Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Baseball Sweeps, Big Ten West football win totals

Episode Date: May 16, 2023

Trent Condon returns for another week of the Locked on Hawkeyes Podcast.Even with 4 players unavailable again for Iowa baseball, Rick Heller's squad goes out and plays a complete 3 games as they sweep Michigan State. Brody Brecht moves from the Friday night starter to Sunday, but Morgan and Langenberg step up as do the bats.What does this mean for the NCAA Tournament resume for the Hawkeyes? And just how high can this team go as it pertains to seeding?It looked liked the Iowa softball team had its season come to an end with the loss to Northwestern in the Big Ten Softball Tournament. But the Hawkeyes received an invitation to the National Invitational in Fort Collins, Colorado.And some thoughts on the team that will disappoint preseason expectations in the Big Ten West in this upcoming season.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BirddogsToday's episode is brought to you by Birddogs. Go 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.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

A huge weekend for Iowa baseball. They sweep away Michigan State and put themselves in great position to make the NCAA tournament. We thought Iowa softball was over. Not so fast. They have been added to a postseason tournament. We'll give you the details on that. And we've told you why Iowa football is going to win the Big Ten West. Well, who's going to stink? Somebody's going to be good. Somebody's got to be bad. Today 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. Welcome in once again. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. I'm Trent Condon, and thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you get podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. While you're there, hit that subscribe button. It helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. As we wrap up the weekend, a lot going on in the world. Of course, school

coming to a close for many people out there. Graduation ceremony, seeing everybody in their cap and gown and memory back, many moons back with everything that was happening on that front. And you fast forward to today, uh sports are wrapping up big 10 championships finished up as iowa finishes third in the track and field championships one more weekend to go for iowa baseball and the iowa softball team sees their season come to a close we have all that off season and with these graduation ceremonies one thing you got to remember too all these guys that were waiting to get on campus, well, we're getting closer and closer. And of course the three big ones, right? That'll be coming in. Nick Jackson looks to be the starting middle linebacker for this defense, taking over

the huge shoes of Jack Campbell. He's got to finish up his studies at Virginia and then it's going to be out here. It looks like June is the pace. Rusty Fett, he will be coming in from Miami of Ohio, a multi-year starter, helping solidify the interior of that offensive line. He's played guard. He's played center. Two places, obviously, Iowa looking for an upgrade. And we'll see if it's Logan Jones sticking at center. Everything sounded this spring that it went according to plan, but even a little versatility there, not a bad thing. As we've seen, injuries definitely have been something that has hurt some very good offensive lines in the past. And just one missing piece, how difficult it can be to overcome that. Good to have somebody coming in, Rusty Fett, to help inside a veteran presence.

And a guy that has that versatility to play both in at center and at the guard position. Good news there. And then, of course, Caleb Brown. And we bring in the playmaker. Well, as the guys finish up their studies, that is one thing that we'll be waiting for. We're going to talk a little more Iowa football, really the Big Ten as a whole, coming up a little bit later.

Last week, if you're an everydayer, you know, we broke things down as the over-unders are out from FanDuel. We took a look at those numbers. Also, to win the conference championship coming up in 2023. We talked about those numbers and we talked about it on a very positive side from an Iowa perspective. I believe that they should be the betting favorite. Division odds are not yet available at FanDuel, but when they are, I know Wisconsin, according to the over-unders and the way you look at the futures market as it pertains to win the Big Ten, that Bucky will be the favorite there. I don't believe that's going to be the case. We're going to take a look at the other side here. Take a look at a few of those over-under number totals that I see is pretty far off. And I think a money-making opportunity. We've already

told you to take Iowa on that over. Yes, you're laying juice. It's okay. Money's going to be sitting there for a while. And I did hear a couple of shops are also talking about when they put their totals out. Some sportsbooks do not have over-under totals out quite yet. When they do that, they're going to have their number certainly north of seven and a half is what we see right now of Iowa when they put those numbers out there. But we begin the conversation today with the Iowa baseball team. And a week and a half that has been about as wild as anything that you could possibly have in college athletics from going back a week ago last Friday. The four players

not available for the weekend series against Ohio State. What was happening? We had a lot of questions and we ultimately find out that there are four amongst the 26 players, athletes at the University of Iowa that are right now ineligible or sitting out because of the investigation inside of sports wagering. So you have that component happening. But then this past weekend, you know, you got a week removed. Coach Heller also gets surgery. I mean, he had to have it. He was in so much pain. He had to go out there. He said, all right, if we get this thing done early in the week, can I be back by Friday?

Absolutely. So you have that component. You got four guys suspended. You have an NCAA investigation coupled with a criminal investigation. You have this happening. You need surgery. Oh, by the way, your Friday night starter at a potential first round draft pick in next year's, the 2024 MLB Amateur Draft,

is struggling mightily over the last month. You got that going on. You lost your best hitter with Keaton Anthony. I mean, there's a ton happening. And what does he do? Well, it's Coach Heller. He's a guy that doesn't make excuses. That has never been his forte and never will be. It's going out, it's competing, it's doing what you can and making the best of a

situation. It is grinding and he is a grinder to the nth degree. So he picks up his thousandth career victory. We're not talking about a guy that exactly coached in the sunny outposts of college baseball either. Upper Iowa, UNI, Indiana State, and Iowa. Not exactly the who's who, yet he made all of those programs relevant at their levels and exceeded, I think, expectations at basically every single place that he has been. That's the kind of coach that Rick Heller is, but also a great person. And with this happening and what he is doing, it's commendable. He's keeping this team together.

This would have been very easy for them to fracture. Go back to Ohio State. This Michigan State team, they can swing the sticks a little bit. But you make the decision, Brecht is struggling. We got to move him out of the Friday night role. It's not working. It's taxing our bullpen when we have to pull him out of these games because he's struggling with the control.

We have to do it early. And then we don't know what we have for pull him out of these games because he's struggling with the control. We have to do it early, and then we don't know what we have for Saturday and for Sunday. It's incredibly difficult for the team to do this. It's not an easy decision. If you think pulling your Friday night starter out and moving him to a different spot in your rotation, if that's an easy decision, you're dead wrong. This is like going up and telling a guy like Max Scherzer,

you're not pitching game one of a playoff series. That's what this is like. You're taking your number one, the guy that beat LSU, the guy that is in terms of pro potential as good of an Iowa prospect as they have had in an incredibly long time. We got to move. And you got to handle it with kid gloves, and he did it. And then on Sunday.

So what we see yesterday, him going out there, you're cruising along, Brody Breck runs into some trouble, walking, guys, and that has been going back to high school. I called, I don't know, 15, 20 Ankeny games during the time that he was a starter. They became really good his sophomore year. They made a surprise run that season to the state tournament. And I probably, of those 20 games, saw him pitch half of them,

8 to 10, maybe 12. I don't tell you. There's times that that control gets a little shaky. And when it goes, it can go in a hurry, and it can get really bad. But instead of pulling the plug, instead of going to that bullpen that was pretty well settled at that point in time, Coach Heller gave him the ball one more time. Get out of it, and he did.

That says a lot about Rick Heller, the kind of baseball coach that he is, the belief that he has in his guys, but most importantly, guys knowing that Coach Heller has our back. Great weekend series. They take all three now from Michigan State and now puts himself in great position. They are up to now number 30 in the RPI. That's where they sit here on late Sunday night into Monday morning. They are 13-7 now in the Big Ten, 33-12 overall. The D1 games do not count on their resume as it's looked at at the NCAA. Had the win against LSU. Have plenty of quality victories now. They are 6-6 in Quadrant 1, 5-2 in Quadrant 2. You put those two together, you're in really good

shape to be an NCAA tournament team. Here's the problem. This weekend, the game, well, first of all, the game that was scheduled to be played on Tuesday against UIC, that's wiped off, which isn't bad. I mean, UIC is over 500. Their RPI is 128. It's not going to help you. It can really only hurt you at this point in time. What can hurt you?

It doesn't matter the way it goes. Even if you sweep Northwestern, play in a team that will come in 8-38, the Wildcats, with an RPI of 267. That's not going to be pretty. Now, they're on the road, but you're making it so difficult on yourself here that you have to win all three of these games again

just to maintain RPI. And I don't even know if that'll be the case at number 30. Got a question. How high can this thing go? I was red hot. They're playing really well. Can Iowa get into the top 16? It seems like a huge stretch.

It seems like a huge ask. We're going to play that game as we continue. Iowa softball, their season continues. We'll get into that as well. Plus some football talk as we look around the Big Ten. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Well, if you're looking for a delicious snack, but you don't want all the sugar and calories,

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And if you happen to be by a Sam's Club, hop in there. How about a 13-bar big box of our hit flavors, brownie, batter puff, and churro puff? You can thank me later. Trent Conner back with you again here on Locked On Hawkeyes. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Coming up on tomorrow's episode, we're going to talk some basketball and news coming down about Monica Sonato, how quickly her time in L.A. came to a close, and also a deeper dive into Evan Bronze, the latest transfer portal addition for Iowa.

We kind of glossed over it a little bit. Numbers don't wow you. Guy that didn't play a ton at Belmont, but some intriguing things, certainly, for Bronze. We will get into that tomorrow. We get back into some baseball. So every once in a while, we like to dare to dream here on Lock on Hawkeyes. So one thing we're talking about daring to dream. We're talking about the big picture stuff.

And for Iowa, we're just going through and talking about the baseball resume, right? 33-12, 13-7 in the Big Ten. Well, they win their final three games of the regular season. They sweep Northwestern, Northwestern 3-18. Not a real big stretch. That puts Iowa 16-7 on the year. They're a game and a half back. Indiana and Maryland, they sit in first place.

Well, Indiana, they wrap up the year at Michigan State. Iowa sweeps, and Indiana drops two out of three. How about Maryland? They wrap up the year at Penn State. Iowa swept. We're talking about two road series against teams. Michigan State currently eighth, 11th from Penn State. These wouldn't be completely crazy out of left field, but it could happen.

Just play this game with me. Iowa gets the regular season crown. Indiana and Maryland both lose two out of three over the weekend. Iowa gets the win and gets the championship of the regular season. Grand scheme of things doesn't mean a ton, but it's something. Then Iowa makes their way to Omaha in the Big Ten tournament. And they win the whole dang thing. They rip it off and they continue to win and they run the table. They don't lose a game in the whole dang thing. They rip it off, and they continue to win, and they run the table. They don't lose a game in the Big Ten tournament.

So we're now talking about a resume that's looking at something like 41-12, a winning streak that at that point would be like 11 games, wins in the non-conference, the win against LSU, a huge part of it. I know it's incredibly unlikely. We've seen Indiana a couple of times. We've seen a few Big Ten teams over the last decade or so get top 16 seats. It's difficult. I get that. But maybe. I don't. I'm getting way ahead of myself here. But just something.

If it would happen, if Iowa could run the table, could they get to that point? At least they'd be in the conversation. And how fun would that be to be in the national conversation of college baseball? Oh, how big that was. We talked about the decision, moving Brody Brecht out of the Friday night role and moving him into Sunday. Great performance, maybe a couple extra days, maybe a little pressure off, whatever it was, it worked out incredibly well. Morgan, he's had some struggles as the number two starter, as a Saturday starter. He comes up to Friday night. He was really good.

That Michigan State team, they can swing it a little bit. And Iowa just found a way. There's a belief about this team. And it does have the feeling going back to some of Coach Heller's best teams. It's definitely a lot of fun of seeing what they're doing and seeing what they still can do going forward here the rest of the year. And just make a run, right? How cool to see this team get to a final of the regional round

or have a chance in the Super Regionals, a two out of three, and taking on one of the heavyweights of college baseball. Just absolutely incredible. And they get you excited. And that's certainly the case at this point in time. Iowa softball, we talked about them. Very young team comprised mostly of freshmen and sophomores. They acquitted themselves incredibly well against Northwestern, the number one team who goes on in Northwestern, ultimately wins the Big Ten tournament. And Iowa gave one heck of a run in

that quarterfinal matchup. Got the win for the first time in six seasons as they were able to win a game in the Big Ten tournament. That's something for Coach Gillespie certainly to build on. But it's not over. We thought it was over after that loss to Northwestern. Well, they're going to, well, we hear the NIT. This is the NISC, the National Invitational Softball Championships. It'll be happening coming up May 19th through the 21st in Fort Collins, Colorado. It's an eight-team field, BYU, Cal State, Northridge, Iowa, Maryland, San Jose State, South Dakota State, Carleton State, and UC Davis. Those will be the teams that'll be there, and Iowa will play on Thursday against UC Davis. So an opportunity to get a little more softball, get the youngsters involved in a tournament setting like this in a postseason tournament. All for it. Great to see. Definitely

well-deserved. They won over 30 games this year in a battle-tested Big Ten. Congratulations to them. And let's keep this thing running. Keep it rolling, right? Sports and the content. We're always looking for that. We'll roll through here and talk a little football to close. We're taking a look at the other side. Iowa, I feel no doubt about it. They're going over the seven and a half. And don't be surprised to see that number change very quickly. Or if you're looking at some different shops outside of FanDuel to see them open at an eight or even an eight and a half. I think that's a real possibility. Who's going to be on the low end?

Thoughts on that? Hey, it's spring. We're talking football. That's always good. That's coming up here on Locked on Hawkeyes. Trent Conant back with you one final time on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Coming up later in the week, LaShawn Daniels is going to stop by.

We'll talk plenty of Iowa football with the former Hawkeye running back. Let's get into some more of these win totals, courtesy of FanDuel, and taking a look at the other side of the coin. You've got Ohio State sitting at the top along with Michigan. They're both 10 and a half, meaning if you think they're going to lose two games or more, you're betting the under. This is regular season only. If you believe that they're going to be 11 and 1 or 12 and 0, then you're betting the over and all the way through. Michigan State at 9 and a half. There's Wisconsin sitting at 8.5,

followed by the Hawkeyes, Maryland, and Minnesota, all at 7.5 wins. Illinois and Nebraska at 6.5. There's Sparty sitting at 5.5 wins, along with Purdue. And then on the bottom, 3.5 victories. Northwest, Rutgers, and Indiana, all three of those teams, looking, if you believe they're going to be better than 4-8, 4-8 or better, I should say, than you're betting the over on that one, 3-9 or worse than you're betting the under.

So we're looking for some value here. Where are the betting opportunities in the Big Ten on the other side? The first one that absolutely jumps off the page, and I promise this is not Bucky Haight, but it is Wisconsin. The transformation that they are going through at this point in time, I think is going to be incredibly difficult. It is not that they are going to suddenly become bad at football, but when you're moving from what they are and what their identity has been now going on for three decades of Wisconsin football,

dating back to when Barry Alvarez came in and decided, and right away, what we are going to be. We are going to go jumbo size. We're going to build up our offensive lines. We can get those kind of guys. We are going to be a power run-based team. We're going to play good defense, and that's the way we're going to do it. That has been their identity for three decades. Has there been shifts? Absolutely. Has there

been evolution? No doubt about it. In fact, they shift defensively into a 3-4, and it's continued to work incredibly well for them. However, this is an identity that is going to look so much different on the offensive side of the football. And I keep going back and maybe it's short-sighted or maybe it's just holding onto that one singular point that you just can't let go of. But thinking of Wisconsin down in a game, 17-7 early in the third quarter in November, crosswinds at 25 miles an hour. It's 31 degrees. They're trying to chuck the ball 30, 35, 40, 45 times. I don't think it'll work.

I don't think you can, first of all, get the kind of talent to run that kind of system, to do it at a high enough level, at least not right away. It's going to take the right guys. And maybe Mordecai is that guy coming in from SMU. I'll tell you this is not Dallas, Texas. Certainly not going to be the case when we get into the fall. I struggle to see how it happens that quickly. Not that they're not going to be good.

They will. Not that they can beat most everybody on their schedule. They can. But the consistency, the game in, game out, that stub your toe, like we saw in the spring game, where they turn it over five times, the quarterbacks are sacked 10 times, well, it's going to be real before you know it. Defense, Jim Letter moves on, fine.

They're going to find defense. They're going to have defenders, and they're going to find, it seems like a half dozen every single year, of six, three guys that are 235, it seems like a half dozen every single year, of 6'3 guys that are 235 that can run a 4'5", 40, and they can bench press 220 pounds 80 times. Yeah, they're going to find those dudes. They always find those dudes.

More to it. And that's offense that I come to. There is my recommendation on the under. It is under Wisconsin here for this week. Appreciate you being with us here on Locked On Hawkeyes. Coming up more on Tuesday as we continue to break things down. We'll also give you some insight, any more leads, any more information coming out on the gambling investigation.

It has gone very, very quiet here over the last couple of days. We'll talk about that and a whole lot more with you every single day. That's what we do here on the Lockdown Network. Your team every day. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks!