Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Hawkeyes annihilate Northwestern Wildcats plus why Caitlin Clark can't turn pro

Episode Date: March 1, 2022

The men's Iowa basketball team had quite a showing last night against the Northwestern Wildcats on Senior Night. Led by Keagan Murray and another dominating performance, the Hawks built a lead early and never looked back. Seniors Jordan Bohannon and Connor McCaffery were letting it rain from deep and the Iowa Hawkeyes continued playing stifling defense.After breaking down that game, we turn our attention to the women's side as the NCAA just released pre-seeding for the tournament, and Lisa Bluder's squad is well-positioned to host more games at Carver. We also explain why Caitlin Clark can't go pro.Finally, Iowa football lands a big-time target in the transfer portal in Steven Stillanos. Why did they target a tight end and what does he bring to the team? We've got you covered here. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.RunYourPoolIf you want to play against us for a shot at a cash prize join us at RunYourPool.com/LockedOn. And while you’re there, create your own pool for your friends and family. Enter ‘PUREMADNESS’ at checkout for $10 off your custom pool. 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 Tuesday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Podcast Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, and it is March, which means there is a ton of stuff going on, and we have a lot to cover on today's show. The men's basketball team took down Northwestern last night in pretty dominating fashion. We're going to be talking about that and what it means for the Iowa Hawkeyes going forward.

We also obviously got to talk about the women's basketball team. The seedings are out. We know when they're playing in the Big Ten tournament. I also want to talk about Kaitlyn Clark and whether or not she can go pro. The answer is she isn't, but I'm going to tell you why here in a few moments. We have wrestling seeds out. We're going to talk about that on tomorrow's show. And Iowa football landed a big-time grad transfer.

We're going to be talking about that as well. So coming up on the show, we have a lot to cover. So let's get into it right now. But first, I want to thank you all for making the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. You can find the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast for free wherever you get podcasts at and also on YouTube by searching Locked On Hawkeyes. And today's episode is brought to you by Run Your Pool. March Madness is here, and Run Your Pool has a better way to create your bracket. RunYourPool.com, the premier sports pool hosting service.

So let's get into it. Last night, the men took on Northwestern and I apologize for those of you who listened to my show yesterday. For some reason, I had it in my mind that Iowa was playing on the road. I don't know why. It was just in my mind. However, Iowa played at home, they played Northwestern, and they absolutely took care of business. All those issues we've had with this men's basketball team in the past. Slow starts. Lack of rebounding. Lack of production from people outside of Keegan Murray.

Out the window. This team is getting a little scary for other teams coming into March. And we're going to talk about the bracketology either on tomorrow's show or Thursday's show, but Iowa's really beginning to position themselves very nicely for March. They take down Northwestern 82-61 in this game. In this game, you see Connor McCaffrey had 17 points, 5 of 9 shooting from 3, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Keegan Murray at 26 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the field, 2 of 4 from 3. 18 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals. Jordan Bohannon had 18 points on 4 of 11 shooting from 3, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal.

Tony Perkins, only 6 points in this game, but five steals. So Iowa is really starting to find their groove. We're seeing guys elevate their play at the right time. You see a Tony Perkins who struggled with his new role a little bit, but is really finding his groove. I remember we talked to Jay Stevens of Locked On Buckeyes, and he asked me, what is Tony Perkins going to do? And I said, Tony Perkins is mostly a defensive guy so far for the Iowa basketball team. We're starting to see his offensive side improve as he figures out what his role is in this offense. And that cannot be overstated enough, all right? It's tough coming in to a squad like this to figure out what is your offensive role.

You have a guy like Keegan Murray, who's a National Player of the Year candidate. You have a guy like Phillip Abracha, who was the guy at his previous school. You have Jordan Bohannon, who's the career leader in a lot of things, right? So it's tough to find your footing in that situation, and he is finding his footing now. As always, or as at least always in the last couple of weeks, Iowa dominated the boards. It is funny to say that because a month ago, two months ago, we're talking about how bad Iowa was rebounding.

And we'll talk about it on tomorrow's show, but that's one of the reasons why I think Fran McCaffrey absolutely deserves the Big Ten Coach of the Year award. What he has done with his team from season to season and even in season has been nothing short of remarkable. Rebounding has become a strength of his Iowa Hawkeye team and it starts with the Wings. Iowa, 19 offensive rebounds. Northwestern, 7. Defensive rebounds, 31. Northwestern, 28.

It gives you so many more opportunities. Iowa got off three more shots within the perimeter and 10 more shots out of the perimeter. That's what good rebounding can do for you. So just a very impressive game from start to finish. Iowa getting off to a strong start, a 15-2 run early on in that game. Northwestern could literally never recover. The defensive energy was there.

Northwestern only scoring 17 points in the first two quarters. The best defensive effort for the first half from a Fran McCaffrey team this year. Just really incredibly impressive. And they did all this without Patrick McCaffrey. Patrick McCaffrey out with an injury. Sounds like he got injured in that Nebraska game.

So let's get into the storylines. First and foremost, Patrick McCaffrey, he has to be healthy. He's a pivotal player to Iowa making a run. He allows Iowa to do so many different things. And when you see a Chris Murray get in foul trouble, He allows Iowa to do so many different things. And when you see a Chris Murray get in foul trouble, having a Patrick McCaffrey gives Iowa a bit more cushion there, right?

Patrick's obviously the starter. Chris is the bench guy. But you don't want to see one of those guys go out, nor do you want to see two of those guys go out either. And Chris Murray getting into trouble, four fouls at the nine-minute mark, basically benched the rest of the game, only played 10 minutes. Chris Murray has got to figure that out. He has struggled with foul trouble throughout the season. Obviously not every single game,

but it is a concern as we get into conference tournament play and NCAA tournament play that he has gotten to that point. Four fouls against Northwestern, four fouls against Nebraska, five against Michigan, four against Nebraska, four against Penn State, five against Purdue. With Fran McCaffrey and how rigid he is about his foul situation, Chris Murray needs to do a better job of staying out of foul trouble, especially as Iowa gets into postseason play.

The other piece, Connor McCaffrey is absolutely hitting his stride at the right time. I remember actually the Las Vegas Invitational, I can't remember what it's actually called, but the Thanksgiving tournament in Las Vegas a few years ago, right before COVID hit. And I remember thinking, Connor McCaffrey should never shoot the ball.

It was gross. He just shouldn't. It was not a good shot. It was never going in. And now I'm looking at it saying, go for it. Let it rip. He's shooting 39% from three this year, 20 of 51. His shot looks better.

And obviously the results are a lot better and he is absolutely feeling it. It is now to the point where Connor McCaffrey is no longer only shooting a three. If there is literally no one around him, he's just shooting whenever he gets the ball. And if he's going to do that and make it, that makes this Iowa team significantly more dangerous because Connor McCaffrey has been wildly successful without being able to shoot the ball now imagine teams having to guard him and stay up with him on the perimeter as you saw Northwestern do in this game in the past couple of games Connor McCaffrey five of nine three of three two of two one of one one of four four of seven since a rough stretch of over six against Rutgers Penn Referee, 5-9, 3-3, 2-2, 1-1, 1-4, 4-7. Since a rough stretch of 0-6 against Rutgers, Penn State, and Purdue,

he has been on fire as of late. If he can keep that up, this team is going to be very, very dangerous. Defensively, Iowa has done really well as well, up to 79th according to Kempom. In this game, I think what stood out to me the most was their ability to switch. Northwestern were trying to run around screens. Iowa just kept switching on them. And it didn't matter if it was Tony Perkins on a Pete Nance. It didn't matter if it was Chris Murray on Ty Berry, their guard.

Iowa was able to switch and play solid defense. And that was really a huge difference in this game as well. Iowa now gets Michigan on Thursday to get Illinois on Sunday and we're gonna be breaking down both those games as we get closer to both those games uh big time games Iowa if they can steal one of those games and right now Kempom projects them to beat Michigan if they can get one of those wins giving them another quad one win going into the tournament they're right now seeded to be a five seed. So that's a huge opportunity getting at least a vibe and getting the four seed, which would be Ohio State,

which is a great matchup for Iowa. If Iowa can win a game in the next two, win a game or two in the Big Ten tournament, I prefer two, we can see Iowa pop up to a five or a six seed in the NCAA tournament. And we're going to be talking about that on probably tomorrow's show as well, because that really, that is going to be very important as Iowa tries to make a run in past years, they've gotten absolutely screwed playing a number one seed or a number two

seed in a lot of their draws and that second round, which hurts them from going to a sweet 16. So we're going to be talking about all that coming up on a few shows this week. Coming up on the show, we're going to talk about the women's basketball team. There's a lot to love about this team, a lot to talk about. Caitlin Clark, should she be the national player of the year and why can she not declare for the WNBA draft? We're going to be covering that here in a few short moments. But first, with March 1st here, right? It is March 1st today. It is my sister's birthday, which I need to wish her

happy birthday, but it also is the begin of March Madness. March Madness is only a couple weeks away. That means you need to start thinking now about when you're going to be running your brackets this year. Are you going to go for the usual? Are you looking for the best? We've done our homework here and we are running our brackets at runyourpool.com. Along with standard brackets, Run Your Pool offers game types like Survivor or PickX, and they have options to edit scoring. And they offer more intel to make your picks, all stuff you won't find at ESPN or CBS. If you've got a business, Run Your Pool can help you take time and take some of that magic madness of March and play alongside your employees or even gain customers.

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slash locked on for a chance to win a cash prize. We look forward to seeing you and beating you there. And again, thank you all for making the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast your first listen

every single day. You can find the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. You can find the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast for free wherever you get podcasts at and also on YouTube by searching Locked On Hawkeyes. If you haven't been tuning in consistently as of late, you've got to now. We are literally chalked to the brim with content. On a normal week, I have the agenda for the next day prepared.

So on a Tuesday episode, I prepare the agenda for the next day prepared. Right? So on a Tuesday episode, I prepare the Monday episode that day. On a Wednesday episode, I prepare the Tuesday episode that day. I have all the episodes prepared for this week with how much content we have. And there's only going to be more things coming out. So let's get into it. The Iowa women's basketball team. I got several questions about Kaitlyn Clark and why she can't go pro. We also found out where Iowa would be seated at in the

NCAA tournament if the season ended today. And it was a big gain for the Hawks. So let's talk about Kaitlin Clark first. Should she be national player of the year? Absolutely. I am getting ridiculously sick of people coming out and talking about Kaitlyn Clark and saying, oh, well, she has this many turnovers. Saw that yesterday. Elijah Boston doesn't have that many turnovers. Elijah Boston doesn't have that many assists either. You cannot just, statistics is made to manipulate.

That is, I've taken several statistics class. The first thing they talk about is how manipulatable statistics are. Heck, I've taken several statistics class. The first thing they talk about is how manipulatable statistics are. Heck, I do it too. When you're trying to make a point, you pull out the statistics that make your point. Both Caitlin Clark, you can literally look at almost any single statistic or derivative of a statistic, and you will find a way to make sure she is a national player of the year. When you look at Elijah Boston and the fact that she does not have as many turnovers as Kaitlyn Clark. Well, the biggest thing with turnovers is your assist to turnover ratio, and Kaitlyn Clark dominates Elijah Boston in that regard.

Elijah Boston is not passing the ball a lot. She's getting the ball in the post, and she's shooting. Kaitlyn Clark is making cross-court passes to give her players, her teammates, an opportunity to score to put Iowa on her back. Any way you cut it outside of rebounds, which again, Elijah Boston is a forward, Kaitlyn Clark dominates the conversation. And on top of that, as I've been saying several times, this women's basketball team would be a bubble team

if it wasn't for Kaitlyn Clark. With Kaitlyn Clark, they are looking at a four seed, two home games in the NCAA tournament, and an opportunity to make an Elite Eight or even a Final Four run this year. South Carolina without Elijah Boston is still a top five team. So I don't understand why this is even an argument at this point. The other piece that is definitely not an argument is that Kaitlyn Clark cannot go pro. And you might be wondering why is that? She's good enough to be

pro. Yes. Agreed. She would probably be the number one or number two pick in this upcoming WNBA draft. She is the best player in college basketball right now. And former number one pick Sue Bird has even said as much. But the WNBA is a little bit old school. Their rules, and I'm going to kind of read off some of the criteria here. Players younger than 22 are eligible to enter the draft if they have graduated from a four-year University or will graduate from a four-year University within three months of the draft for example if a player enrolls in college in the fall of 2021 and graduates in just three years in the spring of 2024 they would be eligible for the 2024 draft in April regardless of their age provided they choose to renounce the remaining collegiate eligibility.

Finally, players younger than 22 are also eligible to enter the draft when players' original class at a four-year university has graduated or will graduate within three months after the draft. Basically, what it means is Kaitlyn Clark either needs to turn 22 or graduate. And unless she graduates in three years, which I guess is a possibility, she cannot declare for the WNBA draft until after her senior season. Now, are those rules old?

Yes. Are they outdated? A hundred percent. It has not been the primary focus of the WNBA players union to try to get that as a new agreement in the CBA. They want it at some point, but it is not urgent for them because they're trying to fight for better wages, better benefits, et cetera. Now, you may be wondering, well, why is it such a big deal?

It's honestly, I don't think it should be such a big deal, but from a collegiate basketball perspective, it's not really that advantageous to go pro right now. Sue Bird even said she actually had a better experience, a more luxurious life at UConn than she did as a WNBA number one overall pick. Now it is getting better, but the WNBA is not structured in a way like the NBA is to make that jump successful for most players who are not graduated, who are not coming off of four years of playing college basketball. The rosters are smaller. So there's

12 as opposed to 15 in the NBA. Plus the NBA has the G league, which is a much more developmentally based league. And there's not a ton of money. So look at Kaitlyn Clark. She has an NIL deal with Hy-Vee. Kaitlyn Clark is probably making good money, especially considering the fact that it might even be comparable to those players in the WNBA, if not better than some of the players in the WNBA. I highly recommend you go look up the average salary. It is not good.

It's actually very low. Actually, let me just check it right now. I can't remember. I haven't looked at it in a little bit, but it is not good. All right. The average WNBA salary in 2019 was $116,000. That's livable, right? That's solid.

But it's not the end-all, be-all. And if you're playing collegiate basketball, you're making, I don't know how much Kaitlyn Clark is making from NIL, but she could absolutely make a ton more money if she really wanted to. She could basically support herself in college and still play college basketball for the university that she loves with the players and the teammates that she wants to play with before going pro. So the WNBA, it does not really lend itself well to developing players. So when you look at a player who is 18 or 19, they are going to need some development going up against grown women, right? That is just, that is going to happen. We see it

in the NBA as well. What I look at for the WNBA is maybe go more towards the 90s model of the NBA, where only a few players would actually go pro early on. And only if they were supreme cases, right? A Caitlin Clark, a Paige Becker, something like that, where they truly could play and even thrive in the WNBA. But for now, it's not going to happen. The last couple things I want to say about the women's team is right now the latest bracketology according to the NCAA has Iowa as a forward seed. And this is huge. It means they get two home games to go to the Sweet 16. That is a

big, big, big thing for the Hawks. Getting an opportunity to go to the Sweet 16 with two home games at Carver, it is a great chance for them to easily move on. Now, then from there, anything can happen, right? We could see an Elite 8 run, a Final Four run. It'd be pretty great if we saw Iowa or South Carolina even. This team is peaking at the right time,

and imagine if they didn't have so many issues early on, right? Gabby Marshall and McKenna Warnock being injured. Those two have been phenomenal down the stretch. Multiple COVID pauses, really disrupting the continuity of this team. Imagine if we don't have that. This team could be even higher ranked. But next year we have an opportunity, hopefully, without the COVID pauses,

without the injuries, to see this team grow even more. But right now I'm basking in it, right? This is going to be a fun time. The Women's Big Ten Tournament starts this week. Iowa plays on Friday. We'll have all the coverage for you right here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Coming up, I want to talk about that grad transfer tight end that Iowa just landed and Steven Salenos out of Lafayette.

We're going to be talking about that here in a few short moments. But first, football season might be over, but basketball is in full steam with both pro and college hoops hitting their stride. It is March, baby, and it is a lot of fun to place your bets at betonline.net and all the action that is going to happen over the next couple of weeks. From all the latest odds, totals, player performance props to where the next fired coach is going to land, BetOnline.net is your number one spot for all of your sports betting needs. BetOnline remains the best spot for all of your sports scores, podcasts, and news this season.

And it's not just basketball. BetOnline.net is your source for hockey, boxing, and UFC odds, right down to Olympic coverage and information, obviously Olympics over, but previously. Head over to the website today or use your mobile device and learn more about the trends and action. BetOnline.net, it's where the game starts, y'all. All right, y'all, let's get into it. We've talked a lot about basketball to this point.

Now it's time to turn our attention to the gridiron. And Iowa lands a transfer tight end in Steven Salenos. And people are asking, why in the heck did Iowa go grab a tight end? We have Sam Laporta. We have Luke Lachey. And why the heck would he want to come here? I got those answers for you. First and foremost, it is important to not think about this as a one-year transfer.

It's also important to think about this from a depth perspective as well. Outside of Sam Laporta and Luke Lachey, Iowa has unproven tight ends. Elijah Elverton has all the talent in the world, but has not been able to stay healthy. Behind him, we got Cale Vanderbush, Addison Ostringa. We don't have a lot of depth behind Sam Laporta or Luke Lachey. So, God forbid, if something were to happen to one of them, one of them was to go down with an injury, we don't have guys who can step in.

That's the first piece. Secondly, Iowa loves to run 13 personnel with three tight ends. Look at what they did with Noah Fant, TJ Hawkinson, and Nate Weeding. Nate Weeding got like 200 snaps that year as a third tight end. He was primarily a blocking tight end, but he still got some snaps, still caught some passes, as teams were so focused on Noah Fant and TJ Hawkinson. Now, I'm not saying Sam Laporta is Noah Fant. I'm not saying Luke Lachey is TJ Hawkinson.

But the situation is starting to kind of show itself a little bit similarly. Sam Laporta is the guy who teams have to key on. Luke Lachey is the talented guy who hasn't quite broken out yet. And Steven Salenos can step in and be that Nate Weeding role. Finally, Sam Laporta is only here for one more year. Steven has two years of eligibility. Worst case scenario, he's the third tight end more year. Steven has two years of eligibility. Worst case scenario, he's the third tight end this year and second next year.

Or, maybe he beats out Luke Lachey. Maybe he becomes the number two tight end this year and number one next year. And from his perspective, why not go to Iowa? As much as scouts say they don't scout the helmet, scout the player, Iowa tight ends always get an opportunity to go to the NFL.

We've talked about it with Matt Miller of the draftscout.com, now an ESPN analyst as well. He even said there's some schools where some positions you have to take another look at regardless of what they've shown on tape, regardless of what they've shown statistically, regardless of what they've done in the last four years. Steven Salinas will get a shot simply because he played on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Now, I do not want to discredit his talent.

He has a ton of talent, a phenomenal run blocker, a great pass catcher as well. But if he just works hard, does his job, gets on the field, he will likely have an opportunity to make that next step and jump to the NFL in some capacity. Now the last piece I want to talk about for this move and why it makes sense for Iowa and for Stephen Saleno is look at what happened a couple of years ago. about for this move and why it makes sense for Iowa and for Stephen Salenos.

Look at what happened a couple of years ago. They had Noah Fant. We had T.J. Hawkinson. We did not expect T.J. Hawkinson to leave as a redshirt sophomore, but he had a John Mackey award-winning type season. We see two tight ends drafted in the first round. And now Iowa is left with Sean Byer, a converted wide receiver who had been injured throughout his career, and Nate Weeding, a former walk-on.

What happens if Sam Laporta has another phenomenal year, but Luke Lachey has that breakout season like we saw with TJ Hawkinson a few years ago? Maybe Luke Lachey now can look at it and say, I could go in the first or second round. I'm going to leave. Maybe he goes. Now where are we at?

Well, Steven Salenos is there now. He's a guy who has starting experience. He's a guy who has experience as an Iowa offense. Now he can step in and be that guy. Be that transitionary guy as Iowa moves from Sam Laporta, Luke Lachey, to an Elijah Yelverton, Cale Vanderbush, Addison Ostrango. Many people are sitting there questioning why we grabbed a tight end. It is a, in my opinion, it is a fantastic move by the Iowa football team.

It's a great move by Steven Salenos, and I commend it. They are thinking proactively a few years down the road of what could happen while also benefiting their team today. Brian Ferentz and the ability to run a 13 set and be able to have guys who are mismatched problems is going to be huge for this offense going forward. And I'm excited to see it. Coming up on tomorrow's show, we have a lot to cover again.

Like I said, so much. Wrestling seeds came out for the Big Ten tournament. We're going to be breaking down some of the key storylines there on tomorrow's show. We're also going to be talking about Keegan Murray. He earned his fifth Big Ten player of the week honor. Is he the best player in the Fran McCaffrey era? That's coming up on tomorrow's show. And finally, should Fran McCaffrey be the coach of the year?

Why or why not? We're talking about that as well, as well as one guy in the Big Ten who could be possibly stealing his thunder for that job or for that spot. Now, if anything else breaking comes up, we'll make sure to cover that on tomorrow's show as well. But that's the plan for tomorrow's show, so stay tuned for that. And thank you all for making the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day.

Now make your second listen to Locked On NFL Draft podcast hosted by Ryan Tracy and former NFL cornerback Eric Crocker. They bring the NFL draft to life every day with insight and analysis on college football prospects and NFL front offices. And it's free and available wherever you get podcasts at. And that will do it for our show today. Thank you all for tuning in to today's episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Have a fantastic Tuesday and even better week.

And as always, Hawkeye Nation, let's go Hawks.