Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Pt 2 - Iowa United forward Matt Tiby joins the show to discuss life, basketball, and rescue animals

Episode Date: May 7, 2019

Former UW-Milwaukee forward and Urbandale, Iowa native Matt Tiby joins the show to talk about his life, career in basketball, and what excites him about playing for the Iowa United. This is a three-part series that started yesterday, is continuing today, and will wrap up tomorrow This is part two! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are listening to the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering the Iowa Hawkeyes for the Locked On Sports Network, hosted by Andrew Wade, editor at DearOldGold.com. Welcome to another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. I am your host, Andrew Wade, editor over at DearOldGold.com, and if you listened to yesterday's episode, you know what's coming today. We have part two of the Matt Tybee interview for the Iowa United, so we're going to take care of a few quick housekeeping items and then jump right into the interview continuation with Matt Tybee. So just a couple of things. If you are tuning in for the first time, or if you tune in, you know, the last couple of weeks, whatever it may be,

however you found this podcast, make sure to like subscribe and review. It helps us out. We love to see the reviews. We love to see kind of what you think of the show. And obviously the more you like and subscribe, the more great content and great features and great special guests we can bring to you on this show. So please do that as well. If you are on Twitter, make sure to follow us on Twitter at LockedOnIowa. Make sure to follow me on Twitter at Wade underscore Andrew. And also follow us on Facebook at LockedOnHawkeyes.

So again, I appreciate you tuning in for the show today. We have another great piece of the interview with Matt Tybee coming right up. And if you aren't familiar with the Iowa United, I'm assuming that means you haven't listened to the show before. So make sure to go back to our previous episodes. We had Matthew Crawford, the general manager of the Iowa United on the show twice over the last month to talk about the creation of this team and kind of what it means for the state of Iowa and what their purpose is.

You know, they're playing for the Veterans organization, and they're playing in the basketball tournament, a $2 million winner-take-all tournament. This team is comprised of Drake, Iowa State, Iowa, and UNI players, and Matt Tybee of UW-Milwaukee. He is a Urbandale, Iowa native, so it just makes sense to have him on the team, and he's going to be a great asset being a 6'8 power forward who can also shoot the three and plays outstanding defense so you're going to learn a

little bit more about him today on part two of our interview with matt tybee on the lockdown hawkeyes podcast so let's jump right into it right now i will honestly admit i tried to learn how to say your team's names and maybe i can try it just as kind of a joke but do you actually know how to say your team's names yeah yeah for sure all right let me try the turkey one okay Demir and sat Bukamisi no so we have a different sponsor now it's a university which is a way easier but a university here, probably like 15 minutes away, not even. And then the city's name, which my wife, her dad works with someone who is from Turkey and gave us like the insight and the details of how to say it before we even went over there. So like everyone was so surprised. But it's called Buccekmece.

to say it before we even went over there so like everyone was so surprised but it's called you check my j there there's wow there's seas days it's it's crazy it's like it's like latin and french like driven of the language out here so like in you know it's it's it's crazy yeah you check my j oh I still can't say it okay interesting all right well what has been your favorite experience playing over in Turkey so far? Favorite I mean they got historical teams like Fenerbahce, Galatasaray, you know, Andalou, Efes. I mean, they got big clubs out here, EuroLeague teams, teams that have been in EuroLeague. They got EuroCup teams.

I think just the big exposure of being out here in Turkey and playing well and playing together is, you know, the biggest thing. Maybe my team hasn't translated, though, you know, playing together well into wins. You know, everyone's got rough years, but at the end of the day, you know, just going out there and, you know, being a professional and doing your job is, you know, what they asked for. And, you know, I couldn't ask anything else for myself,

but the exposure out here is probably the biggest and best thing that I can say for my career. I love it and as far as playing European basketball I know a lot of people who don't really follow European basketball probably don't understand there's a lot of different nuances to the game Josh Young just had his you know kind of asked five questions for the Iowa United last week and he actually mentioned that the game in Europe is more cerebral than the game back in the United States. So I wanted to get your thoughts on what is the game like for you in Europe

versus how the game is in the U.S., and kind of was it a big transition for you? I mean, I think personally you fit kind of the mold of a European forward a little bit more because you can shoot the three. You can also rebound and stuff. But was that transition hard, and what kind of transition were you making the transition was hard because it's it's a different game like it's more like i wouldn't say it's more slowed down because there's you know always fast-paced teams and but it's more like it's really a chess match like it really is like you throw counters you throw different lineups out there

just based on different people that they're starting you never know like uh uh you know last year when i was in belgium we had a better four man also on my team so me and him were switching off every other game or every two games, every three games, just depending on the matchup, really, of who's starting, who's not. It's kind of a mental game, too, because it's like, you know, in in America, it's like you're going to put your best five out there, like no matter what, like you're putting your best five athletes, players out there so you know for the transitioning wise with that that was tough because it's like you know it's like oh i'm good enough like you know you saw me but why why am i not starting but that's something you got to get over it's just just the way it is out here it's you know you're not going to change be like you can't just pout and you know just translate into your game too so that was one big thing another big thing is uh the rules you can hit it off the rim you can you know it's like you

know shooting the second free throw and it's just rolling around you can swipe at it it was you know it's wild because it's like i've never been able to do that before and now to withhold points from others like shoot i'm gonna do everything possible to try to hit that ball that was one and then the one last thing is like the movements like in america you're like able to use like your if your pivot foot is your left foot so that's planted and you're jabbing with your right usually in america you can like put your foot right foot down and then you know start it's more of like you have to do a crossover step so like whatever your pivot foot essentially is you kind of do like a crossover or you put the ball down real quick so you can lift up your other leg.

That's kind of like the biggest thing is just the movements and style of play. Interesting. Yeah, I feel like that last piece would be kind of difficult to get right in your brain, especially because you grew up playing one way the entire time. And so it's so fundamental. You don't think about it when you're in the post trying to make those moves, and all of a sudden you try to do that, and you're like, well, this isn't what I'm supposed to do at all.

I've been called for a few travels in my life being over here, so I'm just glad I can finally just calm down and just get it right for a few plays. I love it. Well, hey, man, quick time check. Do you have about five, ten more minutes left? Is that okay for you? I play all the time in the world.

Perfect, man. I just want to make sure. I don't want to take up too much of your time but i've literally only got through a few of my questions and i have a lot of i think stuff i'm really interested in hearing about you and i think the fans will also be interested in hearing about um what i want to touch on the hardest one first because the rest of them pretty pretty easy just kind of stuff about basketball but when i was doing some research on you obviously i one of the things that kept popping up was your graduation at UW-Milwaukee. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And you had a pretty good rant about the culture and environment there. And I just wanted to get the words from you directly from the source. What was that all about? Oh, my goodness. Okay, so, you know, for me, I was young,

but I also was opinionated on the fact that, for me, it was like, you know, we sacrificed so much from sitting out, getting grades up when, you know, we had a good team GPA. And for them to shut down our season, you know, twice pretty much, it took a toll on me because, you know, it's, you know, I gave my heart, I gave my all for the, you know, university, and I would think that the university would have my back on playing and extending, you know, my career. know university and I would think that the university would have my back on playing and

extending you know my career because I you know after that last buzzer went it's like you know I still want to play for the black and gold in in Milwaukee and it's just like what what more can I do for the university to respect me and I felt like I was being disrespected into the essence that like why aren't you reciprocating my energy I put so much energy into you know creating a culture here that people want to be here but yet at the end of the day uh you know the the season got cut early and short and it is what it is. I, I, I thought I went about it the right way, but you know, sometimes you live and learn and, and I was just more frustrated at the fact that, you know, I, I wish the AD, you know,

respected us more in the team more. And I, you know, that's the past and, you know, whatever it is. But, you know, I still stick by it. I'm glad I didn't walk at graduation. I know it probably hurts my parents and family to not see me walk across the stage. But, you know, I had two other seniors my brothers I would consider them didn't walk at graduation also and that's all I really needed is you know some of the other guys to be like you know that and there's a lot of people that were in my corner for the most part but I think I had the bigger platform to

go out and reach out and say you know this is wrong like why is why is this wrong and explain why and you know the way how our coach got fired learning through the ad texting us in a group chat it just didn't settle well with me and i just you know i just kind of i'm i'm the type of person that just you know if i got a problem i'm i'm gonna let you know and uh maybe i don't go about it in the right ways which i'm learning throughout the years that i need to be better at, but, you know, it's a constant betterment of myself. And I'm glad that, you know, I went and experienced through that because now I can help others that have been in my position, maybe not react in the same way I did and maybe have a more, uh, instructive way to go about it. But, you know, I'm doubling down on what I said and what I did. So, no, I love the university.

I can appreciate that. I mean, I'll be honest, when I read the tweet, I was like, man, he was really pissed off. There was something really wrong. And I didn't even think about the other stuff. I was thinking more of, man, they must not have many events on campus or did not give them campus food so like talking to you and hearing that makes way more sense and obviously um you've matured in that process and understood kind of how how to go about it and what the excuse me the right way to go about it is but

it makes you feel any better i mean walking across the stage wasn't really i mean not exactly a highlight of my life yeah i mean it was it was cool't really i mean not exactly a highlight of my life yeah i mean it was it was cool for my parents i guess like you said but i i don't know i mean that didn't really mean much in the grand scheme of my life so but i think obviously you handled everything pretty much the right way and i i i support you now based on what you're saying i'll go with you man that was like – that was like the half of the story. Like there was way more instances. Like we didn't have – we like shared a gym with the, you know, track team,

volleyball team, and like swimming, running with track. Like, you know, it was just chaos always. And it was just – you know what I'm saying? I was just kind of fed up of, you know, we just got like the short end of the stick of how we were portrayed on campus, how we – you know what I'm saying? I was just kind of fed up of, you know, we just got like the short stick of how we were portrayed on campus, how we in, you know what I'm saying? But I'm like I said, I'm I don't care. Like I went about it better and more. Positive manner, but whatever, like it is what it is, it's out there and it's on the Internet. So I I'm doubling it down what it is it's out there it's on the internet so I I ain't gonna I'm doubling it down on it I love it man yeah I just I had to ask you about that I thought that was that was really interesting when you type in you know Matt Tybee that's one of the first thing that pops up and

then I kept trying to find different stuff and that was it just kept popping up I was like well I think I have to ask about this at this point so I'm surprised because it's it's usually my hair or it's because of the graduation post so yeah i thought that's interesting too and i was looking at your uh you're you're watching some of your videos and highlight plays in europe you definitely look like the same person obviously they don't show up very close you don't see your face but like which one well obviously it's the guy shooting the ball but that doesn't look like the long-haired guy you see at UW-Milwaukee. So what was the decision to obviously get rid of that haircut, or what was the decision to even grow that hair out like that?

So I got a bunch of hockey friends, and they're beautiful people. I just love them so much. And they just kind of egged me on to grow it out because I've never done it. Like you see me right now. This was like the longest I would get when I was younger and playing baseball in the summer. You don't want long, shaggy hair. It's, it's hot. It's uncomfortable. You're sweating too much. And, and no, at that time it's just like, when you're young, you're playing sports to,

for whatever outside reasons, maybe to pick up girls or whatever it is. But, you know, I just didn't I never wanted to look like that. I shaved my head always. So they egged me on my freshman year to grow it out. And I was like, you know what, I'm just going to do it. And I just kind of ran with it because for me, it's like, how can I stick out? Like my game's going to stick out. That's, you know, what my mindset was. It's going to, people are going to notice me. But how can I get noticed even more outside of just basketball and my game?

Hair, beard, just, you know, the essentials of just growing some beautiful locks and I had a beautiful head of cabbage man it was beautiful so much lettuce up top so much like I was even on a a website they did like the top 10 uh best hairs in ncaa basketball and i was like number four and like ron baker was ahead of me i was like what is this this is terrible that actually sucks man ron baker was not not not anything special yeah that's what but they got he got the bieber he had the bieber look and he he nailed it though like it's a beautiful look you just have to be that person to like really rock it and he did yeah dang that's that's funny yeah i mean i would create kind of like yeah like the thor like hair i mean like avengers endgame but very thor like his hair

yeah i did i just saw endgame and it was amazing but uh the long hair, everyone, especially for Halloween, they're like, oh, you should go out as Thor. I'm just like, man, no. But I actually braided my hair for Halloween and went out as Riff Raff because he was big and popular. Oh, that's awesome. Did you make fake tattoos on there and like a grill and everything? No, I didn't do the tattoos. I didn't go that far. I got a big old tattoo on my back now. But other than that, I didn't have any tattoos at the time. I was clean, long haired, hippie look. The 70s was rolling back in. It was popular during college. uh college so you know to to fit in that and i kind of led the charge in milwaukee i was like

one of the few guys to have long hair and then all of a sudden i had my teammate i had one of my teammates uh grow out his hair uh during the whole year i had my long hair and then after that senior year i encouraged one of my friends because he's like, oh, I just got long skater hair. And I was like, I want to see it. Grew it out for me. And I like cut my hair short to as low as his was to grow it out so we could go through the awkward stage together. And I mean, I was kind of like a big influence on the long hair. And I still would think that I am but you know you're the trendsetter I I try to be I don't I try to be my own person and my wife loves me for that and she fell in love with me with long hair I know she's kind of disappointed with the short hair but she loves me no matter what

but she fell in love with me when I had long hair at first. So, Oh man, that must be a big disappointment for her then. Yeah, it was. She's like, why would you cut off the beautiful locks? And I was like, I, I'm sorry.

It's got, I had bad energy. I could feel energy. Like it just unwarranted. I just, I needed to cut it, get it fresh, fresh look.

So that's, that's hilarious. All right. And that wraps up part two of our interview with Matt Tybee. Again, another special shout-out and thank you to Matt Tybee. He took time out of his busy schedule right now playing overseas in Europe to talk to us about all things basketball, graduations, cats, you name it. We talked about it on the show.

I think he was a really special guest. He's going to probably be coming back on the show as we get closer to the basketball tournament time. Obviously, I think you fans will enjoy listening to him. He's a big Iowa Hawkeye fan as well, so we can talk about a few things Iowa Hawkeyes in addition to talking about Matt Tipee's professional career and whatnot. And if you haven't gone and supported the Iowa United, please do so. It helps them get into the basketball tournament.

So keep that in mind. They're accepted, but they're not officially in the tournament. So make sure to go and follow them and like them on the tournament.com. That's how they're going to get into the basketball tournament is by you supporting them. And a little bit shout out to you all. If you do that, you could actually win prize money if they win the tournament. And this team they're putting together is pretty outstanding. They got a ton of three point shooters. They got great defenders. They got size. They got speed. They got quickness. They really have it all. And a lot of them come from a European basketball background. After a few years overseas, they understand how to play that team basketball that Tybee was talking about

on the show today. So make sure to go do that and support them for the Iowa United. It's a team comprised, like I said, of all four schools. And I think it's going to be really awesome for the Iowa United. It's a team comprised, like I said, of all four schools, and I think it's going to be really awesome for the state of Iowa. Again, if you aren't following us on Twitter, make sure to do that at LockedOnIowa. Make sure to follow the Iowa United on Twitter at IowaTBT. And if you are enjoying the shows, if you are enjoying the episodes, make sure to like and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at. It helps out our show very much.

So I please, please hope you do that, and I appreciate you tuning in and listening to the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. Have a great day, Hawkeye Nation, and go Hawks! We'll see you next time. you