've said it over the last four years. Kaitlyn Clark just delivers. And to do it again in this stage isn't a surprise.

Starting point is 00:02:22 She does it in her own certain way. It was a physical basketball game. It was a basketball game where Ohio State certainly came out with a game plan. And you saw early on in the game, they made a very concerted effort that they were not going to allow Kaitlin Clark to beat them. And plenty of teams come out with that and rarely does it work. And the same thing happened to this one as Kaitlin finishes the game with 35.6 rebounds, nine assists, had three assists in the first, what, six possessions of the game. That number probably should have been more closer to 15 overall in the assist total. There were some missed shots in there, some missed bunnies overall, but it's not about the negativity here.

Starting point is 00:02:59 It's about the positivity and certainly the good work that this group does. Just the environment, the fan base, the way that they have shown up. We saw this building late, going back to what we saw at the end of last season. Over the last three games, you get three sellouts. At that time, it was something that I thought was unthinkable. I really did. It was something that I thought was unthinkable. I really did. Somebody, myself, I've covered and watched women's basketball and done it for a very long time now, decades that I've done it.

Starting point is 00:03:33 And one of my roommates at Iowa, very close to the women's basketball program, and we'd be sitting in the corner at a tailgate before a football game, and we'd be talking women's basketball. We'd be talking about the team 20 years ago and what they were going to be in and to see what this is built into. Remembering the days of going to Carford

Starting point is 00:03:53 and having the curtain down and having 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 people in there for some games with good teams, teams that were competing for Big Ten championships, teams that would make run come March. Teams that could get to the second weekend, though that was a rarity. But still, a very solid program. And now we see this.

Starting point is 00:04:15 And we see a sellout for the season. And we see Kaitlyn Clark with all the pressure. The pressure of the world on her. Of the women's basketball world on her, and be able to deliver every single time, and this fan base, and just how beloved this team is. Yes, we all go to watch Kaitlyn Clark. We all want to be there to watch her and be inspired for what she is and the kind of player that she is and just what a tremendous talent that she is, coupled with a good person.

Starting point is 00:04:42 I mean, it's easy to root for that because of what she is both on and off the floor. And to see her knock down a 32 foot three pointer and they get to the rim and find her teammate and do all the things. But then on top of it, every single time when she talks, you hear her talk about her teammates. You hear her talk about her coaches. You hear her talk about her family and the missteps have been just so rare. Yeah, she gets physical. Yeah, she gets angry. That hear her talk about her family and the missteps have been just so rare. Yeah, she gets physical. Yeah, she gets angry. That's the competitor in her. And that's what makes her who she is and what makes her so great. We got to see it over these last four years. And the ceremonies that happened afterwards, and he got sports finder over there, Holly Rowe, and he got sports signer over there, Holly Rowe,

Starting point is 00:05:26 and Travis Scott's in the building, and Jake from State Farm, and Nolan Ryan shows up. Nolan Ryan, the extra Kirby Puckett, that was my dude. I had his pennant hanging on my wall. He's there to watch Iowa women's basketball. Just think of the crazy nature of what we've seen and what we've gone through. Being down last year in Dallas and seeing 8-10,000

Starting point is 00:05:52 Hawkeye fans there for an opportunity to watch this team play for a national championship. To beat, who seemed unbeatable, South Carolina to punch their ticket to that championship game. We get to see this greatness. We get to see this greatness. We get to see it now, hopefully three more times in the Big Ten tournament coming to this week. We'll get to see it again after that in the NCAA tournament and hopefully another long run. Look, the max that we can see now, Kaitlyn Clark, the max that we can see, Gabby Marshall,

Starting point is 00:06:24 Kate Martin is nine more times. That's best case scenario. And it might not be that many. Things happen. I take you back to a year ago. They were on the ropes against Georgia in the round of 32 after losing in the round of 32 to Creighton the year previous at home. Both of those times.

Starting point is 00:06:42 It's not a foregone conclusion. Enjoy this ride. Because we don't know times it's not a foregone conclusion enjoy this ride because we don't know when it's going to end we don't know when it's going to come to a close unless they get to that championship game again caitlin was outstanding she's always outstanding even in games got off to a slow start with the shot tried to break the record and pass pistol pete uh with a another 35 footfooter. That one didn't go down. Did it at the free throw line.

Starting point is 00:07:08 I really like the thought. I know I saw a lot of people had it on social media here today. It was after the technical late in the first half there. And how sad was it that beautiful play and Hannah Stolke hitting the shot at the horn. They had to wave that one off. But that aside, that Kaitlyn, as she's towing the line for the free throws, ties the record and then breaks it. She does it alone on the floor because she is alone.

Starting point is 00:07:36 She is one of one. There's nobody that will be able to replicate what she has done for this sport. There will be nobody that can replicate what she has done for Iowa women's basketball. There is nobody out there that is going to do what she is. Because there's one person that's able to build something up. And she is that one. She is her, as the kids like to say. It's been amazing being able to follow this.

Starting point is 00:08:02 And going back eight years ago, the first time I saw her as a freshman called a game at Dowling Catholic and watching her and what she was and just how different she was even at that point as what a 15 year old girl. And now this young woman at 22 that we get to see out there dominating and doing it the right way. It's been amazing. And let's hope it continues here for another solid month and we get to see a whole lot more of it. It wasn't just though, Caitlin Clark, Hannah Stulkey again.

Starting point is 00:08:33 She just had a great game. And, you know, after what we saw the first time these two teams got together and Cody McMahon was so good in that fourth quarter, just bowling her way to the basket. But I made it tough on her and they said, we're going to get out and run. And we're going to have those bigs. They're going to have to chase Hannah Stolke down, and they weren't able to do it. And they were putting so much attention on Kaitlyn throughout the game that she had that ability. And Kaitlyn still got hers, but it was Stolke with 23-9. On a game where Kate Martin, not shooting the ball real well from the outside,

Starting point is 00:09:06 just one to three from downtown, still finishes with 11 points and nine rebounds. Gabby getting her groove back, and you can see the confidence continuing to build. And we've seen that now the last couple of games and the importance, as we know, for that. And the sad note, of course, is Molly Davis. We'll talk about that a little bit,

Starting point is 00:09:25 and we will get into the men's game, how important that win at Northwestern was for the men's basketball team. Molly Davis, where does Iowa turn? Plus the men's hoops, a rough week for the baseball team as well down in Oxford, Mississippi. We'll talk about it all.

Starting point is 00:09:40 We continue Instant Reaction after the weekend that was here on Locked On Hawkeyes. Stay right there we're back with more in a moment are you the kind of driver that likes to push things a little further ever wonder what adventure could be around the next corner our friends at nissan have a lineup of SUVs with the capabilities to take your adventure to the next level. The 2024 Nissan Rogue is perfect for city drives and great escapes.

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Starting point is 00:10:50 Take the Nissan Rogue, Nissan Pathfinder, or Nissan Armada and go find your next big adventure. Shop NissanUSA.com. That's NissanUSA.com. That's NissanUSA.com. Trent Conant back with you once again here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Well, the sad news coming out of this game is obviously the knee injury that was sustained by Molly Davis. Making a hustle play, doing what Molly does, the headband, going out there, getting a steal, took a little bump and knee just buckled.

Starting point is 00:11:30 As I mentioned earlier, if you followed women's basketball for a while, women are more susceptible in sport just in general. Plenty of studies have been done about this and talking about the physics of the body that women are more susceptible to ACL entries. And it's something that has plagued not just the Iowa women's basketball program, but just basketball, soccer, you name the sport, they're more susceptible. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:11:59 At this point, as we're sitting here late on Sunday night recording, there's not been definitive word of what it was. this point as we're sitting here late on sunday night recording uh there's not been definitive word of what it was i did find it a little bit odd that she had that big wrap on there's some speculation that's all it is that potentially maybe because of that it's not acl didn't see any ice on it things like that and the big wrap is not what you at least normally see with an acl now it could be something more devastating, or maybe not. Glimmer of hope? We'll see. Now, the likelihood is, if it is something that she's going to be able to come back from, we're still talking weeks down the line. I mean, this is something that

Starting point is 00:12:35 not going to see her at the Big Ten tournament, likely not going to see her at Carver. It'd be something further down the line, even if it is that. But definitely had the makings of what you normally anticipate is an ACL injury. Still, to see Molly Davis, who a year ago was a bit part, was a deep rotational player that came in for a couple of minutes, at times looked overwhelmed. And with her stature, moving up, playing from the MAC, and coming into the Big Ten, you saw that there were moments that she was overwhelmed.

Starting point is 00:13:05 Instead of just accepting that, she just kept working, kept grinding. And that's another thing you have to love about this team, is the grind that they have. It's not just about the talent. They're certainly a talented team. But they got workers. They got kids out there that are just, they're putting the effort in. And you love to see that.

Starting point is 00:13:22 Molly Davis took that absolutely. Loved the postgame during the senior day ceremonies and uh really good that you could find that uh you find a bunch of places a bunch of the beat writers had it up there a fox you could find it online and that's where i did on the fox sports app afterwards and was able to go there and watch the festivities and hear from all five players going through it. But to hear her talk about being a small player, being a short player, and yet still showing that you can play at this level. And she absolutely did that. Hope for the best. Don't have a whole lot of hope that this is something that isn't going to take her out for the rest of the years. The question becomes, what does that mean now for Iowa? Well, you lose one of your few dependable ball handlers, one of the few players on this team that you can count on.

Starting point is 00:14:11 Now, the good news is, as we're late in the season, Kaitlin Clark's going to play almost every minute. And she plays a ton already. I mean, you look at kind of her game log, and unless it's a big blowout victory, you don't see her off the floor a whole lot. Now, yeah, against Minnesota, when they're up by 50, she plays 29 minutes in that game. But against Illinois, 33.

Starting point is 00:14:31 That was another one that they had a big lead. Against Indiana, though, she played 39. Against Michigan, 37. 39 at Nebraska. 37 against Penn State. 39 against Maryland. Kaitlin's going to be out there a ton. And now even more of the responsibility for ball handling is going to go to her.

Starting point is 00:14:47 You're going to see, I think, a little bit more of Kate Martin also in that kind of role. But then off the bench, does this mean Taylor McCabe is going to see more playing time? She didn't have a great game after playing so well against Minnesota,

Starting point is 00:14:59 knocking down those shots, shot some indecision out of McCabe and he can't afford that. I mean, she needs to be strong with the basketball. She needs to do the things that, yes, we know what she can be as a spot-up shooter, and she's elite as a shooter, but there's got to be more, and there's going to be a little more ball handling from her. Kylie Feerbach has played much better here as of late, knocking down shots. We mentioned a couple of games ago, it was the first three-pointer that

Starting point is 00:15:24 she'd made since the Wisconsin game. That was back on January 16th. It had been a long time. And Fairbanks doing that. Had three steals in the third quarter. Jumped a passing lane. Did really well. She's not a great defender. She's towards the bottom in many of the metrics out there. Same thing with McCabe. Those are towards the bottom of the defensive metrics. But Iowa also runs a lot of zone. They change things up a lot. They go from person to person. They jump over. They'll do a lot of different kind of zone defensive looks,

Starting point is 00:15:50 and that's what you're going to see out of Iowa. So it's not a huge negative, much like we talk about the men's basketball team. The women's basketball team, they got a type, right? And their type is skilled offensively. And these players certainly are skilled offensively look if fearbach could knock down a couple of shots she is at least adequate off the bounce mccabe same kind of thing they're both better shooters and though the shooting hasn't been

Starting point is 00:16:15 there all season long certainly from fearbach they're gonna need it but ultimately it'll go likely to sydney a falter a falter is going to go into the starting lineup i think that's the likely path that they're going to go. We talked a lot, certainly during the first couple of months of the season, it was Iowa going to go back more at some point to a more traditional lineup, playing Hannah Stolke at the four and then jumping over and playing, say, an Addison O'Grady at the five. There was a Lisa Bluter press conference, I want to say within the last week,

Starting point is 00:16:45 maybe week and a half, where she said they just really don't practice that a whole lot anymore. It's very rare that they're practicing with the starters and having Stolke playing the power forward position and then a center in there. And when Hannah's out, O'Grady comes in, Goodman comes in, even Edinger's coming a little bit this year. When that happens, they're just doing that. It's basically four out, one in. One post player, and then four guards around it, and that's going to be likely continuing here. Now, Affolter, the great thing about her is she's such a good rebounder, and though she's not tall, she is a good athlete. She's got leaping ability, but she understands angles.

Starting point is 00:17:27 She's so smart getting to the basketball. And this is a team that now is going to be built a little bit different, but I really like what a Fulter can do for them. Fairbach's got to step up. McCabe's got to step up. Maybe it's a few more minutes in the post and changing things around a little bit. But now the regular season's over. Now there's no more worrying about rest. They possibly can play three games in three days in the Big Ten tournament. In fact, the

Starting point is 00:17:51 bracket is out for the Big Ten tournament. Let's take a quick peek here. If you're watching on YouTube, you can look at it here and see what the Big Ten tournament looks like as it makes its way to Minneapolis at the Target Center this week. So Iowa on the bottom side of the bracket, they are the number two seed. They await the winner of Wisconsin-Penn State. A high likelihood that that's going to be the Nittany Lions. Of course, we saw them in Carver coming up a couple of weeks ago. Iowa behind Hannah Stolke just had a monster performance in that game.

Starting point is 00:18:21 That'll be the 5-30 game on Friday evening. 5-30 against the winner of Wisconsin, Penn State. Then likely seeing Indiana. However, Mackenzie Holmes sustained another injury. At this point, have not seen how significant that injury is, but Indiana, they're banged up. How about that? And had another injury in their game over the weekend. So Indiana, though they got the win against Maryland, it was an impactful one in terms of injuries for them. And we'll see what that means, how good, obviously, Mahomes is going to be. She played just 23 minutes in the game after having that injury. And they had another one, their backup

Starting point is 00:19:02 Big, who also plays quite a bit, also was injured in that game. It sets up a really good path for Iowa now. You get a chance to avenge the loss against Indiana, them playing the championship game, likely against Ohio State. Ohio State will take on the winner of Illinois-Maryland. Maryland, really talented team. In the past, they've had a lot of really talented players. Obviously, this is not a

Starting point is 00:19:25 standard brand of freeze team still. And Illinois is playing well. Illinois has done some things here lately, including beating Nebraska in their game on Sunday. So Illinois, a team that hasn't gone as anticipated there. That's not an easy one. We'll just say that for Ohio State in the quarters. And then Michigan State or Nebraska will be the likely opponent for them in the semifinals. I like the path for Iowa. I like it even more with the injuries that Indiana sustained. It really feels like Iowa's got a good chance here getting back to that championship game. And also how cool is it that this game is going to be? The championship game is going to be on big CBS. So yet another network that's going to get an opportunity perhaps to get Kaitlin Clark on there.

Starting point is 00:20:07 That's coming up again this week. Iowa 530 will play in the matchup against either Penn State or Wisconsin. That's how things will get started. Mentioned, I think we'll see a falter there in the starting lineup. Great day. Great day to be a Hawkeye.

Starting point is 00:20:21 Great weekend to be a Hawkeye. The Iowa men go to Northwestern and get an incredibly important win. What did it do to their chances of making the NCAA tournament? Oh, it did a lot. We'll break things down here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. Talk about the Hawkeye men getting the win

Starting point is 00:20:36 and taking a look to the weekend ahead for them. They got eight days between their matchups with Northwestern and Illinois. What is a win against the Illini do on senior day for the men's basketball team? We'll talk about that as we continue. This is Locked on Hawkeyes. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel and the FanDuel Sportsbook. Get buckets with your first bet on FanDuel.

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Starting point is 00:21:23 Coming up, you're going to have odds, too, for the Big Ten tournament. Looking forward to that and seeing what the price is going to be for the Hawkeyes to cut down the debts up in Minneapolis and of course the big weekend matchup against Illinois they'll have all that and a whole lot more up at FanDuel just visit FanDuel.com slash locked on and shoot your shot that's FanDuel dot com slash Locked On. FanDuel, official sportsbook partner of the NBA. Trent Conant back with you once again on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day.

Starting point is 00:22:00 Make sure you hit that subscribe button if you're still here. Greatly appreciate it. If you're on the podcast side, five-star reviews. Always looking for that and help us to get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Let's jump into the men going on the road and beating Northwestern. And every day, as you know this, we talked about this late last week. The importance of this game was so immense because the likelihood is that Iowa was going to have to

Starting point is 00:22:25 beat Illinois twice if they didn't win this game. Just go down this path with me. If Iowa would have lost Saturday, they likely to at least have a decent enough resume to have a shot even going into the Big Ten tournament. Maybe they'd have to beat Illinois in the regular season finale, come back, win the matchup, probably the 7-10 game, then beat Illinois again for the second time in a week. Look, against anybody, that's tough.

Starting point is 00:22:49 But against that Illinois team with all that talent, that was going to be incredibly difficult. Now, if Iowa loses this game Sunday, they still got a chance, possibly having to play Illinois again after the Hawkeyes' first game, potentially in the 2-7 game. That is a likely scenario that would play out there. It just makes the pass so much better. Not only that, you had a quad one victory in getting the win there. That was monstrous, obviously helping out the resume. They jumped up three spots in the net. In the grand scheme of things, look, last year, two teams that had nets in the 60s made the NCAA tournament. So it's not like the RPI days where outside of the one year

Starting point is 00:23:27 that New Mexico, what, 30 years ago made it because their athletic director was on the NCAA selection committee that year with like a net in like the 70s. The net is not what we've seen in the past with the RPI. It's a sorting tool. And that's what the committee tells us time in and time out. So the Iowa resume at this point in time, 57 in the net. They are now three and eight against quad one, the Minnesota game. If Minnesota can get into the top 75, that road victory against the Gophers would help out Minnesota sits at 77 here on Sunday night. And though there's always shuffling going on there, I was building a resume. You kind of look at them and some of the other bubble-type teams,

Starting point is 00:24:10 Wake Forest, Villanova, those types of teams, the resume compares very favorably to them. I mentioned a lot Bart Torvik and playing around with the tools that he has at his disposal. How about this one? Going back over the last couple of weeks, back to, let's see here, February 23rd, going back to that Saturday. So just a couple of weeks over the last two weeks, the Iowa Hawkeyes are ranked as the 19th best team in the country. So there you go. I mean, that shows you exactly how well this team is playing,

Starting point is 00:24:41 how good they have been, and they continue to pile up the victories. Four and one now during that time. Four and one over your last five games. Now, they tell us that that's not that big of a deal, right? No, it's not important what you've done in your last five games, your last ten games. It's bull. Look, these are still people making these decisions.

Starting point is 00:25:03 And they know. Look, if it wasn't the case, the Iowa team that had to go to Dayton, that stumbled down the stretch that season, you look at their resume going into the NCAA tournament, there is no reason that that team, if your final 10 games mattered, didn't matter, like the committee tells us it didn't, that they should have been shipped to Dayton, but they were. You're not going to tell me. These are still humans. They still watch basketball. They're watching a lot of basketball late. If there's a team that's struggling down the stretch, and it goes the other way, if you're playing better down the stretch,

Starting point is 00:25:33 is it the difference between making the tournament and staying out? I'm not sure about that, but in terms of seeding, absolutely. There is not a doubt in my mind that that absolutely matters. So how has Iowa got to this point? Well, it's the offense has gone to another level. And most importantly, Josh Dix has gone to another level. Mention those numbers. 19th best team in the country over the last couple of weeks. Four and one record.

Starting point is 00:25:56 The offense seventh in the country. Well, I was always good offensively. In fact, they're 10th in the country right now in offensive efficiency for the whole season. The defense hasn't got a whole lot better. There's 131st in defensive efficiency over the last two weeks. So it's been about the offense, and it's been about Josh Dix. Let the lead slip away comes up with big plays. Peyton Sanford doing his thing, that alpha, that leadership quality that you love to see out of him. And he definitely

Starting point is 00:26:25 has that. It was just such an enjoyable experience. Bubu is an absolute stud. I mean, that dude, he very well could put Northwestern on his back and win a couple, maybe three games there. I mean, with the right draw, he's that kind of talent. He is so good. And he had a bunch of answers and he was trying to will Northwestern back into the game over the final 10 minutes. But Iowa had a response. There was one play where Dix, just a hand in his face, comes up, that pull-up jumper game. You know, and Iowa is not relying on the three-point shot. It's so different than what we're used to.

Starting point is 00:26:58 This is an elite two-point shooting team. And those are numbers that I love to see. Long jump shots, long two-point jump shots. I always got to be the best team in the country in that. I don't have the numbers in front of me, and I haven't watched all 360 teams. I can't think of a team, though, better. Stanford obviously can do it.

Starting point is 00:27:16 Dix is an absolute stud at it. Kricke's been able to do it. And another thing, I was moved away from a lot of the offense going through Kricke. And you see his numbers obviously kind of dissipate. And I think some of the things are out. But he was really good. He had a really big stretch in that second half when he got going

Starting point is 00:27:33 and kept Iowa with Northwestern, keeping them arm reach away. Old Freeman just plays 20 minutes, but they were impactful. Nine and six in the 20 minutes that he played. Mention Patrick McCaffrey, too. Hitting that three that basically salted the game away, how monstrous that was. And you have to love Tony Perkins. You know, TP is a guy that I maintained for a long time,

Starting point is 00:27:54 just isn't a starting point guard. He can do it in a clutch. Now he's proven I'm dead wrong. And this dude absolutely can be a point guard. The handles have definitely tightened up over those last couple of years. To have 14 assists in a game where his shot's not falling, he had a bunch

Starting point is 00:28:10 of plays at the rim that were incredibly close. A couple of pull-up jades just rattled out. He had a bunch of those plays throughout the course of the game, but instead of pouting, instead of dropping his head, some of the things that we saw early in his career, he just kept grinding. And he got his teammates in the right spot. He ran the offense to absolute perfection. He finishes with 14 assists in the game,

Starting point is 00:28:29 one off his career high that he had 15 in the game against Nebraska. This team's humming, folks. They're playing great basketball. They are playing their best basketball of the year. We're going to investigate a little bit more and talk more about this team. It's a weird week in basketball season where we don't have a game. Iowa women won't play again until Friday in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament. The men won't play a game until Sunday in the finale of the regular season. Going to be odd. Going to be a little bit different, but we'll have plenty to talk about,

Starting point is 00:29:00 including we'll continue to preview some spring football talk here. Iowa baseball now sits at five and six on the season after they fall two of three at the hands of Ole Miss. It's not devastating, but they got work to do. And in terms of quality victories, there isn't a whole lot of meat left. They got Jacksonville State coming up with the series this weekend. You have to, at minimum, I think win that series and maybe even get a sweep. They'll get a midweek game coming up here in a few weeks against Georgia, who's off to a really good start. They haven't played the most difficult schedule, but the chance against an SEC team to play their building is going to be an RPI helper, at the very least, for them. But they got work to

Starting point is 00:29:38 do, and they got to figure out that bullpen. I mean, it's just atrocious right now. And guys that you thought were not just going to be pieces of the bullpen, were going to be important cogs. They're nothing short of bad. It's not that they're leaving balls out of the plate. They can't get the ball over the plate. It's walks after walks after walks. Got to get it figured out and have to get it out, figured out quickly if Iowa baseball is going to get certainly to the level that a lot of people, myself included, thought they were going to be this season. With that, we've got a lot to break down, and we've got you covered here each and every day. Your team every day, that's what we do on the Lockdown Network,

Starting point is 00:30:12 and we've got you covered on the Hawkeye side of things each and every day. Also, I want to let you know, Lockdown has launched the first-ever National Sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube, and now it's available on Amazon Fire TV in the free Fire TV channels app. Lockdown Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of Lockdown, plus our national shows covering every league. Find Lockdown Sports Today now available on the free Fire TV channels app. Great weekend to be a Hawkeye.

Starting point is 00:30:45 Great for you to be with me here today. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - INSTANT REACTION: Hawkeye Hoops pick up huge wins, weekend recap

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