Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - INSTANT REACTION - IOWA BEATS #1 SOUTH CAROLINA 77-73

Episode Date: April 1, 2023

INSTANT REACTION - IOWA BEATS #1 SOUTH CAROLINA 77-73 in the Final 4 to punch its ticket to the national championship game.Trent Condon breaks things down live from Dallas.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 “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND 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

Some people said it was impossible. Some people said, myself included, Iowa had to play a perfect game to upset South Carolina. Iowa didn't play perfect, but they won it. The Hawkeyes are playing for a national championship on Sunday. We break things down here on Locked on Hawkeyes. Our Locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Live from Dallas, I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every single day. We're available wherever you get podcasts, and you can also find us on YouTube. Make sure you hit that subscribe button while you're there. Got a lot of people joining us here, and a lot of people giving us those five-star reviews over on the podcast side.

We greatly appreciate it. It helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Well, this one was incredible. Making the drive from Des Moines and making the decision. Let's make this happen. So I have a seven-year-old daughter. And if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you know that my daughter, she's great.

She's fun and something that we want to enjoy. She's been playing basketball for the last couple of years and my Hawkeye fandom, I'm trying to impress on her a little bit. We went to a men's basketball game earlier this year. We've been in women's games in the past and I thought, you know what? Here's an opportunity and an opportunity that's there. An opportunity to make the drive down. It's a 10 hour drive from West Des Moines to get down to Dallas. We can make this work. My dad lives in between.

All right, we made that work. And if you saw the podcast yesterday, we were coming to you from there. And apologies if the quality was not exactly the best. Hopefully things are a little bit better here as we have a lot to break down. But making the decision, not just to go down and be a media member.

I mean, I could have got a media pass. I could have gotten into the building for free, but instead paying the exorbitant fees. But to have this experience with my daughter as she's sleeping here over my right shoulder right now. And you can hear, no, she's not. She's still not sleeping over there. But to have this kind of experience, to have this opportunity they they don't come around you know as i was talking to a long time hawkeye fan and talking about these opportunities when they come around yeah i was they won national championships in wrestling i think if you know you know me i'm a huge wrestling fan excuse. But that's different, right? We've seen Iowa compete at those levels in wrestling. We've seen the field hockey team win national championships

back in the day and compete and get to Final Fours. The softball team in the 90s and into the early 2000s, they were playing at an elite level. But for all intents and purposes, you're number three sport. One of the few sports that, though still not a generator of revenue, at least is, on the national psyche, to have this opportunity. Yeah, it's great.

We root for softball and field hockey and soccer and track and field, but this is different. And here we are. And to be able to share that experience with my daughter, to be able to share the experience with 7,000, 8,000 Hawkeye fans in attendance here, I will tell you, it was not a... A decided majority is not even the right verbiage to use about what we saw and the Hawkeye fan base that showed up.

I understand that outside of LSU, obviously, Iowa was the closest destination. We got to see that as my daughter was by here. And she's going to the bathroom, live podcasting, right? This is what we're going to get. But that's why you got to hit subscribe on YouTube right there. It's because you get to see things like that. But to have this experience and now to have the opportunity, you know, our plan was we're going to hop in the car tomorrow morning. We were going to get on the road and maybe stop and see my dad and see Grandpa Larry and stop there and have lunch with them and then make our way back to Des Moines

and be Saturday night and then into Sunday, be normal and right back at it. But now we got an extra day. We got a Saturday that we can do whatever we want. And we're going to go check out the fan experience here. I'm telling you, it's indescribable. And that's terrible for somebody like me that needs to use words to describe

what we're seeing, what we're doing. But this experience tonight and what we saw was one of the best things that I've ever seen and experienced in my life. And to be able to share that with that girl right there that walks by again on camera

and she's giggling behind me and maybe a little bit delirious, it's, you can't measure it. And a little bit melancholy, maybe a little bit emotional after that one, but deservedly. What a game. What an experience.

Now we got one more, and we get to do it against a very hateful figure in Kamulki. I'll probably do another podcast for you tomorrow, and we'll preview this championship matchup against LSU, but we got to talk about this game. We got to talk about what we saw, and we got to talk about this game plan that the coaching staff put together,

which was as good as you're going to see, not women's college basketball, not women's basketball, and basketball period, what Lisa Bluter and Jan Jensen and Abby and the rest of the crew, what they put together is as good as you're going to find across the board. Talk about the great NBA coaches. Talk about the great college coaches. Talk about whatever you want. What you see, you go out and you watch high school games. There is nothing that will compare to what this coaching staff did to put these ladies and put them in an opportunity to win this game.

Caitlin was incredible. Everybody did something. It was a team victory and Iowa will play for a national championship on Sunday. I'm awestruck. We'll take a quick timeout. We'll come back with more here on the lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. What a time to be a Hawkeye fan as we are one win away

from winning a championship with the Iowa Hawkeyes. The tournament's heating up, and there's no better place to get out of the action than FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Right now, FanDuel's giving new customers a no-sweat first bet up to $1,000. That's $1,000 in bonus bets back if your first bet doesn't win. Just go to FanDuel.com slash locked on to sign up today to claim your no sweat first bet. Then

you can wager on everything. Money line, point spread, which team's going to be cutting down the net? Well, I was one win away for themselves from cutting down that net. In fact, let's open up FanDuel right now. We're doing this after the game i am not exactly sure if things are updated and if they have a point spread out for this one but

we're going to take a peek here and see if we can find if they have the championship points where i'm going to guess at this point yeah they have to have this right they have to have this point spread up we got it up there all right we got y. We got a bunch of men's props up there. March Madness. Our player props. Hypotheticals. That's not what we're looking for. We are looking for LSU-Iowa National Championship on the women's side. As we're doing it right now, it's not happening. That's okay. We will get to it. We absolutely will. Well, you will have an opportunity

to bet on it right now on FanDuel. Don't miss your shot at a no sweat first bet up to $1,000 when you join FanDuel today. Just go to FanDuel.com slash LockedOn to sign up. Make every moment more with FanDuel. Trent Conant back with you once again on the LockedOn

Hawkeyes podcast. Alright, let's do this. How did this happen? How did Iowa go out and beat a team that I didn't think they were unbeatable, but I thought the only way that Iowa was going to be able to win this game was to play perfectly. That was the only way that Iowa

was going to be able to get this done. To have 15, 18 threes. To keep them at bay on the boards. To play at their pace that they wanted to play. These were all of the check marks that we're trying to hit going into the game when we were previewing. How does Iowa hang around? Now they got off to a good start. That was one of the things that they hit. They hit going into the game when we're previewing. How does Iowa hang around? Now, they got off to a good start.

That was one of the things that they hit. They were killed on the boards. And I'll be honest with you, this is going to be the first time that I'm going to pull up the actual box score of the game. Again, experiencing this with my daughter, with some of my best friends that are here, absolutely incredible.

But this is the first time I'm looking at the box score. All right, I'm doing this in real time here as we make our way towards 1 a.m. and my daughter's still chirping over my shoulder here. At least we get to sleep in tomorrow, right? There's no drive back to Iowa. We'll be able to do that. So Iowa shoots 49% from the floor.

That's very good. Yet 7 of 23 from 3. Again, if you would have told me before the game that Iowa goes 7 of 23 from 3, I think we get beat by 15. I think South Carolina covers the spread, and they win by certainly north of 12. Obviously didn't happen. Iowa gets out-rebounded the game, 46-22. They get beat on the offensive glass, 24-3.

South Carolina gets 46 points in the paint, gets 24 second-chance points against just eight from Iowa. And yet Iowa wins this game. And they controlled it. They dictated everything, and the credit needs to go. Not to, yes, Kaitlyn Clark will get to her. But what this coaching staff did and what they put together from the get-go. And we talked earlier in the week.

And I thought Jason did a great job when he joined us during the week talking about Kaitlyn getting everybody else to believe. And I think that's a huge component of what this team is and what they can still be, a possibility of a national champion. But getting everybody else to believe. Caitlyn, there has never been a lacking of self-confidence from her. That has never been a problem with Caitlyn Clark. But getting everybody else to believe, that's been a huge, huge part of what they've done.

Apologies to YouTube. All right, we're back. Dropped my phone. As I was looking at this box score, maybe I wanted to throw it because, again, it's just, it's nuts. It's absolutely nuts. One of the things that we talked about

is right away junking this thing up defensively. And what Lisa Bluter and the rest of the Iowa coaching staff did, it's incredible. They had South Carolina so out of sorts. They had the Gamecocks just questioning themselves,

what they were trying to do. They Gamecocks just questioning themselves, what they were trying to do. They were out of sorts. And Dawn Staley, who was an excellent coach. I mean, you go back to what she did at Temple when she began her career. What she's done in South Carolina. She's a great coach. But they didn't have answers. And any time that they tried to zag,

Iowa had a zag that answered it every single time. Lisa Bluter, Jan Jensen, we've talked about them. I mean, they are, they're emporico. They are hip on hip next to each other. Coach Harmon, Coach Stamp. Credit to you. Not just sagging off. You see teams do that against teams that don't shoot it well, and South Carolina doesn't.

Not just sagging off, but daring South Carolina. Everybody on the perimeter, outside of Cook, we don't care. There's something mental that goes into that. Iowa could have had a very similar game plan in this game. They could have had something very similar where they made the decision, we're going to play this fashion,

we're going to play this, we're going to sag off. But when you sag, you don't play at that level. You're still within arm reach right of whoever offensively that you're guarding you didn't do that we're gonna give you six feet in front of us you want to shoot do it that led to a lot of offensive rebounds and with the size and the height advantage that they had hey hey, that's what they do. They're going to go get it. We talked about this early in the week. Coming into the game, South Carolina,

48.7% of missed shots they went up and got themselves. It's an unthinkable number at any level of basketball. I don't care if you're talking about second graders, like the one over my shoulder, or if you're talking about high school, or if you're talking about at the collegiate or even the professional level, it's an unthinkable number

that a team's going to go out there and get basically half of the available offensive rebounds. But that's what they've done this season. They did it again, and they got there, but that decision to play in that fashion was a stroke of genius. It was absolutely incredible, but it wasn't just the game plan. It was a scheme.

You got to have the players that do it. We'll talk about that when we come back, what we saw. And of course, another amazing performance from Caitlin Clark. The Iowa Hawkeyes are a win away from winning a national championship. We'll finish things up here live from Dallas. It's a lockdown Hawkeyes are a win away from winning a national championship. We'll finish things up here live from Dallas. It's a Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. All right, Trent Conant back with you one final time here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. As always, thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every single day.

So let's wrap things up. And we talked about the coaching staff and the game plan, which was immaculate. As good as you're going to find, this is one that is going to go down in the annals, I believe, of great performances. You know, earlier in the week, we talked about the UNLV-Duke comparisons, though they hadn't played, obviously, the year previous,

that Final Four game. And then I remember the chatter. I was in middle school at the time, or maybe even upper elementary. What about 1991? Yeah, I was in middle school at the time, or maybe even upper elementary. What about 1991? Yeah, I was in fifth, sixth grade. And it was after they pulled the upset going to the Monday championship game. Well, can Duke really actually punch it down and win a national championship

after that emotional win in the semifinals? Can they really get it done? And they did. Same thing here. I don't think I was at some emotional spot where they can't overcome it here a day later and win a national championship i i don't think that's the case now kim bulky as terrible of a human as she is and she's an awful person she's a hell of a basketball coach and she is going to have a scheme and a game plan that's going to make

things i believe even more difficult for c Kaitlyn than what we've seen here over the last four rounds of the NCAA tournament. But we'll get to that here in tomorrow's podcast. Let's talk about tonight. So Kaitlyn finishes the game with 41 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists. So we had a group of South Carolina ladies in front of us, and it was funny early on and they're like that's not that good

again I'm sitting with my daughter a little bit different if I was sitting with my buddies but I'm just talking to her but maybe making sure that they hear she had 11 points, 4 assists in the first quarter. I don't think she's that good. What are you watching here? I don't get it.

I understand that there is a narrative and there is a segment of basketball fans that don't want her to succeed or don't like the showmanship that she shows. Come on. You're an idiot. If, if, if you watch that game and said, she's,

she's not that good. You're a moron. You don't know basketball. I mean, come on. I understand there's fandom that goes involved in, and those ladies were very nice. We,

we chirped at each other a little bit. We had a great time though. They didn't watch the fourth quarter around us. Imagine that. Must've been Ella. I had a great time, though. They didn't watch the fourth quarter around us. Imagine that. Must have been Ella. I'll blame Ella for that one. 41 points, six rebounds, eight assists in the game. She just controlled it.

15 to 31 from the floor. It's all of her free throws. I was a team. It's all their free throws as well. Excuse me. I don't have a drink here in front of me. There we go. Hopefully this is not going to cost hotel money here

as we grab ourselves a little water. Hopefully that came with the room. If not, $10 water, what can you do, right? So again, looking at the box score, 5-17 from three. And that's the crazy thing. Gabby had a great shot right at the end of the first half. I mean, another. That play that they drew up. Short on time. Inside of five seconds left in the first half. Right away, Kaitlyn's covered up. You throw it to half

court. You get it to half court. You get it to Sedano, who gets it to Clark, who gets it to the wing. Gabby had a great look at that one, and it rattled out. But what Gabby Marshall did defensively in this one, for all intents and purposes, she was the only perimeter defender that they used in this game, and she was outstanding. How difficult she made it on Cook throughout this night. Now, I know Cook got numbers. She finishes with 24 points and eight rebounds in the game.

Didn't have an assist, though. Good pass inside. Turned it over four times. She goes 11-21 from the floor. Didn't hit a three-pointer, though, in the game. That was her assignment. And she played it absolutely beautiful. I thought

McKenna Warnock was going to have to have a big game if I was going to win. She just has five points, but she was important for what they were doing. And I thought Monica Sinano, I did not think this was going to be a matchup that we're going to see her score maybe north of a dozen points.

She finishes with 18. Seven from Kate Martin, but Kate Martin, boy, she was so good. So as they were face guarding Caitlyn, for all intents and purposes, Kate Martin became the point guard. And yes, there was a lot of things. Most everything always goes through Clark. But what she was able to do of running this team and against the pressure, it's not just one defender that's just out there.

It's not just Beal, you know, that was doing her thing against Caitlin Clark. This is a team that has three or four excellent perimeter defenders. And yet with that, Kate Martin was running, controlling things, doing an excellent job. The Stolke gave him good minutes off the bench. We saw a little bit of O'Grady. She finishes with four points and gave them minutes. A falter. Davis. It just...

Everybody played their role. And the crazy thing is, Iowa wasn't perfect. I thought it was going to take nearly a perfect game to win this one, and I was dead wrong. Iowa played well. The game plan was great. But they didn't play perfect. And yet they still beat South Carolina. Now, it's not going to ring hollow

if they lose on Sunday. That's not what it's going to be. But there is a huge opportunity in front of us. People that were back home, I heard from a few people that mentioned that after the game, in the interview right on the floor after the game that Caitlin was talking about, come play for Iowa.

Come play for Coach Bluter. We're going to explore that a little talking about. Come play for Iowa. Come play for Coach Bluter. We're going to explore that a little bit more. What this opportunity now in front of Iowa is and what this can be for women's basketball and for the University of Iowa and for the athletic department because it is a huge opportunity that sits in front of them.

We will do that when we come back tomorrow with another podcast here. We are going to continue with the content on Lockdown Hawkeyes. I want to continue talking about this team. I'm going to break things down. We are going to get ready for the matchup against LSU. We have you covered.

Yes, it is spring. We got spring football going on. We got the transfer portal. There's a lot happening on the men's side. We got all next week. There's a lot happening on the men's side. We got all next week to get into that for here. And now it is all about this women's basketball team after the win against undefeated South Carolina undefeated. No more Hawkeyes will play for a championship on Sunday. We'll preview the matchup tomorrow on lockdown Hawkeyes. We didn't get some shut

eye while we got to get that kid over my shoulder to bed. And we will talk to you again tomorrow. Thanks for making lockdown Hawkeyes. Your first listen every single day. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Also give us a five-star review on, on the whatever device you are on for the podcast side. We greatly appreciate it. Thanks to FanDuel.

Thanks to everybody out there. Go Hawks. What a day. Hey, if you're hanging out in Dallas, make sure you're hit me up. Well, you can find me on lockdown. I were at Trent Condon. You can find me there.

And well, we got an open day before we play for a championship. How fun is this? More coming your way on lockdown. Hawkeyes. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.