Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Hoops prepares for Michigan State, A look towards Hawkeye football this fall

Episode Date: February 20, 2024

Trent Condon from Locked on Hawkeyes and Matt Sheehan from Locked on Spartans get together for a crossover edition of the show.First, a look at the upcoming football season and the teams collide in East Lansing in October. Some thoughts on the win totals that were released from Fan Duel.Then a break down of the up basketball game tonight between the Hawkeyes and Spartans.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IbottaRight now, Ibotta is offering our listeners $5 just for trying Ibotta by using the code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE when you register.LinkedInThese days every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. That’s why LinkedIn Jobs helps find the right people for your team, faster and for free. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/lockedoncollege. Terms and conditions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelNew customers, join today and you’ll getONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.eBay MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.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

Spartan friends, Spartan family, also Hawkeye Nation. That's right, we got a Locked On crossover here. Hey, what's up? It's your boy Matt Sheehan of Locked On Spartans over there. Trent Condon doing great work at Locked On Hawkeyes. Trent, got basketball to talk about later on today in segments 2 and 3. We'll start with football. But before any of that, Big Ten brethren, how are we doing? I should ask you how you're doing before we go. I'm doing great. In fact, in honor of Michigan State, one of, I don't know, one of my least despised Big Ten teams, I guess. I wore my green and gold. Now it's an old North Stars hat, but this is as close as I'm going to wear to anything Spartan related. I mean, we're not going to get crazy here, but I put on a little green for you today. That's not too bad, right?

No, I absolutely love it. I do appreciate that. There's a little bit of black in my hat, too, so we come in peace. Absolutely. And just like I told you before we started recording, won some money off of FanDuel thanks to your Hawkeyes over the weekend. So, yeah, I'm all about Iowa right now up until about 7 o'clock Eastern time on Tuesday. Then we'll be back to full-fledged Michigan State here. But, again, Trent, we're going to wait for Basketball Talks

segments two and three because what better time to talk this football season than late February? This it's tis the season. Cause over here, Trent, look, Michigan States, their line on fan duel for over under wins is five and a half. We're feeling good about that.

We're feeling six wins, seven wins. We feel really good about some games. We don't feel great about a few others, but there's one game that is no more coin tossy than all of the others. And that is when Iowa comes to Michigan state that could really define the season right there, whether it is going to be that sixth win, maybe even a seventh win. Does it feel like a coin tossy game to you right now, or how are you feeling about your off season down there in Iowa so far? You know, honestly, when kind of pulling

the fan base, if you will, and taking a look at it, I think that's one that a lot of Hawkeye fans are putting in the win column. Okay. Look at a new coaching staff coming in, our decrepit offense a year ago, still was able to beat Michigan State, even obviously the issues that you guys were going through a year ago. So people, I think, look at that one. Other road trips, that's one that you feel like. If I was going to have the season that a lot of people expect, you think, look at that one. Other road trips, that's one that you feel like. If I was going to have the season that a lot of people expect, you know, they're a preseason top 25 team for most everybody out there, 10 of 11 starters back defensively from one of the best defenses in the country.

Wow. And maybe a healthy Cade McNamara. Now, I know he's made out of glass, and that's a pretty big if there. You don't have an idiot son that is running the offense now. Hope that you can actually be competent on that side of the football. And the crazy thing is, you know, for the Spartan listeners that are out there right now, we're not asking for all of a sudden to have a top 25 offense or a top 40 offense or even a top 50 offense. Just be in the upper half of college football, be in the top 66 teams. If you can do that, they might build a statue in front of Kinnick Stadium

if you can do that. So that's what Tim Lester has. And, in fact, when we're talking football here, Michigan State, you guys watch a lot of MAAC football, as we do, but we don't have the same kind of connection. In fact, we probably, as a whole, watch more FCS-level Missouri Valley Conference football because of Northern Iowa, the Dakota schools,

what we have kind of around us here. Tim Lester, when that name gets brought up, when you hear that name looking at him, what he did at Western Michigan, does anything jump out, anything that you say? And maybe Iowa's got something here you say, oh, you guys are screwed over there. That's the thing. Like, when we faced Tim Lester and the Broncos, I just remember it being, eh, okay, that's fine.

But Trent, with that said, it doesn't have to be this dynamic offense for Iowa. I remember last year, we got on a round table discussion with other Locked On Big Ten hosts. And the question was, who's your sleeper for Big Ten champion? And I said, Iowa.

Because look, the defense is already there. It has been for decades. You just need the offense to just be somewhat okay to get yourself to Indy. And with all due respect, it wasn't't even okay it was still atrocious and that didn't even matter in the end it was still enough for you guys to get to indianapolis so yes tim lester like it's it's not necessarily early 2010s chip kelly that you guys brought on but dang it just like you said trent does it need to be this extraordinary offense to have you guys be a live team even on the road? Probably not. Even with Cade McNamara, who I know is made out of glass, but and completely different players here before I just directly compare the two.

Michael Penix was also made of glass most of his career, and he really turned it on late in his career, too. So I don't know. Yes, Tim Lester, I see it. It's like that's not anything to be scared of. But crap, they also play defense over there in Iowa career too. So I don't know. Yes, Tim Lester, when I see it, it's like, ah, that's not anything to be scared of. But crap, they also play defense over there in Iowa too. That's a good thing. Yeah. So your guys' perspective, new coaching staff, you know, I remember having this conversation with our guys over at Wisconsin a year ago, right? Yeah, right.

Oh, they're just going to hit the ground running. Everything's going to be great. That's very rarely the way that it happens here. I mean, growing pains, is that something that can be anticipated, that there's going to be some. That's very rarely the way that it happens here. I mean, growing pains, is that something that can be anticipated that there's going to be some growing pains here and you talk about the win total, but if they get off to a four and eight start this season, you know, it's not time to already start to throw the dirt on top of the grain if that happens there. So when you're looking at a rebuild and maybe more of a rebuild than people maybe hope for right away,

how realistic is that kind of look in the next season? Yeah, it's very realistic to go under the five and a half win total. I mean, heck, the five and a half win total has pretty much been our number the last two off seasons. We felt great about it. And Trent, we didn't get to five wins. So yeah, of course, it's always on the table. But this is what we can easily talk ourselves into being a little different about this rebuild

and others. So you are bringing in a quarterback that was already at Oregon State under Jonathan Smith a guy that is already familiar with the system you're bringing over one of their best interior offensive linemen in Tanner Miller in the transfer portal an interior offensive line that was an issue here now I know it's asking a lot for one player to make that big of a difference but you also kept a lot of players from going elsewhere in the portal guys like Ginoandenmark, just to throw a name out there. We got a nice FCS All-American in Luke Newman to also bolster the interior offensive line. So it's a combination of guys you kept from leaving to other schools in the transfer portal.

And it wasn't like downtrodden schools. Like there were some guys that had legitimate high power five offers that Jonathan Smith kept from coming back. You also have guys that he is known from Oregon State, the quarterback Aiden Childs, Tanner Miller, also the tight end that led the nation in tight end touchdown catches, Jack Velling. So it's just a nice combination of familiarity, guys that do have talent that can come back because if you ask a lot of State fans, myself included, Trent,

the team did have the talent to go at least 6-6 last year. It was just a complete ga gone show with the coaching staff, whether it was the guy that was here for five minutes last season before he got fired or the guy who took over. So yes, of course it will. I think it will be a slow rebuild. I'm saying six and six or seven to five.

I'm not saying 11 and one right off the gate, but there's reason to believe that it can be a nice little tax layer bowl for us here, Trent and year one under Jonathan Smith, which might as well be a Rose Bowl to these eyes for year one. So, yeah, that's our feeling. So speaking of those numbers over at FanDuel, so it was seven and a half for Iowa. It still is. It's heavily juiced now on the over.

That was shocking because, yes, they're not in the West anymore. And I'm sure probably a lot of Spartan fans probably think of the same thing. You guys playing that decrepit division. It was awful. No doubt about it. But here's, I was scheduled next year in the big 10. So they open up at Minnesota revenge from a year ago, the screw job with Cooper Sheen on the punt return. And outside of that game, Kirk Ferentz, his own PJ.J. Fleck. You go to Ohio State. Okay, tough. After that, this is what remains. You get Washington coming to Kinnick Stadium.

Washington team that doesn't return an offensive starter. You go to Sparty. Toss-up game. I would lean Iowa, but it's going to be a tight one. It's probably going to be a standard Iowa-Michigan State game. It'll be 16-13. And one side will win, and the other side will be crying after that one. You get Northwestern at home.

You get Wisconsin at home. Two teams you beat a year ago on the road. You go to UCLA. Completely new staff, completely new system out there. You go to Maryland, new quarterback, and then you finish up Black Friday against Nebraska at home. That's not a daunting schedule. I don't hate that. They're not going into Columbus.

Okay. Outside of that, realistically, Iowa's probably going to be favored in all eight Big Ten games. At least if summer lines come out for every single one of them, they're going to be favored or at least a toss-up within a field goal in every single one of those games. It's not crazy that I was back in Indianapolis again this year. Again, just with a little competency on the offensive side of the football. That's all that it takes. Easier said than done.

No kidding. I thought I liked Michigan State's schedule over here because, look, we've been calling it a sandwich over here. The first four games, fine. Second four, okay, no thanks. And then the last four are very easy. So, like, look, just to go through it really quick, we want to encourage Iowa bettors to also make financial decisions here.

Yes, absolutely. First four games, Florida Atlantic at Maryland, Prairie View A&M, if you ever heard of that school before, and then at Boston College. Okay, that's manageable. That's your first slice of bread. Now the meat of the schedule, home against Ohio State at Oregon, and then, of course, you guys come to town, and then at Michigan. Okay, that could be a little tough.

If we can get away with one and three in that stretch, fine. Fine. Like, I will sign that dotted line no matter who that win is against. And then you end with three of the last four games at home, home against Indiana at Illinois, home versus Purdue, home versus Rutgers. So I like what I hear. That's good. It's manageable.

It's not too shabby. So like, look, we're just two idiot podcasters, right? We don't know much about anything, but hey, let us become financial advisors for you right now in this moment, because I got to say, look, we're just two idiot podcasters, right? We don't know much about anything. But, hey, let us become financial advisors for you right now in this moment because I got to say, man, come soon after Iowa. This is looking quite nice. Now, hey, a lot of this for either of us could hinge on what happens in that October game at Spartan Stadium between the Hawkeyes and Spartans.

But, Trent, I got a feeling we're going to talk about that game as it gets a little closer because this offseason is at mile number five of 26 in this marathon. We have another transfer portal window. We have spring practice. We have the offseason, so we'll get to it later on, but should we talk shooty hoops here a little bit? Should we talk about this basketball game? Let's do it, man. But first, hey, speaking of FanDuel, we got to talk your ear off about America's number one sportsbook. Of course, we're talking about FanDuel. If you like the line that we off about America's number one sportsbook. Of course, we're talking about FanDuel. If you like the line that we have for Michigan State over here at 5.5 wins,

if you like what's going on over at Iowa with 7.5 wins, we'll put your money where your mouth is. Over at FanDuel, like I said, gang, America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers, it gets even sweeter for you out there. You get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's right. That is 150 bucks if your team wins. How hard can that be?

Bet on all your favorite NBA players and teams with quick bets, live same-game parlays, exclusive props, and so much more, including a whole lot of college football win totals and futures. Just visit Fanduel.com slash lockdown and shoot your shot. It's Fanduel, official sportsbook partner of the NBA. Now, Trent, over on the Peacock, where I'm sure millions upon millions of viewers will be watching this game, certainly not just diehard Michigan State and Iowa fans, it's going to be Spartans versus Hawkeyes.

Right now, the computers have it at 10-point favorites for Michigan State. The FanDuel line at the time of recording, it's not out yet. I imagine it's going to be somewhere in that neighborhood. Oh, it's out. It's out. That's a diligent podcaster over there, folks. Right there. Well, as you were talking about FanDuel, I've got to have the app open, as always.

Oh, wow. What is it then? Okay, hit me. Opening number, 9.5, evenly juiced on both sides. The over-under, 153.5. Sounds right. If you want to jump in with a Hawkeye Moneyline bet, you'll get plus 350. I tell you not to waste your money on that one. There you go.

We have seen this song and dance plenty of times in East Lansing. So, you know, overall, I know my perspective when you look at this game, it is even when I was had really good teams and there's been a couple of instances, but it's so rare and early memories of going up there right as the Breslin Center was opening back in the early 90s. And it was the first game back for Iowa after Chris Street had passed. And after they had 10 days off, that was the first game there. I was down double digits. I mean, just they were sleepwalking through the whole game and then came roaring back in the final three minutes and eventually won it in overtime. One of the more incredible games.

And a lot of people remember when I would then their first game at Carver played the Fab Five and beat them on Super Bowl Sunday on CBS and the huge build up there. But I think some people forget, well, until a couple of years ago, that was the last time I would won in East Lansing. So it has been a house of whores. But it's not just losing games there. They have got demolished. I mean, there's been good Iowa teams against even some okay Michigan State teams and just get obliterated.

And that's why it's very – just on the surface level, it's hard to even try to talk yourself as a Hawkeye fan into this one because there's been so many times you've talked yourself into it and then you get beat by 26. So is it the same status quo too not just with Iowa coming to Michigan State but I mean is it the same thing with Iowa's like hey you guys have this incredible offense the defense needs a lot of work because that's kind of been the theme with Iowa under Fran McCaffrey is that a lazy take or is that once again like kind of what's happening this year with you guys? Yeah, it's, it's nothing has changed.

And you know, the, the crazy thing is now our program's not at the same stature as you guys, there's no national championships. We haven't been no final four since 1980, but we've been overall a pretty solid, consistent winner. No doubt. You know, after all for left and, and that was okay. Cause I, everybody was ready for him to leave coming on the heels of Dr. Tom Davis and what he had done. But Iowa has made the NCAA tournament,

and yes, I count 2020, because they would have been a tournament team that year, five straight years. Dr. Tom didn't do that. Alford never did that. Licklider never even made it there. Lou Dolson never made five consecutive NCAA tournaments back in the 70s and 80s.

So he's got the program there, but he's also never made it to the second weekend, And that's the knock. And that's where the negativity. And when you talk Iowa men's basketball, a lot of people just roll their eyes. All right, well, they're going to score. They're going to give up a lot. And even if they make the tournament, they're not even going to get to a sweet 16. And it's, it's a very similar this season, though. They're not quite as good. The big 10 is down and, and I was down a little bit this season on top of it. It's the same song and dance. And, you know, there were times during November, December, Hey, you know, you see a couple of things defensively. Hey, maybe they're

a little bit better here. And they're, they're hedging a little Owen Freeman, you know, hedging better because he's actually a smart defensive player. And then you see the other things. I got these numbers for you. I'm going back a month, basically. Going back, yeah, exactly a month. Going back to the 20th of January. Iowa, going into that one, was 112th in defensive efficiency in the country. Not great, but for Iowa standards and the way they play offensively, that's palpable. You can be okay and probably be a tournament team, and they have been. Since, though, they have been 253rd in defensive efficiency in the country.

253. That is not sustainable, and that's the reason that you blow leads against Indiana and Penn State and Maryland twice and lose a game against Michigan you never should have lost at home. That's why those losses are there. In fact, if you flip those games, and they had big leads in each one of those games, even three of the four, we're talking about Iowa's NCAA tournament team. But the defense has gone from bad to worse here over the last month. Does the Wisconsin game over the weekend give you any optimism?

Because I was able to sit down and actually watch that whole game, which is very rare in my father of two days that I get to watch a whole game that isn't Michigan State. Obviously, I watch every single second of the Spartans here. But I say, like, sure, Wisconsin is trending downwards. There's no secret about that. But I feel like the story of that game was that you guys survived an early Wisconsin

onslaught offensively. You guys really, you know, bit the floor, gritted your teeth, every cliche throughout there and just looked good doing it. So with that game very recently, is there any optimism going into this one whatsoever? Or is it like, ah, I've seen it before. I'm not going to fall for it this time sort of thing. If you're kind of feigning that, I mean, because the hope is if Iowa has any shot of even getting back towards the bubble, come the Big Ten tournament. Down the stretch here, they got to win three of five and probably four out of five.

And when you look at the schedule, they get Illinois twice. They go to Northwestern. We know how good the Wildcats have been at home this year. Penn State at home, that's the winnable one. And then this game against Sparty. So you say, all right, beat Penn State at home. Senior day against Illinois. Maybe we pull off an upset in Carver in that one. And of the remaining road games at Illinois, at Michigan State, and at Northwestern, I think this is the most gettable. That's not to say that I think they're going to because I don't. I think this is going to be a bludgeoning again.

But when you're kind of painting it that way, you've got to find some wins. You've got to find at least a road win here down the stretch. This is probably the most realistic of them. What a week for Iowa. Going to Michigan State and Illinois, two places they played historically just terrible in and that's what they have this week.

Though there's just that glimmer of hope, Bart Torvik over at his efficiency site has Iowa with a 3.2% chance of making the tournament. It'll be down to probably 0.1 after this week losing to Michigan State and Illinois on the road. Look at that. Another Bart Torvik disciple over there. Yes, yes, yes.

If there's a Bart Torvik drinking game here on Locked on Spartans, every single one of my listeners is leaving, stumbling away from whatever chair they're watching. Same on the Hawkeye side, yeah. See, that's what I'm talking about. Great from whatever chair they're watching. Think about the Hawkeyes idea. See, that's what I'm talking about. Great website over there. Last question I have about your Hawkeyes,

because look, we know the familiar guys. Like we know Peyton Sanford. He's going to drill a couple threes. Like that guy is a maven at shooting the basketball. Tony Perkins, he's been here since those Alford days, I feel like. He's been in Iowa forever. So we know those guys. It's the new guy, the freshman

six foot 10, Owen Freeman, who had a great game against Wisconsin, had some very nice games freshman year. That scares me because, oh boy, if there's a hole on Michigan state, it is that front court. So should I be scared of Owen Freeman or was that a kind of like, just like a one-off? Hey, he just likes to do that every once in a while against Wisconsin performance? No, he's a stud. He's an absolute stud. And Owen Freeman, the one thing that is, the only thing that's been able to slow him down this year is foul trouble. That's it. As a freshman, you can certainly understand that. So he plays inside with Ben Kricke. He's a grad transfer from Valpo. Kricke is awful defensively, an even worse rebounder.

But he can score. And though his shooting has kind of gone awry here lately, really good mid-range game. I mean, as beautiful of a 15 foot kind of pull-up game as any big guy that you're going to find, but he's on the negative end defensively. What does that mean? That means Owen Freeman has to guard the best post player on the other team. And because of that, he's gotten foul trouble. But when he is out there, he is an absolute stud. And the crazy thing is he just today or yesterday, excuse me, on Monday, won his ninth Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor.

Second most ever, Jared Sullinger has the most ever. I think he won 11 or 12 during his freshman campaign. And Frank McCaffrey has a hard and fast rule. And it drives me absolutely crazy. But he is one of the coaches. And I'm sure you've seen plenty of these. You get two fouls in the first half. Yes.

It's an automatic. And there is no wiggle room year after year. The numbers, they track them on Ken Palm. And every year, Iowa two foul participation is at the lowest in the country because it doesn't matter if you're going to go from, oh man, he's in foul trouble. We're down six, but we got no. Rand will not do it, and you will see that.

If he, anybody, picks up two fouls. It could be a guard that never fouls again, and it drives me crazy because you're fouling out your best players. You do this, and I've argued about it now for 14 years, and nothing has changed. I don't think anything's going to be changing on that front, but that's one thing to keep an eye on. If Freeman's out there, he is a stud,

and he hasn't developed an outside shot yet. That's going to come, but he is nifty around the basket. He's got sneaky athleticism. He's more athletic than you can think. Good defender. Had four blocks in the game. Had a couple of steals. Even had six assists against Wisconsin. He can do a little bit of everything. He's an absolute stud. So Owen Freeman, he is definitely the guy to spotlight on the Iowa side. There's always like one guy, at least that like, I just lose sleep on the night before a game and I'm glad it's going to be Owen Freeman. Good for, good for him. Just keeping this grown man over

here in Michigan up at night, staring at the ceiling, like a normal person. So we're going to go the other way. I'm going to ask you a little bit about this Sparty team. I'll see if I can find another path. We got about Freeman. All right. We got a little excited about that one. I'm going to see if I can come up with any plausible scenario here that this thing isn't a blowout. We'll do that as we continue on the Lockdown Hawkeyes and Lockdown Spartans crossover edition. When you're

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and quicker. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockdown college. Once again, that's linkedin.com slash lockdown college to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. All right, Matt, let's do it. Let's go Sparty side. Now every single year, I'm heavily invested in your Spartans. I got a couple of tickets right now. One at, I think, 22 to one to make the final four. What else do I have? A couple of other ones. I also about three weeks ago, invested myself heavily in the South Carolina women. So what I did is I tied a bunch of things together with them. They're my key. Like if you're a horse racing guy, you got your key, right?

So South Carolina women are my key. I got them with the Chiefs and Michigan State to make the Final Four. Chiefs already won the Super Bowl. South Carolina wins the women. Michigan State gets there. That's better than 80 to 1 on my $10 bet. Pretty good. I got another one with South Carolina women, the Chiefs that already won,

and UConn to win the national championship. So I've been playing around with that a little bit. But Sparty has been part of my future portfolio. And simplest question, am I crazy? No, but I might be, you know, just because I'm just going full-bore and agreeing with that. Look, it's been a up-and-down season. There have been a lot of downs early on, especially when you enter the season as a preseason top-five team, veteran team. Great recruiting class.

There are so many reasons to feel good about Michigan State. And then, oh, my God, we are in late December. And if we lose against Baylor, we are definitely on the wrong side of the bubble here. Now, things have gotten drastically better. And is it frustrating that it is another year that we are going into February out of the Big Ten title chase? Of course it is. But this is the mental switch I've already done.

Not every state fan is like this. There are some that are very still upset with how the season has been going so far. But I have already come to terms with, okay, the Big Ten, it's not going to be for us this year. That sucks. But you know what? Hey, hey, March Big Ten, it's not going to be for us this year. That sucks. But you know what? Hey, hey, March is still on the calendar, baby. That's right.

We still got Mr. March Tom Izzo himself over here. And, yeah, I'm one of those people that still fall in love with that mystique. Now, of course, we can back it up with this fact that Michigan State has won eight of their last ten. The two losses have come on the road. And, yes, I get very upset after those road games because quite frankly, should they have lost both of those? No, I don't think so. But then I come to reality.

I put my rational hat on. And then I realized like it has been historically a tough season for teams on the road, whether they're inside the top 10, going to unranked road games, like it is blood out there. So when I realized that, I feel a little better about those two losses. So with the guys that we have really turning the gears on, Malik Hall has played his best basketball of his 17-year career at Michigan State.

Like he has done fantastic here in the last month. A.J. Hogard, up and down, but certainly playing better than as of late. Jaden Akins, a late come on to his year, but that's just what he does. He's been really turning the gears on for him. Tyson Walker, never have to worry about him. So that's our four-headed horse right there. And things are looking okay as we are progressing into the season.

Now, again, I pointed out the two losses. We can also look at these eight wins, too, and say, well, it's not the stiffest off competition. You have one quad, one win or two, depending on where Maryland slides in. But nevertheless, things are starting to look like that team that we saw. Is it preseason top five? Maybe not quite there, but it is a team that, hey, however many years going straight,

the national champ is top 35 offensive and defensive efficiency. Michigan State is one of those 12 teams in the country right now that can boast that. going straight. The national champ is top 35 offensive and defensive efficiency. Michigan State is one of those 12 teams in the country right now that can boast that. So are we drinking the green Kool-Aid over here, Trent? I don't think so. Yeah, we are. And when I watched Michigan State a lot earlier this year, and honestly, when we've got deeper into the Big Ten season, just run out of time. I mean, I'm watching a lot more women's basketball than I ever have before. Understandable. Yes. Wrestling's always big here. So I have not seen nearly as much as Sparty as I did back earlier this season. But one thing at that time, it was Tyson Walker. And then it felt like not just Tyson Walker's playing great. Everybody else was playing terribly. Now,

Parker's a guy that has, I don't think he's ever had a good game against Iowa. I mean, even when you guys have blown us out, he's a guy that has, I don't think he's ever had a good game against Iowa. I mean, even when you guys have blown us out. He's a guy where I watch him against anybody but Iowa. He's great. And I don't know if Ray McCaffrey's doing voodoo tricks on him or what's going on over there. But he's never had a good game. So he's due for one, but he busts out. So it's been that the supporting cast, I guess, after Walker, they're stepping forward.

Is that fair to say? And why I think we should think Michigan State's pretty dangerous going forward. Yeah, completely. I think so. And Jaden Akins, look, the last game against Michigan, this is a bad example to use, but in recent memory, the recent stretch, he has been on fire from beyond three-point land. He blitzed Illinois in the first half. He blitzed Penn State in the first half too. So his three-point shot really coming along strong. And Malik Hall, again, has just been playing the best that we've seen an MSU post player play in recent memory, like going on a few years, not just this season.

So he's been doing really well. You have Cohen Carr, the freshman, that's really coming along. He's still in the Tom Izzo State pen where, like, he is just jailed to only play single-digit minutes every single game. Is that like the Chris Rucker pen where you get out and you get to play the game still? I don't forget. You Iowa people don't forget that whatsoever. But no, Chris L. Rucker played substantially more in that game than Cohen Carr has ever.

But no, it's so weird because he played his best half of his career against Michigan. Eight points. Very active, stealing the ball, great in transition. And then he didn't play at all in the second half. So, you want to get state fans going? Talk about Cohen Carr's minutes. Talk about Xavier Booker's minutes. But, like, nevertheless, outside of Tyson Walker,

yes, it is other guys starting to pick up the slack because, like, you talk about those early season games where Trent, or Trent, where Tyson Walker is lighting up the place. More times than not, they still end up with losses, but these days are not because, hey, someone's helping him. Thanks, guys. It's about time.

Right. What a bad team. Doesn't always work. One final thing. So you mentioned eight out of the last ten. I watched a lot of the loss to Minnesota, and Eddie can see that one coming. It was a spot. It was a big one for Minnesota as they're trying to get themselves at least on the bubble

consideration. I don't think they're going to get there. But the Big Ten's bad this year. I mean, you watched a lot of hoops. I've watched a lot of basketball in the Big Ten. It is a bad conference this year. There's no two ways about it. That's fine.

But does that concern you at all? Once we get into the big bracket, we get into March that you're just not. Yeah, you played non-conference games with her a million years ago that this conference is almost it could turn into fool's gold, if you will, by the time we get into March that you're just not, yeah, you played non-conference games with her a million years ago that this conference is almost, it could turn into fool's gold, if you will, by the time we get into March. How could it not at this point? I know to throw a bucket of cold water on this after just talking so highly of Michigan State, but yeah, kind of because it is a thing year in and year out. Now, the one thing that you could also put in the equation too, is that in this day and age of the transfer portal, there is so much parody across college basketball. And it was interesting. I was watching a game last week.

It was Ole Miss versus, I forgot who it was against, which kind of just talks about this yesterday with someone else, too. And I didn't even think to look up, hey, what game did I just watch? Anyway, the announcers were talking that the parody across college basketball has never been better. You could see that with the road game records for ranked teams. college basketball has never been better. You can see that with the road game records for ranked teams. But in the days of yore, parity just used to be a word thrown around by college coaches that were just upset they lost. And but hey, they can just hide it behind that.

It's actually legitimate this year, though. So yes, the Big Ten is down. But maybe when you get into March Madness, like it's actually more levels than we all think it is, whether you do jump to a Big East team, an SEC team, or what have you. So it's bad. But if there is one Big Ten team that does rise above it all when the tournament does start, it is Michigan State traditionally. So maybe we can throw the feather in that cap too moving forward.

But, yeah, it has been a lousy year for the Big Ten. Like, it's fun that Nebraska's cool. You know, they might get a double bind in the Big Ten tournament. It's fun at Northwestern Spicy. But, like, at the same time, it's like, does that say a lot know, they might get a double bind to big 10 tournament. It's fun. It was Western spicy, but like at the same time, it's like, does that say a lot about our conference that Northwestern and Nebraska are like two of the four torch bears.

So this conference here, I don't know. It's, uh, it's weird. Well, last year we almost got you guys up there and then had the epic comeback that,

the big 10 network chronicled, uh, here a few weeks back in the 28 hours or whatever it was inside. I'm still not okay from that. Just re-watching that thing as I have multiple times. It's still incredible. I don't think I was going to play well.

I think this is going to be yet another repeat. Owen Freeman will probably get in foul trouble. I'll be yelling. I will open up the podcast then on Wednesday talking just about that in the InstaReaction podcast and that's where it'll go yelling. I'm going to open up the podcast then on Wednesday, talking just about that and the Easter reaction podcast. And that's what it'll go. So I got Sparty winning this one. 83 66. This is another blowout here and Michigan state cruises. What do you think we're going to see?

Give me 77 to 68, just sliding right there. So right in the half. Yeah. Look, obviously a big spread. I think Iowa just gets under there just because, look, I am scared of Sanford, too. I know we didn't talk a lot about him, but, like, that guy can shoot the limiting daylights out of the ball. So, hey, I hope it's a comfortable victory. I don't like drama at all. So let's hope it's one of these traditional Michigan State big wins here against Iowa at home. Let's try. Yeah.

Let's give it a try. Well, folks, there we give it a try. Well, folks, there we have it. Hey, Trent, he's going to be back tomorrow. I'm going to be back tomorrow over here at lockdown.

The Spartans, you guys are all truly the best, whether you're Hawkeye fans, Spartan fans, hope you guys have a great rest of your day and rest of your week. Love you all. Go green.