Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa falls to Penn State | Why Fran haters need to sit down | Big Ten bowl game recap

Episode Date: January 6, 2020

Iowa lost to a ranked Penn State team on the road. Here's a breakdown of what happened in that game along with a rant on why anyone saying we should fire Fran after that loss needs to calm down. We wrap the show up by recapping Big Ten bowl season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I thank God I was born on the good arms of the Midwest, and not on the battlefields of the U.S. It's a time of panic, and it's intercepted! It's picked off right away! Intercepted by Marty Hooker! Pick six! Eight seconds into the game! Buffen sets up deep in the pocket, goes down the field for Smith!

Oh! He's got it! Smith! Touchdown. 85 yards. High on. Touchdown, 10. Taking a shot in the end zone.

It is caught. No offense. Touchdown. That's either one or you have it. Go ahead and three. Yes. Two-point lead for the Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network.

As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. I'm excited to be back and actually talking to you all. I know it was kind of an interesting last couple weeks. Obviously, getting sick was not ideal, was really not in the picture. And then also, obviously, the holidays and whatnot made it kind of difficult to get consistent episodes out to you. But I am excited to start bringing you our regularly scheduled content Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Possibly sneak in a few Wednesdays here and there, depending on kind of what's happening in the Iowa Hawkeye community. So just keep that in mind.

We are going to be back to our regularly scheduled programming Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday going forward, and I'm excited to be bringing all that stuff to you now. I appreciate you again jumping on the show. We do have some great stuff coming up on today's episode. We're going to be breaking down the Iowa versus Penn State game, talking a little bit about that, kind of what went wrong, what went right. And then we're also going to break down why Fran should not be fired.

For some reason, every time Iowa loses, Iowa basketball fans come out of the woodworks and start talking about firing Fran McCaffrey. And I think out of all years, this is the most ridiculous year to be saying that, considering what he's been doing with this program. But we're going to be talking about that on today's episode. And then finally, we're going to wrap up today's episode by doing a little bit of a bowl recap of the Big Ten. And then tomorrow's episode is going to be great. Make sure you tune into that one as well. We're going to be covering the Nebraska game,

kind of what to expect from that standpoint, where Iowa football will fall in the rankings after the national championship game, and then also kind of where the men's basketball team goes from here. What's kind of upcoming on the schedule and kind of where we expect them to be after the end of January, especially given kind of the injuries they're seeing and also the schedule they have, very tough schedule in the Big Ten. If you are tuning in for the first time, though, make sure to like, review, and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at. And make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

That's how you can get all the most recent updates on what is going on in the Iowa Hawkeye community and with the podcast. So let's jump into it, though. The first thing, obviously, Iowa lost to Penn State in a close game, 89-86. They did a fantastic job throughout the game, I thought really, of keeping themselves in the game. Penn State is a good basketball team this year, and I know it's kind of difficult to believe given the fact that Penn State has been basically a bottom-dwelling basketball team in the Big Ten for the last several years, but they are good. They're ranked 21st in the nation, likely to go up in the next upcoming AP poll. They are 12-2, and they've had some solid losses, some great wins, and

beating Iowa is a good win for them, and it's not a bad loss for Iowa. The fact that Iowa was actually close to winning this game and was actually up with just a few minutes left in the game says a lot about this team right now. Again, playing Penn State, people talk about it not being a home game for Penn State. It was actually worse than a home game. Going to Penn State, playing at Penn State over the winter holidays, likely not going to be as big of a crowd. Playing in Philadelphia, though, in a historic arena,

that is going to bring a little bit more fans out of, you know, out of, you know, not retirement, but kind of out there and supporting their Penn State Nittany Lions. And also some of these old arenas are really just built in a completely different way, really puts you kind of right on the court. And in general, those court conditions seemed like they were not exactly ideal. Not exactly ideal. A very hot and humid environment. A slippery floor. And just kind of a very exhausting environment, especially for an Iowa basketball team that has very, very limited depth. And then once C.J. Frederick went down, that really hurt the depth even more.

Basically, Iowa played with an eight-man rotation. And in all its actuality, they really had a seven, six, really a six-man rotation once Frederick went down. Cordell Pemzel got 11 minutes. He was the lowest amount of minutes out of anyone who actually played, and honestly, Pemzel just hasn't really looked that good this year. The injuries seem to really be taking a big toll on his body.

Just doesn't look the same way he did earlier in his Iowa career, but again, losing 89-86, not a bad loss for Iowa. It would have been great to be able to steal that, but there's a lot of things kind of going against Iowa. Again, a limited bench, not a lot of depth, a hard environment to play in. Lamar Stevens asked to be taken out late in the first half for Penn State

because he was so exhausted. Luka Garza even made the comment of saying how exhausted he was. He played 35 minutes, had a fantastic game to another all American slash national player of the year type of game going 13 and 19 from the field for 34 points, bringing out 12 rebounds, having two blocks and even a steal. And then Joe Weiskamp had a fantastic game as well. 35 minutes went eight of 15, five of 10 from, and had 10 rebounds and 23 points. But just tough. Those kind of games happen late in the game when it's hot and humid like that.

Teams are going to be exhausted. And we saw Penn State's bench really shine in those moments. I thought Ryan Creener had a decent chunk of time. Bakari Evelyn didn't have as good of a stat, kind of a box score, but I thought he handled the ball pretty well, all things considered. He's kind of more of a slower pace, less prone to turnover type of point guard as opposed to Joe Toussaint, who we're going to see a lot of high variability in his play, whether that is going to be a great game or a lot of turnovers. We kind of saw it yesterday as well, or it's not yesterday, but on Saturday as well in his game. I mean, he went 6-14, had 18 points, also had three turnovers

and managed to get two steals and four assists. So you're going to see some of that play with a true freshman guard, but we're really at that point now where there's not a lot of other players that can put minutes in for the Iowa Hawkeyes. And if C.J. Frederick is out for a little bit longer, that's going to be tough. And also not to mention Connor McCaffrey was playing a little bit under the weather. And in that kind of environment, that kind of humid and hot environment, that is not going to be easy for a guy like anyone really that has some sort of illness to be playing in that environment. So not ideal. Obviously, it would have been great to see Iowa win that game and take care of business on the road, get a much needed road win. But it's not the end of the story for Iowa.

What I really love about this team is kind of the perseverance they're showing and the ability to play under pressure, not back down in the moment, that kind of thing. Ideally, it would have been great to see them close out the game. And in years past, we just saw Jordan Bohannon do that. It would be nice to see a guy like Joe Wieskamp kind of step up. But I think at the end of the day, not much you can do when Penn State's getting a lot of calls on their side. I thought the officiating was a little bit poor and definitely one-sided in Penn State's favor.

Not much Iowa can do about that. Iowa got a little sloppy on defense, transition defense especially. But I think, again, a lot of that points back to the lack of depth and the environment and the conditions that they were playing in. Definitely an exhausted basketball team. I would have liked to see Fran McCaffrey use all of his timeouts, maybe get his team a little bit of a break. But still, the fact that Iowa's in these games when it was supposed to be a rebuilding year is very impressive. And I want to talk a little bit more about that coming up after a few messages from our sponsors. Because I do want to talk about the Fran McCaffrey firing thing and some of the fans who are being a little bit ridiculous.

That'll be coming up here in just a short few seconds. We're back with segment number two of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. I appreciate you all tuning in again on this Monday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Previously, we talked a little bit about the Iowa-Penn State game.

I want to cover the Fire Fran McCaffrey movement. And to be fair, I am a huge, huge fan of Fran McCaffrey. I think he's done a really great job with the Iowa basketball program. And he's done a really great job of instilling a sense of integrity to this team, especially after some of the Todd Licklider years and the Steve Alford years. You know, Fran McCaffrey has really rebuilt this program from basically the ashes, right? I mean, this program was dead on arrival

with, you know, under the Todd Licklider years. So not impressive at all from that perspective. But then when Fran came in, that was, you know, he did a really great job, brought this team to the NCAA tournament multiple times, including, you know, last season. And I think this season what we're seeing is actually maybe the most impressive we've seen of a performance from him as a coach in his tenure at Iowa. And I think that's not going noticed by Iowa basketball fans. And I think it's the fans who aren't really paying

attention, right? They're seeing Iowa lose to Penn State on the road and they're thinking, here we go again. We lost another game on the road. Do you not freaking realize it's Big Ten basketball? Every team is falling in Big Ten basketball because this conference is incredibly good, top to bottom, save for Nebraska, Northwestern. This is a damn good conference. So for me, it's a little bit ridiculous when you see fans come out and talk about firing Fran McCaffrey after a loss to a ranked team on the road and probably one of the toughest environments they're going to be in all season with a limited bench and bad conditions. Come on now, give me a break here. I know some people have some issues with Fran.

He hasn't really advanced in the NCAA tournament. They haven't gone past the round of 32. They've had some good teams. He's done a good job recruiting, but hasn't been able to put it together. Obviously, the February fades where the Iowa basketball team kind of drops off in February. We've seen some really highly ranked Iowa teams kind of struggle down the stretch. That has all happened, and that is fair game. That is fair to be upset about that. It's fair to be upset that he doesn't get all these top recruits missing out on Xavier Foster. Obviously a big deal, especially considering Iowa is his favorite school.

To go to Iowa State, a little bit of a blow there. But nonetheless, to be upset about Fran McCaffrey in this season, I think is a little bit bull crap. Look at what's happening over at Iowa State. People want Steve Prom fired. I think that's crap as well. But he's going through a similar situation. He lost a lot of players from last year's team.

And Iowa State is struggling this year. Whereas Iowa lost, you know, hell, they've lost three of their five starters from last season. And they're still sitting at 23 in the nation. They are 10-4. According to Ken Palm, let me pull this up real quick. three of their five starters from last season, and they're still sitting at 23 in the nation. They are 10-4. According to Ken Palm, let me pull this up real quick. Iowa, I believe, yeah, Iowa is 21st in the nation according to Ken Palm, and according to the net rankings, Warren Nolan net rankings, Iowa is 32.

That's really impressive. All things considered, you lose three of your five starters. You bring in some guys who have never played meaningful minutes of college basketball, that's really impressive. All things considered, you lose three of your five starters. You, you know, bringing in some guys who have never played meaningful minutes of college basketball, CJ Frederick and Joe to say that's huge. Then you have a transfer guy, but car Evelyn,

who's coming in and playing big minutes as well. I'm new to the squad. That is not an easy task. And especially a guy like Fran who likes to really go deep on his bench to have to limit the amount of players he's playing and play a smaller, definitely a smaller lineup. It has been one of his most impressive works as a coach, in my opinion. I think if nothing else, this should be a reason

why we would want Fran McCaffrey to stay longer. Imagine what this team could do next year, especially if some of these guys return or if all these guys return. If Joe Wieskamp returns, if Luka Garza returns, and imagine that with Jordan Bohannon and the sharpshooting of CJ Frederick. This could be a stacked team next year. And in a rebuilding year, he still has this team ready to go to the NCAA tournament. In the most recent bracketology, Iowa was a sixth seed.

If you had told me Iowa would have been a sixth seed at the beginning of this year, I would have laughed at you. I did not believe Iowa was going to have a good year this year, especially with all the injuries and everything that was kind of happening. But when you get an All-American slash National Player of the Year performance out of Luka Garza, a future NBA player, and Joe Wieskamp playing, and some of the other guys are stepping up, that's what you're going to get. But a lot of that comes down to Fran McCaffrey being a fantastic coach,

and the defense is even improving as well. I think one of the big knocks is that Iowa's defense is struggling. Transition defense isn't very good. We saw that against Penn State. I think that was less a Fran McCaffrey thing and more of an exhaustion thing. And the defense itself in general is doing better this year than it has in quite a few past years. I believe right now, let me check from a Kempom perspective, Iowa's defense is ranked 98th. Last year, they were ranked 111th. In 2018, they were ranked 242nd. In 2017, 123rd. 2016, that was when Jared Uthoff was here, they were ranked 30th. All in the last three seasons prior, this is the best defensive season we've seen out of Iowa in the last four seasons. So again, if you are on the fire Fran train, I think you really need to take a hard look at what he's doing as a coach,

especially this year given all the challenges, and be appreciative for what we have. And be appreciative for what we're probably going to have next year. I would be interested to hear if you don we're probably going to have next year. I would be interested to hear if you don't agree with me. That's fine. I love to talk about these kind of things. Feel free to tweet at me at LockedOnIowa. We can have a conversation about this.

If you have some strong opinions, maybe we can get you on the show, and we can have a nice little debate for the fans, giving the perspective on both sides. We'd love to hear from you all. So feel free to tweet at us, or even send me an email at Lockedhawkeyesatgmail.com or leave it in an iTunes review about kind of what your thoughts are on Fran McCaffrey. Coming up, though, we're going to talk a little bit about the bowl season in the Big Ten to wrap up the show for today.

We're going to take a quick break and let a few messages from our sponsors air for you all. from our sponsors air for you all. All right, we are back with our third and final segment of today's episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. And basically, I want to break down bowl season in the Big Ten. This is the one time where I'm cheering for everyone, right? Kind of like non-conference season. You want to cheer for the Big Ten schools because you want them to be strong.

You want them to be ranked. You want them to be ranked. You want them to be good games for the Iowa football team so it looks good from a national perspective. And I would say for the most part, the Big Ten represented well. Minnesota took care of Auburn. I thought they came out with a really great game plan against Auburn. I think Auburn probably is the more talented team. But Minnesota, you know,

credit, you know, credit to them, kudos to them. Good for P.J. Fleck. I thought he, he didn't have some of his best coaching performances against some of the, you know, team, you know, Wisconsin and Iowa when they lost those games, but took care of business against Auburn in the Outback Bowl. As much as I hate Minnesota, mostly because their fans were incredibly obnoxious this year, good for them to actually get a win and continue to build on that program and make that program relevant again. The more relevant that program is, the more meaningful that rivalry is going to be between Iowa and Minnesota. It's kind of tapered off a little bit over the last decade or so

when Minnesota hasn't exactly been good. But with Minnesota good, that will make the Big Ten West look even better and it will make the rivalry with Iowa look better as well. Penn State also took care of business against Memphis. Took a little while to get going, but once they did, once they put their foot on the pedal, they were off the races. Fun game to watch, Penn State getting the only win for the Big Ten in a New Year's Six Bowl, one of the big bowls for college football season.

Wisconsin, I thought, had a great opportunity to beat Oregon and just shot themselves in the foot. One of the things that pisses me off most about this is very uncharacteristic Wisconsin game and a game that they would never play against Iowa. You want fumbles? Not happening against Iowa. You want Jack Cohn to actually look like the terrible quarterback that he is? Not against Iowa. Man, what the hell happened? They really had the opportunity to beat Oregon there. And between penalties, between some bad play calls,

obviously there was some questionable officiating and some questionable calls. But at the end of the day, they fumbled multiple times. I thought some of their play calling was porous at best. Basically, anytime they got single coverage, Jack Cone just chucked it up to Cephas or Quintez Cephas and you know had Cone actually been able to place the ball appropriately maybe there's a few bigger plays for Wisconsin but just not a good game by Wisconsin in that standpoint and the fact they lost by less than a score that's you know they could have won that game and could have made the big 10 look even better getting a Rose Bowl win. Michigan got beat bad by Alabama. Kind of expected that. They actually played pretty

well to begin the game. Shea Patterson was looking pretty solid. Then typical Shea Patterson didn't look so solid in the second half. Alabama is just a better team. I mean, honestly, Alabama could probably beat every team in the Big Ten, say for Ohio State this year. But regardless, Michigan looked like Michigan. I still don't think they're that good of a team. They have some solid talent, but anytime, you know, Shea Patterson just isn't a good quarterback. And the fact that he was named third team all Big Ten is just flabbergasting to me. I thought he was just all around bad. was just all around bad. Ohio State,

man, they got screwed. I mean, I don't like to give Ohio State credit a ton. I don't hate Ohio State that much considering Iowa has had their number. Obviously, with that big win a couple years ago, big deal there. Ohio State got screwed. That targeting penalty on Sean Wade

was a huge blow to them. That fumble recovery for a touchdown that got called back, that's just bad officiating. And they would have won that game. I mean, obviously they did some things that probably could hurt them as well. They would have been able to capitalize on their opportunities in the red zone and score a touchdown as opposed to kicking a field goal. That would have obviously helped them, but they got screwed against Clemson.

And it's a shame that we're not going to be able to see them play LSU. I do think Ohio State has the talent to beat LSU in the national championship game, but we're not obviously going to be able to see that anymore. But I think they have a couple guys coming back. Obviously, Justin Fields is going to be back. This Ohio State team is going to be real good, and it's going to be an interesting game when Iowa plays them next year, a game that I'm not really particularly looking forward to.

This Ohio State squad looks to be incredibly reloaded. Other things, obviously Illinois lost to Cal, you know, whatever, who cares. Indiana blew a lead against Tennessee, was really rooting for Indiana, again, wanted to get the Big Ten looking good. Indiana had a good opportunity to really capitalize on a great season for them, especially in a loaded Big Ten East, but blew that lead against a Tennessee team that rebounded quite nicely in the second half of the season. And then Michigan State beat Wake Forest.

No one gives two craps about that. And now Michigan State is experiencing quite the exodus of players leaving their program. So that's kind of really the state of the Big Ten and the Big Ten bowl games. And then, as you all know, Iowa had a great win over USC, a win that really is going to catapult them into hopefully a great offseason of 2020 and getting back to the college football season next September, kind of leaving us on a real nice ending there, getting that win over USC.

A lot of fun to watch that game. It would have been great to see the Big Ten do a little bit better. Looking at these games, Minnesota won, Penn State won, Michigan State won, Wisconsin should have won, and Ohio State should have won, and Indiana should have won. So you basically have Illinois and Michigan who kind of really dropped the ball

there, just not being as talented as the other teams. Big Ten did not represent as well as I would have hoped, though. But that's neither here nor there. Can't do anything about it now. But, again, maybe next year. Maybe we'll see a little bit better representation from the Big Ten in the bowl season coming into next season.

I do think the Big Ten is going to be loaded next year and should really strongly be considered the best conference in the country. Top to bottom, there's going to be a lot of strong teams. We'll cover that on a later episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. I appreciate you all tuning in to this day's episode of the show. A little bit shorter of a show. Had some things to cover but wanted to make sure I saved some stuff for tomorrow

as well. If you did like what you hear today, make sure to like, review, and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at. And make sure to go follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Show us the love there. And if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or want to have some nice debates with me, feel free to do that as well. Locked on Iowa at Twitter.

And you can just find me as well, personally, Wade underscore Andrew on Twitter. Happy to have a debate with you about what your thoughts are on the Fran McCaffrey situation or the bowl games or really anything in that realm. Happy to talk about it. Have a fantastic Monday that realm, happy to talk about. Have a fantastic Monday, though, Hawkeye Nation, and go Hawks.