Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - INSTANT REACTION: Iowa Women to the Elite 8

Episode Date: March 25, 2023

Trent Condon returns for an instant reaction podcast after the Hawkeye women's basketball team picks up an 87-77 win over Colorado.A breakdown of the game, what's up next for the Hawks and what they have to do better if they are going to move on to the Final Four for the first time since 1993.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

survive and advance. That's what we got here this evening from the Iowa women in instant reaction podcast. The Hawkeyes move on to the elite eight today. I'm locked on Hawkeyes. Locked on Hawkeyes. Your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network.

Your team every day. Welcome in once again. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. As always, thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day as we react to what we saw Iowa, an 87-77 win against Colorado. They will play for a shot to get to the Final Four. They'll get their opportunity on Sunday as they await the winner of Ole Miss and Louisiana. Well, at times it wasn't the prettiest game. At times it was very much a frustrating game. But ultimately,

Iowa did just enough to keep the Buffaloes at bay, and they move on to the Elite Eight with the win. 87-77 is the final in this one. Taking a look at the numbers and what we saw, of course, we have to start once again with Kaitlyn Clark, and that's not to say that this was a one-player effort. That was certainly not the case here this evening for this Hawkeye women team. They went out there. They played well. There was help all overplayer effort. That was certainly not the case here this evening for this Hawkeye women team. They went out there. They played well. There was help all over the place. Kate Martin will get into her play.

What the captain was able to do for them. Of course, inside, Monica Zanano, what she does and just her ability to close, to finish, right around the paint, playing two post players out there at 6'3". Zanano was really good in that game. She was excellent. We saw a little bit of everything in this one.

Well, let's start at the top with Kaitlyn Clark. In a night where she battled foul trouble, got the two fouls during the first quarter of play, got that one late in the first quarter, and then it became decision time. Now, the great news for women's basketball fans is that Lisa Bluter is a coach that understands circumstance and understands that, yes, there are times that you need to play your best players, even if they have two fouls, because games can get away. Games can get away from you in the first half, and there's never an opportunity or not the same kind of opportunities to win the game.

Yes, you would never win a game in a first half. You can't lose them. Lisa Bluter knows that and certainly showed up in a big-time way. Iowa kept them at bay, but, you know, raced out to that early lead. What was it, 14-5, I think it was. And as they got out to that early lead, it really had the feeling that Iowa was going to cruise. I mean, throughout the course of this game, Iowa was the better team.

Now, speaking of foul trouble, I think you look at the other side of this one, and I have to say, if we did see the full complement of Colorado's point guard, who had a ton of fouls herself, and Sherrod, who ended up fouling the game, Jalen Sherrod, she was really good, and she was really giving Iowa a lot of trouble out there. She finished with 11 points and nine assists in just 21 minutes. Now, even if Sherrod's out there the whole time, I think Iowa ultimately still wins this game. But I'll tell you, it would have been a whole lot more difficult with her out there. So yes, Iowa had their foul trouble.

Sonata, she worked really hard through four fouls at the end. Caitlin Clark had the foul trouble. It was one of those games. You know, the officiating, we've talked about this before. It's bad in general in basketball. It's a difficult sport to officiate, not to take anything away. It's difficult. It doesn't matter what level you're doing. It doesn't matter if you're out there, you know,

in fourth grade basketball when kids are starting out, if you're doing it at the collegiate or even the professional level. I mean, there is so many calls that are 50-50 calls that it's just open to interpretation foul seemingly every time down the floor of what you're going to call and what you're not what you're going to let go that it is difficult but this officiating crew there's another one that didn't exactly have the best night good news is iowa found a way to get it done caitlin clark in control some of the passes that she made in fact some of her best passes ultimately turned into turnovers i mean there were a couple of beautiful bounce passes she had

through the lane. One, I remember that was fumbled off the hands of Warnock, just probably didn't see it until it got up to her a little too quick. So many great plays though, in the game, her passing was outstanding. The one throw from the corner going across, across the rim from the corner and dumping it inside I think that one was also to Warnock who finished for the bucket so good it felt like in a game where she has 31 and 8 battlefield trouble didn't play the amount of minutes that we're certainly used to seeing for Caitlin Clark it almost felt like she left a little bit out there on the floor now she played 36 minutes ultimately in the ball game but maybe even could have been a little bit more and that

just shows you exactly where we are with Caitlin Clark, where she has a performance like this and said, and maybe it could have been a tick better. It's unfair, but it's the reality of Caitlin Clark. She had four turnovers in the game, 31 and eight, along with three rebounds, a couple of steals in game, had the beautiful run out and the finish great performance out of her. And of course the dagger late that put the game away as iowa moves on to the lead eight first time since uh the great run with meg augustus and company fifth time in program history that they will be in the elite eight as they try to chase down their second final four first since 1993 30 years since the last time they were there and i have some numbers about that

that we've uh talked about well we will get into that more as things go on. Continue. Kate Martin, such a leader. And there's a reason they call her the captain. And it's just those leadership qualities, the big moments she is there offensively. You know, it's hit or miss at times, you know, inconsistent, I would say, as a score. But she just does so many other things that are so important. And then how about the game plan coming out in the second half after Colorado, the way they stayed in the game in the first half was from Denmark, Rita Foreman. Rita Foreman, we talked about when we were scouting this game, we mentioned what she did in the first round.

She had 21 points in that one, had nine against Duke. We knew that of everybody on this team, she was the one that could fill it up the best. She was the one that could score at the highest level. She came out on fire. And what do they do? They put their defensive stopper on her. So Gabby Marshall comes over.

For all intents and purposes, shut her down in the second half and completely changed the complexion of this game. Colorado kept coming, kept getting closer and closer, kept chipping away. Quay Miller, she was really, really good, I thought, for Colorado throughout this one. Wasn't the best with the shot, but did so many things, and you could really see the leadership qualities that she has and she brought to that team.

I was impressed by that Colorado team. I think they were even a little bit better than I anticipated. If you've been listening this week, I really felt confident that Iowa was going to be able to pick up the victory and they ultimately did, but a little bit tougher even than I thought in this one. So we take all this and now we get ready for the Elite Eight. So as we're recording here on Friday evening, still do not know the result of the other regional game happening, the other Sweet 16 game in the Seattle 4 region. Currently, as I look at it, Louisville's up by six with about a minute 20 to go in the third quarter.

So still plenty of time in that one. Louisville, tough defensive team. You know, offensive rebounds, it was a sore spot. When there was that sequence where Colorado was getting shot after shot after shot, and it wasn't just that it was long rebounds coming out. They were rebounds you need to get. You need to get those. But with the foul trouble, maybe that had something to do.

Can't be quite as aggressive on the boards. We also got to give credit. Mentioned Gabby Marshall and what she did defensively. Going down with that injury, a tailbone injury, it sounded like, as she hit the hard floor on the moving screen that was up front there from one of the post players. I think it might have been Vonlay for Colorado. But regardless of that, Marshall doing it with defense.

What you got offensively out of Martin, out of Clark, out of Warnock, and then Zanano inside it. And she was just so good. That seal that she has, when she gets that shoulder dip, and she gets that seal so good with it. We talked about the last game, but the no dribbles game. Though there are a few dribbles in this one.

Had that beautiful little left-handed baby hook that she went up with. So, so good. Iowa gets out to the early lead and held on. Oh, Colorado made plenty of runs at them in this one. Off the bench, Molly Davis came in. She had a bucket. A little bit surprising, Hannah Stolke.

And afterwards, questions were asked about the health status, excuse me, of Hannah Stolke. Just because we, of course, saw her play such an important role. Sixth player of the year in the Big Ten this year. Such an important role. Your left kind of questioning exactly what happened here. Why didn't we see more of her? Well, she dealt with the ankle injury, had to sit out early on

in the NCAA tournament. Coach Bluter said she's healthy. It was more of a matchup thing with the size and kind of the more of the strong, girthy type of centers that and post players that Colorado was playing with.

Just didn't think it was a good matchup for her. That meant we saw a little bit more O'Grady. She did some good things in there. Addison came in and certainly helped out this team. Good to see she's got the size, Just didn't think it was a good matchup for her. That meant we saw a little bit more O'Grady. She did some good things in there. Addison came in and certainly helped out this team. Good to see she's got the size six foot four,

good solid frame to her. And she's going to be a player. Maybe again, we're going to have to see, get some minutes if they're going to ultimately get there and get to the final four. It's a fun one. We're looking forward to the next one coming up on Sunday. This is an instant reaction podcast. We'll pause for a moment back with more in a moment.

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If you're watching us on YouTube, it helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Helps that algorithm. The more people that are clicking subscribe, the more people we're going to get out to. More Hawkeye fans are going to find us as we got tons going on. Iowa women playing in the elite eight on Sunday I believe I saw it was Sunday evening will be the tip on this one didn't have that confirmed I I just maybe saw it in passing him but I was scrolling on Twitter apologies you know where to find right we will we'll have the information out there you'll be

able to find it a myriad of different ways but against either Ole Miss or Louisville going to be another physical game going to be another tough team that's going to play a similar style to what we saw from Georgia, what we've seen against Colorado, what we saw in the past against Maryland, these kind of teams that are going to play out there and they want to turn it into a slugfest, right? And that's what I was going to see on Sunday, I believe night, Sunday night for that one. So we talked about the team, what we saw individually, the game plan, the scheme, what Bluter did, changing things up, going with Marshall, trying to keep players out of foul trouble. I mean, there was a lot of balls in the air here for Lisa Bluter, and she was able to

jug them just masterfully, as she does seemingly every time. And you think about what this means, getting to the lead eight, last time they were there, it was a blowout as they were just run off the floor by Baylor. You're anticipating a different result. Though Iowa that year was also a number two seed, the gap between Baylor and everybody else was pretty significant. We saw that show up on the court on that day. This one, though, Iowa's going to be favored. They're going to be the higher seed in this game,

the better seed in this game, either against the number eight seed Ole Miss or the number five seed in Louisville. So they're going to have certainly those expectations there. And the importance of getting over the hump now for this Iowa program, getting to a Final Four, what it would mean for Lisa Bluter, such a longtime coach and all the success

and all the accolades that she has had, her alongside Jan Jensen, how great that would be to see them get to a Final Four. We saw it show up also tonight, the fan base in Seattle and how many people were there and how many people in black and gold. Now I know, yes, both teams were in black and gold, but you could hear it. I mean, it was a decided majority for Iowa and the people rooting for them. In a basketball town in Seattle where, yes, they lost to Sonics,

but women's basketball means a lot in Seattle with Sue Bird and Hannah Stewart and what they have done and what that organization, the WNBA, has done success-wise throughout the years and how they've been supported in the city of Seattle. Really, really cool to see the amount of people in the building, the lower bowl filled up, that opened up the upper deck. It was really cool to see the amount of people in the building, the lower bowl filled up, that opened up the upper deck. It just, it was really cool to see that show up and the people show up to watch Iowa women's basketball. If they do punch their ticket and if they do make their way to a final four, just think of that caravan heading down I-35 and making their way

down to Dallas. Yeah, it'll likely be South Carolina waiting there for them in the opening game. But you know what? Getting there for the first time in 30 years, just how incredible that would be for women's basketball in general. And we got a ton going on here on Locked On Hawkeyes. Brody Breck made a decision I've been hitting at for months here on Locked On Hawkeyes.

He is going to give up football. He is going to dedicate his time now completely to baseball. It was the right move. We will talk about that. Certainly more. The transfer portal is open in college basketball. A lot of moving parts on the men's side. We're going to be breaking things down over there. Iowa baseball off to their best start since 1939 as they get another win here on Friday against Western Michigan. A couple more games in front of them there. The softball team's off to a nice start. I mean, a lot going on. Huge series with them taking on Penn State.

So, so much happening. We got you covered. Your team every day. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Instant reaction today. We'll be back with you on Sunday after it goes final. Iowa taking on the winner of Ole Miss and Louisville. We'll break things down.

We'll get you covered and let you run into hopefully what should be a celebratory week of Iowa women's hoop. Celebrate tonight. Iowa gets it done. 87-77 over Colorado. We'll talk to you again soon here on Locked on Hawkeyes.