Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa vs. UConn Final Four Matchup - Caitlin Clark vs. Paige Bueckers - Locked On Crossover
Episode Date: April 5, 2024Trent Condon is joined by Mark Zanetto for a Crossover edition of Locked on Hawkeyes and Locked on UConn.A breakdown on the match up, Paige Bueckers vs. Caitlin Clark and the other key match ups, plus... predictions and more.    Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! RobinhoodRobinhood has the only IRA that gives you a 3% boost on every dollar you contribute when you subscribe to Robinhood Gold. Now through April 30th, Robinhood is even boosting every single dollar you transfer in from other retirement accounts with a 3% match. Available to U.S. customers in good standing. Robinhood Financial LLC (member SIPC), is a registered broker dealer.Amazon Fire TVFire TV recently created Fire TV Channels to deliver a constant supply of the latest videos from your favorite sports brands, all for free. That includes all of us at Locked On and most of the big pro leagues and college conferences as well. To Learn More, visit www.amazon.com/LockedOnFireTVLinkedInThese 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 LOCKEDONCOLLEGEfor $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelNew customers, join today and you’ll get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big 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)
Transcript
Discussion (0)
It's the biggest game of the weekend.
Iowa-UConn, we got you covered here.
A crossover edition.
Lockdown UConn, Lockdown Hawkeyes.
We break it all down here today.
You are Lockdown Hawkeyes,
your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network,
your team every day.
Hey, welcome in.
I'm Trent Condon.
That's Mark Zanetto.
And this is a crossover edition of Locked On.
Locked On Hawkeyes for me.
Locked On UConn over there as we get ready for the final 4-2 night.
Mark, good to catch up with you.
We've done plenty of these during football season.
Always a lot of the fun crossovers that we have.
Not very often we get to do it for women's basketball, but with this Iowa women's basketball team certainly morphed into over the last couple of seasons, coupled with obviously
the historic nature of UConn.
Fun to get together.
How are you doing?
I'm doing great, man. Thanks for having me. I'm super excited.
Well, kicking things off, and we'll go back and forth here, talk a little bit about
breaking the game down individually, but let's start with this Husky team. We have kind of the
baseline of it, right? A lot of injuries this year. They've been really banked up,
still an incredibly talented roster. If you can,
for the Hawkeye listeners out there wanting to get a little more information on this UConn team,
a little bit deeper than just a cursory glance, but give us a little bit more on how this season has unfolded. Yeah, no, that's a great, great, great intro, and I appreciate you. This UConn
team is not the traditional UConn powerhouse that people are used to on the women's side.
After UConn lost to Texas in December, they fell to four and three on the season.
And, you know, we're kind of spiraling out of control.
I don't think anyone in their right mind in Connecticut or around the country could could predict that they'd be going up against Caitlin Clark in Iowa tonight, considering the start but Genori Emma who is going coming up on his 40th year at
UConn which is crazy to me said you know I don't even think we're going to make the NCAA tournament
so he he went with a incredible lineup switch that kind of turned their whole season around
they they inserted they do like essentially a three-point guard lineup And it was not the greatest situation initially with freshmen KK Arnold,
Nika Mule, and then Paige Beckers.
So they're all natural point guards, right?
And so that, for whatever reason, was able to kind of rally this team
around the fact that they were being so unselfish.
So we don't care who has the ball.
We're going to share it.
Paige, obviously, is our version of, of Caitlin.
And so, but that was the, that was the catalyst that turned this season around.
And with only seven healthy players, we're going to need all three of those folks to,
to kind of, to, to be able to do what we, we want to do tonight.
And that's upset Iowa.
It's on this side for the Connecticut listeners out
there you know a season that has gone as anticipated losing two starters off of last
year's team that played for the championship people thought there were going to be some
growing pains and they have been but this has been overall I think a smoother transitional
year than a lot of people anticipated and Caitlin Clark has taken a big step forward
they've had some injuries themselves Molly Davis their starter, in the backcourt with Kaitlyn Clark.
She is out trying to make a go of it practice.
And yesterday in one of the most heartbreaking videos I've ever seen,
one of the TV reporters here in Iowa had her taking some shots.
And she walked over to the bench and sat down by Coach Bluter
and basically told Coach Bluter, you know, not going to happen.
And then just the way that her head dropped anduter, you know, not going to happen.
And then just the way that her head dropped and really, really sad, really tough to do.
And she was a spark club. She was a playmaker.
But outside of that, they've been relatively healthy.
And in a way, I think they actually might be a better team without her out there and having Sydney and Fulter out on the floor.
So it's been it's disappointing, obviously, that it plays out that way.
But a Fulter is more of an insideside player, better defensively, better rebounder,
more size at 5'11", as opposed to 5'4", Amali Davis.
So that definitely helps out too.
But this year, you know, I think for most people, yes, their preseason, you know, top
five for everybody this year.
People thought they had a chance of getting back.
It's gone a lot smoother than anticipated this year.
And that's been a fun one to watch.
All right.
So we're going to talk about our keys to the game and the way that this goes and plays out.
But I got a couple of things.
As we get into the debate, right?
Caitlin versus Paige.
And I'm sure you've been seeing it on your YouTube page and hearing in the comments or reading it on social media.
And it turns into that.
It's not exactly fair, but there are parts of it
that absolutely are going to play there.
Very simply, is it going to start off the game?
Do you believe that Paige Beckers right away
is going to be guarding Kaitlyn Clark?
I don't, and only because of the amount of players
that Geno has to kind of rotate of the seven
that he's going to play.
If they were fully healthy,
they lost five players this year to season ending injuries,
which is crazy.
If they had a full roster and they're,
they're 10 deep and that rotation is,
is,
is the,
what it was,
what his thought was initially on the season.
I think a hundred percent,
you'd see it,
but because of trying to kind of stave off foul trouble,
you're going to see a mixture.
I could honestly, Trent, I said the other day
in a women's basketball-specific show where I said
it wouldn't surprise me if Geno does junk defense
and does a box and one.
Just to kind of throw a different look at them
and see what the adjustments are there.
That's what I expect, but I shouldn't say expect.
That's what I would hope he does, and then we'll go from there.
Those are my thoughts.
You know, one thing we've seen over the four years of Kaitlin Clark is a ton of that
because this is not a roster built like UConn's roster with seven McDonald's All-Americans.
Even as banged up, we've seen a ton of it. One thing that I will say is those junk defenses can work for
small stretches. They don't work very long. I mean, Caitlin is just so smart and understands,
and they've seen them so many times where you go up a lot of teams. They haven't seen them,
or maybe they see them once or twice throughout the course of the year. I would does it so much.
And the other component is I would like to do that themselves. Lisa Bluter, she is, I've watched a lot of basketball my 40-plus years of being here,
and I will tell you, she loves junk defenses about as much as any successful coach that
I've ever seen.
She'll do triangle in two.
She'll do box in one.
She'll do line in three.
She'll do all kinds of different things like that that we've seen in the past from her.
So because they also practice it defensively, they see it on that end of the floor too.
So they're usually ready for it.
A couple of players I want to get your perspective on.
I thought, and again, not knowing UConn the same way that you did,
I thought Mull would get the first crack of it.
Is that what you're expecting to see?
Yeah, Nico Mule definitely will get that.
I think we'll get that first crack.
She's a little more physical, around the same size. I think get that first crack. She's a little more physical, um,
around the same size. You know, I think she also is a, is fiery. She's a competitor.
Uh, she's not going to back down from a challenge. I don't think you'll see the same.
This isn't takes another, I don't want LSU fans to get in my mentions as much as Alabama fans on the men's side. I've gotten my mentions for making a comment. You're not going to see her do one of
these, you know, and shake her hands. She's, she's gonna go at caitlin uh she's she's probably i want page is probably the ultimate
competitor but i mean they they rival each other so that would make sense to me whether they do it
or not is is gino it's gino's story so gino is unorthodox as you may probably already know um
so but my my key to to all of this is I'm going to,
I'm going to ask you, turn it around. How do you think they're going to handle page? I mean,
she's a unique player in her own right. Um, a lot of people felt before she was injured, you know,
it's Caitlin's equal. Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. We'll find out tonight. Um, what are your
thoughts on that? So I think they're going to start gabby marshall on her she's been the best on ball defender for i with the last four years
and and that's likely going to be the assignment that they're going to put on her we've seen gabby
guard anyone from you know a five five type of point guard all the way through to a six one small
forward you know she's guarded all types and she is by far their best perimeter defender if it
doesn't go big real well because Gabby's not the biggest player.
She's not a huge defender on that right, and kind of the physicality,
it's more her quickness and her speed, what makes her a good defender,
that I think they would slide Kate Martin over and maybe go that way.
If they do that, though, maybe they're going to have to go a little bit big,
and that's going to be an intriguing part.
What led to the comeback and what eventually turned into that third quarter
as Iowa ran away from LSU in the Elite Eight,
it was Hannah Stulke, who is not a traditional post player.
She was in foul trouble.
They went to their traditional post.
And Addison O'Grady, who most all of us thought was going to be a starter this year,
she wasn't, didn't average much throughout the course of the season.
She was excellent defensively, made a couple of shots,
had a good short jumper from about 12 feet away. She can do that. She she did it a year ago and that's why we thought we were going to see her
more this year that's going to be a component to this one too is iowa if all trouble crops up or
if just the game plan isn't working do they need to go back to the traditional because that's what
i keep coming back to mark is is edwards inside concerns me i think even more than beckers i think
we both feel that probably c Clark's going to get hers.
Paige Becker's going to get hers, right?
It's the other ones.
And when we continue here on this crossover edition, we're going to talk a little bit
more about that.
We'll get into our keys for the matchup.
Talk about how we anticipate this thing's going to play out and we'll eventually get
to prediction time as we count down a tip off.
It is the final four and we got you covered here.
Locked on UConn and locked on Hawkeyes as we continue.
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All right, back with you once again here on the Crossover Edition.
It is Locked On Hawkeyes and Locked On UConn.
I'm Trent Cotton.
He's Mark Zanetto.
And Mark, all right, keys to the game. I told you
maybe my biggest concern
is Edwards inside. We saw
Angel Reese. We go back to the upset
win a year ago against South Carolina. Yes,
Iowa won the game behind a
Herculean effort from Kaitlyn Clark
and a 40-point triple-double. However,
they got doubled up on the boards in that one.
So Edwards inside, that's
a big concern there for me
and the style of play defensively,
the physicality that they play with.
I took a look at some of those advanced numbers
individually for each of the players for UConn.
I was blown away.
I mean, I can't remember seeing a team
that is that good defensively.
I think this is just going to be so different
on that end of the floor compared to what I was seeing.
How about you?
What concerns you most when you go from the opposite viewpoint?
Yeah, I'm concerned that we're going to be so focused on Caitlin Clark.
What happened with the LSU game happens to UConn.
You had Sydney, a falter, averages 16, only had eight, but it was Kate Martin.
Hannah Stolke had bigger games.
You know, Kate only averages 12. She had 21 against LSU. averages 16 only had eight but it was kate martin hannah stulkey had bigger games you know she kate
only averages 12 she had 21 against lsu can she repeat that performance i think she can uh hannah
stulkey same thing she only averages eight points she got 14 against lsu so i feel like sometimes
when the focus and this is just human nature right whether you're playing health defense you know you
mentioned some advanced metrics it doesn't matter how much you coach
prepares you for what you're going to see when you're in that moment when the pressure's on
and you're playing help defense or whatever maybe you leave people open that you normally wouldn't
because of the you know the impetus to kind of stop caitlin clark so she's such a presence that
i hope that gino has them locked in to hopefully stay at home when they need to to not get beat
back door the way she likes to catch folks on passes
because she's such a great passer.
So to me, that's the key is it's okay if Kaitlyn Clark gets her average.
She's averaging almost 30 a game.
That's fine.
If she goes for 40 and the other folks on her team have plus games,
if you will, then Connecticut's in trouble
because just based off of the amount of
players they have healthy i just i just i'm worried that they're gonna run them out of the
gym that's that's my concern is just just the the healthy bodies i know gino's gonna try to stop you
know stop play every once in a while make some kind of take some healthy timeouts versus gonna
talk over things just to kind of let them catch their breath. He did that against USC a few times. But on the opposite side, do you feel like
the women I mentioned, right? Whether it's Kate Martin, whether it's Hannah Stolke,
I think Sydney Falter will end up having a better game than she had against LSU.
Do you think those two girls will have a bigger impact in this game,
or do you think they're going to be around their same average?
So when you talk about Kate Martin, she's another one of the seniors on this squad. And
Kate is a beloved figure. They call her the glue. Her aunt is actually the top assistant coach. And
since she was a little kid, always wanted to play for Iowa, though she grew up on the wrong side of
the river over there in Illinois, but always wanted to be a Hawkeye. And she is just that and whatever they need, if it's a big rebound,
if it's a defensive stand, if it's a steal, a block, whatever it is, Kate Martin's that kind
of player. So she's what do you always know? You're going to get something out of maybe it's
not going to be scoring in this one. You're going to get something for me, really the X factor,
this team. And we touched on a little bit earlier with the Molly Davis injury is Sydney a falter.
She's Chicago tough. Don't let the blonde hair fool you. She has toughness to her. She's 5'11", but she plays like she's 6'1". She's got this ability. Not only can
she knock out down shots from the outside, really good off the bounce. She can do those kind of
things. The moment's never too big for her. So Affolter's beat would be the one that I would
definitely look at. And she has changed this team.
And really, it's made me believe because throughout even February, I didn't think this was a team
that was even going to get back to the Final Four.
I just I had my questions about this squad and a Folter being inserted into the starting
lineup because of her inside outside nature.
They become a better defensive team with her on the floor.
That has given me the hope.
So a Folter would definitely be the one
that I'd be looking at what she can do.
Stolke's interesting because when she's at her best,
she had a 48-point performance earlier this season
at Carver Hawkeye Arena.
Then a week later, Kaitlyn Clark had to break her record
and score 49 because that's what Kaitlyn does.
But Stolke is incredibly fast.
She's not your traditional post.
She's 6'2", but she is super athletic super athletic super fast beats teams up and down the floor that's what she did against Angel Reese
that is when she is at her strength is moving with it but she's still a young post player and
you know what happens there reach you lean those arms over a little bit those kind of things and
that's a concern with her but she can get going at a high, high level. And if she does, and if that screen and roll game is working with her
and Caitlin Clark, who look out because you can try whatever you want defensively.
But if that's working at that kind of level where a we're going over the world, going over the
screen every single time, we're making it hard on Clark, not letting her shoot, but you're not
getting back on Stolke. She can beat you a lot of times. Yeah, no, I agree there.
I really do think Aaliyah Edwards needs to be on her game.
And that's where going back to not having, you know,
backup for her, Ice Brady is a freshman.
She's 6'3".
She's more of a power forward than I'd say a 5.
And even Aaliyah is more of a 4 too,
but she's kind of playing as the 5 because of the necessity.
But she's still a fantastic post player six three she is an
absolute tank down low um i think she is going to have a similar effect that angel reese had in
terms of on the boards i don't know she'll get 20 but you know i think that that's part of her game
uh for them to watch out for for the hawkeyes to watch out for my my biggest i mentioned her
you mentioned who who could be an x factor on
uconn i don't think even defensively ice brady gave uconn believe seven points off the bench
against uh usc and she's not an offensive threat so if they can get contributions like that from
ice who's six three she's a freshman what's the old saying when you're a freshman you're you're
you're dumb enough to not know what's going on and you're you're not smart enough to to understand the moment and i don't
mean that in a in a derogatory way you know fresh freshmen just don't know what they don't know we
have a few of them who are just ice water in their veins and her name is ice right i mean that's the
cool maybe one of the coolest names of all time um she is she will be ready to rock um i expect a a workman-like performance from her or workwoman's
like performance i'll change that and uh and i'm looking forward to to the matchup just because
there are so many different storylines that you could go with i i you know page versus caitlin
but the the teams themselves i just think they're both all of the I feel like all of the folks that we've mentioned today
want to put their implant imprint on this game so it's not just about Caitlin and Paige yeah
you know it's it's interesting what it's morphed into because I'm sure we both remember the game
the NCAA tournament when about four three years ago when they're both freshmen and and the build
up that was building then and most everybody said that Paige Beckers was just the better player and
she was at the time I don't think there's any doubt about then, and most everybody said that Paige Becker's was just the better player. And she was at the time.
I don't think there's any doubt about it.
And,
and injuries have changed that,
but we know what a competitor,
both of these young women are.
I mean,
that,
that is what has driven them to this level.
Has there been talk though,
in your guys,
the circle out there about Gino,
not recruiting Caitlin Clark or not at the level,
because I know she watched,
he watched play for games at the circuitsau grassroots circuits you know obviously saw her play and i can
understand with beckers coming in just don't think that they can they can work together but
has there been much of that talk like hey gina what were you thinking there no there hasn't and
i think mostly because in in this is in a hopefully your your fans don't take this as a
sign of disrespect because i we i feel like we all respect caitlin clark i think she's done an
amazing thing for the women's game she's elevated to a point where you know they're leading sports
center and and and having all of this notoriety um i think the issue that i would have with some of those comments, not from you,
but just from people that are like, well, he didn't recruit her. It's hard to know what's
going to happen four years from now in the moment, right? You had a recruit in Paige Becker,
so you felt like it was going to be your next Diana Taurasi, next Brianna Stort. Unfortunately,
it hasn't worked out for Paige the same way because she's been saddled with injuries.
So it's kind of a bit of revisionist history. So there really hasn't been any of that. I think
one thing that you can always count on from the Connecticut faithful is, I did a show about this
the other day, Trent. It's like the national media has started to anoint women's college
basketball. It's like, well, we've been doing it since 1995. It's like, welcome to the party.
We've been around for 40 years talking about women's basketball.
Where have you been?
So you're not going to hear any of that stuff from us.
We respect Caitlin Clark and respect the women's game.
Going to be fun, no doubt about it, as we get ready for tip-off here tonight.
We'll continue here on this crossover edition,
Locked On Hawkeyes and Locked On UConn,
and we will break things down a little bit further.
Give our predictions for the game as we break it down.
It's UConn and Iowa tonight in the Final Four.
Winner will get South Carolina.
We'll also talk about that as we continue here on this Lockdown crossover edition.
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All right, Trent and Mark back with you one final time here on this crossover edition, Locked on Hawkeyes and Locked on UConn.
So as we get ready for the predictions, Mark, one thing, the tempo I think
is going to be the biggest part of this. I anticipate UConn doesn't want to get in a track
meet because of their lack of depth coupled with that's the way and the style that Iowa plays.
We've seen a couple of teams try it. We've seen teams be successful at it. And this is another
difference with this Iowa team. In the past, if you were able to dictate tempo against Iowa you were going to beat them I was
been able to win some grinded out type of games against kind of those physical teams back in the
second round of the tournament this year West Virginia did that and they were able to to find
a way to escape K-State earlier this season there's teams that have been able to do that and
and that is a difference but that's got gotta be at the top of the whiteboard, right? Dictate tempo for you, Ken. Yeah, a hundred percent. There's I'll go even a step further is
Yukon. They got down early to USC. They went on, it was a game of runs. They, they answered USC's
early lead with a nine Oh run of their own to pull even. And then when a subsequent eight Oh run
on the second quarter and build a six-point lead against USC.
Gino called a timeout because of the tempo got too fast.
Yeah.
Because he's got to be mindful of the fact that he's only,
I hate to keep saying it, seven healthy players, right?
So he knew that his team needed to regroup.
And it's the last thing you want to do as a coach when your team has momentum.
So it is a very weird, counterintuitive way that he's trying to manage these games and that is 100 as soon as you said
tempo you basically set me up for it because that is 100 going to be if yukon is able to pull this
off it's going to be because the game was kept in the 70s at tops, maybe low 80s. If you look at some of their wins, they beat USC 80-73 in the tournament.
They won 72-64 against Syracuse.
They won a rock fight against Duke in the Sweet 16, 53-45.
So they can play whatever pace you want,
but they definitely don't want to get into that back and forth with Kaitlin in Iowa.
Up and down the floor. That's going to
be a huge one. Two other numbers I want to get your perspective on. So I saw three point rate,
just in terms of number of percent percentage of possessions that they take a three pointer,
not real high, like in two 60 range, something like that. But usually when you see teams like
that, their free throw rate is really high. That's not the case either. So is it because
we know the mid range game, obviously a page is incredible. Is not the case either. So is it because we know the mid
range game, obviously a page is incredible. Is it a lot of that? Is it because maybe they use
the mid range more than most college basketball teams do? Yeah, I think that's true. I think,
I think the, uh, I also think we don't put fatigue up on the list as, as the biggest reason why some
of these free throw numbers dip. I mean, at I mean, when they were trying to ice that game against USC,
they missed seven straight free throws at the end of the game.
They were up 12, and most UConn fans, including myself,
were sitting there going, all right, they're tired.
We're probably going to still win this game,
but can we make at least one of two every time we go to the line
just to kind of keep them at bay?
So that could be something to watch at the end of the game.
If Iowa is down and they do
have an opportunity to get back in if they do foul or they're they're trying to kind of scramble to
back get back in the game there could be a moment where we're looking at that because if you look
at the numbers page is an 84 free throw shooter alia edwards is 75 ashland shade is 91.3 so
these are these are really good free throw shooters so but when you're playing
38 40 minutes the entire time you're not sitting that weighs on you uh so that could be part of it
i also think they're they're a team that just found their identity as they went through this
this lineup change and when you have three point guards on the floor point guards typically you
know your traditional point guards aren't traditionally your best shooters, right? They're, they're typically people who facilitate. So you have
three point guards that are trying to facilitate for everybody else. So who shoots, right? So I
think that's part of it too. There's maybe a little indecision with roles. So while that lineup has
worked, you're still playing people out of position. Hawkeyes versus Huskies before our
thoughts on this game.
There is a game before it. It is NC State. They've been giant killers. You saw them earlier this year
when they got an 11-point victory against the Huskies against South Carolina, who we, of course,
saw a year ago in the Final Four and knocked them off an undefeated streak there. I think NC State
keeps us close. They played so well against the top level competition. Maybe that's more the hope that anything that regardless of who gets there,
they'll be pushed a little bit in this one. I like NC State and the points, at least in the
11 and a half. What do you think we're going to see in game one? Yeah, no, it's a great one.
There's a lot of weird stuff happening with NC State, right? For the women and the men
coming into the tournament. So it's hard to bet against
destiny um when you're talking about nc state and the wolf pack in north carolina i know they're
calling it the law of the wolf um i don't know if you can you can bet against them but south
carolina is a juggernaut i think don staley has that group and in a good position. They beat us earlier in the year.
We're not the same team we were then.
I think we're obviously a little bit more cohesive with this seven-girl lineup.
I really think that NC State is going to keep it close.
I'm with you there, but I think South Carolina pulls it out in the end.
I think we're on both sides on the same one of that one.
Will we be on the same side of this one?
Huskies versus Hawkeyes.
What do you got on your side, Mark?
Yeah, I'm going to be a homer because I do truly believe
that a healthy Paige Beckers is the better all-around player
than Kaitlin Clark.
So I apologize to all of your Iowa fans.
I love Kaitlin.
I think she's fantastic. I hope she goes on and has an incredible career in the pros,
makes millions of dollars, and transcends women's basketball. But Paige was the queen before she lost her crown. And I think this is a moment where she can take that crown back and maybe
fulfill her destiny of winning a national championship
with UConn and winning their 12th title. First things first, I think UConn wins this game in a
very close game. I'm going to say UConn 78, Iowa 75. So throughout the week, I flip-flopped. I
hate flip-flopping. I like to have an opinion, have a thought, have a pick and go with it. And I
haven't been able to throughout the course of the week. There's some days I talked myself into,
I would not just win the game. They win it by double digits because we've seen those moments
where Caitlin is just the best player on the floor and transcends and does those kinds of
things. And then I come back and I talk about what G Gino is going to do game plan wise,
what this team is defensively and how Iowa probably hasn't seen a defense quite like this coupled with a team as talented offensively. I've been back and forth.
I've been all over the place. I call this my emotional hedge because yes, I will bet on it
and FanDuel. I will take UConn to win the game and they do dictate pace 74, 70 Huskies get the
victory. I'll play a little bit on the money line. It's plus 132 right now as I look at the FanDuel app.
So plus 132 on the Huskies.
Talked to some of my people in the desert earlier today.
They said they're seeing a lot of steam on Iowa from some of their sharper players out there.
So that's what interesting.
And three and a half across the board right now out in Vegas.
Yeah, I was about to say it's jumped a point.
I think the opening line
was two and a half.
But then if you look at,
you know, whatever
you want to consider
ESPN analytics,
their BPI, whatever.
Yes, it's about 60, 40 on Yukon,
which is surprising to me,
but I get it.
The defensive analytics
will tell you that Yukon
should should stop
Caitlin Clark to a certain extent.
But as I had a guest on earlier on a different
show he said vegas never ever accounts for it uh whatever that it is you know you know there's a
place for analytics but when it comes down to we get down to and i'll shout out kenton gibbs
locked on wolfpack um from from our from our So yeah, he's right.
There is never a moment where you can account for that it factor.
And Caitlin has it.
Paige has it.
Which supporting cast is the one that steps up is going to be the difference in the game.
No doubt about it.
Well, looking forward to it.
We're a few hours away.
Get this out there for everybody.
Have a chance to take a look and get ready for a late night of basketball, UConn and
Iowa. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes and Lockdown UConn your first listen every day. We'll
talk to you again. We got instant reaction coming. I'm sure Mark's got you covered. He's got a couple
of teams to worry about with the Final Four. Mark, been fun. We'll talk again soon. Take care, man.
Thanks.