Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Rapid Reaction: Iowa Hoops rolls, Why Saydou Traore is Iowa Hawkeyes' most promising newcomer

Starting point is 00:00:00 Rapid reaction after Iowa picks up their best win of the year. Yes, just win number three. What impressive showing playing without Owen Freeman. How good can this Hawkeye team be this season? We'll break it all down today. Locked on Hawkeyes. You are locked on Hawkeyes. Your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Starting point is 00:00:24 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 making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you find podcasts. You can also watch us on YouTube. While you're there, hit the subscribe button. It helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans.

Starting point is 00:00:48 Today's episode of Lockdown Hawkeyes is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKDOWNCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. 96-77, the final. Iowa gets win number three of the early season, this time against South Dakota. And as we mentioned leading into the game, this is probably the best of the bye games that Iowa's going to have this year,

Starting point is 00:01:11 the best team that they're going to face. And Iowa was able to keep them at arm's distance, doing it without Owen Freeman. And that's where we start. So he's out of the game with illness. Chris Tajot also not able to go, the true freshman. So you went into this game maybe a little bit concerned. One of the strengths of this South Dakota team

Starting point is 00:01:29 is certainly what they are inside. They had a couple of bigs I thought were relatively impressive in this one, and Iowa did a good job playing undersized. Laje Dambali becomes your starting center in this one, and I think that gives us some insight we're going to talk about a little bit later on. Price Sanford inserted into the starting lineup. He was very good in this one. Once again, he continues to flash throughout

Starting point is 00:01:53 the course of this season. But I think you have to start at the top. Getting a win, a quality victory against a team that's going to be competitive in the Summit League, going to be in the top half of the league, likely in the top three this year. I think that says a lot about this team to do it minus Owen Freeman, knowing you're going to have to win it a different way. Yeah, the likelihood you lose to South Dakota is

Starting point is 00:02:11 not very high. I get that. And I don't want to overstate what this is because in the grand scheme of things, this is a win against a bye team. Let's not overrate what this victory was. But for the first time this season, I thought this team showed flashes on both ends of the floor. And yes, there's been flashes in both the games, including the exhibition game, really the fourth game of the season. But this was different. I thought this was a more complete effort. It was what I was hoping for. And maybe one of the bigger aspects of that is the return of Sadio Traore. He's a guy that created a lot of buzz this summer. And as we've talked about, going back to spring and you're looking who's going to be in the portal,

Starting point is 00:02:52 what's Iowa going to be able to do? We know the funds in the NIL account are just not there for Iowa men's basketball. The women's basketball team, they're flush with cash in comparison to many of their brethren. The football program is at least in good shape. But men's basketball is not at a similar level as those two programs, and because of that, Iowa does not have the spending power. They're not able to go out there and spend a million dollars on Hunter Dickinson. Even that next tier of guys, not the top-level guys,

Starting point is 00:03:18 but even that next tier, it's a struggle for Iowa to compete. We see a guy like Grant Nelson leading Alabama a year ago and what he was able to do, what he continues to do this year. Some of the names that Iowa was involved in, it seemed like there was a connection eventually. And it turns out more times than not, lack of funds has been the problem. So Iowa had to go and find a different type of guy. Find, instead of that mid-major star that was making a jump up, Zeke Mayo that's now in Kansas, a guy like that, instead of that player, Iowa needed to find a guy that was playing in a low major. And that's what they found in Sadio Traore.

Starting point is 00:03:52 You see him, he is athletic. You saw it on the dunk. You see a guy that can shoot it. He was a volume player in his freshman camp, played at Manhattan last year, played at the Metro Athletic Conference. He was a guy, though, that you could see there were glimpses. And just the highlight reels of him, watching a couple of ballgames from him this summer, you could see that there was a skill set

Starting point is 00:04:11 with the way Fran McCaffrey coaches offensive basketball, that this could be somebody that was impactful. We got to see him, and I think it was an eye-opener. I think this is something where maybe if it continues to evolve the way I think it has a chance to, they maybe need to reevaluate just exactly how these minutes are going to be divvied up throughout the course of the season. We're going to talk about that a little bit later on and exactly what this is going to look like, what this roster should look like, when everybody's healthy, everything's clicking, and what it's going to be.

Starting point is 00:04:40 Iowa for the game shoots 54% from the floor, 42% from behind the three point arc, 13 of 31 from downtown. And they finish a game, one, a concerning element of this one. They won the rebounding battle, did give up 13 offensive rebounds, 14 offensive rebounds,

Starting point is 00:04:57 excuse me. So that is one, at least I kind of on the concerning part of this one, going through the box score, your offensive star of the game was Josh Dix. He was good all throughout. Iowa came out in the second half after, no, it was a relatively close game

Starting point is 00:05:12 and they were just on fire to begin the second half. Opened it up, got the lead up to about 20 points. And from there, Iowa was able to cruise in to the victory, but it was a lot of Josh Dix. And we've talked about Josh Dix a ton throughout his career. Now in his third season, he just has to be more aggressive. He's such a talented player offensively and on the defensive end of the floor. He's one of their perimeter defenders that

Starting point is 00:05:35 is at least okay. And because of that, he needs to be a guy that needs to be out there hunting shots, not just taking what it's there, but doing that. You saw that a couple of times. There was one step back three ball movement I thought was really good at times out there hunting shots. Not just taking what is there, but doing that. You saw that a couple of times. There was one step back. Three, ball movement I thought was really good at times out there as well. Five and six from behind the arc. 23 points in this one for Josh Dix. Saw him running the point a little bit, and he can do that in the pinch. And speaking of sharing the ball, five assists in the game for Josh Dix.

Starting point is 00:06:00 As a whole, this team really shared it well. 21 assists in 37 made field goals. In the backcourt with him was Brock Harding. Brock Harding hit a three-pointer. Great to see. Need to be able to do that. That is not a strength of his game. He's been shooting, at least knocking down

Starting point is 00:06:17 a couple of three-pointers so far this season. He has to be able to do that. Six assists in the game. We know he's going to pass the ball at a high level. There's going to be the highlight plays as there was on the alley-oop. To Traore, you're going to do that. Six assists in the game. We know he's going to pass the ball at a high level. There's going to be the highlight plays, as there was on the alley-oop. Two Traore, you're going to see that plenty. Five turnovers, though, can't afford that. And the way Iowa plays, cannot have your point guard turning it over five times.

Starting point is 00:06:36 Damballi saw a little bit of everything from him. Eladje Damballi is a player that I believe needs to be the backup at the center position. Evan Braun's in a pinch, sure. But I think Iowa's best course at what we're seeing here this first time out from Traore sees that he needs to get more minutes. He needs to be more involved at those forward positions, the three, the four, however that plays out. And because of that, Damballi, I think, becomes, with it, your backup five.

Starting point is 00:07:04 He was able to do it against a pretty good front line here tonight, so I was impressed by that. Now, there's going to be certain matchups that Laje is probably not going to be able to play a ton at the center position, and you're probably going to need a little bit more out of Evan Bronze, but that aside, speaking of the big guys, how about Riley Moldy? We'll get to that here a little bit later on. So, a lot of good things there out of the starters. Peyton Sanford, for his standards, not great. I mean, two or three from behind the arc, four or 10 from the floor. Had that crazy shot that he flipped up there and find its way in.

Starting point is 00:07:33 He was battling through foul trouble, had four rebounds in the game, but fouled out of the game eventually with about four minutes to play. But again, another one where you're able to win a game comfortably without a one Freeman, without Peyton Sanford going crazy. These are good things for this Iowa basketball team and why maybe they can be just a little bit different this season. So that's a look through the starters, including Price Sanford. Mentioned him, hit a three-pointer from the corner, 3-6 overall from the game. I didn't know if Price was going to be able to find minutes on this team at the level that I think some people thought I was dead wrong on that. He has improved so much. He looks so much more comfortable on the floor. He just looks like he belongs. So there were times last year he looked like a scared freshman. Not the case this year. This is a guy that has put in the

Starting point is 00:08:18 work. You can see the development that he has gone through. We always knew he was a skilled offensive player, but there becomes more to his game. And as I mentioned in the past, watching him at the high school level, a more well-rounded game than Peyton did at this point in their career, a lot of excitement out of Price Sanford as he gets to start here tonight without Owen Freeman. But I think some of the buzz is about the guys off the bench. We talked about Traore, Drew Thelwell,

Starting point is 00:08:42 I thought was outstanding in different stretches of this one. Cooper Koch still struggling with that three-point shot, though he did finally knock one in here this evening. But I saw some things from him that continue to just say he is going to be a big-time player. We're going to talk about the bench and why this Iowa basketball team, I think they have a chance to be different than, and maybe we've grown accustomed to to under Freya McCaffrey.

Starting point is 00:09:05 We'll do that as we continue. This is Locked on Hawkeyes. Today's episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast is brought to you by Game Time. Look, Carver-Hawkeye Arena, yeah, it was a preseason game here. It was a non-conference game. But when it gets busy, when it gets loud, when there's a big opponent coming up, it's a preseason game here. It was a non-conference game. But when it gets busy, when it gets loud, when there's a big opponent coming up, it's a great place to be.

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Starting point is 00:10:38 L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-C-O-L-L-E-G-E for $20 off. Download GameTime today. What time is it? GameTime. Trent Conant back with you once again on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for being with us here today. Hey, hit that subscribe button if you're watching on YouTube, or just go over to YouTube and hit subscribe.

Starting point is 00:11:01 Try to push those numbers up, trying to get over 4,000. We're getting close. Let's see if we can get there by the end of the year. Well, if you're listening on the audio side, five-star reviews as well. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Iowa 96, South Dakota 77. Much more difficult opponent coming up on Friday night

Starting point is 00:11:20 over at the Mark, whatever they call it these days, over in Moline as they'll play one of three neutral court games that they will be playing throughout the course of the non-conference schedule. They have this one, a matchup with Utah State down in Kansas City, and then a matchup with Utah in South Dakota. So that's what's coming up for this Iowa basketball team. Of course, they will have their Big Ten games that happened earlier as opposed to what we're used to normally in January.

Starting point is 00:11:46 They'll be playing Northwestern and Michigan, and the big one against Iowa State, who is in everybody's top ten throughout the course of this one. And that'll be coming up here in just a couple of weeks. Let's get back into it, though. And what we saw, we go through the starters and take a look at some things there. Talk about Traore. He's got athleticism. You saw that on the dunk. saw we go through the starters and take a look at some things there um talk about treyory he uh he's got athleticism you saw that on the dunk he's got a nice looking shot to him he's got the kind of skill set that is very intriguing um i'm not sure how big he is now is he really six eight maybe more six six now does that matter well if you're trying to play power forward in the big 10

Starting point is 00:12:23 and he's not the thickest guy by any means, maybe that could be a bit of a concern with him. Maybe a little bit of a tweener between that 3 and 4, and maybe more on the 3 side. But that aside, really impressed by him, and we'll see. If he's able to give them minutes at the power forward position, who creates a lot of excitement, I think, for this team. Drew Thelwell had a rough stretch during the first half, came back, then had a great stretch

Starting point is 00:12:48 during the second half. And yeah, when you're knocking out shots, everybody's going to look good. When you're passing the ball and the guy hits an open shot, yeah, alright, you get the assist and you look great about that one. But his athleticism, his ability to get to the rim, saw the same thing with Traore. That's what gives you hope about this squad and why they maybe can be a little bit different of this season cooper kotch jr conscious kid he i said it after the first couple of games you can just tell the basketball iq with him is at a really high level this is a guy that just gets it just understands the game and uh really like what we see out of

Starting point is 00:13:23 him hit the three-pointer. That was, no, in fact, did not have a three. He must have been a long jumper that he had. But that aside, finishes the game 3-9 from the floor. But it's going to get there. Really like his upside. Now, they're talking about him and equating him to Robbie Hummel. Let's slow down a little bit on the Robbie Hummel comps.

Starting point is 00:13:44 But I can see it. Maybe a poor man's Robbie Hummel. Let's slow down a little bit on the Robbie Hummel comps. But I can see it. Maybe a poor man's Robbie Hummel at this point in time. But pretty good acclaim there on the broadcast from Jess Settles. And got to mention Riley Mulvey. Getting in there. Guy much maligned. He's a goofball on the sidelines. See, he's got a smile on your face when you're watching Riley Mulvey do his goofy things.

Starting point is 00:14:03 But I go back to two years ago. There was that game against Indiana where Iowa got down, what was it, like 25 to 8 or something like that. Came back and really was the difference between them being an NCAA tournament team and not a couple of years ago in that big comeback victory at Carver. And he played some important minutes in that one. He gave them a little bit. We talk about Evan Bronze. Can Moldy give you four minutes a half? I still wonder. I don't have hope that he's going to turn into some kind of guy that is even a rotational piece, right? Your seven, eight-man rotation that he's out there a ton.

Starting point is 00:14:39 But can he give you something? He hopes so. He's a scholarship guy. He's 6'11". He had dunk, kinda. Had another one. He hustles. He works hard.

Starting point is 00:14:52 Man, you just want the light bulb to go on for the kid, right? You just want it to all start clicking with Riley Mulvey. The mold is there. Can they shape it? Can they find? Can they push the right buttons to get out of them? We'll still see. I don't have high hopes by any means.

Starting point is 00:15:07 I don't think we're going to see an explosion of senior year like Les Jepsen, who looked like he couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time when he stepped on campus from Bow Bells, North Dakota, way back in the day. But that aside, I'm not putting those two together by any means. Can there be something there?

Starting point is 00:15:22 We'll see. And at minimum, he's another big body, and that's not a bad thing to have. A great moment late in the game. In fact, the latest in the game, the final seconds of that one, Jacob Cook throwing one in. Dad was on the squad back in the 90s, and a cool story there. Walk on, get an opportunity late in the game, knocking that one in, a little putback as the final horn was going off. Good little story there at the end of a 96-77 win for Iowa. As we dig through this one, Iowa puts up 1.37 points per possession. That is elite. This looked different than the first two games.

Starting point is 00:16:00 I don't want to say they were going through the motions, but they were just off. They were just not clicking at the same level. As I said at the top, to do it without your best player, Owen Freeman, I think that says a lot. Lajay Dembali has the best plus minus in the game. Plus 22 while he was on the floor. A plus 19 for Josh Dix. Plus 18 for Peyton Sanford in his limited minutes off the bench. It was Drew Thelwell. 18 for Peyton Sanford in his limited minutes off the bench.

Starting point is 00:16:24 It was Drew Thelwell. And this is where I get excited about why this team might be different. The athleticism that they have. Got to be a better rebounding team. Got to be a better defensive team. But I think there's a chance. Let's talk about it. We continue.

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Starting point is 00:18:03 south dakota and now get their sights set for the quick road trip over to the Quad Cities coming up on Friday night against Washington State. I likely won't have anything until late in the evening on that one. I'll be up at the Unidome calling the semifinal between Iowa City, Liberty, and Southeast Polk. In fact, I'll be on the call for both games here in Central Iowa on the radio. 96.9 FM is where you can find the call for that one or everywhere on the iHeartRadio app if you're looking for a free way to listen to the games

Starting point is 00:18:35 in the 5A semifinals for the football championships. 96.9 FM, the Bull, is where you can find those ones. 4 o'clock with Valley and Dowling, Game 1, and Southeast Polk and Iowa City Liberty, game two at 7 o'clock, 96-9 FM. All right, back to basketball. And why this might be different. Got to be better defensively.

Starting point is 00:18:54 Got to be a better rebounding team. We've talked about these things. But from what we saw from Traore tonight, what we've seen from Drew Thelwell, I think that's a huge component to this one. You know, Iowa went through basically nine years of having a point guard play that was different. Jordan Bohannon played for a long time, and he was a tremendous player for Iowa. But there were certain matchups that just weren't good for him physically. And there's part of it that you can see with Brock Harding. But now

Starting point is 00:19:23 you can bring in a six-foot-three athletic defender in Drew Thelwell that can run the team, that can play at a high level, and can do it in a different way. Now, is Fran McCaffrey willing to pull the plug? If he sees right away there are some particular matchups that Brock Harding is going to struggle on the defensive end, is he willing to pull the plug early in those games and go with Thelwell a whole lot more? I think that is the right way to go. I love having two point guards that play different kind of styles that can do different things yet are very similar. Both are good passers, both guys that can get everybody going in the set. We mentioned this after the last time out in the game against Southern. I thought Fran McCaffrey was very, had a really good comment in the post game. And if you missed it, Fran mentioned that Drew Thelwell went from playing at Moorhead State,

Starting point is 00:20:10 leaving after four years the all-time winningest player in Moorhead State history, a pretty good basketball history with that mid-major program. He leaves there, but what they did offensively, it was a bunch of sets. It was set plays. You go here, you cut here, we go boom, boom, boom. That's what it was. Now he goes into the frame of Caffrey motion offense and it's about movement and he's becoming certainly more confident in what they're trying to do there. I didn't see nearly as much as we did the first two games of the season from Thelwell, kind of pounding up front, waiting for guys to go and going back to

Starting point is 00:20:45 kind of what he did offensively. I thought you saw a lot more movement from him getting the ball out quickly, getting that motion offense started. I thought he did an even better job of that. And he finishes with six assists, which is a huge component to that one, but his size, his athleticism, his ability to defend, certainly a much better defender at this point in time than what you have out of Brock Harding. All those things together maybe make Iowa a little bit different. Throw Traore in the mix. We know what Owen Freeman can be.

Starting point is 00:21:11 You have a different combination of guys, I think, that just all fit in a big-time way. And you could have a performance out of Peyton Sanford where he can go off for 25 against most anybody in the country. You're going to have a game where you're going to see Josh Dix have a monster performance and put up ridiculous numbers. I mean, he had that stretch last February where he was playing offensively as well as anybody in the country

Starting point is 00:21:33 in terms of efficiency. You have these kind of weapons on this team. And another thing, Fran, he just seems locked in. They get a big commitment today. We'll talk about that here in a moment as well. That was great to see out of this squad and continuing to get guys that fit their system yet are not going to break the bank. And that is something that unfortunately, or just the reality that is the way that it is. So a lot going on there and a lot certainly to talk about on that front. So Iowa gets the job done.

Starting point is 00:22:07 They get the victory. And now we're left just kind of looking at the squad and why it's going to be different. Athleticism, yes. A renewed focus, I think that's there. And also the ability this year in the Big Ten. So I just got wrapped up watching and and I got started later than I wanted because I was watching overtime.

Starting point is 00:22:27 Oregon survives Portland in OT at home. Terrible environment. There was nobody there in that building. None of that. But you look through the Big Ten, and the Big Ten is not a great team in the conference this year. It's a lot of good. It's the third-ranked conference here in the early portion of the season

Starting point is 00:22:48 from Ken Pomeroy's numbers. Purdue, we'll see. They lost their big guy to an injury. He's going to be out for the year. Ohio State's off to a nice start as they got a quality victory last week against Texas. Good for them, and we'll see. Now in the first year of Jake Diebler,

Starting point is 00:23:06 what this team's going to be, certainly talent has not been an issue for Ohio State. Illinois, they're going to be good, but you go through. And the way he has it projected is he has 14 of the 18 teams projected to finish between 12 and 8 and 8 and 12. It's going to be stealing a game. It's going to be not having that bad week, not losing a game that you shouldn't.

Starting point is 00:23:30 You have no business losing. That's what it is for all of these teams. And I think Iowa can be in that mix. No, not to win a regular season title for the first time since 1979. I don't think that's realistic because I think there's eventually going to be some teams that separate from the pack.

Starting point is 00:23:45 And I can't see Iowa doing that. But can Iowa go 12-8 this year in this Big Ten? I don't think there's any doubt about it. I think there's a real opportunity for them to do that. If they play like this, Freeman comes back, does his thing off the illness, I think there's a real possibility here because there's nobody you're scared about, right? There's nobody that you look at and say, well's impossible that we can't win there we felt that way plenty of times against Purdue recently we felt that way against Michigan State though Iowa certainly has

Starting point is 00:24:15 turned the tide in that series and you go through you look at those road trips yeah it'll be tough when they got to go out to the left coast and they got to take on in five days USC and UCLA and a UCLA team that's talented even as they are blown out last week on Friday night against New Mexico. That's going to be difficult. When you go to Rutgers and Maryland, that's another back to back that they have coming up in the later portion of the schedule. That'll be in the middle of February.

Starting point is 00:24:38 Those are going to be tough, but can he steal a game? Can he win the game at USC? Can he win the game against those freshmen at Rutgers or winning at Maryland? You do those kind of things. This team can be up there, certainly in the top third of the Big Ten. And that's going to be good enough for them to be back in the NCAA tournament. Now, I know for a lot of you, none of that matters. All that matters to you, at least that's what you say,

Starting point is 00:25:00 is for Iowa to get to the second weekend, to get to a Sweet 16. I personally believe that doesn't cure all hills. I personally don't believe, even if Iowa would have got there over the last five or six years, that suddenly we were going to see 12, 13, 14,000 in the stands every single time. I think it's an easy excuse.

Starting point is 00:25:17 Look, it's tough. Tonight, 8 o'clock game. It was on BTN, which is great. Didn't have to worry about getting a stream up and making sure my BTN plus password was in on my TV. And then I want to flip over and watch the Champions Classic and I got to flip over. None of that. It was just on 610 on DirecTV. Loved it. Absolutely loved it. And I know a lot of people out there were happy about that as well. But it's eight o'clock. And if you're not in the Iowa City Cedar Rapids corridor, that's a big ask.

Starting point is 00:25:45 I mean, for people here in Central Iowa, in the Des Moines area, you're talking about getting back at best at midnight, getting out of the parking, getting on the road, getting back, battling traffic on I-80, coming back. You're getting home at midnight. And for a lot of people, your workday starts very early, so you're already putting yourself behind the eight ball. But even the same thing for people in the Quad Cities. People up in Cedar Rapids, it still turns into a late night.

Starting point is 00:26:09 People got other things and it's a different environment than it was 15, 20, 25 years ago. Iowa basketball is not at the same level, obviously, that it was in terms of eyeballs, not just inside the building, but also outside the building. It's a tough ask. Still, I don't think that would have been enough. I think they have a chance. If what we saw tonight continues, if what we saw from Sadio Traore is a real thing, if Thelwell can at minimum be a really good backup and play starter minutes in certain matchups,

Starting point is 00:26:40 there is a path. My excitement has been renewed for Iowa basketball. How long will it last? We'll see on Friday night against Washington State. We'll talk about that game a little bit more. We got one more final look back at the disaster that was the Iowa football team. We got to dive a little bit deeper into what we heard from the press conferences. Yesterday's podcast, we talked a lot about Tim Lester and some of his comments about the team and what this Iowa football team is looking like by week here. What's left to play for? There's not a whole lot there, but here it's all about good vibes and an Iowa basketball victory.

Starting point is 00:27:14 Thanks for being with us here today. And thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. And don't forget as well about our great podcast. It's Locked On Big Ten. Craig Scheman does a great job talking to all the teams, one through 18 in the Big Ten basketball, football. He's got you covered there. And you can find Locked On Big Ten on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts.

Starting point is 00:27:36 We'll talk to you again tomorrow. We'll get back into the football swing of things. And we'll start to preview the matchup for Iowa and Washington State. Remember, a Washington State team a year ago made the NCAA tournament, made it to the round of 32. Different look, though, and a different look out there for Wazoo as they'll be playing this year. The Pac-12 is no more.

Starting point is 00:27:56 They will be playing in the West Coast Conference. How weird is that? Though an important game for them. We'll talk about that and start to break the game down a little bit later on. As always, thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Again, hit that subscribe button if you're watching on YouTube. Help us get to 4,000 followers. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks!

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Rapid Reaction: Iowa Hoops rolls, Why Saydou Traore is Iowa Hawkeyes' most promising newcomer

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