Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa basketball player Patrick McCaffery joins the show to talk about next year's Iowa Hawkeye squad

Episode Date: May 7, 2021

Iowa basketball player Patrick McCaffery joins the show today to talk about his progressions as a player, the loss to Oregon, and what next year's squad can do.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.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to a Friday episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, and we have a phenomenal episode for you today. We are joined by Iowa basketball player Patrick McCaffrey. Before we get into that, though, after you're done with listening to the show,

if you want to listen to some more Locked On content, you should join Locked On NFL Draft hosts Trevor Sikama and Benjamin Solak for recaps and analysis of the 2021 NFL Draft and a look ahead at next year's future first-round picks. Follow the Locked On NFL Draft podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast app. Now, with that being said, if you like this show, if you haven't listened to other shows,

definitely check those out. We do a phenomenal show every single Monday through Friday. We also had former Iowa baseball commit Blake Gearan on yesterday. We had Celia Palermo from WQAD talking about some Iowa football earlier in this week and we have great interviews coming up next week as well so make sure to give us a five-star review and follow us wherever you downloaded this episode at with all that being said though let's hop into our interview with Patrick McCaffrey right now all right I'm honored to be joined here by Patrick McCaffrey Patrick how you doing today bud I'm pretty good how about you doing well man like I

said I'm struggling a little bit. It's Sunday, but we're getting by. Obviously, I appreciate you hopping on the show. I wanted to just talk about how you're progressing, obviously, this past season a little bit and then hop into next season. We'll just kick it off. I mean, you're in the offseason now. What are you trying to improve on for your game going into year three in the Iowa program?

I would say a lot of it has to do with just strength. I made a big jump in that regard last year just in terms of my body, but I think I can still take another step in that. Something else that I think I need to work on is my conditioning. I was getting tired a lot during the games this year, so that's something else. And then lastly, I would say just kind of my overall skill set, just offensively, just kind of working on my ball handling my shooting, because like I feel like I was able to do like show flashes of what I can do with the ball in my hands.

But I think like I need to just keep working to get more consistent with all that. And then like the conditioning also kind of plays into what I can do defensively, like just kind of being in a stance more and using my my length and my athleticism my advantage to be able to really be a good defensive player at this level i love it man how how much of the the conditioning do you feel like is still some reciprocal effects from like the the cancer treatment and whatnot um so like that that's kind of a hard question to answer because i don't really like because i was young when it happened so I don't really know what it was like otherwise like they don't know any difference yeah exactly so it's like like I think some of it has to do with that like I'm sure I'm sure it plays a role it kind of plays a role in everything that happens in my life but then also like I think also it has to do with that I got heavier

like I'm like 25 pounds heavier than I've ever been like I was like I think I was like 176 when I first got here and like now I'm like like 201 so it's like I'm just heavier and then I think that also has something to do with it and then just like kind of you know getting used to the pace of the college game and like kind of like how I play like I run like I jump and so it's like a really like high energy style of play so I think that also kind of plays a role in it as well yeah I can definitely be very taxing one of the things I noticed about you and correct me if you don't agree with this you do a fantastic job at getting to the rim and sometimes finishing can be a little bit challenging with so many good

bigs in the big 10 is that something you're also working on as well yeah and I feel like that's something that I got better with as the season went on it's like and like finishing something that like like at any level of basketball that's always been something that I've been pretty good at is like making, making shots around the basket. So I think, and I think throughout the year I got better with that. It's just like, you just kind of got to like, just be out there a little bit and just kind of get your feet wet. And then like the game slows down and then things like that get easier and just come more natural. So I feel like that's, but yes, I would agree that like, that's something that I've, I've worked on more so, but cause it's something I never really had to work on before, because I've always been pretty good at it.

Yeah. But now like, yes, I'm definitely working at it. Makes sense. I do want to take about a five year step back. So you played at Iowa City West, and you guys won some state titles. That was awesome. You played Newton High School. So I'm from Newton originally. And Newton has been to one state tournament in the last 45 years and of course the draw we get is the freaking mcafree brothers at iowa city west so that was that was very frustrating like this is this is really the team we this is this is fantastic great yeah but out of that state tournament were they one of the tougher teams you played i mean they actually played you guys pretty well no they played us very well and that was probably like from my because my freshman

year i played sparingly, but my sophomore year throughout the rest of my career I played, like, the whole game. But that was probably my worst game, like, in that, like, whole stretch. Like, because I was in foul trouble and, like, just never really could get anything going. And, like, they were so disciplined, I remember. Like, they ran a million plays. Like, they were really disciplined defensively. They didn't make any mistakes. No like they were so disciplined I remember like they ran a million plays like they were really disciplined defensively they didn't make any mistakes no they were definitely and I think if you look at the scores like from the tournament like that we we won that game like we won I think we ended up winning by like maybe five or six I don't know off the top

of my head but it was very close yeah and then we won the semi-final by like 30 and then we won the final by I don't I don't know I think we won by like 15 to 20 so it's like yeah I mean obviously if you look at it that way they were definitely our closest game like they were and I remember like they had Sturtz and Golsan and they were both really good players and like they were making crazy shots and they had a lot of really good like like role players too that was a really good team so yes I would yeah that was definitely probably the hardest team that we played that state tournament yeah man moral man, moral victories suck, but it was nice. At least they played pretty well against you all.

But I was very frustrated when we got – I was like, do we really get an Iowa City West? This is ridiculous. I remember after that game, we're standing there. And so, like, the whole city of Newton was there. Yeah, man, they get out, dude. Oh, like they filled the whole side of Wells Fargo. And so it's like at the state tournament, like after you win your first game or lose your first game,

you're supposed to stay on the court and the other team gets like a participation trophy. So we're supposed to stay out there and like clap or whatever. And I just remember like some Newton fan is screaming like, get off the court. Iowa city is like, bro, like we're supposed to be out here. They're making us stay out here. And he's screaming at us trying to get us off the court and for some reason that's like one of the first things that

comes to mind like when i think of that game that's hilarious dude yeah newton fans can be a bit ruthless i will say there was a time we were playing tyler sash and when he was playing basketball and whatnot and our insult to him we just said nfl right like for how was that an insult like is that exactly but apparently he looked over to our coach and said watch this and then just lit us up for the entire game just tore us apart he's a like from what i heard he was a phenomenal basketball player he was dude he was so good so athletic no i actually got like pretty like i got got like, like we, like I was in contact with him a decent amount, like before everything happened.

Yeah. And like, like he was, he was a great dude, man. That's so, so sad. What happened to him? Like I really, I really liked him. Dude. That was a, that was a weird, a weird passing. Not definitely, definitely hurt a little bit different than you see other people.

And not that like anything else doesn't matter, but like sash going was definitely, definitely a couple of sad days for me, for sure. For sure for sure me too i was so sad yeah man um let's get to some let's get some happier stuff though so uh it's well i guess we're gonna have to backtrack to not have so the tournament we get in the tournament iowa has big expectations you take down um grand canyon uh which is awesome you get into Oregon, though. What happened at that Oregon game that went wrong? What went right? And also, do you feel like Oregon was maybe under-seeded? You win the Pac-12.

Maybe you shouldn't be a sixth seed, right? Like, that's probably not the best draw Iowa could have gotten out of all the teams. I want to get your thoughts on that Oregon game quickly. Yeah, I mean, like, so just – I'm not the type of dude to sit here and make excuses and complain about, like, seeding or whatever. But, like, yes, I think you're absolutely right when you're saying, like, if you win a Power Five league, like, how are you a seven?

Like, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. And I think you saw that the whole – throughout the whole tournament, the Pac-12 was really underseeded. Like, they played really well. But, yeah, I mean, I don't – that game that game's been hard to kind of like process it definitely took me like a little bit to trying to try to figure it out a lot of the ncaa tournament what it comes down to is matchups and so it's like like we would like fare better against different teams than we would against oregon just because of like they play five guards and like they can spread us out and like our like our team isn't really like we weren't like

built the same way and so then it's like okay like if they make shots like it's hard to because there's so much space yeah like there's so much everything like that and like they can really spread us out and so it's like it just it's harder to defend like a team like that and then and then if they make threes that extends the space and it gives us more space to kind of operate and everything like that and like once they got going like it was it was really hard to stop like that they just they just kept making shots and everything like that and our defense obviously could have been better but our offense like our offense was good luca had a lot obviously but yeah i mean it was it was just a hard game it was just a really tough matchup for us just with how that team was built

and then how we were built. And then if they're making shots, like, that obviously makes it all the more tough. But, yeah, I don't know. You can say they're underseeded. I would agree with that. But we just didn't play well enough to win. And, like, it's just you have to play well. Like, obviously, you have to play well enough to win the NCAA tournament.

We just didn't do what we needed to do in order to do that. All right, I want to quickly pause the conversation with Patrick. I hope you are enjoying it as much as I enjoyed it. I do want to tell you about BetOnline.ag, the fastest and the easiest way to bet on all of your sports action. Last weekend was a blast. We had the NFL Draft and the Kentucky Derby, which you could bet on at BetOnline.ag.

But they don't just stop there they got literally everything MLB, NBA, NHL, UFC, MMA they even got bets on Princess is it Princess Meghan and Prince Harry I don't know they got bets on literally everything including royal families presidents you name it you can bet on it at betonline.ag so before the next pitch head over to betonline.ag so before the next pitch head over to betonline.ag on your laptop or your mobile device and check out all the great sporting news and sign up bonuses and contest information and sign up for your free account today that's right you get a free account we got one better for you you can actually get a 50 welcome bonus on your first deposit when you sign up at betonline.ag using that promo code locked on the promo code is

locked on l-o-c-k-e-d-o-n at betonline.ag betonline.ag your online sportsbook experts i mean that's the beauty of the ncaa tournament man every game matters every game counts i think you're you know your dad talked a lot about it as well not overlooking a 15 seat as well i mean that was a good that was a good 15 seat so they were very good 15 seed they had size they had good guard play like that was a very good 15 seed and it just it all comes down to matchups like it's just and you see that throughout other games too it's like if i literally like oral roberts how were they at 15 those two those two dudes they had ace missing o'banner were just as good as anybody in the tournament but it's just you know it's just i don't know it's just kind of how especially in a COVID year it's just a weird year but

yeah it's just a lot all of it comes down to matchups and how you can guard different people and just different like yeah just different matchups and everything like that yeah man you mentioned the fact that defense was an issue against Oregon obviously they put up a lot of points defense has typically been a sore subject when it comes to Iowa fans and Iowa basketball. Some justified, some not so justified, right? I mean, the pace of play that Iowa plays is going to make it tough to hold opponents to a lower level of scoring. But as far as defensively speaking goes, what can Iowa improve on going into next year defensively? And can Iowa be a better defensive squad next year, given the players that are going to be returning?

I really felt like that second unit was pretty darn solid from a defensive perspective yeah I mean I think a lot of it like I think it starts with on the ball defense like not getting beat because then it's like because then you have to help and it's like obviously we know we're going to have to help but I think a lot of it just starts with our on ball defense overall and just kind of putting more ball pressure on the ball and making people uncomfortable with that. And I think that we'll be able to do a good job next year of doing that and trying to kind of, you know, just get better in that regard and just kind of really get after teams defensively. I think we have the roster next year to really be a good defensive team. We have length. We have athletic guard play.

Like, I think I think we have a chance to be a really good defensive team. We have athletic guard play. Like, I think we have a chance to be a really good defensive team. So I think a lot of it just starts with ball pressure and just on-ball defense and not going to be – because then the help gets overextended and whatever, and then we get messed up. So it's just – I think a lot of it just comes down to our on-ball defense. And then obviously with the way the game is now, ball screen defense is obviously really big as well.

So a lot of it just has to do with, you know, getting over the screen so the big doesn't get dragged. And so then, like – so then the big can get get back and so then we don't have to help that much you know i'm saying there's just a lot of it just comes down to on ball defensive ball screen defense so just kind of keeping our big men like out of that situation where they have to be switched onto a guard or whatever but i think next year we're going to have a long athletic team so i think we'll be able to switch a lot of that stuff and we'll do a lot of good stuff defensively. I feel like, yeah, man, I was, I was trying to go through what the projected lineups could be. And I feel like Fran has a lot of combos he could use that

could really mess with some teams. I mean, you look at what you have at that, I would argue like the three, four spot between you, Keegan, Chris, Connor, uh, Philippe at this point. I mean, that's, that's a lot of length and a lot of athletic length that can move and guard some quicker guys. That'll be a lot of fun. Tell me about why Iowa fans should be excited for next year, though, man, because obviously I'm pumped. I think this team will definitely be a different look, right?

You don't have Luca. We probably don't have Joe. We're not sure about Jordan. You definitely don't have CJ coming back. Why should Iowa fans be super excited about this upcoming year and kind of what do you feel like is going to be the strength of this team going into next season? I think a lot of it, like, we play really hard. Like, I think that has something to do, like Tony Perkins plays really hard. Like Keegan Murray plays really hard. Aaron Ewells, Joe Toussaint, like you go on down the

line, Chris Murray, they all play really hard. So I think that's something that's obviously like a really good place to start. Yeah. And you know, we know we don't like you said like we lost a lot of shot like we lost a lot of shot makers we don't know about jaybo yet we lost a lot of different guys but i think we also have like i think also our team we have guys that are more capable on offense than the fans might have seen last year like i think we have a lot of guys that can do a lot of different things with the ball and when you see like like with increased minutes increased touches like you'll see that like the guys are more capable with the ball than you might think you might have thought like last year but yeah like there's a lot of opportunity out there for all of us to go take and I think we're

going to be different I think we're going to like we'll press a lot and we'll just really try to push the pace offensively as well like get run really hard on makes and misses so I think like we're going to be a really long athletic team that's going to be really good in transition and I still think we still have enough guys that are skilled enough offensively to be capable in the half court and obviously Philippe is a big uh like addition for that they're just having a skilled big man but yeah no we we definitely have a lot of I think we still have a ton of talent returning and, like, guys that maybe weren't. Like, I think a lot of it also has to do – we have a lot of guys with chips on our shoulders.

Like, we see what people are saying. We know what people think about, like, our team. It's like, well, you lose everybody. Like, obviously, we lose the National Player of the Year. We lose Joe Wieskamp, who's one of the best three men in the Big Ten. Like, might lose CJ, might lose J-Bo. We don't know. But it's like we have a lot of guys with chips on our shoulder. We have a lot of guys that feel like they lose CJ might lose J-Bo. We don't know, but it's like, we have a lot

of guys with chip on our shoulder. We have a lot of guys that feel like they were probably overlooked when they, when they came here, guys like the twins, guys like Tony, guys like Aaron, guys like Joe T. So it's like, I feel like we have a lot of guys that felt that they were overlooked and a lot of guys that want to want to, that are out here trying to prove something. So I think that's something that we'll be able to do. Yeah, man, that was a lot to unpack there. I think I have about five follow-up questions to all that. I quickly want to hit on the Keegan and Chris thing. So I've actually spoken with Kenyon,

and he's talked about the variations between Keegan and Chris's game, but also the fact that they're not that far off from each other. People look at what Keegan did this year and say, wow, that's amazing. He's mocked in the first round of next year's draft. I'm like, can Chris play basketball very well? Chris is right there. he's yeah right there i also find it interesting if i love to go back and look up twitter when keegan and chris accepted scholarship offers university of iowa and then just start roasting every single one of those people because people were not happy

about that and then look what they did i think what you speak to is amazing that the chip on your shoulder if you look at how you guys played two years ago, I feel like that was prime chip on our shoulder. We don't care about anyone. We're pissed off at everyone. And I love that about the Iowa basketball team and how you guys carry yourselves. That was just, I guess, a quick little rant for me.

Any thoughts on that? And then I'll get into my actual questions. No. Yeah. I mean, like Keegan and Chris, it's so funny because I grew up like playing against them. And then like, it was weird. Cause like, like freshman year, I don't think they played varsity. But sophomore year they played and like but they were small.

They were just shooters. That's all they did. They would come in and they shoot threes because they were small. Junior year, they grew. They did a little more stuff like off the bounce, one of the rim. And then by senior year, like I'm looking like with them eye to eye. I'm like, yo, they grew a lot. And I like these dudes are cold like they're good and then I played in an all-star game with them at Kirkwood and I remember I was just sitting on the bench like I think I was sitting in between them and I just talked to both of them like the whole like for so long just about like what they were going to do next year and they were telling me like oh like

they were telling me about the prep school option and everything like that and I was like I like I feel like Iowa kids don't utilize prep schools as much as they could and obviously benefited like the Murray twins it benefited David DeLeo if you remember him like played at Central Michigan from my high school like so it's been good for some of these guys and so it's like I told him like I was always a big proponent of prep school and so I was like no like yeah go do that like go like spend a year just work on your game work on your body and I promise you you'll have so many different like looks especially like just being exposed to a new area like of all that like you'll have so many more options and so that's what they did and they really worked on their body

and I remember my dad asked me like about them and I was like I think they're both really good and I think they're both good enough to play here. I was like, they're long athletic. They can shoot it. They can rebound. Like, like it's like, why, why wouldn't you want that? Yeah. And that's what, like, I remember like texting with just my friends or whatever, when people were complaining after they committed, I was like, what do you mean? I was like, there's six, nine long athletic wings.

We can shoot the piss out of it. Like who doesn't want that? Like who wouldn't want that long versatile athletes who can shoot and dribble and pass too and so then it's like obviously keegan made the meet their words this year and i think chris will get a chance to do that too it's funny because they're twins but and like they look like they're identical twins but like they look a little different like once you get to know them and their personalities are different and like and they play different like keegan i would say is more inside oriented, whereas Chris is more like a three man, but yeah, no. And I think Chris is going to have a really good career too and have a similar type

of impact that Keegan had this year. And then Keegan's just going to keep improving. And I think Chris will do the same. All right, y'all one more pause of the conversation with Patrick. I want to tell you about built bar, the best tasting protein bar on the market today. Built bar is the protein bar that tastes just like a candy bar. They have so many delicious flavors, mint brownie, raspberry, peanut butter brownie, double chocolate, and salted caramel. There's literally something for everyone. Whether you want something sweet or fruity, they got you covered. All these bars are covered in 100% chocolate. They got nut and non-nut options as well. But not only are these bars delicious,

they're good for you too. One of my favorite bars, the Mint Brownie, has 17 grams of protein, 130 calories, four grams of sugar, four grams of net carbs. Literally, candy bar and delicious and healthy. Why wouldn't you wanna take advantage of this delicious snack? I use it every single day,

either for breakfast or after my workouts. So right now, if you wanna get your hands on a built bar, go to builtbar.com and use the promo code locked 15 L O C K E D one five, and you'll get 15% off your first order. Use the promo code locked 15 for 15% off at builtbar.com. Yeah, man, I'm really excited about it. You talk about six foot nine men who shoot the piss out of the ball you just added felipe robraca as well um what is that i mean what is that addition like for your team and have you talked to him at all yet to this point um i just reached out to him on twitter like when he committed i just said like welcome bro like said to play with you whatever

and so then he and he just responded like thanks bro let's get to work so i don't like it's hard to find highlights of him. I was looking on YouTube. I was looking everywhere. I couldn't find nothing. So I ended up going to – like we have a synergy, so I went and found some stuff on in there. So it's like he's obviously incredibly skilled.

He can really score on the block. He can really shoot the ball. And he's a really good passer as well. He's a really cerebral player. And I think that fits with like what we have because I feel like we have a lot of guys that know how to play the game like we share it we're unselfish and everything like that so I think that's somebody who just fits right in with what we're going to do offensively and then we needed a bigger guy for defensive reasons and offensive

reasons but we needed a bigger guy and so he'll be able to kind of come in and fill that void for us and have a pretty big impact right away absolutely Absolutely, man. Yeah. I was, I was trying to like look up some film on him as well to see like, what does he actually bring outside of the staff, like the box score, right? Cause I mean, you can look at the box where you can see he shoots 36% from three, but what does he actually do in the game? And so I got a little bit of stuff and, you know, talked a little bit about it on the show and I had people legitimately coming

in saying I've watched so much film and he's this, not this. And I was like, where are you getting this film at? They're lying. We're saying that they're lying. You don't actually know what you're talking about at this point, but I thought that was pretty interesting. Tell me about the on-court chemistry though, with you and Joe T. And then obviously factoring in Keegan there, the three of you are going to be in for big

time minutes this upcoming year. How does that, how has that chemistry improved and what does it mean for you on the floor? Well, yeah, obviously Joe T and I, a lot of it starts with like kind of how close we are off the court. He's home right now. He's back in New York, but like we're together 24 hours a day. Like whenever he's here, like we do everything together. Like we're always together.

So like now that he's gone, like we're on the phone, like all the time, like just talking, whatever, texting, all that stuff. But I think a lot of it just starts with off the court and I know like if I run like he's looking like he's trying to find me because he knows like what spots I like the ball in and like what like what I can do with it when I catch it and another thing about Joe T with me is like he's he really like just kind of just puts a lot of confidence into me like if I get the ball and I'm open he's like shoot it and he then he gets mad at me if I don't and so he of puts a lot of confidence into me. If I get the ball and I'm open, he's like, shoot it. And he gets mad at me if I don't. And so he just puts a lot of confidence into me as a player. And obviously, somebody who scores the ball, you need to have a lot of confidence.

And I'm pretty confident in myself. But then when your teammates put the same amount of confidence in you, it holds a lot of weight. So it's just kind of something that is fun. And then factoring Keegan in, too, it because we like we both run the floor very well and we're both like pretty athletic like wing sort of big players like we both catch lobs we both dunk like we both do all that so he fits in right there with joe t and and just kind of is able to kind of really like feed off of him and especially it's fun with guards who really like get after it defensively like Joe does. And so it's easier for guys who like to run

because we can get out there and we can go and then Joe T can get to like steal the ball and then we're out there and we're going and we're scoring. So it just makes everything so much more fun. Yeah, man, it's a fun era of Iowa basketball, like between you and Keegan slamming home some dunks. I think Jarek Andruski was putting together some highlights and it was fun just watching some of those. I mean, some of the bounce passes that Joe was throwing to you and just slamming at home dunks. I think Jarek Andruski was putting together some highlights and it was fun just watching some of those.

I mean, some of the bounce passes that Joe was throwing to you and just slamming at home was definitely fun to watch. You also mentioned that there are people on Twitter that can be a bit loud, right? And there are a lot of people that are talking crap about Iowa basketball all the time. Even when you're doing well, people hate something. There's something wrong.

How do you block that out or how do you use that as fuel? And does it bother you? Because, right, because, I mean, if we're being honest here, it's probably 10% of fans who are actually hating on Iowa basketball. But when you're on Twitter, it looks like 100% of them, right? So, like, how do you block that out? How do you handle that? Well, most of the year I don't use Twitter.

Like, I think I started to use – like I was off Twitter. Like I didn't have Twitter on my phone for a while. So I wasn't looking at anything nobody was saying. And I think that's probably a good way to approach it because it's like a lot of that stuff, like people get emotional and like people put money on the games. And I don't know, they might have had something to drink, so they might have just tweeted something just crazy. And it's like – so it's like they might not have meant it.

And it's like everybody gets emotional. Like we get emotional. But it's like at the end of the day, like I promise you, nobody wants to win more than we do. So it's just like we're just as disappointed. We're just like however hard it hits you, like it hits us way harder. So it's just kind of something that like you got to take into account. And also like something that I kind of live by is like you don't take

criticism from somebody you wouldn't take advice from. And like no disrespect to any of like the armchair coaches or whatever but it's like and if you say something to me like that's like positive like i'll say thank you or whatever but like i'm not gonna like listen to critique critiques on my game from somebody who i don't know or don't trust or like don't have that like accountability with like i'm gonna listen to like my coaches like my friends my family like in terms of that like people who i trust more so than these people so it's like i think a lot of it comes down to just you don't take criticism of somebody you don't take advice from but then you could also like but other guys use it as fuel i mean i do too sometimes more so after the fact like it like like i'm just kind of like okay like if you you don't think i can do this you don't

think i'm big 10 player i'm only here because my pops like like i'm gonna kind of like, okay, like if you, you don't think I can do this, you don't think I'm big 10 player. I'm only here. Cause my pops like, like I'm gonna prove you wrong. So that's just kind of like field of my fire. But I think a lot of it is just like a lot of it is just, you don't take, you don't take criticism from somebody who wouldn't take advice from. I think that's awesome. And dude, the, the crap about you and Connor, I feel like you guys probably get it the worst just because Fran is your dad. That is such, such garbage. It's disrespectful to you guys.

It's disrespectful to Fran. It's disrespectful to you guys. It's disrespectful to Fran. It's disrespectful to the Iowa basketball program. I mean, in so many ways, but absolutely ridiculous. You did mention, obviously, playing for your dad. I have to ask this question. I think you might have answered it on the standpoint, but out of the, and then you see, you know, your brother Jack is now getting some highlights

with Wheezy's little brother as well. Out of college career slash potential, you got to rank the four of you in order, Fran, Connor, you and Jack, who's number one, who is the worst? Who is two and three? That's hard. I would say, I would say Jack is probably up there towards the top of either one or two. My dad, my dad, like, so my dad was like a really good high school player he had a lot of offers from everywhere and then he went to college and he

went to lake forest he had a pretty good freshman year and then uh ended up transferring back home to penn who went to the final fourth year he had to sit out because he transferred but um he was more of a facilitator he wasn't really a scorer and they didn't have a three point line so he was like he would be fun to play with but he was like throwing lobs like behind the back passes like all that so he's pretty similar to Connor in that way I think all of us are pretty different like I would say that my dad and Connor are similar just being like pass first type players but then I'm different because I'm like a more of a wing like kind of a scorer and then Jack is a little different because he's more like he's a scorer too but he's more so inside oriented because he's

really big so it's like we're all just different so I would say like my dad and Connor obviously have played more in college than me and then Jack but I'd say Jack probably Jack has a lot of potential and then I would say like my dad and Connor are right up there too but it's it's hard to it's hard to really rank us specifically because we're all different. So it's just like, but yeah, no, Jack definitely has a chance,

man. He can shoot it. He's, he's really cerebral. He just needs, he's still kind of growing into his body a little bit, like just kind of getting more athletic and everything like that. But he's got a chance,

man. That'd be really good. I was, I was wondering how you're going to talk your way out of actually doing the ranking. I'm impressed. That was, that was good.

How big is Jack? He's like six, six, six, seven. He's pretty close to my actually doing the ranking. I'm impressed. That was good. How big is Jack? He's like 6'6", 6'7". He's pretty close to my height. Oh, crap. I didn't realize he's that tall already. No, he's huge. He's in eighth grade? Yeah, he's huge.

I'm out here just hoping for a growth spurt at the age of 31 to get to six foot, man. He's already 10 inches tall. That's cool. All right, man. Sorry. You still got a chance. It's never over until it's over. Yeah, but I feel like it's ending, man.

All right, I want to quickly end it. I know we've taken up a lot of your time. It's Sunday, man. But what are your early predictions for next year for the Iowa basketball team? I think we're right back in the NCAA tournament. Like, we're right back in the thick of everything. Like, maybe we're not going to be – like, we're not going to have the preseason rankings because we don't got the national player of the year but I still think that we're going to be able

to do some really special things on the court and I think a lot of like like I said like we have guys that can prove people wrong and I think we have a lot of guys that are more capable of things offensively than maybe they were able to show this year but I think like with our talent and like what we have coming back there's going to be some growing pains probably just because we're young and inexperienced but I still think that we're going to be right back in the thick of things and have the potential to make a run in the NCAA tournament. And that's exactly where I want to be. I love that.

Yeah, I'm excited. And who is the breakout player for next year? Who's the guy that people are sleeping on that you think is going to just show people? I mean, kind of like Keegan did this year, right? Who's going to be the guy this upcoming year? There's a couple candidates i would say like i would say probably like i would say joe tucson is probably gonna come on the scene i think tony perkins is somebody who's really really good and somebody also that i think is really i think aaron euless

is very very good as well and then like you could throw chris in there too but somebody i've been really impressed with is aaron and so like, I think Aaron's really good. He's a big, he's a taller guard, but he's still really quick and really gets after it defensively. It can get to all of his spots. He's, he's still working on his three ball,

but he has a really good mid range jumper, like a really good pull up. He's really good foul shooter. So you can see that he still has like, you can see that he has like the foundation to become a very good three point shooter. So I think Aaron is somebody that I've always, I've been really impressed with since he got here and I think will be really

good. Awesome, man. All right. So that's, that's it for the main questions. I have a couple of fun ones. First, Austin Ash versus Jordan Bohannon who's winning a three point competition. I probably, I probably take Austin Ash. Damn. All right. All right. Yeah, no, I think I got to take Austin Ash. I love J-Bow. That's my shooter, but I think I got to take Austin Ash. Damn. All right. All right. Yeah, no, I think I got to take Austin Ash. I love J-Bowl.

That's my shooter, but I think I got to take Austin Ash. All right, man. What's your favorite restaurant in Iowa City? Poncheros. Poncheros. Poncheros like four times a week. But like if you're talking about like a real restaurant, I would say like Monica's. I love Monica's.

I go to Noodles and Company a lot. There's one right by my apartment but yeah i would say those those three but the poncheros has been my favorite spot ever since i moved out here but then poncheros and then as a restaurant monica's drunk ponchies is the best man i i miss that we don't i'm out here in denver we don't really have poncheros man so whenever we get back to the iowa area we always try to hit that up you know it's got to be the first spot you go to that's always the first spot i go to whenever i get back from anywhere as poncho when we got back from the bubble that's exactly that's right where i went

that's awesome man yeah we're actually uh culver's one of my favorite places to go back to when i get back to iowa and like there's a culver's 25 minutes away and like i said we're a little we're struggling today so we're actually driving to culver's after this and i'm so pumped man you know i'd be geeked that's awesome yeah all right man what is your favorite activity outside of basketball um to be honest like I'm pretty like like I want like like outside of basketball I get really tired so like I just kind of chill in my bed like I want like I watch Entourage you ever seen Entourage yeah man hell yeah the show is amazing I love Entourage but um I would say like just as far as an activity goes, like just kind of kicking it with my friends, like playing video games, like stuff like that. I like Sky Zone.

I think Sky Zone is fun. Like the place with the trampoline part. Dude, Sky Zone is a blast. It's basketball related. Like I'll go to the gym. I'll work out. I'll lift and do all that type of stuff. And then like, it's just a lot of, it's just like chilling, like just playing video games, just, just kind of kicking it with your friends, watching basketball, doing whatever.

I love man. And obviously your goal is to probably play professional basketball. If you are unable to play professional basketball or whatever that ultimately does. And what is your dream career outside of basketball? Um, I would say like, uh, so outside of basketball um i would say like uh so outside of basketball coaching doesn't count i guess you could count coaching yeah just like outside of playing basketball what would be your career you're gonna be coaching like yeah probably like either being a college coach or like maybe but but i also think that that's a pretty lame answer so let me think of something better i appreciate that um i wasn't gonna say i wasn't gonna call you out for it but i was thinking it so i appreciate it yeah exactly no

like i can think of something better uh like i've always thought like i've always thought about being like a like high school teacher and then like mixing that with like a basketball coach so it's not like just basketball all the time like i think that's something that i would be interested in but um i'm trying to think what else I could do I don't know probably try to run my own business me and Jyoti always talk about how we're gonna make our own business and make a bunch of money but we don't really know we don't really have a business idea yet we just have all the good stuff planned out of it but um no yeah I would say like a lot of my life is basketball and sports related, but I also like, I love baseball. Like I love football, but so some,

working in those sports would be fun too, but also like, okay, here's one, like being an academic coordinator for student athletes. I think that would be fun. Pick a career and like work with different teachers in different classes and stuff like that. That's something that I think would be fun. Yeah. It combines a couple of different things that you're already, already passionate about. So I like that. Also, that i think would be fun yeah it combines a couple different things that you're already already passionate about so i like that also i can definitely relate to the uh coming up with like we want to make money we want to have

a business but not actually like my buddy and i man we just every week we come up with some other dumb idea and then we'll spend like an hour like trying to buy a website and all these things we'll create a social media account and then we just don't ever i mean we probably have like 15 of those so uh the thing is the thing is you actually have ideas we just we just say we're gonna start a business and we're gonna make a ton of money and like how we're gonna we always talk about how we're gonna have a plane with our faces on it and everything so everybody's gonna know it's our plane but but you guys actually have you guys at least have ideas going for you we don't even have those yet we're still working on those dude that's okay so i have to i'll tell you this and I got to let you go.

I know it's Sunday, man. You're got stuff going on, but we actually went to Mexico a week ago and they were, you know, they drove a catamaran. We're like, wow, that'd be really cool to own a boat. And we're like, let's call it boats and bros. And then we started thinking of like, they were like, we could get a party bus company. We'll call it a bus and bros. And we're like, if we have a strip club, it'll be called like, you know, some other things in bros. like and i was you could just do one big business with all

of like you could have the boats and bros the bus and bro yeah put it all together we even got a graphic already made man we uh we had a podcast a while back and we had a buddy make us a it was the most ridiculous graphic but we have a graphic ready to go and everything man it'll be the in bros company hey i'm with that if you guys need any help i'm there just just hit me up i appreciate it man well patrick i took up a lot of your time i really appreciate obviously you talking to us about what to expect for iowa next year i'm really excited for the team i hope when people listen to this they realize what this team returns and how good iowa basketball can still be despite what people are perceiving as you know huge losses and what you know and rightfully so especially when you

think about Luca. No, we lost a lot of stuff. Lost like 200 threes or something from last year's team. But I mean, I still think that like with our roster, we still have talent and ability to put ourselves in position to be right back where we were. Yeah, and also it wasn't like your dad didn't realize this was coming, right? He's been building the team to be able to take the next step forward after that.

So it's going to be huge. I'm excited for it. Any last words to the fans, man? Just I'm excited to see you guys when we get back to Carver. It's going to be fun. I never played in front of fans before. So that's something I'm looking forward to. But, yeah, I just hope that –

I think we have a team that you guys can get behind, and I'm just looking forward to next year, man. And I'm ready to give my all for Hawkeye Nation and just kind of ready to go to work I love man well thank you so much Patrick have a good day buddy yep for sure you too all right y'all and that wraps up our show today I hope you enjoyed the conversation with Patrick a big shout out to Patrick for for hopping on and talking to us and being very candid with us about his thoughts about basically everything on the Iowa basketball team really enjoyed that conversation If you want to hear more conversations from Iowa athletes, former Iowa athletes, or just my general thoughts

on what is happening in the Iowa Hawkeye athletic community, definitely give us a follow wherever you downloaded this episode at and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Hawkeye Nation, I appreciate you tuning in. I appreciate your love and your listenership and your support. Have a fantastic weekend. And before you go, if you want to listen to some more Locked On content, get all the sports news you need in under 20 minutes

with the Locked On Today podcast. Host Peter Bukowski updates you on the latest news in every major sport with the help of our local experts. Follow the Locked On Today podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast app. Now, that being said, Hawkeye Nation, have a fantastic Friday, a great weekend, and let's go Hawks.