Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa basketball is in on coveted big man Fardaws Aimaq in transfer portal | Iowa Hawkeye podcast

Episode Date: March 28, 2022

Fran McCaffery and the Iowa basketball team are targeting one of the most coveted big men in the transfer portal in Utah Valley's Fardaws Aimaq. We discuss why the Iowa Hawkeyes are looking at the former Western Athletic Conference player of the year and what it could mean for the Hawkeyes current roster makeup. 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 “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order. BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. StatHeroStatHero is reshaping the way the way you play fantasy sports. Dozens of house based games to play daily. No sharks, no funky props, just your skill vs the lineups you choose. Sign-up today at StatHero.com/LockedOn Athletic GreensAthletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back Hawkeye Nation to a Monday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Podcast Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. And on today's episode of the show, we're going to be discussing why Iowa is targeting a very coveted big man in the transfer portal, Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year, Fardas Emek. I probably didn't say his name right, so I apologize there, but they are targeting a very talented center.

What that means to the roster, we'll be discussing all that on the show today. Plus, Fran McCaffrey spoke to the media and gave some really big insights into the roster construction, who he expects to go, and who he expects to stay. That's all coming up on today's show. Before we get to any of that, though, I want to thank you all for making the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. You can find the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast for free wherever you get your podcast at and also on YouTube by searching Locked On Hawkeyes. And this episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes is brought to you by StatHero.

StatHero is reshaping the way you play fantasy sports. Dozens of house-based games to play daily, no sharks, no funky props, just your skill versus the lineups you choose. Sign up today at stathero.com slash lock on. So let's get into it. Iowa has been linked to former Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year, Fardas Emek, out of Utah Valley. And that is very big news for the Hawkeyes. A lot of times the transfer portal has been such a big piece of college basketball the last couple of years. And Iowa hasn't been overly active per se in the transfer portal because they're not bringing in a lot of guys.

But I think people sometimes mistake being active in the transfer portal versus actually bringing in guys. Right. And so Fran McCaffrey and his, his unit, his coaching staff, they do a good job of vetting through players, finding the right guys that might make sense to the program

and targeting those guys specifically. They're not going to go out and find eight or nine transfers like Iowa State did this past year. They're not in a position to do that. It's not something Fran McCaffrey wants to do. But they are active. They just don't bring in a lot of guys because that limits the pool quite significantly. And then at that point, they have to target guys who want to go to do. But they are active. They just don't bring in a lot of guys because that limits the pool quite significantly.

And then at that point, they have to target guys who want to go to them, kind of like they did with Phillip Abracha last year. So now the only guy that Iowa has been linked to at this point is Utah Valley Center Fardas Amick. Now, I think it's pretty obvious to anyone who's watched Iowa basketball games this year, Iowa could use a refined big man on this squad. Phillip Abracha is an undersized five. I thought he played admirably.

I thought he played well for the most part, but he's an undersized five, especially in a Big Ten that has a lot of bigs. Now, granted, a lot of those bigs might be leaving this year, but they have a lot of bigs. Behind him, Riley Mulvey was supposed to be a senior in high school this year, and Josh Ogundale hasn't gotten the cardiovascular conditioning down to this point. His offensive game is also not refined to this point.

He played some very valuable minutes on the stretch, especially against Purdue, but he just isn't there yet, and this is clearly an indication that Iowa knows they need to get better at that five spot in order to improve next year. Bartosz is not going to be an easy guy to grab, though. Again, that former Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year coming off another phenomenal season, averaged 18.9 points per game, 13.6 rebounds per game, 1.7 assists per game, and 1.3 blocks per game.

He also incorporated a three-ball, shooting 1.4 a game, and hitting7 assists per game, and 1.3 blocks per game. He also incorporated a three ball shooting 1.4 a game and hitting 43.5% the year prior, 13.9 points per game, 15 rebounds per game, 1.6 assists per game, 1.7 blocks per game. The only downside is his shooting percentage, considering most of his shots are coming around the basket, a 48% shooter in 2021, Most of his shots are coming around the basket. A 48% shooter in 2021, a 49% shooter in 2021-22. He's 6'11", 245 pounds, with two years of eligibility left at this point. He played his freshman year at Mercer, transferred to Utah Valley, redshirted, and then played the last two seasons.

So he has one year of actual eligibility plus a COVID year of eligibility. This is not going to be an easy guy to grab, though. He is currently being recruited by South Carolina, Texas Tech, Arkansas, Kentucky, Washington, Gonzaga, you name it. He is getting offers and talking to staff members about playing time there. So it's not going to be easy to get, but it would be a huge gift for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Because again, I think the biggest weak spot on this team was the ability to match up from a center perspective, have a rim protector consistently, get a lot more rebounding prowess from that center position.

I think Phillip Aracha, again, playing undersized, I think he'd be a better fit at the four. Where he would play if Iowa were to land this guy, though, I don't think Phillip would be in the starting lineup. I think he would more than likely come off the bench or potentially slide in that four spot, depending on who stays, who goes. Now, as far as Iowa goes, they currently have an extra scholarship available right now. So this makes sense. They may have another one available as well with some different transfers and different situations like that. As far as what this means for Iowa in terms of the transfer portal, what else could they be doing?

A lot of people have also mentioned a guard. Now, I don't feel 100% confident that we have a guy right now that can be the general that can lead this team consistently for 20 to 25 minutes a game. But does Fran McCaffrey feel that way? I believe he feels like he has the guys in that room between Joe Toussaint, Aaron Ulis, and Asante Bowen.

Now, I'm not saying none of those guys can lead this team, but I think all three of those guys have potential. We just haven't seen it to this point, and you don't want to be – you don't want to go into the season not sure what's going to happen at that point guard spot. Joe Toussaint is in the lead, obviously, to be that starting point guard. I like him coming off the bench, though. And he's been a mixed bag. He has so much energy defensively, so much energy offensively, and can break down guys off the dribble.

But he plays too out of control too often. Aaron Ewell is kind of a similar thing. A little bit less out of control more often than not compared to Joe Chassant, but still struggled down the stretch. Still was not able to make as many plays. Dribbled a lot more than he probably should have. And then you look at DeSante Bowen. DeSante Bowen, a four-star guard, you have to feel pretty good about him coming in, but is he going to be the guy that Fran wants to rely on this year? That's really the other question. I don't think Iowa's

going to target a guard, especially with the news that Josh Dix should be ready to play by the beginning of the season, but that could be another area they target as well. Someone who has the ability to be a combo guard, play the point, play the shooting guard spot, so they can rotate in that nice rotation. I don't think Iowa's going to go there. I wouldn't be opposed to Iowa going there as well, though. Coming up, we're going to talk a little bit about the roster construction. Fran McCaffrey spoke to Sports Illustrated, gave a lot of good insights into a couple guys who are probably returning and a couple guys or one guy in particular who is certainly not. Plus we're going to talk about the slip of Patrick McCaffrey announcing that one guy

might be transferring. Spoiler alert, it wasn't actually a slip, and we'll get to all that here in a few short moments. But first, with March Madness coming towards an end, right? We have the Final Four up ahead of us. Your bracket is probably completely busted, just like mine is. It just got absolutely annihilated this season. Thankfully, I've been hedging my bets this year with StatHero's NCAA Pick'Em Contest. StatHero's NCAA single-game pick'em pits the star players against each other in an amazing hybrid between fantasy and sports gambling.

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slash LockedOn. Promo code LockedOn. Terms and conditions do apply. And again, thank you all for making the LockedOn Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. I appreciate each and every one of you listening to the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. I appreciate each and every one of you listening to the show. I appreciate your love, your support. And you can find us for free wherever you get podcasts at and also on YouTube by searching Locked On Hawkeyes.

Now I want to talk a little bit about Fran McCaffrey, and he spoke to Sports Illustrated. He talked about Conor McCaffrey, Philip Abracha, Josh Dix, and also Chris and Keegan Murray. What did we learn about that? We're going to cover that here in a second. But first, I've talked about this on several shows to this point. This is my final week hosting the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. I'm going to talk a little bit more about that on segment three. We do have a transition plan in place.

I just want to make sure everyone knows this is my final week. This is my final Monday episode hosting the show. And I'll talk a little bit more about that coming up here in a little bit. Fran McCaffrey, though, spoke to Sports Illustrated, made a couple interesting comments. And let's start with the easy one, Keegan Murray. He has no problem with Keegan Murray leaving. He said, why wouldn't you? You're set to earn millions and millions of dollars. Now, I talked about this on a previous show. Keegan Murray, after the game, talked about getting better, working harder in the offseason to improve for next year. Keegan Murray's dad, Kenya Murray, talked about the fact that Keegan wasn't going to make a decision based off of money. He was going to make a decision based

off his heart. Both those things led me to believe this was not a done deal. However, it would be dumb to honestly see Keegan Murray come back. He is a projected top 10 pick. You have to go to the NBA. And it sounds like Frank McCaffrey is basically operating under the assumption that Keegan Murray is definitely gone from the program. He is definitely going to the NBA. But as for his son, who Frank McCaffrey didn't seem to know kind of what direction he was leaning at initially, he said, Connor went through senior night, but I think he'll come back. But he's sorting through some things, and he's got some options, so we will see. We've talked a lot about Connor McCaffrey.

He is vital to this team's success, no matter what way you swing it. Yes, you can compare all the statistics in the world, and you're probably going to come out ahead saying Connor doesn't provide a lot statistically. It is not about the statistics that Connor individually provides. It's about the statistics of how the team of Iowa performs with Connor McCaffrey on the court. He's a leader out there. He is one of the best passers we have. He is the best inbounder guy we have. And he started to improve his shooting stroke as well towards the end of the season, knocking down threes at a pretty respectable rate. Look at what he did against Purdue at towards the end of that game as well. Connor McCaffrey was one of the big reasons Iowa was able to beat Purdue.

He also mentioned Phil Bobracha is going to return. Didn't seem to have any question on that as well. And then when asked on guys leaving in general, he said, I don't know, but I think somebody will at some point. That is just the nature of the beast, right? The transfer portal has allowed it to be so easy to leave the program. That's part of the reason why Fran McCaffrey recruits guys, though, that want to stick around, that want to be developed, that want to grow as an Iowa basketball player. He's looking for specific guys who are willing to battle through adversity and stick with the program.

Like we've seen Joe Toussaint. Joe Toussaint is so mentally and physically tough. A lot of players this day and age, after starting their freshman year, moving back to the bench, starting their junior year, moving to the bench halfway through, wouldn't have come out with half the energy Joe Toussaint did. Joe Toussaint came out like a man on fire and played some of his best basketball down the stretch for the Iowa basketball team and was a phenomenal bench player coming off the bench as that sixth man. That is not something that's very common in college basketball this year. It's not very common to have nine guys, 10 guys who can be rotated in and off the court

and provide very valuable minutes. Even Michigan State, you know, Izzo talked a little bit about this as well. He said it's tough to keep that many guards happy. They want the ball in their hands, but Fran McCaffrey is able to find a way to do it. So yes, there could be a guy going. We've talked a little bit about that. I could see someone in that point guard room leaving potentially. Another guy to watch out for simply because of the rumor mill that started was joshua gundelay um on patrick mccaffrey's podcast he kind of had some uh not the most audible audio that seemed like he said josh won't be back it sounds like he was actually

saying josh could beat uh peyton sanford and golf or something along those lines. So nothing to look too much into, but it wouldn't surprise me to see a big man go, especially if I was looking for a big man. It's just another roadblock to getting more playing time. And I think Josh has played some really valuable minutes, but he has a lot of work to do offensively to get up to snuff, to be able to play even more minutes for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Also, one of the big things I heard from, you know, that Fran McCaffrey interview was the fact

that Josh Dix should be ready to go this fall. And that will be huge for the Hawkeyes because they are losing Jordan Bohannon, as we all know, right? We are losing a Keegan Murray, who also was able to knock down threes at a respectable clip. Iowa needs a guy behind Tony Perkins who can come off the bench, play 10 to 15 minutes and give us quality basketball, quality shooting. If Josh Dix wasn't going to be healthy, I felt like we had a very big gap at that backup reserve shooting guard spot behind Tony Perkins.

But with Josh Dix returning, that makes me feel a lot better about the program going forward for next year. Fran also mentioned, he said, we are going to try to get a big guy in the portal. Again, we talked about the fact they've already had conversations with Fardas Emick out of Utah Valley. There's a reason why. It's because Iowa doesn't feel confident in what they have currently.

They don't feel like they can go into next season with what they have. They would prefer to have a guy they can trust to play big minutes at that five spot. And you better believe if you're going for a guy like Fardis, you're looking at him to start for the Iowa Hawkeyes. We talked a little bit about this, but Phil Pabraccia, what does that mean? I think he could slide over to the four. Or we see Phil Pabraccia come in on the second unit, give us 20 minutes of high-quality basketball, kind of rotating in, kind of like we saw with Jack Nunji and Luka Garza to a lesser extent.

That's how I could see that really fitting out. It also sounds like the expectations are sky high for Chris Murray. Fran saying he's going to be great next year, and going on to talk a little bit about stepping out of the shadow of Keegan Murray. This past season, outside of Iowa basketball and some NBA draft junkies, not a lot of people were talking about Keegan Murray. That's why it seemed like it came on as a surprise, but all of us saw Keegan Murray and his performance in his freshman season for the Iowa Hawkeyes, and we were impressed with what we saw. Now, giving him a high usage volume, a much higher usage volume than what we saw his freshman

year, we saw phenomenal results. We've seen similar things from Chris Murray to compare to Keegan Murray in his freshman year. Chris Murray in his sophomore year doing a great job when given the minutes to put the team on his back. We saw it against Purdue. We saw it against a few other teams as well. Chris Murray being a very valuable asset

on the offensive and defensive side of the basketball. Next year, with him being the guy, with Patrick McCaffrey being the guy, we need both those guys to step up and have that level performance that we saw from Keegan Murray. Maybe not national player of the year, but all Big Ten type of performance. And that should help Iowa continue their streak

of going to an NCAA tournament and hopefully breaking past that very difficult barrier. That's been kind of struggling through Iowa Hawkeye nation for the last 20 years, getting to a sweet 16. As we get more information on any of that, we'll make sure to cover that right here on the lockdown Hawkeyes podcast on tomorrow's episode of the show.

We're going to be joined by NFL draft analyst, Nick Kendall. He's joined the show before he's a huge draft analyst. He's also an Iowa Hawkeye alum. He loves Iowa football, scouts them very heavily. So he's going to be on the show to talk a lot about all of our favorite Iowa Hawkeye football players who are going into the NFL draft, where they could be drafted, what are the concerns, what are the strengths. So make sure to tune into that tomorrow and probably on Wednesday as well. That's probably going to be a two-parter. So be on the lookout for that.

As you all know, if you've listened to the show before, I'm huge into fitness. I'm also kind of a big guy into resolutions. But sometimes it can be tough to keep and maintain your New Year's resolutions three months into the year, especially after March Madness where all you want to do is maybe gamble on some sports, have a couple of beers. Thankfully, Built Bar is here, and they've made New Year's resolutions easier to keep track of, easier to stay on track with, because a lot of resolutions usually deal with eating right, eating healthy, or being in shape, being fit, or just being healthy in general. Thankfully, Built Bar allows you to do that.

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As I alluded to when we began segment number two, this is my final week hosting the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. I've hosted nearly 650 episodes of the show. It has been a phenomenal experience, one I will always remember, truly cherish, and very much appreciate from the last three and a half years. It has been an incredible ride. As most of you know, if you've listened to the last three and a half years. It has been an incredible ride. As most of you know, if you've listened to the show, I just recently celebrated the birth of my first child, my baby boy, Maverick Campos Wade. He is alive and well. We're two weeks in trying to

get some sleep and all that fun stuff. I'm also currently in grad school at the University of Iowa, and I have a very important position for me professionally working at the Children's Hospital as a full-time gig. Between all of that, it just wasn't feasible to give you all the effort and the input you deserve on a consistent basis. It was making it tougher and tougher to try to balance all of those things.

This is something that's been in the works for a couple of months now. We do have a transition plan in place. They're working on getting that all up and running. There might be a slight couple day pause on the episodes. My last episode is going to be Thursday, though. The next two hosts, I think there's going to be two hosts, one hosting a couple times a week, the other one hosting the other episodes.

I think you're going to be really excited about these hosts. One is near and dear to my heart. Another one is a former Iowa Hawkeye athlete. So be on the lookout for that as we get more details. We'll be releasing that as well. Again, I just want to say thank you though for listening in and tuning into this podcast day in and day out for the last three and a half years. It has been an absolute incredible ride. So I want to take this time, the next couple of minutes to talk a little bit about what I want to see from the Iowa Hawkeyes in the next year. We just got through one of the more disappointing marches we've ever had for an Iowa Hawkeye athletic community, at least from our major sports

like basketball, wrestling, football. The season did not end the way we wanted it to, right? Coming off that huge game against Penn State, falling to Purdue, falling to Wisconsin, going on a winning streak and then losing to Kentucky. It did not end the way we wanted to, but all is not lost in Iowa Hawkeye Nation. And here's the four things I would like to see or the things I would like to see

out of each of the four major sports, Iowa football, women's basketball, men's basketball and wrestling. First and foremost, Iowa football. There is no reason why this team shouldn't win, I would say, even 10 games this year. That might be aggressive. We have a more difficult schedule, but I think Iowa has the ability to win 10 games this season, and I'd like to see them do that. It starts with solid quarterback play, though. I would like to see Iowa open up this offense.

I would like to see them get a bit more creative. We've seen them slowly get more creative under Brian Ferentz, but I'd like to see Kirk Ferentz basically take his hands off the reins and let Brian Ferentz do his thing and see what Brian Ferentz can do. Iowa loves that zone running concept, the outside zone concept. It was not very good last year. We're going to have a younger offensive line. Is it going to be better this year? Or does Iowa need to have a few more tricks up their sleeves

to make sure we are improving on run blocking and also pass blocking? Because Spencer Petras, if he is to start, is a freaking tree. Alex Padilla needs some assistance. We maybe see Joey. So that'll be really interesting to me. It all comes down to that quarterback play, though. And I think Iowa very much has the potential to win 10 games. They return six of their front seven guys on defense.

They return two starting defensive backs and several defensive backs who have had starter type of minutes, plus they have five-star recruit Xavier. There is no reason why this defense can't be just as good as last year. Anytime you return a Riley Moss, the defensive back of the year, that is going to be a huge win for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Plus, I've been really impressed by Jermari Harris and Terry Roberts. Sebastian Castro has gotten time. Quinn Schulte has looked good.

So this defense should at least be able to help them. The offense just needs to get to like the 70th range in efficiency, and they will be a 10-win team. For men's basketball, I want to see them make a Sweet 16. They had a prime opportunity this year in a year that was very much filled with a lot of parody as we've seen with the March Madness Tournament. I would like to see this men's basketball team make a sweet 16 and I believe they have the ability to do so.

As long as the three-headed monster of Tony Perkins, Chris Murray, and Patrick McCaffrey step up. Tony Perkins, we saw that. Just continue that progression, man. Chris Murray, be willing to be the guy. And Patrick McCaffrey, I think, needs to continue to do a better job finishing around the rim. And also it seems like, you know,

knowing what he's going to do before he does it. Patrick McCaffrey is all the gifts in the world. And he's a friend of the show and I've loved watching him play basketball, but I'd like to see him kind of take those next steps to continue that improvement. But I think all three of those guys have the ability to be all Big Ten players next year. Elite-level players for the Iowa Hawkeyes. And if that happens, Iowa should be a Sweet 16 team.

They should be a top 20 team next year. For women's basketball, it's Final Four or bust. You cannot have the same starting lineup for three years. An all Big Ten center and Monica Sinano, a all college player, like the NCAA player of the year candidate and Caitlin Clark and not go far. Absolutely abysmal this year and losing in the round of 32. They should be in the final four next year. There's no excuse at this point. You have to go to a final four. I think under this group that might be setting the expectations really high, but they should be high. This is the best group, the best starting five Iowa has had

ever. I think it's the most competitive starting five, I should say, ever. And wrestling-wise, I want to see more than one national champion. Yes, I would love to see a national championship for the whole team. I think given the amount of changes in the lineup, I'd just be happy to see more than one national champion. Spencer Lee should be healthy. I'm counting that as one. I would like to either Jacob Warner or Tony Cassiope take that next step and get that W get that national championship this year. Those are the,

those are the things I want to see from the Iowa Hawkeye athletic community. Let me know what you want to see in the YouTube comment or in a five-star review if you want to do that. Just a reminder again, this is my last couple of days hosting the show. If you want to communicate with me on Twitter, feel free to follow me at Wade underscore Andrew. It's right there in the YouTube picture as well. Would love to continue to chat and talk shop Iowa Hawkeyes or rom-coms, trashy reality television, you name it.

I'll probably talk about it on Twitter, so be on the lookout for that. Again, thank you all for tuning in to today's episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. And I know you all make the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day, which I thank you for. Now it's time to make your second listen to the Lockdown NFL Draft podcast, hosted by Ryan Tracy and former NFL cornerback Eric Crocker. They bring the NFL draft to life every single day with insight and analysis on college football prospects and NFL front offices.

Plus it's free and available wherever you get your podcast app. So again, thank you all for tuning in. Have a fantastic Monday Hawkeye Nation. And as always, let's go Hawks.