Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa PUNCHES it's ticket to the BIG TEN TOURNAMENT - Hawkeye wrestlers DISAPPOINT at Big Tens

Starting point is 00:00:00 In a season of frustrating lows, the Iowa men's basketball team finishes on a high and wins against Nebraska. Let's talk about some positives today. Locked On Hawkeye. You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, welcome in, I'm Trent Condon and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:30 Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you find podcasts. You can also watch us on YouTube. While you're there, hit the subscribe button, helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode of Locked On Hawkeyes is brought to you by FanDuel.

Starting point is 00:00:46 Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Let's get into it and get into an Iowa win. We're going to break down the weekend that was in Hawkeye athletics, talk about what happened with the baseball team over the weekend as they get a Big Ten Conference Series victory, Big wrestling happening this weekend we will get into that one final peek back we talked a little bit on a rapid reaction podcast with the Iowa Ohio State women's basketball game. And the quarter final loss for the women's team will touch on that a little bit as we recap the weekend but we start with how it finished That was with the men's basketball team getting the win against

Starting point is 00:01:26 Nebraska. So we do coming into this one. It was a win and in scenario. Iowa had to win this game against the Huskers in order to punch their ticket into the Big 10 tournament. And frankly, it was a pretty daunting task. Now we've seen this team throughout the back half of the year and what they have been a team that can play well for a half a team that can play well for 30 minutes sometimes in a game. But putting together a full 40 minutes has been something that just has not happened. There are too many leaks in this squad. There's too many issues with them.

Starting point is 00:01:57 Offensively, they have to rely on so much on Josh Dix on Peyton Sanford. And if those two guys aren't going there's not many chances that they're going to be able to win basketball games and you go back and see against Michigan State what happens as they get run off the out of the gym in the second half of that game and give up sixty one points against Northwestern a game where offensively it just wasn't there Illinois played really well for a half of that one and on and on and on you go back to the Maryland game That was a game against a great Maryland team. They led it to half. They got peaked by 26. These are some of the conversations we've had with this squad.

Starting point is 00:02:33 And you know, since Owen Freeman stopped playing and decided that he was going to undergo the finger surgery, since that happened, the thing that I love about this squad is they haven't quit. This is not a team, and we've seen plenty of examples of teams that quit. Sometimes you use the term run out of gas, things like that. And I've used that with this term because this team has not quit. But they've gotten beat. They played poorly at times, but it wasn't because the will wasn't there. It wasn't because they tucked their tail between their legs and they're running off to the corner.

Starting point is 00:03:07 That's not what this squad was throughout the course of this difficult stretch to end the season. And you have to commend this group for that. But Peyton Sanford, obviously his senior year has not gone as he anticipated. We talked about coming into the season. I believe that there was enough on this team that they were going to be an NCAA tournament team. I looked at the emergence of Owen

Starting point is 00:03:29 Freeman, the Big Ten freshman of the year from a year ago, what anticipated he was going to be. And we didn't see that huge step forward before he shut things down. The new pieces that came in, say to you, Traore, maybe the expectations were too high. He had to sit out a number of games, never really got his feet underneath them. We saw some good stories, Evan Bronze being one of them, but I think enough of the other guys, especially that sophomore class, maybe didn't take the step forward that we anticipated this year. And one of the reasons for it, you couple that obviously with Peyton Samford being banged up throughout the course of the season. He finishes the regular season shooting 32.6% from behind the three point arc. And that's just that's not what you're anticipating this season for Peyton Samford. And we know he has been incredibly streaky throughout his career. And you go back to a couple years ago, he had that long, long streak where he made like one out of 25, three point or something like that in Big Ten play.

Starting point is 00:04:25 It was something ridiculous. And then he caught fire and he was outstanding. And that's just what you get with Peyton Sanford. The tough shots that he takes, not an uber athlete, he's not going to jump out of the gym and be able to elevate over people. He's a will guy, not always a skill guy. But that shooting stroke, it's just surprising.

Starting point is 00:04:44 His final go around shooting 32.6% from three point range. Josh Dix, tremendous again. An outstanding season, efficient. You just want more from him. And we didn't get probably the more that we maybe thought we could have got out of him this year. But it's not about that. For right now, let's narrow our scope and just talk about what a fun afternoon it was over

Starting point is 00:05:12 in Lincoln, walking into Pinnacle Bank, not an easy place to win. I was had plenty of struggles historically in that building too. Good Iowa teams, some very good Iowa teams have struggled over there against Nebraska teams that probably weren't even as good as this one. And Bryce Williams going through at the final time, and Juwan Gary, and guys that have won a lot of games for Nebraska and did a lot of good things. And Iowa was able to go in there after getting down six, what was it, 18-12. They get a run. Yeah, 18-12. 11-0 run. And then after some back and forth, just take control of the game. It was an outstanding effort, but more than the effort, because effort's been there. It was some of the small things that you're seeing. So Nebraska made the decision that they were going to be hedging hard, they were going to double team the ball handler,

Starting point is 00:06:08 coming off screen and roll action out of the motion. And what that led to was the ball movement. And a couple of times in a row, Price-Amford got snuck back into the corner, hit a couple of threes there. This is the part. And if this is it, if whatever happens to the Big Ten tournament is it for Fray McCaffrey, these are the things you're going to miss. This team

Starting point is 00:06:31 is so elite offensively. And the likelihood that we're going to see an offensive team at Iowa be this good with kind of the parts that they have, it's not not likely I was gonna have to go a different way and it's just it's a thing of beauty it really is that that motion offensive Fran has and he implements it and they practice it a ton you can see I mean it pays off on that end of the floor but just tremendous really just a tremendous tremendous end of things and getting that victory not even having to worry about it right the last couple of minutes it's just pull it away

Starting point is 00:07:07 you're putting them away got it to eight at one point with a couple minutes left and I would just made their free throws did what they needed to down the stretch and coast to the victory to walk into that building to be Fred Hoiberg to beat Nebraska place that hasn't been fun. This is good. This is a good memory. I get it. It doesn't change things overall. It doesn't change the trajectory of Iowa basketball. It doesn't change the future of what's going to happen with this program. It shouldn't make a difference one way or the other of what Beth gets.

Starting point is 00:07:43 The Iowa Athletic Director is ultimately going to decide. You don't let 40 minutes of basketball dictate what's going to happen going forward. You just can't. You have to look at the totality of the situation. Mention Price Sanford, great game from him. And I can't have him bronze comes up. He's what made 16 of his last 17 shots, I think it is. Him controlling things out front, just being a menace, being a pest, a great athlete, great pass inside. He just, boy, looking back, what could have been? A little more minutes, fewer minutes.

Starting point is 00:08:23 Was this a miss? I continue to think it was. Maybe we're seeing the absolute apex. And one other thing we do have to remember, this happens with a lot of players. A lot of players much different than Evan Braun's. However, you see these guys in their final few games as a senior in college sports, and certainly in college basketball. And that light

Starting point is 00:08:46 bulb comes on and the reality that this is it. There's no more. It's coming to a close and you're going to leave everything out there and you're going to take all the tricks and the skills of the trade that you learn throughout the years and it all comes together. Now I think of Matt Gatens in Fran's first year and coming down the stretch and how well he was playing. Just hitting some ridiculous shots against Wisconsin and another game against maybe Indiana. He was outstanding that year down the stretch. Aaron White, you know, in that narrative of the Fran fade at the end of seasons was really high and felt really truthful at that time. And he was not going to allow that to happen.

Starting point is 00:09:27 And you're seeing this to a different scale with Evan Bronze, playing the best basketball of his career, even when he's playing at Belmont. This is the best basketball that Evan Bronze has played. And that's really great to see. It was a fun one. And in a disappointing year, we're allowed to have fun. We're allowed to cheer. I told you guys a story. I was over at Carver on Thursday with my five-year-old and Jack watching the game with him today, getting those smiles back after the frustrations of the last 12 minutes of regulation on Thursday night, getting the happiness, getting to sing in heaven, there is no beer afterwards. Those are the good moments. So let's enjoy these. Knowing that it doesn't change what is happening with the program. It's not going to change the way

Starting point is 00:10:10 that we talk about them going forward. It's not going to change obviously the way that the program looks. But enjoy it. And we're going to enjoy this one. And I think it's going to go a fun direction. At least we get a couple more days, right? A couple more days to get this thing figured out, to talk about it a little bit more. That is not a bad thing. So the bracket is set for the Big Ten Tournament. And with it set, Iowa will play on Wednesday,

Starting point is 00:10:39 the opening round, and they will play against Ohio State. We'll talk about this a little bit more on Tuesday's program, getting ready for the game. So you're looking at, let's see, about a five o'clock tip off is the estimated tip off time for that one. Now if Iowa can beat Ohio State, another one where they played well for a while in Columbus,

Starting point is 00:11:00 then it's Illinois. Stop me if you've heard this before. A game that they played pretty well for a half. And then after that they play Maryland. Who? Yes. They played pretty well for a half. Are they going to be able to put it all together?

Starting point is 00:11:18 No. Is there a deep run in this team? No. Probably not. But for a couple of days we can dream, we can have some fun, and we can think about those good moments that we've had throughout the course of the season. And this one definitely was one of those good ones. Final thing, seeing all the teammates out there, Peyton Sanford in the post game on the floor doing the interview, that was really cool.

Starting point is 00:11:46 on the floor, doing the interview. That was really cool. This has been a trying season, obviously. But to see the teammates and it goes back to the can't, the won't, those kind of things that we talked about at the top and how this team didn't quit. It's got to be tough. We heard the stories earlier in the week about the death threats that were levied on Peyton Samford. Just disgusting nature of things like that. Another good moment and good to have those. We need those certainly from time to time. We continue here locked on Hawkeyes. So what is next? Well, we talked about that. But the weekend, it wasn't just about basketball. We got to talk about wrestling. And I want to talk about the Big 10s. Watching the Big 10 wrestling tournament and the frustrations that continue to build with this wrestling program. We go back to setting the scene,

Starting point is 00:12:39 understanding that Penn State's at a different level. But finishing at third, that's tough. Fashion and the style, it didn't feel like all Iowa wrestling, at least the way that I remember it. We'll talk about that as we continue Locked on Hawkeyes. Today's episode is brought to you by Supply House. Get the supplies you need from the site made for the skilled trades. It's Supply House. Whether you're into plumbing, HVAC, or electrical work, Supply House is the reliable way to order products online. Their easy to use website is packed with helpful resources and the latest product info to help you get the job done right. Plus, with a complete inventory of over 200,000 parts from 400 top brands, you'll find exactly what you need delivered fast from coast

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Starting point is 00:15:45 against Nebraska. We talked again, if you missed it, you can go back over the weekend and find the podcast we did after I was lost to Ohio State in the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament. Want to talk about them coming up here in just a little bit, but we turn our attention next to the wrestling program and what can only be described as another disappointing effort in the Big big tens. And what I was trying to look at things optimistically and trying to paint, I guess, a rosier picture. Looking for the positives and yes, yes, during every day or yes, I can do that. I try to do that, at least from time to time. And for what we saw at the end of the regular season from Iowa,

Starting point is 00:16:23 after the loss to Penn State, push that to the side. Penn State is ridiculous. This might be the best team ever. All the superlatives that we've thrown out with the Nittany Lions, leave them to the side. We come to the Big 10s. Iowa wrestling well. What they did in the final couple of duels of the year, what they did against Oklahoma State to wrap things up. They brought positive momentum in and we'd seen so many times just leading into the Big Ten here recently, over the last three years, four years now I guess, where you could just tell that it was a program, a group that overall, not everybody, but there were guys that did seem tired.

Starting point is 00:17:05 And it did feel different. It did look different that this group did have a little bit of extra juice until we get to the weekend. And again, outside of a few cases, that juice was gone again. It's incredibly difficult to watch this program, not just become what they are and how far behind Penn State they are but then he'd take it a step further and I

Starting point is 00:17:34 Always closer to finishing in sixth place Then they were finishing in second They finished 25 points behind Nebraska for second place Oh estate finishing six They finished 25 points behind Nebraska for second place. Ohio State finished in sixth, and they were 17 points behind. You go through individually. Joey Cruz was a guy that I thought we'd seen quite a bit from on the backside and then he has to After losing two matches falling out of the bracket getting Beating the quarterfinals. All right, not a big deal, right?

Starting point is 00:18:15 We know that Lil Adolf from penn state. He's good Luke little doll is really good All right, you got to wrestle him you get beat up you move to the back side Then Quillis does really good. All right, you gotta wrestle him. You get beat up, you move to the back side. Then you get beat by Whelan from Michigan State. All right, but it's not over because of the qualification process and the way that the brackets are set up,

Starting point is 00:18:35 you still get another opportunity. You can wrestle back for ninth and punch your ticket. And then you just not only get beat, you get dominated by McGrown of Ohio State with that on the line. And you go through some of the other weight classes and just team her the way that he goes down. And not to lose, but to lose in that fashion. Gabe Arnold losing the quarterfinals is probably the

Starting point is 00:19:03 quarterfinals round that left me the most frustrated. It's not that you're losing matches. It's just it's that style. Gabe Arnold losing the quarterfinals is probably the quarterfinals around that left me the most frustrated. It's not that you're losing matches. It's just it's that style. It's losing three to two. Losing it over time. Losing. It's not effort. I understand it's hard and collegiate wrestling is difficult. These guys are good. Your shots, it's not high school, right? Where you just go and you take a shot you're gonna take a guy down. That's not what this is. I get it. I understand it's hard. But to just sit back and wait and wait and wait and wait for the other guy to make a mistake and wait for it until it gets to overtime and it comes down to make it one move, make it one great shot.

Starting point is 00:19:40 It's not Iowa wrestling. It's not the way that we remember Iowa wrestling. And there's guys that still wrestle the style. There's going to be guys that are going to have success. But now we're talking two consecutive years where Iowa doesn't have a Big Ten champion. 0 for 20. I get it. Things change.

Starting point is 00:20:00 They evolve. It's different. But it's not just not wrestling well with tens we've played this song and dance before The fashion that it happens that leads to the frustration and you go through it. You look at the guys by seating There were so few guys that actually surpassed what they were supposed to do here We go weight class by weight class and you just see the disappointment that is there Drake I'll it gets there And then gets beat

Starting point is 00:20:31 Get stuck by bird Became it gets there and he takes a loss You run out of things to say because wrestling at Iowa is a different kind of sport. The program is in a different space than basically any other program that we have at the University of Iowa. The expectations are different. And I think people understand you're not going to win a national championship every year. But to see how far behind you are at Penn State and then on top of it come

Starting point is 00:21:06 out with this and look up and you're that far behind Nebraska? It's tough to swallow. And happening at the same time up the road, well down in Tulsa, but up the road in Cedar Falls is an alum. This guy that won a national champion a guy that was an olympian and doug schwab and he takes this group from northern iowa and is tied forward a big 12 championship lead going into the heavyweight match at u and i in the big 12 he's built a program that is very successful maybe the most successful year this year. What did change things? What a guy, and whoever it is, Doug Schwab, what other name you want to throw in there,

Starting point is 00:21:54 whoever else. Is it ultimately going to change the future of this program? Or is Penn State just light years ahead and there's nothing you can do? I hate that defeatist attitude. And I fall into it sometimes just because Penn State is so stinking good and their development and what they do and their ability not just to get blue chippers,

Starting point is 00:22:15 but then turn them in. And then that next tier guy, turning them into national champions. And the success that they've had, it's very difficult to chase down what they're doing and they're doing it in a different way. You're left as a fan incredibly frustrated. So they got two weeks to gear up.

Starting point is 00:22:32 Unless Cruz gets a wild card, they're going to take eight guys to nationals. And Penn State's going to win another national championship. And maybe Iowa finishes in the top four and gets a trophy. But the trajectory, the future of the program What do you want fans? Let me know if you're watching on YouTube hit me up on the comment section You want to change with this wrestling program? Are you willing to see the brands? do they

Starting point is 00:22:58 They deserve more slack Or would you look at the program and say most everybody could have the same kind of successes that they have That there isn't anything special that things have changed And maybe they haven't changed with it enough Because what we saw this weekend for Iowa wrestling it's in except it just you can't accept that It's unacceptable. It is That's where we are And it's a frustrating time, but it is the reality.

Starting point is 00:23:28 Oh boy. Tough one. Tough one. After positives in basketball, negatives on the wrestling front. Yeah. And the crazy thing is, Iowa, the best basketball team, gets that win to finish in 15th place to get into the Big Ten tournament. While the wrestling team finishes third, we feel like the sky is falling. Again, perception of different programs can be a whole lot different. We wrap things up a little week, a recap of the weekend, a couple of things that we missed, final notes as we continue

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Starting point is 00:25:14 first listen every day. So another busy week in front of us. We got the Iowa men on Wednesday but women's basketball team is off. They will prepare for the NCAA tournament. Get off their feet a little bit. Get bit get everybody healthy everybody right I love the potential path that they're going to have likely as a number six seed in the NCAA tournament we talked about the wrestling program and some of the things that we hope to see from them and they're a couple of weeks getting ready for the NCAAs and by the way I'll come up with my yearly rant on the ridiculous nature of having the NCAA wrestling tournament happening

Starting point is 00:25:45 at the exact same time as the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament. But before we get to that rant later this week, we go back to a few things that we missed. I want to start with the baseball team. And has that been the, I guess, most outstanding start to the season for the baseball program. But come back get a win against Rutgers and take two out of three from the Scarlet Knights that Rutgers

Starting point is 00:26:14 overall has been pretty pretty solid excuse me program since they come to the Big Ten. They've had some pretty good successes overall. This is not some more but program. So going out there, getting a victory, that's a good start to things. However, Iowa's got a lot of work to do. And the Big Tens get to look a whole lot different. Obviously, with the additions of UCLA and USC, Oregon will invest in their program a whole lot.

Starting point is 00:26:38 But Iowa now sits at a tie for second place. Now it's a two and one. And there's also a six-way tie with that record. But beggars can't be choosers. Get off to that one. I was 216th in RPI. And even in today's Big Ten, it's going to be difficult to make a big jump. They've only played one quad one. They took an L in that one. Opportunities are going to be few and far between. So it's really for them going to come down to qualifying for Omaha in the Big Ten tournament,

Starting point is 00:27:08 and then having to win the whole thing when they get there. But good, strong performance over the weekend. Saturday was outstanding. They win it 16-0 in that one. Had the bats going again today in a 12-6 win. Oh, they will be back in action, a non-D1 game against Augustana coming up this week, scheduled for Tuesday before Michigan State comes to town over the weekend.

Starting point is 00:27:28 Sparty, by the way, off to a good start. Now the RPI is just one to one, but they are 12 and three on the season. But there's a chance here for this Iowa team to get on a little bit of a roll, get things started with a good start. Ohio State comes in after that. They're not off to a very good start. Minnesota struggling early on. So it's not an overly daunting schedule for Iowa until you get to the end of those matchups and the non conference against Oregon State that's got its own story. We'll try to get a little more insight into that coming up with a lot of change happening. You had coach Gillespie that stepped away medically back in was December, January, something like that, and then what happened recently. So we yeah we'll try to track that down and try to get a little bit more information for give us off to a pretty decent start and a 14 to date on the

Starting point is 00:28:28 season sitting right around a hundred in the RPI what an eight against quad one but I've had plenty of opportunities and against the teams that they should be they've been doing just that so they'll get back out there after going down to to Tuscaloosa this weekend they They lose three out of four but taking on Louisiana Lafayette program that has played in the college world series. Alabama who's ranked in the top 25. We're in a couple of those games. Won one of those games against Lafayette. So they'll be back home the middle of the week against St. Thomas before they go to Indiana coming up this weekend in the Big Ten. There's your spring sports update here as we finish up the winter sports season.

Starting point is 00:29:06 That'll do it for today. We'll be back with you tomorrow. Scott Dockerman from the Athletic is going to join us. We'll talk plenty of Hawkeye topics and Big Ten as a whole with Scott Dockerman. Still to come this week, we'll set the scene in Indianapolis for Iowa Ohio State. Get ready for that matchup and a whole lot more at my rant on wrestling. We'll do that here as we are with you each and every day. Your team every day, that's what we do on the Lockdown Network and not just the Hawkeyes. Whatever your favorite NFL team was, we get ready for the non-tampering part of free agency. That's right around the corner. You got covered on that front. Spring training with MLB, of course, NHL and NBA come down to the wire. Your team every day, each and every professional team, as well as Lockdown Hawkeyes on the Lockdown Network. Thanks for being with us. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Until then, go Hawks.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa PUNCHES it's ticket to the BIG TEN TOURNAMENT - Hawkeye wrestlers DISAPPOINT at Big Tens

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