Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa takes down the Badgers in Wisconsin and prepares for Penn State this weekend

Episode Date: February 19, 2021

We are joined by Hawkeye Headquarter's Jarek Andrzejewski (@Local4Jarek on twitter) to breakdown last nights big win over Wisconsin, preview this weekend's game against Penn State and discuss the future of Iowa basketball.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to a Friday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. And the reason why we're a bit delayed today is because we were going to hold out and talk to a very special guest. We have Jarek Andreeski on the show today.

We obviously watched that Wisconsin game. He was covering it. And now he's back. We're going to be covering the Iowa Hawkeyes on today's show. So with that being said, Jarek, how are you doing today, man? I'm good. How are you doing, Andrew? I'm doing well.

It's nice to be talking after a win. I know both of us hope that it'd be a win we'd be talking about. It's always better to have a guest on when talking about a win. A little bit more positivity, right? It makes both our jobs, I think, a lot easier when we got a winning team to cover. I will say, like, whenever the couple, like Iowa versus Illinois, talking about that game was so tough. It was, oh man, it was right then then they lose indiana

you're gonna enjoy this so i will lose indiana i'm already mad right no one's happy after that loss and i'm recording the whole show which is very depressing and i'm trying to be kind of upbeat kind of happy i get through 30 minutes my computer freezes i lose the entire thing and so uh my wife and i agreed like i get I sometimes get angry about stupid stuff mostly Iowa basketball so I bought a punching bag just to punch and kick when I just like feel like hitting something I went up to it to kick it didn't get up close enough missed with the top of my foot and hit it with my toe and dude my toe has not been the same since I don't know if it's broken but it doesn't work all the all the way right now I can't like run on it I can't know if it's broken, but it doesn't work all the way right now. It doesn't work.

I can't, like, run on it. I can't put pressure on it still. So, super fun. But at least we're talking about a win, man. And that was a good win. We beat a ranked Wisconsin team, although Wisconsin's been kind of trending downwards. Wanted to get your initial thoughts.

What were some of the key things you loved to see last night? Yeah, I mean, it was nice to see another game of the man-to-man defense working a lot better than the defensive schemes that they had been using in the past. It was great to see another time holding a team under 70 points. I think that's the fourth time they've done it in a row now, which is great to see. Luca and Wieskamp being able to be on at the same time, really, it gives more room for Iowa to make mistakes when you can have both of those players so locked on. There were a lot of players contributing, but it wasn't like there was a third player that automatically stands out to you

when you think about that game. There were a lot of mistakes that I think can get overlooked when you have probably one of the best one-two punches, if not the best one-two punch in college basketball, both clicking on the same time. I couldn't agree more. I mean, it has been phenomenal to see the growth of Joey's camp I think for me personally when Joey's camp came in the expectation was that he would be the guy right we thought he would be the guy there's been flashes and moments but we haven't really seen him just take over for

this long of a stretch and doing it in the abs I say the absence in quotation marks really because Luka Garza has been present and been a very, very, one of the top 15 players in the nation the last two weeks. But we expect top player in the nation type of production from Luka Garza. But Joe Wieskamp has really been the guy who's been carrying the team the last couple weeks. It's interesting because you talk about making mistakes, and I feel like Iowa was a bit sloppy with the ball.

They had 11 turnovers, which was, I think, fifth most this season. Not exactly the best game there. A lot of entry passes that kind of hit off fingers. And just Joe Toussaint running out of bounds. I mean, just not having the court awareness we typically see. Rebounding-wise on the offensive side of the ball, I thought was horrendous. And that has been a concern in games Iowa has lost. But holy crap, have you ever seen a time where a team has missed five wide open three-pointers and gotten the rebound each and

every time I mean I was about to lose my mind that that was frustrating and I think the thing that was most frustrating about is what you said was that that was the contributing factor to a lot of losses so I think a lot of Hawkeye fans were thinking oh no here we go again we're going to be giving up offensive rebounds and allow a team to get back into it. But luckily that wasn't the end result for this Wisconsin game. Yeah, and they closed out the game. That was something, I mean, we've,

I thought, I think everyone, everyone was probably thinking it, right? Going to that second half, we're up by 10. Wisconsin starts chipping away. They start getting a little bit hotter from three. Brad Davison, everyone's number one, most hated player in the Big 10 outside of Wisconsin fans,

even though I would argue some of them don't like him. He starts hitting some threes and we're starting to think, oh crap, this is going to happen again. But Joey's camp, Luka Garza, they turned it on. They got things going. Anything else that stood out to you from a positive standpoint, from a Iowa Hawkeye perspective? Yeah. I mean, it was great to see Keegan Murray still crashing the glass. He had a season high career high for him, 12 rebounds. So that was nice to see. Even if the team isn't necessarily getting all the rebounds when they need to,

he is just an absolute workhorse and will always give 110% out there to go and crash the glass. I mean, it was just a good win. Like I said, their defense was great. Weiskamp and Garza were rolling. And the fact that they were able to get their sixth win over a ranked opponent this season to lead the NCAA, all of college basketball, I think puts into perspective sort of maybe the fears that we had earlier in the season, that this is still a team that can beat some of the best teams in college basketball.

I couldn't agree more. Joe Weiskamp finished with a plus minus of 29, which is insane. Luka Garza plus minus of 18. I also want to point out CJ Frederick, a quiet game, but his presence was felt. He played 31 minutes and in the past couple of games,

you know, it's been, he plays a game, sits out a game, plays a game, sat a game, but it's been playing like 15 to 18 minutes to see him go for 31 minutes of action and get a win like that to me says that maybe he's on the up and up I know it's a day-to-day injury according to Fran and I get that it seems like his plantar fasciitis

some issues with the foot totally understand but when you're playing 31 minutes and you're up like that I feel like it's starting to trend towards CJ Frederick is back although I want to get your thoughts on this I feel like he might be out against Penn State I feel like it's starting to trend towards CJ Frederick is back. Although I want to get your thoughts on this. I feel like he might be out against Penn state. I feel like it's maybe a precautionary thing. Like let's just wait because especially if Michigan gets moved up, you're going to get Michigan, Ohio state. You need CJ Frederick back from Michigan and Ohio state. Yeah, I certainly think it's possible.

And I mean, anytime that they decide to sit him going forward, I don't think should be a big worry. This, this is just what it's going to have to be that he legitimately be pretty much a game time decision for throughout the rest of this season which they've said pretty much that from the beginning yeah I mean that Iowa closes on a really tough schedule they've got a lot of road games they've already played some of them and they got more coming up so I think sitting up against Penn State wouldn't be surprising considering you have Michigan Ohio State after that Nebraska is still very likely to be slid in there somewhere too. So I think, you know, if you're confident with this group that you might sit them for a home

game up against Penn State just because we have such a tough schedule to sort of wrap up the Big Ten season. Yeah, couldn't agree more. Let's talk through that schedule real quick because we have Penn State on Sunday. We've got Ohio state technically the following week, although it looks like Michigan could be moved up. We have Michigan and then Wisconsin in your perfect scenario. I'm assuming it's Iowa goes four and oh, but let's be realistic. That is a gauntlet, especially when you go on the road to Ohio state on the road to Michigan. And you better believe Wisconsin is going to be motivated and hungry. Although I feel like Iowa matches up really well against them. What is your prediction for the final four games?

Let's say five. We'll include Nebraska. Nebraska is going to get rescheduled. So where do you think Iowa slots in from a win-loss record in the last five games? Yeah, I mean, I think starting off, obviously, you want to assume that the Penn State and Nebraska games are going to be Ws. I think dropping one of those would be a little concerning at this point in the season.

I think that you really want to win one of the two between Michigan and Ohio state. Iowa doesn't really have a signature win. It feels like this season against a big time team, they've gotten a lot of ranked wins, but there hasn't been, there's a loss to Illinois. There hasn't been a win against Gonzaga.

There wasn't a win against another national chip contending team. And so getting one over Michigan or Ohio State, I think would really help the team just in terms of their confidence and helping them just going into seeding, getting the best seed possible, having a signature win against Michigan or Ohio State on the road, I think would be a pretty big win for them. I couldn't agree more.

If Iowa can go 4-1 in this five-game stretch, I'll be pooping rainbows, man, going into the NCAA tournament. That will make me very happy. Three and two, depending on those two losses, will be interesting. I think, again, if you can get a win over Michigan or Ohio State, and if they drop one against Wisconsin, that's not going to concern me nearly as much as if they drop both games against Ohio State and Michigan.

But I would like to see this team come back strong against those teams. Now, Penn State is going to be an interesting matchup. I was looking at them on, and Kempom's kind of the go-to, right? Kempom gives you a lot of great information. This team's really small. I don't watch a lot of Penn State basketball because it's not very fun. It's kind of gross. I prefer to just watch the good teams. But Penn State is one of the shortest teams in the Big 10. They start, they have no guys in their team over 6'9", 240 pounds. That is a matchup nightmare for them going up against a Luka Garza and a Jack Nunji who only played seven minutes. What are

your thoughts initially on that matchup? I'll need to quickly pause the conversation with Jarek. I hope you are enjoying the breakdown of Wisconsin and in the discussion around all of Iowa basketball. I do have a very important message for you because betonline.ag is the fastest and the easiest way to bet on all your sports action.

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Peter Bukowski hosts a breakdown of the biggest stories with analysis from our local experts. Start your day with all the sports news you need in under 20 minutes. Subscribe to Locked On Today wherever you get your podcast at. Now, before we get into the conversation with Jarek, I know we haven't touched on women's basketball. I do want to cover that, and we will be covering that on Monday's show. Just didn't get an opportunity to today. The women's basketball team did get a big win over Penn State, and Kaitlin Clark absolutely

crushed it, as always. Let's turn our attention back to the men's side, though. We're going to talk a little bit more men's basketball with jerek and then wrap up the show i mean i feel like if you go back and look at the course of this season anytime there's been a height mismatch for luca those have been some of his best games granted the overall quality of those teams may have not been great a lot of those were the non-conference games to start off the season. But I mean, if I'm another team and I'm lining up against Luca Garza and he's looking over me every time we're lining up,

I'm very concerned in terms of what he's going to do to me on the defensive side of the ball. So I think that's big. I mean, I think that there was sort of a want going into this game anyway, to just feed Luka the ball and let him get those 14 points to surpass Roy Marble and just sort of then be able to play the game yeah I think that could get done in the first eight minutes of this game against Penn State

so on paper this is a matchup that Iowa should be able to really run up the scoreboard and with the way their defense has been playing. Hopefully that won't result in just a high scoring game where both teams are just shooting the lights out. But on paper, you look at that and think, this should be a good game for Luca and a good game for the Hawkeyes. Yeah. My only concern I keep, whenever I say this should be a good game, it's been a bad game for Iowa. And I specifically, I go to the Indiana game because on paper, Indiana have been two wins right I mean that nothing Indiana does well

is nothing Indiana does well is something that Iowa can't handle and everything Indiana does poorly Iowa is what you know what they don't do really do that well so that does concern me a little bit just you know kind of having flashbacks to that but I completely agree Penn State not the best offensive team in the nation they are 285th in the nation in terms of two-point percentage, 141st in the nation in three-point percentage, 47th in offensive rebounding. That's a little bit of a concern for me because when we saw against Wisconsin, Wisconsin's not a big team, but they're an active team,

and they crashed the boards, they got the offensive boards. And that's something, again, that we've talked about has been a big issue for past games for Iowa when they lost. Because these teams get the boards, they get that second chance shot, and usually it's some deep three that they drain is what it seems like. What have you seen from Iowa that has led to them struggling on the glass offensively? Because we've seen Keegan Murray crash the boards, Joe Wieskamp does a great job, Luka Garza's always down there, but what's going on here? I mean, last night was odd because they stayed out of the zone defense more than they have been. I feel like a lot of times when you're in the zone, it's just harder to, okay, who's my man? Who am I boxing out? It's not as given when you're playing man to man defense, you know, where that guy is at every single second

on the court. So it was strange to see the offensive rebounding be such an issue, or I guess the defensive rebounding be such an issue for Iowa against Wisconsin because they were playing more man-to-man defense. It honestly just looked like Wisconsin was just beating them to the ball. I mean, you never want to say it was effort because that's something you want to be able to pride yourself on, but it looked like there were at times as a team, they weren't doing a great job of just getting to the ball first. It really felt that simple last night, but overall,

I feel like the zone defense has led to some of the problems on the offensive rebounding end. So hopefully whatever switch needs to be flipped to get them to want that ball more for Penn State, and that'll be flipped and ready to go. Yeah. And one thing to also note is oftentimes in Iowa's zone, the weakness is some sort of three-point shot. And when you shoot the three-pointer, it's going to bounce a little bit differently, going to bounce a little bit further away. So they also can contribute to that.

Speaking of the way the ball bounces, the rims last night were absolutely ridiculous. I feel like you could have heard that in a different state, how loud those were. It just seemed like they were so stiff, right? I mean, I was thinking that last night. I'm like, there are some nights where I'm watching these Iowa games because everybody seems to be hitting threes in Iowa games that are just back and forth. Everyone's shooting like 50% from deep. And I'll often think to myself, man, I would love to play in a gym like that where everything

I'm putting up goes in. But last night, I was like, man, that would destroy my confidence if I kept hearing that sound over and over again. Yeah, that was so rough. I mean, gosh, it just felt gross watching it. I mean, everything was just clanking off. Nothing was bouncing the right way. Do you feel like, and I'm going to go back to the Wisconsin game,

teams have not really done that well when they attack the pain against Luka Garza and Jack Nunji but neither of those guys are known as incredible defenders by any means but I do feel like they get in position I'm curious do you feel like it's more of a team struggling to convert on opportunities or do you feel like Jack Nunji and Luka Garza are doing a fantastic job of redirecting shots because their length or height and just getting in the way of things. I think it's, I think it's a combination of both. But I think more so than anything else, I think it is just the length of Jack Nungi and Luca Garza. I mean, those are two guys who are at least 6'11", standing there in the paint sometimes at the same time. And when you have that, it does it. Obviously, being good at defense helps.

But even if you're just standing there with your arms up, that's going to make it a lot more difficult for a defender to be able to finish. So their ability to be in the right position, put their hands up. Lucas had some foul trouble the past couple of games, but I don't know if we can really fault him for that completely. I feel like they've been doing a good job of just making it difficult for the other team to convert down low, and I think the results speak to that. Yeah, the Big Ten refereeing and officiating has been atrocious, in my opinion, not just against Iowa, but for a lot of games I've watched.

It has been abysmal at best. I do enjoy Luka Garza and Jack Dungy. I mean, you can see they're just trying to be very smart about, they're going to just hands up and just get in the way. But I also love how Keegan Murray and Joe Weiskamp do a great job and Patrick McCaffrey as well of running from behind and trying to slap the ball out as well, being able to maybe give a foul if need be, but also potentially block that shot, which has been a lot of fun. Uh, speaking of Joey's camp, and again, I'm jumping around to hear a bit, but Joe Weiskamp has been on that tear and there's talks of the NBA. We know at some point he's going to get his chance. He's a three point shooter. He can, you know,

he can do some things defensively when he has that opportunity to a lot of length there. Do you feel like he goes after this year? And if so, what are the chances he comes back? I guess. And if so, what are the chances he comes back, I guess? I mean, it's, I think if you're Joe Wieskamp, you're looking at, if I stay another year, how much is that changing my draft projection? I'm guessing staying another year isn't going to push him into being a first round selection. I would peg him as probably a second round draft selection and have, I think he's well suited for the NBA. I think he'll make himself a good career

there. So I don't know if staying another year is going to help him where he's drafted. And so at that point, it's really just a matter of his own personal opinion. Luca last year, again, coming back, I don't know if it did much in terms of his stock, where Luka is going to go next season, but he wanted to come back because he wanted to win. He felt like there was unfinished business and he wanted to bring a championship to Iowa. It all just sort of depends on where Joe's head at. And there's no one who really knows that except for him. So I think that it's certainly possible that he leaves to go to the NBA, but if his heart's still in Iowa city and he feels like he wants to finish

out his four years here, then obviously that option would be open to him. But in terms of when the right time is, it's just a matter of when he feels like he's ready to move on from Iowa city. Yeah. I feel like we're, we're seeing the same thing, man. Cause I was thinking about that yesterday and I was like, Joe probably can improve his stock. You're right. I mean, he's not going to be a first rounder.

I just don't think, um, given, you know, the athletic, he's just not going to make it into that first round conversation until it really becomes a conversation of what do you improve by coming back? And as you said, with Luca, we pretty much knew what Luca was. There were some things he's improved on, right? His three point shooting has somehow gotten better despite, you know, his height and size. He's been a better three-point shooter. We saw him, you know, last night against Wisconsin, just going off for a few minutes there. So we know what Luka Garza can bring, and he wanted

to come back for that unfinished business. If Iowa makes a run this year, I think if Iowa gets to an elite eight or a final four, or God forbid an NCAA championship, which I'm going to need many beers to be able to handle the stress of that. But I think you're right. I think Joey's camp is gone. I think if he returns, though, this team could be a formidable contender even next year. You lose J-Bo, you lose Luka Garza, and those are huge losses.

But I think the dynamic of the team does change a little bit with how they operate. And I think what we've seen for Jack Nunji gives me a lot of promise and hope going into next season about how we can, you can't ever, you know, completely fill Luka Garza's shoes, but you can make it so we don't notice that loss as much. Is that kind of your thought as well? All right, I'll need to quickly pause one more time before we wrap up the show of the

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Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this is a team with a bright future. Obviously, the three people you're looking at who may not be on the roster next year Luca, J-Bo, and Wieskamp um I think if if Wieskamp does come back that's huge for them I I said this on Twitter last night I think that Joe Wieskamp might be the best second option in college basketball I don't know if there's a better 1B to someone's 1A than Joe Wieskamp. So him coming back would be huge because he, on most teams, he's going to be the best play on the team.

He's just happening to play with Luka this year. So him coming back would be huge, but even missing out on him, I think the underclassmen have really done a great job of showing their worth and their value. Fran's been saying all year, you know, I have guys on my bench that I want to play more, but I just can't. And I think some of us were a little skeptical to that at first and then once we saw Aaron Uless getting more minutes

once we saw Tony Perkins getting more minutes Keegan has been amazing from start to finish and Fran says Chris isn't that far behind him it's just a matter of he can only play so many guys so I mean log jam of six foot eight guys on our team at this point right which is a good problem for Iowa to have right now that is the best problem that they could possibly have so um this by no means is sort of a this isn't a last hurrah for the Hawkeyes in terms of any sort of success on the basketball court they'll be coming back next year regardless of who decides to stay or leave that they're gonna have a pretty talented roster around them next year for sure. Yeah, out of those freshmen, let's take Keegan Murray out of it,

because I think we can all say he's been the biggest surprise and the most fun to watch this year. Who are you most excited to watch next year out of the true freshman class? I'm taking Patrick McCaffrey out of that as well. I really have enjoyed Aaron Ulis and how he's run things off of the bench. I think that his decision-making and his basketball IQ has been pretty impressive from the get-go. He didn't have a lot of meaningful big 10 minutes before he sort of got added

into the rotation. A lot of it because of CJ's injury worries. He didn't have a lot of experience going into that, and I felt like he pretty seamlessly was able to just pick it up and hit the ground running, which is not an easy thing to do in Big Ten basketball. So having him as a point guard maybe for the future I think is really great. Tony Perkins, his athleticism is something that you don't always have on an Iowa roster um so that's really refreshing to see um I always try to get to those games their games early just

because I know that Tony's going to be having fun in the layup lines throwing down some dunks which again is not something you always see from the Iowa roster so um those two really excite me but if I had to pick one I'd probably go with Aaron Uless just because his intellect with the basketball has been so impressive from from an early start yeah absolutely I think for me I'd probably go Tony Perkins just because you've seen what he's done athletically and when he puts it all together it's going to be so much fun to watch but even when he came on the court just like Aaron Aaron as well I love that he brought the intensity defensively. He was like, you know, I'm not sure where my impact is going to be offensively. Maybe I'm not as confident right now with this veteran squad,

but defensively, I'm not letting my guy score and I'm not letting him get around me. And that has been, that's one of the things I feel like it's tough for players who have such a diverse offensive skillset or guys like a Tony Perkins who can, you know, slam the ball down and make highlight plays. Sometimes defense isn't something that comes as naturally or isn't something you typically see as early on. And I love, love,

love, love seeing that tons of fun there. You talked about, you know, being in the arena and whatnot. What is it like being in the arena this year? Is it weird? It is.

It's very strange. Like this is my first year being able to cover college basketball. So this is like it's it's strange because it's all I know, but it's very peculiar. It doesn't make sense. I mean, the Iowa games, I feel like at this point, I know what to expect. I know the playlist that they're going to have playing. I know where to go, where to check in and all that stuff. It's the road games where I'm always like, okay, how's the can noise going to be? Some really lay pretty heavy into it. It's hard to, since there's no fans around you, it's hard to block out a lot of the extra things in the stadium, like the music selection, the fake fan noise. Hearing the coaches and

players on the court has been really great. You can hear them easily. I very rarely can repeat what's being said out on the court on television. But it's interesting to sort of get an idea of what those huddles are like before the postgame interviews of, hey, what were you saying? huddles are like before the post-game interviews of hey what were you saying normally fran's gonna make sure everybody can hear what's going on um so that it's been interesting it's been weird um i just saw that they're gonna allow i think 15 25 25 capacity um for the tournament so that'll be another change now that there will be fans that's's going to be strange seeing fans, which is an odd thing to say. But I'm certainly excited that we'll finally have a more normal vibe come postseason. Absolutely.

So what has been the weirdest stadium, the weirdest away stadium as far as crowd noise goes? I remember the Illinois game being the fan noise was odd. The music selection was all over the place. I felt like they were jumping from like 80s pop to pop smoke without any sort of transition in between. And their crowd noise just felt it didn't feel good. It felt too loud. It felt like just a five second loop of the same sound over and over

again. So I know that it's tough because where I'm from, we're right on the Mississippi River. I'm in the Quad Cities. So we're right on the border of Iowa and Illinois. And so that there are Illini fans who often jump in my mentions. And so I'm sure they'll be upset that I'm calling out their stadium stadium but that would probably be the one that sticks out to me is sort of the most bizarre environment for the fanless arena yeah Illinois fans are interesting they're an interesting breed and I appreciate their passion but I feel like anytime you say you don't even have to say something bad about Illinois you can just say something good about Iowa and and somehow they – I mean, they're like Nebraska with football.

It is – it's ridiculous, which kind of leads me to my next point. Is there really a competition between Iowa and Luka? I appreciate that Iowa is a fantastic player. He has an incredibly bright NBA future. I love watching him play. He's fun. He is not the player of the year. I just want to make that very clear.

I don't know how you don't give it to Luka. No, He's fun. He is not the player of the year. I just want to make that very clear. There's, I don't know how you don't give it to Luca. No, he's not. And I don't think anyone who actually, I don't think people who really get the game of college basketball really ever thought that IU was going to be national player of the year or big 10 player of the year. He certainly made a push and brought his name more into the conversation, but I think from start to finish, it's been Luka. You mentioned this earlier that it felt like there was an absence from him,

even though he was still averaging like 18 and eight. The media gets bored. They like finding new things to talk about. And so IU is the shiny new thing to sort of compare Luka to. It just sort of happened at the perfect time to where IU was having a great stretch, where Luka was sort of down. But I think that any sort of questions of who's the player of the year, I think that those were silenced last night with Luka's performance to get the win against Wisconsin. Yeah, it was, it was always interesting coming, coming on the show and saying, yeah,

Luka had an off night. He shot seven of 12 and had 24 points and eight boards. And I was like, and I had to clarify that's still a very good night it's just not to the standard that he has set so he has set the bar so incredibly high that his performances that are below average are arguably career nights for almost anyone in college basketball I think it's always important to give that context behind when you make some of those comments like that and And one of the, one of the interesting things has been going around and people always want to anytime I will lose is in February. It's always, Oh gosh, the Fran fade. They're dropping. I've talked to a couple of former players.

They don't believe in it, but unfortunately the statistics don't lie. And in previous seasons, France teams have dropped off a cliff. I tried doing some analysis on this. One of the analyses I did was, is it really just the fact that I Iowa has a cupcake schedule before they get into the Big Ten schedule? So they're coming in, they might be 17-3, but really they're 7-3, right? As opposed to actually the 17-3. What are your thoughts on that just in general and then happening this year? Because to me, it feels like a lot of it just happened to be at the C.J. Frederick injury and just bad timing.

Yeah, I mean, Fran touched on this a week or so ago. I think it's easy for people who have grown up as a fan of a Big Ten team. It's easy to sort of forget just how tough this schedule can be. So the deeper you get into the Big Ten play, it's just going to be more challenging. There's going to be a winner and there's going to be a loser. And so you're right, the numbers don't lie that the win percentage does drop as the year or the months go along. This year, though, specifically, you're right, the CJ injury just sort of lined up with when that panic button gets hit for Iowa fans.

But luckily they've been after that tough stretch, they've now been able to sort of weather the storm and figure it out, which is expected when you lose a starter after really no other injuries throughout the season, there's going to be some chemistry issues and just working out the rotations. So I, I mean, I wouldn't be too concerned. I think at this point it's pretty solidified that this is a different team than Iowa years past.

I get that there were worries of, ah, no, here we go again. This isn't any different than our other seasons. But I think when you look at the talent on the roster, it's hard to dispute that this isn't the best Hawkeye team that we've seen in quite some time suiting up for Iowa. So I think that this team is hitting their stretch at just the right time. They've got a tough schedule to sort of finish off their regular season. But looking at them these last four games, I feel like all signs point to this is a team

still trending upward and is reaching sort of the potential that we expected to see from them at the beginning of the year. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think had Iowa beaten Indiana in those two games, I don't think we're talking about a Fran fade. We're talking about, can he beat the big team? But you look at that Illinois game and you could argue there was about five questionable calls that changed the out. And I never want to – I try to not say the officiating caused the game. We should have been in a better position to win despite the officiating. But the bad officiating definitely didn't help that. I even had Kenny Murray on after that, and he was like, yeah, that was pretty bad.

That was pretty bad officiating. Ohio State, we were in that game the entire game. We struggled a little bit. Gonzaga, you go back to that game uh wow can we have a shot worse I just just not not a good shooting game for them so you look at the three toughest games we have and there's been opportunities there it's a matter of closing it out it seems like they're hitting their stride now what are your expectations for the rest of the season I mean I I feel like this is a team that should be able to advance in these tournaments.

I don't see any reason. I mean, obviously, for the Big Ten, the biggest question is the seating. How's that going to line up? I think that that's more likely to change, I feel like, than where the Hawkeyes go in the national tournament. I feel like their spot's sort of there. You're looking at probably at best of two and at worst of four you're not in which is not a huge difference in the ncaa tournament in the big 10 tournament from

two to four four to five is a very big difference in terms of what you're looking at so um i think the biggest thing just sort of depends on how the seating plays out which is why getting the win over wisconsin last night was such a big win for them. They were a half game in front of Wisconsin and a half game below Ohio state. No, I can't. I think it might've been, I can't remember. I was just looking at the standings earlier, but they're, but now they're in front of both of those teams with that win moving them up

a spot. So it, it helps them there, but it really just sort of depends for the big 10 tournament where they ended up getting seated. Obviously getting a buy in those first rounds would be huge, but these are contenders in both those tournaments. And Jay Bill has said it last night, pregame before the game that the big 10 has four legit national championship

contenders in Michigan, Ohio state, Illinois, and Iowa, which is not something you say often about any conference in any sport. I mean, like having four teams who could legitimately win the entire thing is a very difficult thing to do. And so only one of those four will win it, if any of them. So it'll be interesting to see how the season plays out, but the Iowa has the talent to get the job done and be hoisting some sort of trophy in these next months yeah I couldn't agree more I've talked to a couple friends who follow basketball very closely and the NCAA tournament really comes down to matchups and how how can Iowa shoot um and what I mean if they get a matchup against a

team that's really hot from three and they can't, they're not hot. I mean, that's a bad game for Iowa, but depending on the matchups, Iowa could go very far. They have the talent to, and anytime I was on shooting, they should be able to keep up with any team. If not be any team, because no team can keep up with Iowa offensively. One of the best offenses in the entire camp Palm era. You talked about the conference, big 10, Ben does this a lot. He loves the big 10. Obviously that's why he's Big Ten Ben. And he talks about the Big Ten being, I believe, the second best conference in the last 20 years in terms of strength. So you love to see that.

Jarek, I appreciate you coming on. I didn't get a chance to do this. I got, you know, I was dealing with the door stuff, got too excited, was ready to jump into the show. But real quick, how did you get to where you are? Yeah, so I went to Augustana college over in Rock Island, Illinois, which is here in the quad cities intern for a local TV station my senior year with their sports department. And that led to a part-time job after that. And then once I graduated a full-time job and then just right before the college basketball season, I was able to slide over and start covering Iowa for Hawkeye headquarters. And I mean, it's been I mean, I get paid to watch basketball, which is about the best job you can possibly find out there.

So I'm very grateful for it. And this season has just been an absolute blast. I couldn't agree more. Where can the folks find you at? to agree more. Where can the folks find you at? On Twitter, it's at local4jarek, J-A-R-E-K and then hawkeyeheadquarters.com is where you can find all of our blog posts. Awesome, man. Well, Jarek, it's been a blast having you on. Hawkeye Nation,

I appreciate you tuning in to today's episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. Have a fantastic Friday and even better weekend and let's beat Penn State on Sunday? Saturday. Sunday. Sunday. I was like, oh my gosh. Let's beat Penn State on Sunday and go Hawks.