Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Hawkeyes' wrestling win + basketball preview: A double feature

Starting point is 00:00:00 Rapid reaction after Iowa Wrestling escapes Nebraska 1916. A recap of what we saw on a Friday evening. Plus, we set the scene for the weekend. A busy 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 Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day.

Starting point is 00:00:39 We're available wherever you find podcasts. You can also watch us on YouTube. Hit subscribe while you're there, just takes a moment and helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Super Bowl 59 is here and there's no better way to make every play more exciting than with FanDuel Sportsbook. New customers can bet just $5 and

Starting point is 00:01:00 if you win, you'll score $ bucks in bonus bets. Download the app or head to fiendool.com to get started. Well, wrapping things up here on a Friday evening after it goes final, Iowa comes back to beat Nebraska on the wrestling mat by a score of 19-16. We got plenty of basketball talk coming up, including the men's game and really just a gut check type of game coming up tomorrow as they face off against Wisconsin. We'll talk about that. Plus Tom Kaker from Hawkeye report.com. He's going to stop him. He will talk all things Hawkeyes with Tom coming up here

Starting point is 00:01:37 in just a moment, but we opened up with the wrestling map in just really overall kind of an odd match, an odd duel overall. On the evening where they handed out state championships on the girls mat over there in Coralville, it was just, I don't wanna say, it was one of those meets that you're just kind of left at times shaking your head. Because there were, I thought a lot of good

Starting point is 00:02:05 things. Overall there were a lot of good things and then there were things that left you scratching your head like Patrick Kennedy. He comes roaring back down 10-1, comes back, ties at 11, ultimately loses 18-11. Gay-mardled. What happened to him? A sudden victory loss to Allred and it's not that Iowa wrestled terribly in the duel because that's not fair. It was just maybe at times not what you expected and I think there were some guys that maybe opened our eyes a little bit more. So as we go through, you know, Joey Cruz, like what we've seen from him at times, there are certain matchups that aren't gonna be great matchups for Cruz at this point, but I think you've seen enough out of

Starting point is 00:02:54 him that you can think and you can see if he stays at 125, this is a guy that maybe can make a push and probably not this season, but potentially could be an All-American down the line. Drake Gaila, had a whole lot of offense there, gets the win 4-2. I think Van D had something to say about that. We know 41 has been an issue all year long, and Hardy just took it to Cullen Shriver. We go to 49, and so Kyle Parco, after what we saw last week, last Friday night against Penn State, I just got run out there. And he beats the second-ranked kid in the country, and Ridge loved it. The love it's, those dudes know how to wrestle, right?

Starting point is 00:03:35 They have a lot of success, and yet in the postgame transcript that's sent out from the University of Iowa, Parko said this. It was a good match, and it gives me a little bit of confidence going in. Those aren't necessarily the matches I want to win. I'm looking towards other opponents, getting some wins back, getting that Penn State match back. That one still lingers in my mind a lot. So I think this was a good win, good for me, a good win, but I'm still looking towards the future. And that kind of honesty, it's refreshing because in so many sports we don't get that. And I think it's a reason that so many people gravitate to what we see in wrestling and learning about these guys, hearing about these guys. Yeah, we get the sport, right?

Starting point is 00:04:27 And the aggressiveness and kind of that primal, just absolute excitement that you get out of watching a guy get a big takedown, get a pin, those kinds of things. But then you get this part of it too. And this is the part that it's just so different than so many different sports out there. Going in there and saying, yeah, that loss last week after he got drilled by Penn State, it's still lingering.

Starting point is 00:04:50 It's still in his mind. He just beat the second ranked kid in the country. And yet, that's not what he's excited about. It's about thinking about going forward. I just found that really interesting and something, again, you just don't see very often. 57, Miguel Estrada, he was wrestling Taylor, who's ranked fourth, loses four to two. Kind of a defense only. And hung around to the match.

Starting point is 00:05:16 Calliano got a win. Patrick Kennedy, we mentioned that match, just an absolute crazy one. And then we go to 84. And this is when things started to get all of a sudden nerve wracking because you come off the crazy match after Kennedy and then Arl gets upset. And you're looking and thinking, there's still work that needs to be done. Now you felt good going into the final two matches for Iowa and it proved out that way.

Starting point is 00:05:42 You get a pin from Buchanan. He was dominating him before the pin. I mean, Keeter did his thing and got the major decision a heavyweight, but still, just an incredibly odd match. We've talked about it before. Running down Penn State this year, it's not going to happen. I mean, the likelihood of it is so slim. So many different things have to go your way that as a fan could it happen sure and I guess if you are the optimistic type and you want to sit and hope and wait and plead you could go that direction that's just not for me. If it happens I'll be there cheering I'll be excited about it I'll

Starting point is 00:06:24 be incredibly pumped up. But just knowing that we're talking about such a small, small percent chance, so many things have to go wrong for Penn State. So many things have to go right for Iowa. And even if so many of those things do happen, it still might not happen for Iowa. That I personally am not willing to go there.

Starting point is 00:06:43 But some fans are built different. And if that's one of you, they have at it. Enjoy it. Penn State's a behemoth. But as we talked about earlier with the commitment of Mo Bassett, the excitement that comes out of that, you would have loved to see Jack Voris also jump on a board, but that's not going to happen as he's going to Oklahoma State. What we saw earlier in the week with Ross from Fort Dodge making his way to Oklahoma State, what we saw earlier in the week with Ross from Fort Dodge making his way to Oklahoma State. There's hope, but what else is going to change? And maybe it's as simple as this. Maybe we're going to see things even out a little bit more.

Starting point is 00:07:23 When the NIL era started, there were so many conversations about football and basketball and how it was going to change, that we're going to see, especially in football, that it was just going to be, everybody's going to go to the same programs. And what we've learned here just a couple of years in, that's not actually the case. We've seen more and more depth be built.

Starting point is 00:07:43 We've seen programs come out of nowhere and compete at high levels like in Indiana. I know the name team that many people thought their window of winning a national championship was closed and they got there this season. And maybe for collegiate wrestling, we're also going to see that, that this is gonna filter out a little bit more.

Starting point is 00:08:01 And there are gonna be the super teams that Penn State has built over the last 10, 12 years. But that's a good thing for everybody else. I think that's the hope for a lot of programs, not just Iowa, that that's what we're going to see. And you look at that 2026, one of the more decorated classes in a long time and of the top five, none of them are going to Penn State. Maybe the worm is turning. We got basketball to get into. We will do that with Tom Kaikert. He is from the Quad Cities.

Starting point is 00:08:30 So we're going to get his perspective on Owen Freeman. Shutting it down this year. What Tom knows about the situation. Brock Harding, of course, his teammate, their senior year over at Moline High School. What is Brock Harding's future? We're going to get into that. A little speculation and a little fun.

Starting point is 00:08:44 Plus, we'll talk about the women's win as We're going to get into that. A little speculation and a little fun. Plus, we'll talk about the women's win as they knocked off Minnesota on Thursday evening. We got some basketball talk still to come your way, and we'll get you ready for the matchup against Wisconsin. Iowa, just a three and a half point underdog against the Badgers. What does that tell us? We'll do that as we continue. This is Lockdown Hawkeyes.

Starting point is 00:09:01 We'll do that as we continue. This is Lockdown Hawkeyes. Today's episode is brought to you by PrizePix. The big game is almost here, and there's no better way to make it even more exciting than with PrizePix, the best place for daily fantasy sports. With over 10 million members and billions in winnings awarded, PrizePix makes it fun and simple to get in on the action. Here's how it works.

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Starting point is 00:10:58 Doing well and looking forward to tomorrow, NBC, these next three. Boy, and then Oregon, Oregon Washington at home so kind of maybe eases up a little bit but these next three will be no picnic. Trent doesn't like the matchup personnel wise was with Wisconsin we saw the you know the result of that game way back on January the third obviously was embarrassing if you're a Hawkeye fan. What do you think could be different tomorrow that would lead to a Hawkeye win. You know probably a week ago if you have asked me a

Starting point is 00:11:37 you think about Iowa, Wisconsin, I was a boy I think they're going to come out I was going to come out and play one of the best games the year. I was going to come out and play one of the best games of the year to try to get revenge for that. That was embarrassing. It just really was. I was there and it was non-competitive for the last, what, like six minutes for the first half and the rest of the second half.

Starting point is 00:12:02 It was like JV versus varsity. And I thought that, you know, but without Freeman, I mean, they start two seven-footers, their guards play well, it's just, it is going to be a tough matchup. Now, could there be some regression to the mean kind of things where, you know, Wisconsin's, I think Wisconsin's shooting like 41% from three and conference play or something. Ridiculous. They're shooting the ball so well. So they're there. And I was given up, like, I think shooting came to shoot 41% from three against them. So it's just not a good combination as they would say. Yeah, actually it's 39%. So I added a couple percent there for Iowa in terms of defensively.

Starting point is 00:12:55 But if you think some regression is coming for Wisconsin this game and you'd hope that maybe they make it competitive. I thought, I thought I will play pretty well. The other day. I thought they played with a lot of heart, a lot of energy, move the ball pretty well. They just, um, then nobody who could guard Smith and, and Kauffman Ren is maybe the most improved player in college basketball. Yeah, yeah. And they just couldn't stop either of those guys. And that was that. Tom, we know you have a close relationship

Starting point is 00:13:33 with Brock Harding being a Quad City guide, also Owen Freeman after he moved in there to finish up his career at the high school level. Take us in what you're reading from it. I'm sure you have the opportunity to, you know, talk to different people over in the Quad Cities and just what the takeaway is here on Freeman I know Fran said something long-term could happen. I Would be shocked if this team was 17 and 6 right now if he would have shut it down

Starting point is 00:13:55 But that aside just your takeaway knowing those kids like you do Yeah, and I can see why people would think that about about Owen but I just talking to in this exchange in a couple messages with his family and they were they were really concerned that there was going to that if he it I'll say this if it wasn't his shooting hand if it was his his non shooting hand, I think he'd still be playing. I really do. And if it was another finger on his shooting hand. His index finger, is that what it is? Yeah, his index finger. So it's just, if that got hurt further, then there's like the potential, according to the doctors, for more

Starting point is 00:14:44 according to the doctors for more permanent damage to it. So he's got to think long-term. And so I get why people would think that, but I think if you have to look at it just as this specific finger in the issue, I know, do you guys even want to dive into the Trilli Donovan thing? Let's go. So Trilli, Trent, do you want to explain who Trillie is? I'm not sure who this person is.

Starting point is 00:15:09 So he is an online persona, social media. He is the one that breaks a lot of news. Hawkeye News? No, just college basketball news. So former college basketball assistant coach or scout or nobody knows exactly what it is, but something like that. But he is an online persona that nobody knows who it actually is.

Starting point is 00:15:26 So it's not, his real name's not Trilly Donovan. Correct, right, yes. It's a play on Billy Donovan. But this guy gets a ton of information in. Tom, it's not that he's right more than he's wrong. This guy's really good. He has inside connections, and not just about guys entering the portal,

Starting point is 00:15:43 but coaching news. This dude knows what's going on in college basketball fair way to put it He's pretty he's pretty dialed in by the way on the on the female basketball women's basketball side his is His persona is skim Malky, which I think is So he is pretty dialed in he's pretty connected. Yeah, and he put Brock and Owen as guys to watch I think going into the portal potentially I can assure you 100%

Starting point is 00:16:22 in talking to Brock's family that he is not, they've not discussed it, they've not entertained it, they don't plan on entertaining it. Now if there's a coaching change, all bets are off. So you put that caveat with it. But I know Brock is not entertained. I have not spoken to Owen. I have not spoken to his family. But based on Brock's family, you know, Owen's family, and I think people would kind of get

Starting point is 00:16:59 a feel for some stuff if there was anything going on. But what happens then is, and Trent, you've probably seen some of this, it's people going after Brock and Owen because they think that they've just quote unquote quit on the team. I thought Harding played his you know what off the other night, Tom. Yeah, and coming off the bench. He did. He did. And he accepted a different role. He came in there, played hard, played tough. But you would be shocked to see some of the garbage

Starting point is 00:17:28 that he's had to put up with because his name got linked in this, that he was quitting on his team. It's unfortunate. And that's, well, I enjoy Trulia Donovan's stuff and think it's interesting. I think sometimes maybe he needs to also look at that sort of perspective too, that he might be causing some problems for some young people

Starting point is 00:17:56 in the age that we live in. You know, and speaking to the age that we live in, if indeed Owen Freeman is, if there are offers coming through his agent because that's the way we have at this point. I'll say this guy, he had offers last year. Right. He had significant offers last year. And they'll be there again and if he's not going to play in the NBA and I don't think he's going to. I'm not saying he's going to get Hunter Dickinson type money but there's probably $750,000 right? A year for him for his last couple

Starting point is 00:18:26 of years. Why not take the money? It's there for you at this point, right? Why not take it? If that means you have to leave, so be it. Nobody should blame anybody for taking a business opportunity. They really shouldn't. I mean, it's just, all of us would do the same thing without a doubt in the same spot You know, we've all left Left jobs for better paying gigs in our lives and didn't always work out It didn't know that is always work out and sometimes the checks don't always cash later But the guy work with gets thrown in jail, but anyways The founder of everyone. No. Oh, oh, oh, different guy, different guy.

Starting point is 00:19:10 OK, OK. Hey, Tom, speaking of basketball last night, this women's basketball team, that was impressive after the delays getting up to Minneapolis. All the headaches, they come out. So what happened to the plane? Was there had to be a plane? Yeah. Anical problems? No, it was deicing three different times on Wednesday Then they said no, we can't fly so then even Thursday morning It took a while to get there finally get there about 1230 yesterday. They come out on fire for three-pointers in the first quarter

Starting point is 00:19:35 They're ready to go then a comeback by the Gophers and they had a response That was a really nice win last night time that was because that's a game that a couple weeks ago, they were losing. Yep. They lost several. They lost a couple of games just like that. The Oregon game was one that comes to mind where they came out completely on fire and then just just went flat. I think they figured a few things out now is it going to mean that they're going to go on a run to the final four? I'm not saying that at all, but I think moving Hannah to the five is kind of, everybody's kind of figuring out a role now. And I think

Starting point is 00:20:19 playing Cedar Folter at the four has been a real stroke of genius. I mean, she is just rebounding her butt off right now. I mean, she's 14 rebounds last night and at 13 points, hit some threes, big critical three, Taylor McCabe, huge three. And they made their free throws and then the stretch. Yeah, because they weren't early. Yeah, but late they were making them. And that's been the bugaboo with them. I think it was the Nebraska game maybe where they were just brick and free throws late.

Starting point is 00:20:53 Um, they're so they're correcting some of the things that were ailing them and hitting some big shots. So big game coming up next for them against Nebraska. And that's, because Nebraska is on the bubble. I was just looking at the Charlie Cream from ESPN as his like bracketology thing up. He has 12 teams from the Big Ten and the Big Ten in the NCAA tournament.

Starting point is 00:21:20 But there's a bunch of them that are sitting right around eight, nine, 10. I think there's like five or sixteen Including Iowa that are like on the eight nine ten eleven seed lines That is Tom cake it from Hawkeye report calm Today's episode is brought to you by fan dualuel Sportsbook. Super Bowl 59 is here. One game, two teams, endless possibilities. And there's no better way to make every play more exciting than with FanDuel Sportsbook. Whether it's predicting the first touchdown, calling the

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Starting point is 00:22:35 bonus bets. That's FanDuel.com. Bet with FanDuel, official partner of Super Bowl 59. official partner of Super Bowl 59. Back with you one final time, Lockdown Hawkeyes. Thanks for being with us here as we talk all things Hawkeyes with you each and every day. That's what we do on the network and we got you covered on the Hawkeye front. So it is Iowa, Wisconsin coming up on Saturday,

Starting point is 00:23:01 a NBC matchup. Still incredibly odd with the new TV contracts that we have games on Saturday, a NBC matchup. Still incredibly odd with the new TV contracts that we have games on NBC, but here we are and we'll get used to it, right? I mentioned a little bit earlier, you heard me talking about, I don't like this matchup for Iowa. You talk about the loss of Owen Freeman and in a way Iowa was able to get out of it. Iowa played about as well as they can certainly offensively against a decent defensive team against Purdue and it wasn't good enough. They had a shot to tie the game a couple of times, a couple of looks at that one, a couple of opportunities and weren't able to do it, but Iowa played well and still came up short

Starting point is 00:23:40 against Purdue. I don't think the difference between Purdue and Wisconsin is that much this year, but it's also looking at the matchups in the way that it's dictated. Now we'll see. If Iowa comes out, and it's not even if they give up points in the game, it's just the effort that we're going to see on the defensive end. We heard from Riley Mulvey and Evan Bronze, and God bless both of those men. But when those are the two guys that are being trotted out before a matchup against Wisconsin, I think that says a lot about the way this season is going. If you would have told me back at the beginning of the season that we'd be getting ready for a

Starting point is 00:24:22 matchup this deep into the year, and the two guys that are gonna be on the dais on the podium talking to the media are Riley Mulvey and Ever Bronze, I'd probably tell you the season's going about the way that the season's going. This team is not very good, and the hope that maybe we had, I think it's been sapped out of us.

Starting point is 00:24:51 Now if Iowa comes out, you anticipate they got to be aggressive, right? On the defensive end, you're seeing Riley Mulvey actually hedging correctly. It was a thing of beauty. We're not talking about a ton here, but the back-to-back turnovers that he forced late in the first half, seeing a big with the ability and the know-how to actually hedge well on a screen to come out hard and then force the point guard back towards the half court line like you're supposed to. Oh, it's great. Are we gonna to see that again? We'll see. The wing players for Wisconsin give Iowa trouble. I don't inspect much. I mentioned that the game

Starting point is 00:25:35 opened up at Fandl. Iowa was a three and a half point underdog. As we sit here late on Friday evening, that thing has jumped up and now Iowa is a five and a half point underdog. So the Badger Steam is coming and that shouldn't come as a surprise. We'll talk about it after it goes final. We got you covered there. Monday, a monster matchup for the Iowa women as they keep building up this resume and building up the wins. Now four wins in a row after the road win against Minnesota. This time it's going to be more difficult heading over to Nebraska, but a little payback. Got to guard the three point line. We'll talk about that one coming up. That'll be a Monday evening affair. Got a little more wrestling coming up and it's that time of year, busy

Starting point is 00:26:18 time, baseball, softball. They're getting ready to get started as well. We'll get a little baseball coverage for you and give you a season preview for the players out on the diamond. This is a fun time of year and has a different feel with Iowa on the men's side more likely not going to be even a bubble team. That's frustrating. But potentially some changes, a roster that's going to look different, continue to hear from people from all kinds of different walks that Darren DeVries, if there is a change,

Starting point is 00:26:55 remains a number one at the top of the list. And the reality is he'd be willing to listen. Could Iowa come up with the finances? That's another question. But it's out there. And I've heard it from so many different places and so many people that I respect, so many people that would know. We'll see.

Starting point is 00:27:13 Can Iowa come up with the finances to make it happen? Fran McCaffrey to walk away, what is it going to be? Is it the full buyout? Is there some way that they can come to an agreement for Fran to walk away? As we see Mike Watson doing at Indiana, can something similar happen? Because it'll be a bad look. Look, if Iowa forces out Fran McCaffrey, nationally it's not going to be a great look. People don't understand the intricacies of the Iowa job and they see some of the successes but not realizing

Starting point is 00:27:46 those successes haven't been as high as the Hawkeye fan base wants. Things on a local level are always different than they are on a national level. You hope they can come to an agreement. It would be bad for the second time to let go of your all time winning as coach. You did it with Dr. Tom. Now you'd be doing it with Fray McCaffrey. It just overall in basketball circles would be a bad look. But though it's a conversation that we'll be having likely about a month for now. Iowa's got to get some wins if they're gonna even qualify for the Big Ten tournament. We'll see. I'm not confident. Prove me wrong, Hawks. Let's see if they can do just that.

Starting point is 00:28:26 Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We will talk to you after Iowa-Wisconsin wraps up and we'll be back with you next week, each and every day. That's what we do on the Lockdown Network. Thanks for being with us. Until then, go Hawks.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Hawkeyes' wrestling win + basketball preview: A double feature

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