Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Hawkeyes' Victory + Fran McCaffrey's Future: A Turning Point? More on QB Mark Gronowski

Starting point is 00:00:00 A comeback for the ages. Iowa comes roaring back down 15 to knock off Nebraska. What does it mean for Iowa hoops going forward? Plus the Hawkeyes on the football field got their man at quarterback. More on Mark Dernowski all today. 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

Starting point is 00:00:38 is the locked on hawkeyes podcast thanks for making locked on hawkeyes your first listen every day we We're available wherever you find podcasts. You can also watch us on YouTube. While you're there, make sure you hit the subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. From big upsets to game-winning drives, the NFL playoffs are better with FanDuel. New customers can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed win or lose. Visit

Starting point is 00:01:09 FanDuel.com to get started. What a comeback it was last night. Iowa, we talked to you at halftime and things were not going very well. Iowa at the time down 34-31. Got out to a decent lead in the game and then here comes Nebraska and it felt like more of the same.

Starting point is 00:01:27 After the performance last Friday against Wisconsin, after as bad of an effort as you can see on a Fran McCaffrey team to see them come out in the way and then just look so lethargic, so dead, giving up bucket after bucket. So Iowa's up 18-13. Josh Dix makes a three-pointer. Things are looking good. They're going to be great. Build that lead up to seven, and then it just went away. Missed three-pointer. They bring in substitutions. Carter Kingsbury comes to the game. Owen Freeman and Lajay Dembele. And that's when the run happened.

Starting point is 00:02:08 And Iowa goes from up seven to quickly down eight. 34-26 with three minutes to play in the first half. Now, they battled back, got it back within three as Bryce Sanford hit a three-pointer with inside of a minute left. But it was just one of those halves of frustration, and it looked like more of the same from this Iowa basketball team. And as bad as that first half was, the beginning of the second half was even worse. Iowa gets down 15.

Starting point is 00:02:35 There's 14 minutes left in the game, and it felt like this was over. Not just the game. Not just the season. Because that was hanging in the balance too. But maybe the Fran McCaffrey era was coming to a close. That's how important last night's game was. It's not being hyperbolic. It's not overstating what it was.

Starting point is 00:02:59 This was incredibly important for Iowa. If they're going to be a team, that is going to be different. If this is going to be a different version of a Fran McCaffrey team, you need wins like this. This schedule becomes incredibly difficult once we flip the calendar to February. It starts with Purdue, maybe the best team in the league. Then Wisconsin.

Starting point is 00:03:22 You know what happened the last time we saw them. You go on a road trip out east to Rutgers and Maryland. Rutgers is really talented. They're not playing well, but they got a ton of talent. And Maryland, that's a good team. After that, you come home for Oregon. The one really winnable game in this stretch you feel good about is a home game against Washington.

Starting point is 00:03:42 And then you wrap up three of your last four on the road going to Illinois, to Northwestern, home for Michigan State at Nebraska. That's how you close. You have to pile up victories, and it has to continue Saturday against Indiana. We'll get to that. It has to continue next week and get a win, a win, either at USC or UCLA. Again, we'll get there. Back to what we saw. Down 15. Little Sammy Hoiberg hits a three. Then Bryce Williams gets a dunk.

Starting point is 00:04:15 It's 52-37. And you're hoping, coming out of the locker room, kind of back within three, all right, they're going gonna find their group and you're down 15 and it looks awful it's not just down 15 heads hanging no juice in the building it was dead and then Peyton Sanford decided to play started Started knocking down some shots, and that's where it started. Down 52-37. Peyton Samford hits a three. Very quickly, Iowa gets it back to single digits.

Starting point is 00:04:54 A Josh Dix three-pointer with 11-17 left. It's back within eight, and you kind of look up, boy, there's a ton of time left. And then another three-pointer. It's a seven-point. They were able to find a way to chip away, chip away, get right back into it. And it was a lot of three-point shooting by Peyton Sanford. It's bouncing around the rim. It's all over the place. It was just absolutely incredible what Iowa was able to do. Speaking of Peyton Sanford,

Starting point is 00:05:19 the three-point shooting, look, we've seen this before, and we talk about this a lot. Peyton is an incredibly streaky shooter. When it's good, it's really good. When it's bad, it's really bad. I love it or hate it, the reality is Peyton Sanford, it doesn't matter if he's hot or cold, he's going to keep shooting. He's a guy that is going to get his shots up. He has that confidence.

Starting point is 00:05:40 I like that part of him. I wish there were more guys that are talented shooters that would be as aggressive as Peyton Sanford, even as he can get a little frustrated when it's not going very well. And then down the stretch, Peyton hits another three to make it a four-point game. Bryce Williams answers with a three-pointer. One-point game, 74-73. And then nobody is able to do anything. Harding missed a three late in the shot clock

Starting point is 00:06:05 as they were letting time slip down. That was another thing. So Bryce Williams hits that three-pointer with officially 104 on the clock. They don't inbound the ball right away. They let it tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. And then it gets inside of 30 seconds where he can't get a two-for-one out of it.

Starting point is 00:06:20 That was a bad miss by Brock Harding and the rest of the crew. You're not running clock there. Should have got the ball right away. Guaranteed yourself two possessions. That was a bad miss by Brock Harding and the rest of the crew. You're not running clock there. Should have got the ball right away. Guaranteed yourself two possessions. That aside. So it comes down to the wire. Final seconds. And here we go again.

Starting point is 00:06:34 Another opportunity to close out a game. Iowa goes up three after the free throws from Brock Harding. Then they got a foul, right? So they foul the first time. They have two fouls to give. Then they got a foul, right? So they foul the first time. They have two fouls to give.

Starting point is 00:06:48 The second time they foul, but they don't call it. Bryce Williams, three-pointer. We go to overtime, and again, it feels like it's over, right? So many times in the course of the game, you give up that way. You're done. Not Iowa. The Hawkeyes, after struggling to inbound the ball and finally getting it in and getting the free throws from Hardy

Starting point is 00:07:07 and then trying to foul, but they can't foul. Sanford, Dix. They race out, score the first nine of overtime, and cruise from there. Iowa wins it by 10, 97-87. An incredibly important win for so many reasons. Now you look at the box score. Just over 7,000 people in the building.

Starting point is 00:07:31 Not even in the building. Paid attendance, 7,812. Actual butts in seats. 6,000. This fan base is checked out. And that's the other angle we have to go here is last night was fun last night was enjoyable last night was the good vibes that you love to see however does it change anything does it change what iowa basketball is as i've told you guys i

Starting point is 00:08:00 thought this this year had a chance to be different. And Drew Thelwell, what's going on? He'd been a starter, had his best game in a Hawkeye uniform against Wisconsin in that awful game last Friday. He's not out there. Oh, we find out with, what, eight minutes left in the first half that he tweaked a foot, a lower body injury. I think it was a heel that he'd been dealing with. Has a tweak, though, in the layup line,

Starting point is 00:08:25 and he's out for the game. Let's say to Traore, we see for 10 minutes of the game. Makes his only bucket, turns it over once. 10 minutes. Josh Dix was out there all but 22 seconds. He played 44 minutes and 38 seconds in the game. Peyton Sanford, who was dealing with foul trouble, 35 minutes in the game. And Fred actually let him play with two fouls. And look,

Starting point is 00:08:49 in an overtime game, Fran, take this with you, please. I plead of you, take this with you. In a game that went 45 minutes, your senior, who played with two fouls in the first half, who played with two fouls in the first half stayed in the game, finished with four fouls. Look, that can happen. Just because a guy, even if he gets his third in the first half, doesn't mean he's automatically going to foul out in the second. It has happened. It just happened here. Please use this as an example going forward.

Starting point is 00:09:20 In a game where you have to play Carter Kingsbury nine minutes, Iowa finds a way. Josh Dix, stud, 31. Peyton Sanford, 30, all in the second half. He looked so bad in the first half. Both those guys with six rebounds. Josh Dix also with seven assists in the game. Harding had seven assists, also had six turnovers. Not the best Brock Harding game, but he had to stay out there because they didn't have Drew Thelwell. There's plenty of good to take out of this big picture though. Doesn't mean anything. We'll talk about that.

Starting point is 00:09:50 We're also going to talk about Mark Gronowski, the newest Iowa quarterback and what the quarterback room looks like. We'll talk about it. Big picture stuff with Iowa basketball. Plus a look at Gronowski all as we continue a busy Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode of Lockdown Hawkeyes is brought to you by Rocket Money. Rocket Money has helped me find some subscriptions that I completely forgot about. I had subscriptions, didn't even realize I was still paying for them, and Rocket Money

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Starting point is 00:10:57 Go to rocketmoney.com slash locked on today. That's rocketmoney.com slash locked on. One more time, rocketmoney.com slash locked on. One more time, rocketmoney.com slash locked on. Check out and back with you again, Locked On Hawkeyes. Thanks for being with us. Hey, hit that subscribe button if you're watching on YouTube or hit us up with a five-star

Starting point is 00:11:17 review if you're listening on the podcast side. Helps us out. Hits all those metrics that we're looking for. Really does help each and every one of you that do that, and I do appreciate it. So big picture Iowa basketball. What does it mean? Was it one of the Austin Powers?

Starting point is 00:11:31 What does it all mean, Basil, right? What does this all mean? Great win, fun, entertaining. Kids were excited, stayed up too late. All right, we had all that. However, it has to continue. This can't be it. I mentioned Ken Pomeroy and his projected

Starting point is 00:11:47 numbers. When we get to February, I was only projected to win three games. Only projected to win three, including a one-point win at Rutgers, a one-point win at home against Oregon, and a nine-point win against Washington. That shows you what they still have to do. And this momentum needs to continue coming up this week against Indiana. It's a Saturday night game, something that used to be a huge part of being an Iowa basketball fan, right? Was those Saturday night games in the Big Ten in the cold weather. You do what you're going to be in front of your TV watching.

Starting point is 00:12:22 That's where you want to be. That's what you had to do, right? Well, not the case anymore. We get one of these again. A Saturday evening game. It'll be on Fox. Mike Woodson brings Indiana to town. This is not a great Indiana team.

Starting point is 00:12:38 They got blown out by Louisville. They got blown out by Gonzaga. They got blown out by Nebraska. That's their three losses. But since then, they've beaten two average mid-majors in Chattanooga and Winthrop. And then in Big Ten play, they beat Rutgers and they beat Penn State. And you look at the Penn State win, and that was impressive. It really was.

Starting point is 00:13:01 Now, it wasn't at Penn State. It was at the Plestra. Still the Plestra. It's just a great environment. I'm still it wasn't at Penn State. It was at the Plestra. Still the Plestra. It's going to be, it's just a great environment. I'm still disappointed when Iowa played Penn State. I wish I would have got to that as a huge college basketball fan. Penn State's good, though. I think Penn State's going to be an NCAA tournament team.

Starting point is 00:13:15 Like, Ace Baldwin, he's a first-teamer for me. He's absolutely outstanding. But Indiana was able to find a way. Ballo was really good in that game. And he is going to be a load inside. So Ballo comes in from Arizona, started his career. He is just a thick, thick body. This is going to be one where Owen Freeman,

Starting point is 00:13:34 he's got to be ready to go. They're big inside. Rice is a really good player. This Indiana squad is athletic. I just don't think they're a great team. Now you can argue it's because they're still trying to find their way a little bit. They got a bunch of new faces. Miles Rice comes in. they're a great team. Now, you can argue it's because they're still trying to find their way a little bit. They got a bunch of new faces.

Starting point is 00:13:47 Miles Rice comes in. That's a new one. Good comes in from Illinois. So a bunch of new faces, right? I just don't think Goodson's that good of a coach. And this is one where we've seen stoic Fran on the sideline. We've seen Fran much more reserved than he's been in the past. This will be one that will get his juices flowing a little bit.

Starting point is 00:14:09 This will be one where you'll see Fran's going to be locked in. Him and Mike Woodson, there's no love lost between the two. We'll just put it that way. But again, for Iowa, what Iowa needs to do, it needs to be a bunch of these victories. Because if Delwell's healthy, and that's the crazy thing about this year. So as Iowa sits here at 11-4,

Starting point is 00:14:30 2-2 in the Big Ten, you have to find, I think, eight more wins in the Big Ten to have a feeling good, at least, going into the Big Ten tournament. And Peyton Sanford can put the team on the back, as we've seen. Owen Freeman,

Starting point is 00:14:44 you want to get more out of him. Brock Harding, got to cut down on the turnovers, right? Josh Dix, keep being aggressive. But if you get Thelwell out there, and if we get good Sadu Traore, is Cooper conscious? Is he lost for the year? It's back again. Dambale, I think, has found his right role,

Starting point is 00:15:02 and it's coming off the bench, though. He didn't come off the bench last night. That role, back up five, a little bit at the four, 15 minutes a game. I think that's his right role, and it's coming off the bench, though he didn't come off the bench last night. That role, back up five, a little bit at the four, 15 minutes a game. I think that's the right spot. 12-15 a game for Dembaugh. But it's Thelwell. It's Traore. It's getting Peyton Sanford right. You go through Peyton Sanford, and you look at the losses this year. And it's eye-opening. 1-9 against Wisconsin. Two points in that one.

Starting point is 00:15:26 5-15 against Iowa State. 5-15 from the floor. And the game also turned it over three times. He goes 6-20 against Michigan. And maybe the worst of all, he goes 4-18, including 1-13 from the three-point line in the loss to Utah State. Maybe it's very simple and simple thinking, but sometimes you need to go simple thinking. You don't have to explore things bigger than it is.

Starting point is 00:15:58 This Iowa team is going to go as Peyton Sanford goes. And if he struggles, they're going to struggle. They're going to lose games. But he can get on a heater again. And we saw this a couple of times in his career. When he starts to get hot, he can put his team on his back.

Starting point is 00:16:14 You go back to the stretch last year towards the end of the season and what they were able to do and get themselves back into the conversation for the NCAA tournament. And he goes off starting against Minnesota. And he goes off starting against Minnesota.

Starting point is 00:16:26 And he scores consecutively. 21-19, 18-22, 12 in a loss, 26-23-23. That's what he did to end the regular season. Yet, in the Big Ten tournament, he's held to 19. And he did it with a 1-5 shooting from inside the three-point line. So, again, it's simple. There's not a whole lot of depth to it, but I think it goes without saying

Starting point is 00:16:49 this team is going to make a push. If they're going to have a push to be a tournament team, it's going to be Peyton Sanford. He has to play well. Got a lot of this last night as well. There are some tweets. When they're down 15, I just tweeted out, burn it all down.

Starting point is 00:17:06 And I still maintain that's true. I don't believe that there's enough that can be done to salvage the Fran McCaffrey era going forward. I don't even believe a sweet 16 run would be something that suddenly we'd be seeing even 12, 13,000 fans in the stands and a renewed interest at the level, at a high level of Iowa basketball. Now, do I think that the next coach is going to be a slam dunk and is going to be an automatic winner at Iowa? No.

Starting point is 00:17:36 The Iowa basketball job is much more difficult, certainly, than the football job. You don't have the same amount of buy-in from the athletic department. The investment is not there. The fan base investment certainly is not there, both financially and in terms of supporting the program. The job is much more difficult. Are there guys that could do a good job? I don't think there's any doubt. Are there people out there that can do a better job than Fran McCaffrey? I think so, but not a ton of them. Again, it's not an easy job, and that's what I go back to here. I'm ready for new. I'm ready for different.

Starting point is 00:18:09 I am ready to see whoever the next coach is going to be, even understanding that, yes, this thing can be worse, that, yes, there could be even more disappointment in Iowa basketball going forward. That's where we are. Where we are right now is ready to talk football. Let's get into Mark Gronowski. What's the quarterback room look like now?

Starting point is 00:18:29 It's incredible how quickly Tim Lester has been able to change this thing over. We'll talk some Iowa football, Hawkeye football talk next lockdown Hawkeyes. From big upsets to game winning drives. The NFL playoffs are better with FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed.

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Starting point is 00:19:37 I'm Trent Condon. Always appreciate each and every one of you as we wrap things up with a little football talk to finish it out. All right. Speaking of football, Mark Gronowski touched down a little bit at halftime of the game yesterday. A couple of things, though, that are just absolutely crazy to me. So now your quarterback room looks like this.

Starting point is 00:19:56 Mark Gronowski, the presumed starter coming in. Brennan Sullivan, a backup that has shown an ability in Big Ten games to be a player. Is also a guy that you can rely on. In some specialty packages. If you want to go that route. At minimum. An incredibly competent. Backup quarterback in the Big Ten.

Starting point is 00:20:18 Hank Brown comes in. From Auburn with three years of eligibility. A live arm. A guy that there's a lot of hype for, and he can be more of a developmental piece now in that program and understanding after next year, 2025, he very well could be a two-year starter

Starting point is 00:20:35 for the Hawkeyes. You got two walk-ons, starting with Jackson Stratton, a guy that at minimum looked decent, right? I mean, you got that guy as a walk-on, it's pretty dang good. And your fourth teamer, that's really good. Ryan Fitzgerald walks on.

Starting point is 00:20:52 Pat Fitzgerald's son. And Jimmy Sullivan, the incoming freshman who is already on campus and getting ready to go through spring practice as a freshman. So all six of these come in with the hand of Tim Lester. This is what they had last spring. Deacon Hill, Marco Linus, Tommy Poholski,

Starting point is 00:21:20 a walk-on, and Cade McNamara, who was injured again. I've also seen a lot-on. And Cade McNamara, who was injured. Again. I've also seen a lot of this. Well, who cares? I mean, I just did this with Cade McNamara. If you want to equate

Starting point is 00:21:34 Cade McNamara, who did good things in Michigan, it's not to undersell what it does. But we also heard the stories right away about his exit. The negativity. And I think a lot of us chalked it up to, oh, it's sour grapes. There's going to be two factions that grow with McCarthy's side and McNamara's side.

Starting point is 00:21:55 It was an ugly divorce, but that's going to happen. But then we see what happens in the end days in Iowa City. Not very good. A lot of rumblings, rumors, innuendo. What we do know, he didn't go through senior day ceremonies for a reason. He had to put out a press release when he didn't travel to the game at Maryland on his own.

Starting point is 00:22:16 Not through the University of Iowa, on his own. I think that says a lot. A quarterback room comprised of Deacon Hill, Marco Lyon as Tony Pahulski and Kate McNamara, who couldn't practice last spring compared to what they're going to have here. Mark Gronowski, a two-time national champion at the FCS level, a guy that's thrown for over 10,000 yards in his career has run for nearly

Starting point is 00:22:40 40 touchdown and thrown for 90 touchdowns in his career. Brennan Sullivan, guy that's won Big Ten games. Hank Brown, a coveted kid coming out of high school that played in the SEC. Jackson Stratton, a guy that started for you already. And a walk-on of Fitzgerald and a freshman in Jimmy Sullivan. That's impressive. You have to tip your ball cap to Tim Lester being able to pull that off.

Starting point is 00:23:08 Incredibly impressive. Great work out of him, and away we go. Really, really good stuff on the football side of things. We'll get more with Tani Pahulski coming up tomorrow on Lockdown Hawkeyes. David Eicholdt's going to join us from 24-7 Sports. Why did it take so long to get this commitment? It's a question I'm going to for david and a whole lot more basketball continues again that indiana matchup coming your way on saturday get on out there if you have an opportunity and support the team too look you could be checked out on fran you know my thoughts on it as well but boy just support

Starting point is 00:23:40 the squad what they're gonna do thursday we're gonna get the women's team back in action a road trip for them coming off that loss to Maryland as they go to Illinois. Could be a really tough one before they're back home next Sunday against the Hoosiers themselves. So a couple of big games coming up on the hardwood. A lot going on here. We got to get a little wrestling talk going as well. That's going to be coming up around the corner as they get back into the swing of things with some Big Ten matches around the corner. We'll talk plenty about that.

Starting point is 00:24:07 Plus, what else is happening in the portal on the football side of things? Always busy. We got you covered each and every day here. Locked on Hawkeyes. Thanks for being with us today. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Hawkeyes' Victory + Fran McCaffrey's Future: A Turning Point? More on QB Mark Gronowski

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