Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Women upsets #4 USC on Caitlin Clark Jersey Retirement Night, Iowa wrestlers bounce back

Starting point is 00:00:00 On a day that was going to be all about Caitlin Clark, the Iowa women's basketball team did something special of their own. We talked CC, number 22 retired and a big upset today, Locked On Hawkeyes. 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. Thanks for being with us and making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. A very

Starting point is 00:00:39 special day at Carver Hawkeye Arena we're going to get into. Thanks for being with us as we are with you each and every day talking everything going on in the world of Iowa athletics. Super Bowl 59 is here and there's no better way to make every moment more and every play more exciting than with FanDuel Sportsbook. New customers can bet just $5 and if you win, you'll score 200 bucks in bonus bets, download the app, or head to FanDuel.com to get started.

Starting point is 00:01:06 Well, we got a busy one here today as we put the weekend in the books and we kick off your Monday drive in. Of course, a look back at the win against USC, the fourth ranked team in the country, a team that was undefeated at Big Ten Play. And what a performance out of this squad, both the youngsters and the veterans, both stepping up in a big time way.

Starting point is 00:01:27 A lot of great stories to come out of that. Of course, we have to talk about Caitlin Clark and her retirement ceremony that went down. Just so many different angles to this one. And another one of the just incredible scenes at Carver Hawkeye Arena. Though the building is old, and the building needs renovation in the building, certainly isn't much of an environment for men's basketball, there's something special when that women's team is there and something special when Caitlin Clark's in the building, even if she's not on the floor playing the game. And we definitely saw that here this afternoon. Plus we're going to talk a little wrestling at the end. I'll tell you Friday night did a rapid reaction podcast after the loss to Penn State. And boy a lot of discourse going on on the page on the YouTube side of things. If you do watch us on YouTube make sure you hit that like button. Just takes you a moment really does help us with the metrics and getting in front of more

Starting point is 00:02:20 Hawkeye fans more people finding us as we talk Hawkeyes each and every day with you. Just takes a moment again hit that like button or if you're listening on the podcast side, a five star review. I think it tells me I need to talk a little bit more wrestling and the natives are restless. At the very least after that performance against Penn State, we'll talk about the bounce back events in Maryland, which I know doesn't certainly ignite or extinguish those flames that we saw from Friday. But let's get in before we talk about Caitlin Clark and it's very rare that we put Caitlin Clark in the back burner, right, because of her importance to this program, to the state, to women's basketball, to basketball in general. There's a lot of ways to go, but I

Starting point is 00:03:01 believe we need to start the conversation with the women on the floor for the 40 minutes today and what we saw out of them. This was a matchup that was incredibly difficult for Iowa. And as we talked about this game last week leading into it, the matchup did not go very well. You look at, you start with Juju Watkins, who you have to start with, right? And we saw what she did during her freshman campaign, leading USC to a number one seed, a run to the lead eight, where they were knocked off by Yukon in a tremendous game.

Starting point is 00:03:32 We know what a tremendous talent she is. And then you talk about the size that they play with and the physicality of that they are. You saw the shooting display certainly in the second quarter and on the way they can shoot it from the outside. And they can beat you in a myriad of ways. This is a great team. This is a great basketball team and Iowa made them uncomfortable. Jan Jensen, the game plan, the switching defenses, going different ways and what they did on the defensive end of the floor.

Starting point is 00:03:59 It hearkens back to the final four, the first final four for Iowa a couple of years back against South Carolina and that game plan that Fitz came up with about packing the lane, clogging it inside and basically saying South Carolina you got to beat us by shooting the ball and it worked out and Iowa pulled off the upset there and they pull off the upset here. Iowa 12.5 point underdog coming into this game and they took USC from the opening jump. A tremendous game plan. You start with that component to it. Taylor McCabe early on her shooting prowess and Taylor is incredibly talented shooting the ball. She doesn't need a whole lot of room and we know that she's not the biggest player. She's not a tremendous ball handler. She's not great on the defensive end of

Starting point is 00:04:43 the floor, but she is elite at one thing, and that is shooting the basketball. And I thought there were times, especially during the second quarter and into the third, when things were starting to jump back the other way that I thought they needed to get her back out there because they were struggling to find some offense out there at times. But certainly early on, getting that early jump in the game, Taylor McCabe was a huge, huge part of that. Really liked her game and what she can do.

Starting point is 00:05:07 And she's added more. She's not just that spot up shooter. She's added more versatility to her game. So after jumping out to that early lead, it's 18 to four after the first quarter. Here comes USC, the back the other way. And it all culminates at the halftime buzzer, Juju Watkins with the steal and the run out.

Starting point is 00:05:27 And they take the lead in the locker room. And I'll tell you, just as a fan watching that one, you felt down, right? You had this opportunity, you felt even when they're jumping out to the 18 to one lead, 18-4 after the first quarter, you still felt that they left something on the table, right? That that lead should have even been bigger. Was it 23 to four, one point, something like that?

Starting point is 00:05:49 And it felt like it should have been more. That they missed opportunities to build on that lead. And then here comes USC roaring back and culminating with that one. And then the third quarter, as USC was just starting to build the lead a little bit more. It wasn't a non-slot, but they were making some plays, Watkins started to get a little bit hot.

Starting point is 00:06:09 And you saw that it felt like that boulder was rolling down the hill, and there wasn't going to be any stopping it until there was. Three minutes left, Iowa gets down their biggest. It's 47-41. And then it was a little bit of everybody. It started with Hannah Stulkey. And actually, after she had to exit after those back-to-back fouls on back-to-back possessions with her fourth, we didn't see Hannah back in the game

Starting point is 00:06:35 again. But during that stretch as they were starting to come back and starting to chip back into the game after that six-point deficit, she was a part of it. And then into the fourth quarter. And this one will be remembered for a lot of people, not just about 22, we'll get to Caitlin. Not just about what we had, the ceremony and everything that went along with it. It's gonna be about Lucy Olson. It's not fair to call Lucy Olson season a disappointment.

Starting point is 00:07:06 But I think there were people that probably expected more. It's been up and down. It hasn't been as consistent. She has delivered and she's stepped up. Look, the Big Ten in women's basketball is much better than the Big East, and you're seeing that. It was incredibly difficult circumstances, walking in and having to take the reins from Caitlin Clark and she's done an admirable job.

Starting point is 00:07:27 Also remember she had a pretty significant injury that cut that she sustained when they were on their exempt tournament down south. So she's kind of working her way back from that. And to play like she did at the end of the third quarter and into the fourth quarter, it was absolutely amazing This was the Lucy Olson. I think we thought we were gonna see all season long I thought we haven't got that we still got a pretty good player and has been really really good for them. Um A couple other things it wasn't just Lucy Olson. How about Addison or Grady?

Starting point is 00:08:00 had to come in because of Stolke with the foul trouble and had to come in because of Stolke with the foul trouble. And Addison was ready to go. And it wasn't just a couple of great cuts, good catches and the finishes that she had. How about that jumper from the free throw line? Just an absolute beauty. One of the things that she's really good at is that mid range jumper. They drew one up for her in one of the losses earlier this season after she'd been hitting them all game long. It just went off the iron. That's going to happen happen But she was ready there and hit a big one as a team in the fourth quarter You know, this was not USC playing poorly. That was another part that I thought was incredible This was not just USC collapse. They wilted they fell apart

Starting point is 00:08:36 the pressure was too much for now you See played pretty well in the fourth quarter. I Would just play better. I would goes as nine of 14 from the floor, seven of seven from the free throw line. Only one three point attempt in that fourth quarter, they were getting to the rim, they were moving the ball, the assist numbers were immense in that fourth quarter, they were sharing it, showing toughness,

Starting point is 00:08:58 showing everything that you wanted out of this group. Speaking of toughness, Sadiaia Fulcher again, just a tremendous effort. Five steals in the game. She was so good defensively getting after the boards, getting Iowa extra possessions, the offensive rebounds, the rebounds in general, the toughness that she displays. Cyndia Fulcher is not the elite offensive player, but as a defender, as a tough lady, she has all those things. She is south side tough. She brings that every single night and I think we're starting to see her starting to build herself after that surgery into probably the city of Folter. We thought we

Starting point is 00:09:34 were gonna see all season long. One final note. Wanna bring up Kylie Fierbach. And Kylie Fierbach has not developed offensively probably the way that we hoped. However, other defensive end of the floor, what she did defensively against Juju Watkins, there was some numbers out there and I can't remember exactly what they are offhand. I thought I had liked it on Twitter, but I can't find it. Regardless that when Feerbach, when they were in man, when she was guarding Juju Watkins, Juju was 0 for 6 from the floor.

Starting point is 00:10:06 If that's true, if I have that correct, and whoever had that number, I tip of the ball cap to you for fighting that regardless. That's how it worked. Juju Watkins is a star. She's an absolute stud. This USC team is really good. And Iowa got a signature victory.

Starting point is 00:10:24 Iowa got win number one against a Quad One opponent. You start there. But beating a team like this, beating a USC team, that's going to be there. A USC team that at minimum is going to be a top 10 team going into the NCAA tournament. This is something that is going to help that resume immensely. And they got it done. Credit to the team. What a performance here. Mention basically everybody on the team because it was a team effort. How about the freshman Shremlo when they were struggling against the pressure Guyton coming in a couple of times. Mulaney. All the

Starting point is 00:10:57 freshmen that came in and played really well. Iowa gets it done. Gets that signature victory and and what a performance it was. For 22. On February 2nd to honor 22, it was a good one. We're gonna talk about Caitlin Clark and what we saw, the ceremony that unfolded. Plus, we got some wrestling talk and maybe a little football at the end. It's a busy one. We got a lot to get into here after Iowa pulls the big upset over USC

Starting point is 00:11:25 Let's talk Caitlin Clark as we continue locked on Hawkeyes Today's episode of locked on Hawkeyes is brought to you by fan duel Super Bowl 59 is here one game two teams Endless possibilities and there's no better way to make every play more exciting than with FanDuel Sportsbook. Whether it's predicting the first touchdown, calling the MVP, or even betting on the coin toss, FanDuel makes it easy to get in on the action. With live betting all game long, you can adjust your bets as the game unfolds and feel the thrill from kickoff to the final whistle. And live betting feature now lets you stay involved

Starting point is 00:12:07 no matter what happens on the field. In the app, it's super easy to navigate. Plus knowing that you can place a $5 bet and potentially win $200 in bonus bets for the Super Bowl, that's the icing on the cake. Download the app or head to Fandual.com to get started. Bet just $5 and if you win, you'll score 200 bucks in bonus bets. That's FanDuel.com.

Starting point is 00:12:29 Bet with FanDuel, official partner of Super Bowl 59. Trenkana back with you once again, Lockdown Hawkeyes. Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Hit that subscribe button while you're watching on YouTube or a five-star review helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. As we continue here, Lockdown Hawkeyes, let's move the attention to Kaitlyn Clark. And you know looking back,

Starting point is 00:12:58 Kaitlyn, her career, for people that have followed me in my career radio-wise, I called a number of Caitlin's games in high school. I called of her all of her tournament games, state tournament games. Didn't have those as a senior as they got upended by Sioux City East in the regional final her senior year, but called a bunch of her games. I knew her game incredibly well, saw the highs, saw the lows and everything in between. And I've known about this young lady for a long time and the buzz that started, I live in West Des Moines. So also heard about her growing up

Starting point is 00:13:33 and then to see the way that her career unfolds. Also people that follow the podcast know that have a close connection to the women's basketball program. I've followed the women's program for a number of years and because of that, I'll be honest, I never thought Iowa women's basketball would turn into what it is today. And regardless of what Caitlin Clark became, it just felt like that there was a certain glass ceiling that they were never going to be able to break through. Good team, fun to watch, they score points, but that was it. And what Caitlin talked about after her commitment to Final Four in Iowa, I was one of the people that scoffed. And she talked about that today. And the people that believed were Caitlin Clark

Starting point is 00:14:25 and Lisa Bluter. And that's what you had. And in a day where Lisa Bluter is hanging out, that's a David Letterman. We go back to a season ago, and Nolan Ryan's hanging out in the stands with his grandchildren. And just the celebrity that we see at Carver Hawkeye Arena. I was there.

Starting point is 00:14:42 I was in the building with the curtains drawn. I was there with good basketball teams, successful basketball teams that would struggle to get the building a third full. And here we are today and seeing the environment, seeing the elation, seeing and hearing the way the crowd reacts seeing my kids

Starting point is 00:15:12 who are five and nine my daughter nine years old and The excitement that came out of the final minute of the game to see my son who's five little boy and explaining that There's never been a better Hawkeye than Kaitlin Clark and he the kid nailed it there hasn't been for a basketball player to do what she's done accomplish what she's accomplished and yet doing it with flair, doing it with grace, and changing the game, changing the way that we look at a complete sport. People bring up the Tiger Woods comp all the time.

Starting point is 00:15:57 Tiger Woods and how he changed golf. And he changed it in terms of access for a number of people. That's a great thing. But go back and look at the TV ratings for the Masters when Jack made his run in 1986. Take a look at what the Masters numbers were. They increased, but they still got good TV ratings. Women's basketball was an afterthought. Women's basketball was low on the totem pole and

Starting point is 00:16:27 Caitlin Clark and Caitlin Clark alone Changed the way that women's tell of basketball is now televised The way that people are engaged in this I Think you're gonna see a huge huge number that's gonna come out of this game a game where Caitlin Clark doesn't even play But you got a great game. You got a big upset. You got one that came down to the wire. Then on top of it, you had people waiting to watch Caitlin Clark have her jersey put into the Raptors.

Starting point is 00:16:56 And that's all this was. Wasn't a three-point shootout afterwards, right? She wasn't going to go out there and do something actually as a basketball player. It was her jersey being raised. And for you fans that have been there from the start, for the people that have followed this program over the last 25 years, 35, go all the way back to see Vivian Stringer, and to see what it is today. It is unthinkable.

Starting point is 00:17:32 She has accomplished something that nobody could have imagined. With the ponytail flopping, and going up and down, and bringing all the elements that she did, we have been incredibly lucky to see her. We're going to see her again as the Brazilian national team is going to come in for an exhibition game before the WNBA season. And that'll be great.

Starting point is 00:17:57 It'll be incredibly cool. And she talked about that as well. But to think that Fox put this game on, Fox then stayed with it, Fox was there all the way through because they know this is different. They know that she is different. We got to see it. We got to watch it for four years. As Hawkeye fans, we got to see greatness unlike anything we've ever seen before. Nobody at any walk has done something at this point

Starting point is 00:18:34 in the sports landscape like Caitlin Clark. And we got to see it. I thought it was incredible as well because that's the kind of person that she is. She's so thoughtful. And she thinks outside of just the surface level. And at times is it calculated? I think so. But somebody of the stash of Caitlin Clark, you have to be calculated.

Starting point is 00:18:56 You have to think about those things. But for her to bring up the players in the past that wore that number and talk about the other 22s and getting to the point that it was. And I just thought it was something that didn't have to be said, but it was. I mentioned seeing Coach Bluder there on the baseline with David Letterman, just wild. A couple seats down, there's Kate Martin and Gabby Marshall, and Kate Martin enjoying the cone, Carver cone. It's just, it was a tremendous day. And it's the kind of day that makes you wonder about this program. And you know, another thing, past Caitlin Clark, I had this thought as I was going through and trying to find how does this momentum continue? Because it was a huge

Starting point is 00:19:47 recruiting weekend. They had some of the top prospects in the country. Jenica Lewis from here in central Iowa is a top ten player. And I don't have the list in front of me. Huge group of prospects though. Matt Harpering's daughter who's the number one player in the country for her class of 2026, big prospect from Kansas City. They had the who's who of college basketball there. Addie Deals, who was already committed and signed, she was there. The who's who of high school basketball was on campus to watch this. And the question became to me, and this is something that I was thinking about before

Starting point is 00:20:21 the game, is how do we continue this momentum? Because this has been fun. It's been great. And it's great to have something like this be an identity of the University of Iowa and the athletic department. We know we're a trailblazer. The athletic department was for years in women's athletics.

Starting point is 00:20:38 And now having this component and building on the biggest women's sport as it pertains to college athletics, how do we build on it? How do we continue? How do we make sure that this just doesn't become they were elite with Caitlin Clark there, but that was it. It's still a nice program, but that was it. We got to get players. That's where you start. But you have to build on that momentum. And my thought was before this one and the importance of getting this win aside, was I went back and I looked to when UConn basketball was building, right? And they built, made a couple of tournaments with Gino Ariema in the 90s, early 90s, but then they got a player, a generational player,

Starting point is 00:21:20 an elite level player, and Rebecca Lobo. Ultimately, it culminated in her senior year by winning a national championship. But right afterwards, UConn continued to be UConn. They took a small step back. They lost the following year in the final four to Tennessee, and it took them a couple more seasons before

Starting point is 00:21:41 they won another national championship again. It's not to say that Iowa basketball is going to get to the heights that Yukon women's basketball did. However, to be that consistent winner, to be a place that is looked at, you see the way that the Yukon fan base travels. You see the way that they fill the building night in and night out. And that's what you want to see the Iowa women's program become, you got to have success. And you have to follow that success up pretty quickly.

Starting point is 00:22:12 Getting back to the tournament this year is immensely important, I believe. That is something that continues the momentum. And this win today obviously helps make that case. But that win coupled with the young women that were in the building to see that, that's how this thing gets different. This is how it goes from nice program,

Starting point is 00:22:37 can win some games, you'll win 20, get to the tournament, maybe win one or two to what it's been. And then maybe ultimately taking that final step. There will not be another 22, both literally and figuratively. But you get a bunch of players, high level players, now you're talking. That's where the excitement lies about this program and what it can be still. The back-to-back appearances in the national championship game

Starting point is 00:23:11 don't have to be the apex. When you look at the talent that was on campus this weekend, you look at the show that they were given. How about the USC team? Coach Gottlieb having her ladies stay there and watch the ceremony? I think that said a lot about them. But for Iowa going forward, that's another reason this thing, what they did, what they

Starting point is 00:23:38 accomplished on the court could be a whole lot more than just being there to watch Caitlin Clark have her jersey hung up in the rafters. Great day. Absolutely incredible day. Wrapping things up on the other side here, Lockdown Hawkeyes. Iowa wrestling with a bounce back, but some heat out there on the brands. Ziawa, you need to make a move there.

Starting point is 00:23:59 We'll talk about that when we come back. This is Lockdown Hawkeyes. Back with you one final time, Locked On Hawkeyes. I'm Trent Condon. Thanks for being with us as Iowa rolls past Maryland in wrestling 34-9. So after Friday night, I go up, put up the podcast, watched and disappointed with the effort. It just, we know Penn State was a behemoth and they were. And as I talked about in the podcast, I know that a lot of people were frustrated, disappointed, pissed off with the way that they got being handled by Penn State.

Starting point is 00:24:44 I didn't think it should have come as a surprise. Maybe some individual matches and you want a little bit more, but regardless, you just know Penn State's a whole lot better. And as a fan, it's a terrible feeling. And you come back out there and you roll and you get the big victory. You give a pin of 33, got the backup in there. Ayala, after going out there and being one of the few bright spots on Friday night, he gets a break. Estrada goes down at 57, gets a really good wrestler and loses 4-2 to Ethan Miller, who's ranked sixth.

Starting point is 00:25:20 Everybody else wins. Ben Keeter got a nice win over a top 12 kid. It was workmen like doing what Iowa wrestling should do. And this is what they do. But for most of the fan base now it feels like that's not enough. I don't know if there's a realistic path to cut back against Penn State and people throw out the names, Kyle Dake, Spencer Lee, Go Young, Go Different, David Taylor, whatever it is.

Starting point is 00:25:54 I think you couple it with the news that Ross, the outstanding wrestler from Fort Dodge has committed to Oklahoma State and the frustration builds from that. I don't have the answer. And I don't think the right answer personally is just somebody else. Somebody else for the sake of somebody else, I don't believe is going to lead to cutting down this behemoth that is Penn State. It has to be just not somebody new, somebody

Starting point is 00:26:25 innovative, somebody that's going to do it a different way. I got to know how I got to know the game plan behind it. And I know for a lot of people, that's just loser mentality, or happy with mediocrity. That finishing the top four every year is not mediocrity. But for Iowa wrestling fans, it feels that way. And that's where you are. I'm not going to talk you off that because I get it. But it's just another one of those today.

Starting point is 00:26:51 34-9, big victory. However, it just feels hollow after what we saw over the weekend. Well, we will be with you throughout the course of this week. You know, we've got to get some football talk in here. A lot going on. We had a bunch of commitments last week we didn't get into. We're going to talk about that. Iowa also picked up a huge commitment this weekend from a defensive back for this upcoming class, the class of 2025 kid that is finishing up his senior year thought they were going to be done. Not the case. He'll be signed in here coming up this week. So we got that component, something that kind of came out of nowhere. No Iowa needs some help at defensive back at the quarterback position and they found somebody maybe young gonna take some developmental and not a real big kid but still somebody that Phil Parker likes it as we say and Phil we trust as it comes certainly to those defensive backs. So we'll get

Starting point is 00:27:39 into some football talk as well start gearing up for that. We got men's basketball. They'll be back after this long eight day eight day layoff as they'll face off against Purdue coming up on Tuesday. That'll be a six o'clock tip off from Carver Hawkeye as they get back into the swing of things. A lot of rumblings, a lot of rumors about this basketball team and how it's gonna look. People shutting it down, injuries maybe bigger than we thought, transfer portal, coaching changes.

Starting point is 00:28:09 It's kind of like the NBA. Sometimes the rumors and the innuendo and all the craziness, like the trade deadline that we had the NBA of this weekend, sometimes can be more fun to talk about than the actual games on the hardwood. But that aside, we will get into that throughout the course of the week. Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes

Starting point is 00:28:28 your first listen every day. Again, as you're with us, hit subscribe. Just takes a moment and helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Until then, go Hawks.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Women upsets #4 USC on Caitlin Clark Jersey Retirement Night, Iowa wrestlers bounce back

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.