Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Luka Garza wins AP Player of the Year and Fran provides insight on next year's Iowa Hawkeye roster

Episode Date: April 2, 2021

Luka Garza wins the AP Player of the Year, and another Iowa Hawkeye basketball player transfers out of the program. Plus, Fran McCaffery appeared on a podcast and provided some insight into how next year's team will look and how banged up the team was this season. We also provide an update on the name, image, and likeness talks,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 “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% 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.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. 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 on today's show, we're going to be talking a little bit of basketball talk. Fran McCaffrey was on the Doug Gottlieb show. I want to talk about some of the takeaways from that.

And a shout out to Feltz on Twitter for the heads up on that. I listened to it yesterday, or I guess today as I'm recording, and yesterday as you're listening. And I want to talk about some of the takeaways there. We're going to talk about the name, image, and likeness talk as well. Basically, the moral of the story is the NCAA sucks. And we're going to talk about some free agency signings. And, of course, we cannot do an episode without mentioning the fact that Luca Garza was named AP Player of the Year. So that's all the content we're going to cover on today's show.

I did see something that was kind of interesting though, before we get into the show, Luca mentioned that he needed meditation to lean on to be able to mainly just go out there and be myself and not worry about anything else in regards to the pressure he faced coming into this season. And I also happened to see a softball player from Oregon, Haley Cruz also talked about the anxiety of performance, performance anxiety, and how she handled that with meditation and believing and really focusing on what the outcome was going to be before it actually happened. And what I thought was so interesting about that is those are the same principles that is being preached during Frank Garza's Elevate program that you can find on sportshood.net. I went through the level one, level two is coming up at the end of April.

Level one's actually in just a few weeks. You can sign up today to figure out what are some of the things that Luka Garza does to become the player he is today. And you can actually utilize those type of concepts in your personal life. It doesn't have to be on the basketball court. It doesn't have to be on the softball field. It's in your daily life.

You can use these principles to improve your quality of life. So go to sportshood.net. Check out the Elevate program. $125 gets you into level one. Got to check that out. So that being said, let's get into some basketball talk. Luka Garza named AP Player of the Year. The first Hawkeye to be named AP Player of the Year.

And honestly, as we've all kind of talked about, it should have happened last year. He also won the Oscar Robertson Award for the best player in the nation for the AP player of the year he received 50 of 63 votes so not not very close at all I mean um I know there's probably a few people that voted for I there were a few people that voted for Io for Drew Timmy so um regardless fantastic stuff for Luka Garza to finally get the AP player of the year I know it wasn't what he ultimately wanted, right? We know Luka Garza would have rather had a national championship than a National Player of the Year, but it just goes to show you what kind of person he is and how phenomenal of a player he is to be the first Hawkeye to ever win AP Player of the Year. What I think is most impressive about that is the fact that he actually improved most of his statistics across the board. Let's look at that. For example,

played in 31 games last year, 31 games this year actually decreases minutes by half a minute and increases overall field goal percentage from 54% to 55%. Two point percentage dipped a little bit from 58.9 to 58.1%, but he increased his efficiency from behind the arc, hitting 44% of his threes compared to 36% last year. His free throw rate or free throw success went up as well to 70% from 65%. Rebounds dipped about one rebound from 9.8% to 8.7%. Assist total went up half of assist, and steals and blocks were roughly the same.

Personal fouls actually went down, and he increased his points per game from 23.9 to 24.1. Just phenomenal stuff considering there were teams that were double and triple teaming him the entire time he was playing, and especially in the Big Ten where they have some very strong defensive bigs. Putting up that kind of production is just truly amazing. Juwan Howard did win national coach of the year, and he was pretty happy for Luka Garza. He had this to say about Luka Garza. He said, congratulations to winning player of the year. Well-deserved, and I'm happy. I don't need to see him again. He made me have a lot of sleepless nights. Just goes to show you

the kind of respect a guy like Juwan Howard has for Luka Garza. And again, we can't say anything else about Luka Garza other than the guy is just absolutely amazing. We're going to miss him. We're going to miss his family and what they did for the Iowa Hawkeye basketball program as Luka enters the NBA draft to see what his future holds. Want to talk a little bit about some NFL free agency talk before we continue on with the basketball talk.

Actually, let me first back up. Michael Bayer also is transferring as well. Kind of expected. talk before we continue on with the basketball talk. Actually, let me first back up. Michael Bayer also is transferring as well. Kind of expected, probably wants to drop down to probably D2 or even a mid-major school to get some more playing time. Wish him the best, undoubtedly. And then going on to the free agency talk, wanted to cover that a little bit. I know they're kind of jumping from basketball to football, but wanted to make sure we gave you, you know, uh, some good, some good content here. Wanted to make sure we covered that Mike Daniels did go to the Bengals on a one year, $2.5 million deal. Austin Blythe just signed with the chiefs for one year, 1 million. Do you know stone resigned with the Baltimore Ravens for one

year, 780,000 CJ Beathard goes, the Jags leaves George Kittle for two years, 5 million to reunite with a coach that has been on the opposite side of a C.J. Beathard big-time game. Desmond King signed with Houston for one year, $3 million. Going into this season, I really thought that Desmond King could get a lot more money, but clearly his image around the league, for whatever reason, has shrunk a little bit, but should be a good opportunity for him to revitalize his career over in Houston. Casey Creighton resigned with the Giants, and Riley Reif signed with Cincinnati for one year, $7.5 million,

which Riley being there hopefully solidifies that Cincinnati line. Joe Burrow is excited about it and is looking forward to possibly drafting a wide receiver now that he feels comfortable with the offensive linemen that the Cincinnati Bengals have brought in. So that's your movement from an Iowa Hawkeye perspective, the free agents moving around the NFL. And obviously as we get into the NFL season, we'll be making sure to break down Iowa Hawkeye performances. That leads me to my next thing, NFL draft talk.

There's going to be a lot of it coming up over the next couple weeks with the NFL draft at the end of the month. We're going to be having some special guests on. We're going to be talking a lot about these prospects. You know, the NFL draft is probably my favorite thing to cover in all of sports. So you're going to be getting a ton of content here on the NFL Draft. And obviously any news we get in the basketball front, we'll be covering that as well. A lot of roster updates likely to happen over the next couple of weeks. And we're going to cover some of that on segment number two and segment number

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Follow the Locked On Today podcast on the Odyssey app, spelled A-U-D-A-C-Y, wherever or wherever you get your podcasts at if it isn't on the Odyssey app. So let's get into more of the show today. I'm actually going to talk a little bit about name image likeness because that is a hot topic. And there was a hearing by the Supreme Court and a couple of things I wanted to cover. First, we're going to talk about what kind of happened in that. And then we're going to talk about how this could have impacted some of the Iowa Hawkeye athletes.

First and foremost, the NCAA just looked like crap. Across the board this week, the way they've handled things has been absolutely pathetic. First, there was a meeting with some of the players, you know, Jordan, Isaiah, Gio. They met with Mark Emmerich and they had requested to have women there as well. And they declined that. Now there's some conflicting reports there, but basically the NCAA said that they never even received a request to meet with women's players. And Jordan Bohannon responded with an LOL, basically. So I think that just goes to show you that the NCAA is a bit shady and they're not actually looking out for the best rights. And then the arguments they made to the Supreme Court were a bit ridiculous.

They basically, basically the way they said it was that if, if they allowed name image likeness to be a thing, amateurism wouldn't exist anymore. And it would basically create a pay for play system that looks a lot like professional sports. I don't understand how that works, especially considering the fact there's so much corruption in the NCAA today. Are you freaking kidding me? I mean, Tennessee players got cash in a McDonald's bag and we're worried about amateurism at this point.

That's just the NCAA trying to cover their butts. But they have made, the Supreme Court has made a lot of really good points and clearly is showing they're favoring in you know the player's direction uh you know Justice Samuel Alito um heavily leaning towards the now you know the name image likeness a couple of his quotes and what he said really showed that he was very much on that side and was very curious about what the NCAA could possibly do um I think it's a bit ridiculous what the NCAA is trying to do. I don't understand.

They're not asking to be paid by the colleges. They're asking to be able to use their name, their image, and their likeness to be able to profit off of that. For example, Spencer Lee said, you know, excuses are for wussies. All of a sudden there's a shirt and shields with a guy with, you know, the wrestling gear on and it says excuses are for wussies. That's from Spencer Lee. He could have made a ton of money off that. Spencer Lee can make a lot of money off shoe deals. Spencer Lee can make a ton of money promoting

the sport of wrestling. Megan Gustafson could have promoted or made a ton of money while at the University of Iowa. That is just ridiculous that they're not allowing that to happen. One lawyer even said for the NCAA that students wouldn't focus on academics nearly as much if there was name image likeness rights. As if the students have a life anyways, they have so much time invested into the sport, they're doing everything they can to go pro. So they're already investing a ton of time. And if you look at, for example, the Iowa basketball team, there's a ton of kids or

student athletes on that team that are doing really well in school. They're going to continue to do really well in school. Also, I don't even think just because you don't do well in school doesn't mean you're going to be not successful. I think that's also a bad, you know, agenda to kind of set from that perspective. So the NCAA just basically talking in circles around themselves. I saw another thing as well. Jordan Bohannon also said, you know, they don't even get their own jerseys. So when they're playing in a game for all the way up until their senior year, they don't get any of their jerseys unless they buy them themselves.

Those jerseys get resold to other people, and that money goes back to the university. Yes, the university is paying for those jerseys, but are you freaking kidding me? Jordan has to buy his own jersey? Luka Garza has to buy his own jerseys? That's not okay. Why is this okay? To just make matters worse, the USA Today looked at and estimated how much the NCAA has spent trying to battle this. And they estimated that the NCAA has spent over $200 million in legal fees to get to

Wednesday's opportunity with the Supreme Court. Clearly, they're not happy about something. I don't understand why it's such a big deal. I think, in my personal opinion, Mark Emmert's a jerk, and the NCAA is a corrupt organization. And talking about women's sports, there's the arguments being made that this is going to be create more inequity between men and women's sports. Again, only if the NCAA lets it and only if the universities let it.

But this should actually be able to create more equity between these sports. Women are going to be able to be more marketable. They're going to be able to make money off themselves. Why wouldn't they want to do that? It's just, again, the NCAA trying to cover their bust. For some reason, they do not want this to happen. And I guess it could be a slippery slope in terms of paying the players,

but the players are not asking to be paid by the university. They're asking for the rights to their own name, image, and likeness based off what they have personally accomplished. And I don't see why they can't do that. I've made a couple arguments throughout the week. I'm pretty sure you agree with that. The one good thing is after the NCAA backtracked on the fact that they didn't allow women in the meeting, they are meeting with the women next

week. It sounds like Caitlin Clark has been very vocal about it. We've seen, you know, Nas Hillman from Michigan be vocal about it. I love the grouping together of these athletes who are typically competitors against each other, fighting for each other for a common cause. And anyone going at Jordan Bohannon right now on Twitter about, you know, stay in your lane or you don't actually care about Iowa basketball, screw off. The guy is trying to make a difference for so many players that he's not even going to be able to see. He's not even going to be able to necessarily benefit from nearly as long.

He's doing this for everyone else because it's what's right. And good for Jordan Bohannon to stick up for what is right. Good for Geo. Good's what's right. And good for Jordan Bohannon to stick up for what is right. Good for Gio. Good for Isaiah Livers. Awesome to see those Big Ten guys band together to try to make an impact on the NCAA environment. That is clearly corrupt. Clearly not thinking with the best interest of the players. So very frustrating, but nevertheless, what you would expect from the NCAA.

Coming up on segment number three, though, we're going to get into some of the takeaways from the Doug Gottlieb show that Fran McCaffrey went on because he gave some tidbits into what to expect from next year's roster. Before we do that, though, you know I got to tell you about Bilt Bar. Bilt Bar is the best tasting protein bar on the market today. Bilt Bar is the amazing low-calorie, low-sugar, high-protein, high-fiber, amazing tasting protein bar with 100% chocolate on all the bars. But now though, it is time to find out which Built Bar is the best. It is Built Bar Madness. And we finally have our championship bracket. I think it's a little bit ridiculous,

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That is LOCKED15 to get 15% off your next order at BuiltBar.com. And check back to see who won today's matchup and who will become the best tasting protein bar ever. Are you ready for the NFL Draft? Join Locked On NFL Draft hosts Trevor Sikama and Benjamin Solak as they give you their latest positional rankings and analysis on 2021 draft prospects with team-centric guest mocks right around the corner. Follow the Locked On NFL Draft podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast at. and analysis on 2021 draft prospects with team-centric guest mocks right around the corner. Follow the Locked On NFL Draft podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast at. Now, speaking of podcasts, Fran McCaffrey appeared on the Doug Gottlieb Show,

spoke with him for about 10 to 15 minutes, had a lot of interesting things to say. There's really a couple main takeaways. First, Fran is a student of the game and absolutely loves the Big Ten. He had a lot of high praise for Dwayne Washington and EJ Liddell and really praised what they were able to do in the Big Ten. He also got the question about the Big Ten being terrible. And basically his response was, we got nine teams in for a reason. And it's just a matter of fact that the tournament is just a really tough tournament. He even said, you have to respect every single team in the tournament is just a really tough tournament. He even said, you know, you have to respect every single team in the tournament because every team you play is really good. And he made a good point. The NBA goes seven games in the playoffs because in seven game series, typically the better team will prevail. But in a one game winner goes on, loser goes home. It doesn't have to be the best

team. That's why you get some of these upsets. It could just be the team that is really hot. It could be the Oregon who's hitting every single shot they ever took from behind the arc. When you run into teams like that, you lose. So it's unfortunate for Iowa, but Fran McCaffrey respects the process and appreciates what it brings. He also had a couple things to say about Oregon. He said he's probably not thrilled about the fact they played Saturday night and then Monday morning and then obviously playing an Oregon team that was fresh. He also said Chris Duarte, he said that dude is for real. I'm a big fan of his, and Chris Duarte was an absolute beast against Iowa. So just an unfortunate game.

But one of the things I noticed that Fran talked about was how many players were injured. And you look at going to that game, you probably thought C.J. Frederick might be a little injured. Joe Wieskamp might be a little hurt, but they seemed okay. But Connor McCaffrey, two torn labrums, he just got surgery. Joe Toussaint just got surgery. C.J. Frederick is going to get surgery. Aaron Ulis is going to get surgery. Said his name right finally.

Working hard on that. Is getting surgery as well. Jordan Bohannon said his shoulder was hurting him throughout the year. Having shoulder issues all year long. Joe Wieskamp was injured as well. You know, the ankle issue. Wow, this team is really banged up going into the tournament play. Is that a result of how physical and tough the Big Ten is?

Maybe. But it is concerning to think about the fact that Iowa had so many injured guys. They just weren't playing at full strength. And it makes sense why Iowa was struggling a little bit, especially in a game against Oregon, where you need to be on your A game. You need to be bringing your athletic, you know, your most athletic guys to the table. And they were unable to do that. He also talked a little bit about program development. He made a really good point. He said, you know, he was really successful at Siena because he was bringing guys in and developing them within their program so they could win games. But nowadays, if you're really good in a mid-major, now you score 20 points and

10 rebounds, you go into the transfer portal and you go to a high major school so you can get more notoriety versus in the past, you stay at that school and you build a program and that's when you get teams like Sienna who can upset four seeds. So it's, it's, it's interesting that he says that, especially because there was a couple of guys I talked about yesterday that Iowa could be targeting from some of those smaller schools. Now it definitely benefits the high major schools like Iowa more, uh, you know, a lot more, and it definitely hurts the mid-major schools even more. But to me that that was an interesting point that he made and that he doesn't want to develop his program through the transfer portal. He said, I traditionally like to grow and develop players than my program.

He's like, I would rather turn my team over to this group. I want my freshmen to become sophomores, my sophomores become juniors, and so on and so forth. I want them to be able to play their minutes. I recruit them because I believe in them. I believe they can play basketball. And he said he felt really good about all the positions on his team, except for the fact that they absolutely need a post player. And that makes sense. That's not even an indictment of Josh Ogunlele. That is just a fact. They need another guy down low, especially after losing Luka Garza and Jack Nunji. A little bit unexpected on the Jack Nunji front, they need a post player. So despite the fact that he's not happy with the transfer portal,

it is a necessary evil, especially for an Iowa basketball team with three scholarships, potentially four, opening up. I believe it's four. Yeah, three, potentially four scholarships open up. They need to go into the transfer portal and find at least one big and likely another one or two guys, if nothing else, for depth because they definitely need some depth. We've seen this team struggle two years ago

when they were only having eight scholarship players really playing at any given time because a lot of guys were injured. So this is the team that needs to be able to go into the portal, grab a guy or two, whether or not Fran McCaffrey likes it. And again, he even mentioned they're going to be going for a post player.

So expect over the next couple of weeks to hear more about the Iowa basketball team and who they're targeting. I gave you some ideas on yesterday's show, but as we get more information, we're going to definitely let you know about that and how close I was getting those guys and also how that would impact the team. He also mentioned again, Luca is not coming back. He said, Joey's camp is going to go get the feedback, go to the combine.

And then he said, he'll see what happens. So to me, it seems like he has a pretty good idea that Joe Wieskamp is technically going to enter the NBA draft. But remember, in college basketball, you can enter the NBA draft and still return after you get that feedback, especially this year with how some of the deadlines are. So Joe Wieskamp can go in if he doesn't like what he hears. If he doesn't think he's going to be drafted, he can always return to the Iowa basketball team, especially if scouts are like, hey, do one or two of these things and you will be drafted. That gives Joe something to work for in his senior season,

an opportunity to go back to the University of Iowa and potentially lead this team to great heights. We saw what he did at the end of last year, and it was truly phenomenal. I would love to see him in an Iowa Hawkeye uniform, but I'd be dumb if I said I thought he'd be back. I think he is going to go. I think he's going to stay in the draft process, but we'll see what happens there.

And then Fran also said Jordan Bohannon probably won't be back, but I guess he could. And again, a lot of it came down to that name image likeness doesn't seem to be really working in his favor, although he did ask and requested to Mark Emmert that the NCAA adopt a temporary blanket waiver that would allow athletes to make name image likeness deals as allowed under state laws. Right now, six states having NIL laws and two more have it on the governor's desk.

That would impact a state like Iowa who was going to put it up for vote. Not really anymore, but that would be an interesting development to see if Mark Emmert does that for the NCAA and how that would impact J-Bo's decision. Again, J-Bo's decision. Again, J Bo's decision does impact other people like Aaron and Joe. So a lot to come for this basketball squad. Again, we'll have covered right here on the lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.

I appreciate you all tuning in. If you love the show, make sure to follow us wherever you downloaded this podcast app and find us on a Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Have a fantastic Friday and even better weekend Hawkeye nation. And let's go Hawks.