Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football Kickoff Times Announced, Does Iowa Hoops have a chance with Grant Nelson?

Episode Date: May 31, 2023

Trent Condon returns for the latest edition of the Locked on Hawkeyes Podcast.Kickoff times have been announced for Iowa Football including the the Cy-Hawk game against Iowa State, the Black Friday match up with Nebraska and a change in the start time for the road trip out to Penn State.Iowa basketball is listed as one of the suitors for one of the best transfer portal candidates in Grant Nelson, formerly of North Dakota State. He would fit in to what Iowa does incredibly well and would make Iowa back into an NCAA Tournament contender.And a quick look at Iowa's chances in the NCAA Tournament as they open up play against North Carolina as the Tar Heels are coming out as the betting favorite in the region.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Iowa football start times have been released. We now know the kickoff times for five games. We break it down and speculate about what the other kickoff times can be. Plus, one of the top transfer portal candidates, Grant Nelson from North Dakota State, has Iowa perhaps in his top five. Does Hawkeye Hoops have a chance? We talk about it today on Locked on Hawkeyes. You are locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, welcome in. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you get podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. While you're there, make sure you hit that subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, official sportsbook of Lockdown. Make every moment more. Visit FanDuel.com slash Lockdown today to get started. Kick things off with some news today as we got kick times for a number of the Iowa football games coming up this season. And one of the more anticipated years here recently for Iowa football.

And some good kickoff times, I believe, the way that the schedule makers came together for this. So we've known now for a couple of weeks that the road trip to begin Big Ten play on September 23rd as they take on Penn State, that was going to be a night game on CBS. It was initially said that it'll be a 7 o'clock kickoff. They moved it back a half hour. So it'll be a 6.30 kickoff now on CBS for that one. I mean, how cool is it going to be to hear the CBS college football theme music playing leading into Iowa heading to a whiteout?

Remember the last time the Hawkeyes played a whiteout in 2009? Things went pretty well in that one. After a slow start, it was one of certainly my favorite experiences. I mentioned coming up here, our summer series. We're going to have throwback Thursdays. We're going to take a look back at some of the great times in Hawkeyes, some of the great seasons overall, and definitely that 2019 going to be up there and that road trip out to State College, incredible.

Well, another whiteout on the horizon, 6.30 kickoff Central time for the road trip against Penn State. But we knew that. Knew it was going to be a night game. More kickoff times were announced, though. Some interesting nuggets here, some things that are a little bit different, so ones you definitely want to keep an eye on.

Kick things off. Week one, it'll be Utah State. The Aggies make their way to town we will preview Utah State this summer we will preview everybody that Iowa football gets ready to play throughout these summer months but in Oprah 11 a.m. FS1 fine and in fact with the schedule the way that is set up early on in the season some of those big games that get, both in the mid-afternoon and the evening window. I'm kind of happy about that. You got to ease into things, get that tailgate.

You know, yeah, you would love to have a 2.30 kickoff for the first game and get more tailgate time. I get all that, but with everything else that's going to be happening, Labor Day weekend, I'm kind of okay with the 11 a.m. kickoff for this one. I am not a big fan of 11 a.m. kickoffs. Certainly my least favorite of the kickoff times. But for this one, for the first one, get a couple of swarm beers in you

before you make your way over to the game. Nothing wrong with that. Utah State, 11 a.m. is how the season will begin. That is also, of course, Fry Fest weekend. So many great things happening over there in the Coralville area during that one. And should be a fun weekend to kick off this football season. Then, week two. This year, a road trip to Iowa State.

After winning six straight against the Cyclones, it felt inevitable it was going to happen again next season. And if some butts were candies and nuts, well, Iowa would not have lost that football game. They did. Now, you will never be able to tell me that Monty Ponebaum, as he was diving in for the touchdown, hit the ball, did not cross the plane with him in control before he fumbled. The officials disagree. And we have to live for 365 days with that here in the state. And certainly if you're in central Iowa, you know, it's a little bit different here than you people on the east here in the state. And certainly if you're in central Iowa, you know it's a little bit different here

than you people on the east side of the state. A little bit different is surrounded by the Cyclone fans, and they have that. They have the bragging rights. Well, time to get it back. And an Iowa State team that very well could be decimated from the continued rampant speculation about the number of players that are involved

for Iowa State football and the gambling investigation. We talked about it from the Iowa angle, but there continues to be talk of really big names, potentially four or five starters for Iowa State football that are involved in that investigation. If that's the case, Iowa's got a great shot to go on the road and get yet another win against the Cyclones over in Ames. That will be a 2.30 kickoff and it will be a Fox game. That's right, Big Fox will have that one. 2.30 kickoff. Love the mid-afternoon kickoff times. Remember the rain delay game from a couple years back? I believe that was also a 2.30 kickoff if memory serves. Maybe it was 3 o'clock. A little bit hazy that day

and a long time sitting in the bowels of Jack Trice Stadium waiting for that one to get back started. But oh, how fun it was in the end. And the fumbled punt. It's two Cyclone players. Glided leading to the fumble recovery in Iowa. Polishes off a victory in that one. So 2.30 kickoff for the Cyclone game.

Then another 2.30 game. It'll be the end of the non-conference portion of the schedule for the Hawkeyes in the gold out game. That will be against Western Michigan. BTN will have it 2.30 on September 16th. So it is 11 a.m. 2.30, 2.30 for the three non-conference games. Then the road trip to Penn State. As mentioned 6.30 kickoff for that one. We bounce back then and then it is a matchup against Michigan State. Sparty, I don't know how good they're going to be. They lost their two-year starter quarterback. Theo Days throwing passes up at Michigan State now. You and I, former Michigan State quarterback,

they got some question marks, certainly. And Mel Tucker and all that money, good thing for him, it is all guaranteed at Michigan State. That'll be the blackout game September 30th. No kickoff time, though, announced on that one. A couple more that we do have. And this one I think is the most interesting. Purdue comes to town. It's homecoming, October 7th. Normally, it's an 11 a.m. kickoff for homecoming.

That has been something that has been pretty steady throughout the time. We know when homecoming is. We know it's going to be an 11 o'clock kickoff. Not the case this season. So if you're somebody that comes back for just one game a year, maybe it is only the homecoming game. And I know plenty of people that that is something that they do every single year. People that live a bit further away or just can only make it over for one reason or another to one football game a year. Well, that right now is going to be either a 2.30 kickoff, 3 o'clock, or 6.30. Doesn't help you out a ton. I get that.

The other game happening that weekend is Michigan-Minnesota. One of those two games will be the night game on CBS. The other will be either 2.30 or 3 o'clock, then depending on TV. Now, I would anticipate Minnesota-Michigan is going to get that night game spot. I think that's the one that you're likely going to see with the night one, but I would anticipate

we're going to see 2.30 for the Purdue matchup. And after finally getting that monkey off your back a year ago against Purdue in a dominating fashion a season ago, let's make it back to back against the Boilermakers on homecoming, October 17th. TBA then for the next four games at Wisconsin, the monster against Bucky. Very well could decide who is going to win the Big Ten West this year. I love Iowa's chances. I love it even on the road against Wisconsin. Even with some of the negatives that have happened, I think Iowa is right to be right there.

Then they get Minnesota the week after that on the 21st. That game also to be announced. That will be the Black and Gold Spirit game. That'll be the stripe out game at Kinnick Stadium October 21st, but no kickoff time as of yet for that. It'll be either the six or the 12 day window. And we'll find out the kickoff times for these games that are TBA. After a bye week at the end of October,

Iowa comes back for the road trip to Chicago and Wrigley Field to take on Northwestern. That also TBA. Going to be an incredible environment. Already heard plenty of people that are making some choices of what they're doing to try to secure tickets. Tickets are not available right now unless you are a season ticket holder for Northwestern. Well, what are people doing? Hawkeye fans, they're buying up Northwestern season tickets

just so they can get an opportunity to buy tickets to Wrigley. You Hawkeye fans, man, you are a different breed. Absolutely love that. So that will be a TBA. Let's hope we get a little more time. I would love to see that thing be a 230 kickoff. They're going to be in Chicago. We'll have more details for you in the coming weeks and months ahead about that. Working right now with the big Hawkeye bar in Wrigleyville, Merkles, and having a game watch there, having a pregame party on Friday leading into the game Saturday against Northwestern on

November 4th. Then it is Rutgers. That is also TBA Illinois after that. And then wrap things up at Nebraska. That also announced today. Now I speculated with you that was going to be an 11 a.m. kickoff on CBS and that's exactly the way that it played out as the NFL is now putting their foot into the Black Friday window, they cannot play in the evening. They have to play in the afternoon. And that is what they set up. I anticipated that was going to be the case. We know Penn State, Michigan State will also be played on Black Friday

that evening as that game has been moved to Ford Field. Night game there, NBC will have it. Here, CBS gets the 11 a.m. kickoff, staying away from the NFL with the road trip to Nebraska. And hopefully it culminates in Iowa finishing off a 12-0 season. Hey, we can dream. It's the offseason, right? Though we have these other kickoff times that are TVA,

good to have a good solid base now knowing what this season is going to look like. Well, there are a potential absolutely perhaps team changing transfer on the market right now in Grant Nelson. Power forward from North Dakota State, all Summit League player. He was in the NBA draft. He was going through the process, decided to withdraw his name from the draft, meaning he's eligible to go back and be a transfer. He's not going to go back to North Dakota State. There are some big schools involved. Iowa, though, is listed amongst some of the teams that have a chance. Is it a real chance?

Can Iowa land one of the top transfer portal candidates in all the country? We'll talk about that as we continue on Locked on Hawkeyes. Today's episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes. Today's episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Make a fast break to FanDuel during the NBA finals because right now, new customers, you can get a no sweat first bet up to $2,500, $2,500. Incredible. That's $2,500 back in bonus bets if your first bet doesn't win. I've been on FanDuel now for a number of years. Great promotions every single day. You like to hop on the same game parlay trade? They got you covered on that one. Individual player props,

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As we roll through here, plenty to get into. Great to get those football start times. Let's now talk about Grant Nelson. Grant Nelson, a top-level transfer target. In fact, right now at 24-7 Sports, he is rated for guys that have already committed, guys that have been in the portal at any point here, as the number three player that has entered the transfer portal all season long. I mean, that tells you a ton about what he is. Well, here's the thing. A lot

of the options have dried up. A lot of teams right now are full in their scholarships. A lot of these teams have already put together everything that you anticipate they're going to be. And because of that, they don't get any scholarships available. And That means maybe that gives Iowa a little bit of an advantage. So earlier today, there was a tweet put out talking about the shortlist for Grant Nelson. This comes from Trilley Donovan. And you see Trilley Donovan, you kind of roll your eyes. What kind of goofy name is that? What Trilley Donovan? What's that going to be?

Well, this guy is well-respected. He has been at the forefront of a lot of portal news, a lot of basketball, college basketball news in general. So this is a guy that has a little bit of a note of portal news, a lot of basketball, college basketball news in general. So this is a guy that has a little bit of a note. Initial shortlist for Grant Nelson. Alabama, Baylor, Florida State, and Iowa. The Hawkeyes are on the shortlist.

Now, the sell is pretty easy, leaving NIL aside. And we'll get to that in a moment. The sell is easy with what Iowa has done with big guys now over the last three seasons from the Ascension to Luka Garza and what we saw out of him becoming the player of the year in college basketball, leading Iowa to a number two seed in the NCAA tournament. You saw that just the impact that he was able to make in Iowa's system and the way that they play and the ability for a big guy to not just go down to the block or not just be a guy that's out front setting screens. No, you're going to be involved in the offense. We are going to build around you. It's an easy sell. But it wasn't just one guy that they did it with. Then

they did it with Keegan Murray, who becomes a lottery pick. And then they do it again with Chris Murray, who's going to be a first-round NBA draft pick. Three consecutive years, three different guys, three different skill sets, yet all of them were able to find their way to be All-Big Ten players, All-American honors, NBA draft picks. That's what Iowa has been able to deliver. That's what Fran McCaffrey has been able to deliver. And Grant Nelson is a player that can beat you in a myriad of ways.

Very smooth with the ball, has a ball handler at 6'10". He's a guy that handles it a lot better than he looks like. Plus athleticism. He's a shot blocker. He's a very good rebounder and things Iowa obviously needs. He has those components. He is maybe a little bit of a hybrid between what you see of a Murray and a Garza. Kind of in between those two you see of a Murray and a Garza, kind of an in-between those

two different kind of player prototypes. I think it would make sense for what Iowa does for him. If you're looking for best fit basketball-wise, trying to elevate your game, trying to put yourself in position to make that leap into the NBA, to build yourself into a first-round pick, Iowa absolutely is the place for that. There's playing time available. Ben Kricke comes in, but outside of that up front, Iowa's got question marks. Well, this is one pretty easy. You're going to play 35 minutes a game.

We're going to base this offense around you. We're going to build around you. Grant Nelson. There's the other side, though. And what is changing college athletics is, obviously, the NIL. We have to have the conversation. What can Iowa give to him in terms of the financial package? Can they keep up with an Alabama? Can they keep up with the Florida State or Baylor at this point?

Though the Swarm Collective continues to grow. Go out there right now and donate your money because this is the lifeblood of Iowa athletics. It's not the high club anymore. It's not really even donating for your tickets. What it is at this point in time, it's the money and specifically for basketball. Basketball has taken it just to a completely different level.

And because of all of that, you're left, very simply, do you have the funds? Well, I don't think I was going to be able to match what Alabama has from everything that I've heard. Same thing with Baylor at this point in time. But they can put out a fair offer. Would he be leaving money on the table? Grant Nelson leave money on the table if he commits to Iowa. The answer, short, yes, he would. I know Kansas was involved early on before he made the decision that he was at least going to go through the draft process. Kansas was talked about a lot. Well, what happened? They went out and got Dickinson. So Hunter Dickinson changed the

equation for the Jayhawks. And he got north of a million dollars, it sounds like. Iowa can't compete with that. And a Fran McCaffrey needs to bend a little bit. You know, one thing that Fran has talked about and mentioned, and many people have also talked about that have had these kinds of conversations with the Iowa basketball program, is Fran wants all the guys to basically be equal, right? I don't want player X to come in, be it as a freshman or as a transfer, and he's going to be making 5, 10, 20 times the amount of money as the other players. Now, are there going to be opportunities for certain guys that are going to make more? No doubt about it. Commercials and the like,

yes, there's going to be more players that are going to be different players that are going to command different kind of money. But instead of saying, here's the baseline, X amount of dollars, this is what we have. Instead, you go with it and you're left saying, this is the way that it needs to be. We instead need to give him a little bit more. I think this is the time to bend the rules. This is the kind of player to bend the rules. I look at this roster right now for Iowa basketball. I do not see an NCAA tournament team. I look at this roster right now, and frankly, I don't see an NIT team. I don't even think they're above 500. But you add this kind of player, I think you're right back to where you've been. And that means being in the top five seemingly every single year in the Big Ten. That means giving yourself an opportunity in the NCAA

tournament. It'd be nine tournaments in 11 seasons for Frey McCaffrey. If you do that, Grant Nelson is that type of player. So make it happen. You got to bend a little bit. You have to have some kind of flexibility. In today's environment, you're not going to offer him the moon. You're not going to take your whole pot of money for NIL

and give it all to Grant Nelson. No, you're not going to do that. Make him a little more, dig a little deeper, talk to a few more of those donors and get a little bit more. For a player like Grant Nelson, you make that happen. And it sounds like Iowa has a real chance. Here's another part. Here is the other piece to the equation.

This from earlier today from Iowa Analytics, and I thought a really interesting way to take a look at the way this is set up and the way that obviously it can be. For Iowa this year, Bart Torvik, Ken Pomeroy, Bart Torvik, these are all analytic-based sites. And Bart Torvik already has preseason projections up in front of him. He has Iowa a little bit higher, certainly, than I do, if memory serves, right around the 40 mark going into next season. I don't quite see that. I'm more probably in the 60 to 70 range, but that aside,

his numbers and his math model is a little bit better than mine. Mine's just what I think on the top of my head. So here's what Bart Torvik says from Hawkeye Analytics. Bart Torvik agrees. Adding Nelson would improve Iowa's defensive rating by about 27 spots and overall rating by 10 spots in the preseason projections

for next season. We know Iowa's got to get better defensively. It was atrocious last year and it looks worse on paper coming up this season. He's a shot blocker, Nelson. He's a good rebounder, something that Kricke is not plus that. You've got a three-headed monster now of Nelson, Kricke, and Braun's inside

with some shooters on the outside with the Sanfords. You throw in Tony Perkins and what we know we can see out of him, we're cooking. Patrick McCaffrey with a full season in front of him. Point guard play, we'll see. Is it Josh Dix? Is it DeSante Bowen? What is it going to be at that spot? Brock Harding coming in in his freshman campaign. This would change my excitement level to a completely different level.

That's where I would be. If Iowa can land this one, look out. You think my hype train's pretty big for Iowa football? I'm going to be jumping on board. Fran, make it happen. We finish things up on the other side. A quick peek ahead as Iowa prepares for the NCAA tournament in baseball. That's right, right around the corner.

Hawkeyes, North Carolina. Get things started as we continue on Locked on Hawkeyes. Trent Conner back with you one final time on the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. Well, Iowa baseball gets ready to face off against North Carolina. Six o'clock start for that one. It'll be broadcast on the ACC network,

but you can also catch the game on Sirius XM with the Hawkeyes and the Tar Heels doing battle at six o'clock. In that one, you can catch every pitch of the hometown broadcast with Sirius XM and the SXM app. Search Hawkeyes. You can find it there. You'll hear the call from the Hawkeye broadcast team of John Leo and John Evans. They'll be on the call there all with Sirius XM. Really, really cool feature that we have there available a bunch of different places and you can find it with the hometown broadcast for the NCAA tournament against North Carolina. That game you can catch for this one.

372 is where we'll be on Friday evening. So North Carolina right now is the betting favorite to come out of the region. I was a tick surprised by that. Now, they have history. North Carolina is a proud baseball program. They have played for national championships here in semi-recent histories. They fell to Oregon State back in 2007 and 2008. In semi-recent history, they fell to Oregon State back in 2007 and 2008. They have a good front line of their starting pitching.

Inconsistent at times offensively. Look, they played a murderous role schedule. Their schedule in comparison to what Iowa saw this season, it's different. They game in and game out in the ACC. It's a tall, tall task. But that inconsistency, some of the series losses that they've had, a couple of the bottom teams of the ACC leave you scratching your head i i don't agree with it frankly indiana state they're the home team missouri valley conference champion got off to a slow start this year they were two eight including a loss to iowa in the early version before they

turned it around and only lost three games all season long in the Missouri Valley. And that is a huge, huge accomplishment. Right now, the betting odds to advance out of the Terre Haute region and the NCAA. I had it here in front of me. Let me pull it back up for you. All right, here we go. Regional play. We scroll down to Indiana State.

There it is. Currently, right now, North Carolina is plus 185 to advance out Iowa. In fact, it's the second choice of plus 240. Indiana State, plus 245. And then there's Wright State at plus 750. So that is the odds right now. North Carolina, the betting favorite with what Iowa has. Marcus Morgan, he'll get the ball against the Tar Heels. Fouled by Brody Brecht. And then to Langenberg. That one, two, three punch.

In fact, there was an article up. I retweeted it on the Lockdown Iowa account here today on Twitter. Talking about the top five staffs. Pitching staff, starting rotations at the NCAA tournament. Of course, Wake Forest was on there. No shock.

LSU, okay. And the Iowa Hawkeyes were amongst the five teams listed as the best staffs. Control's got to be good. Need to see Marcus Morgan kind of zero in after those control problems we saw against Michigan. A little bit more time, of course, through to open things up on Sunday against Maryland before he was pulled quickly after just a couple of innings of work. Need to have him right. Keep those walks down. He is an incredible pitcher, and this team has a real chance. You

don't have to win the first game. It's double elimination, but it feels like you got to win this first game. If I was going to advance to the Super Regional, take on Arkansas, take on TCU, whoever it is that comes out of the Fayetteville region. Arizona is also there along with Santa Clara. Whoever it is, what you're going to have to do, you need to keep those walks down. We'll dive into that a little bit more later in the week. Iowa baseball in the NCAA tournament, it just feels right. Feels like what Iowa baseball certainly should be. We are out of time.

Every day as we got you covered coming up here later in the week, a lot more football talk after the big news and we'll continue to search. Can we find out more? Does Iowa have a chance with Grant Nelson? We'll continue to work. See if we get more information here for you. As always, thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day available

wherever you get your podcast and you can find us on YouTube. While you're there, it just takes a second. Hit subscribe. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. If you're on the podcast side, five-star reviews. That's what we're looking for. Always a big thank you to all of you. We'll talk to you again tomorrow.

Go Hawks.