Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Special guest Troy Hyde joins us! | Nick Easley to the NFL? | How far can Iowa's basketball teams go?

Episode Date: January 19, 2019

We have a special guest joining us on today's show to cover the Iowa Hawkeyes. Troy Hyde joins us from the Newton Daily News to talk about Newton's hometown kid, Nick Easley in addition to covering his thoughts on the early departures from the Iowa football program, what Iowa's win without Tyler Cook means for the basketball team, and how far the women's basketball team can go in the NCAA tournament.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, the latest addition to the Locked On Sports Network's growing line of college podcast. I am your host, Andrew Wade, editor over at dearoldgold.com, where you can find analysis pieces on all things black and yellow, and we have a really fun episode for you today. We're going to touch on the Iowa vs. Illinois game, what to expect from that matchup. Illinois is one of the weakest teams in the Big Ten, so I want to touch on that and what we can expect from Iowa going forward tomorrow. And then the remaining part of the show today is going to be an interview, a good conversation really with a guy who I go really far back with. Known this guy for a little over probably 12, 13 years.

He covered me when I was playing high school sports in small town Iowa, and he's still covering a lot of high school athletics around central Iowa today, including the Iowa Hawkeyes in terms of college football. So he gets to go to about five to six games a year, gets the press passes and takes the pictures and all that sorts of stuff. So very, very knowledgeable about Iowa sports. We're going to be having a great conversation with him. That guy is Troy Hyde of the Newton Daily News. So we're going to be talking about Iowa versus Illinois, and then we're going to jump into our

fantastic conversation with Troy Hyde. Before we jump in though, make sure you are subscribing to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast at. And if you have a smart speaker at home, all you really need to do is tell Siri, Google, or Alexa to play podcast Locked on Hawkeyes. That will give you the most recent addition to the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. So there's no excuse to not listen to our episodes daily. And as you may have realized, this is a special episode coming in on a Saturday. We've only done one episode like this. It's been kind of a light week this week. So I wanted to give you something to listen to today. We have an action packed week coming up next week. We have

a few guests coming on. We're looking to do some crossover shows with some of the other teams that Iowa is playing this upcoming week. So it should be a really fun week for us on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. So stay tuned for what we're bringing out to you Monday through Friday next week. So let's jump right into it. Iowa is taking on Illinois tomorrow. It should be, you know, it should be a winnable game. It's not something that should honestly be too big of a, and I say this very lightly, but shouldn't be too big of a concern for the Hawks.

Illinois is a very weak team coming into Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The game is tipping off at noon tomorrow. And in terms of the game, Iowa is coming in at 15-3. This is a game where it should be an easy win, and they also need to win it, right? So Iowa is about five games off of that 20-game threshold for really being kind of a lock for the NCAA tournament. And in terms of the Big Ten, you know, they have some tough games. If they can pull out one or two key wins, that'll be great. But really just securing those easy wins, right?

Losing against Illinois looks really bad come tournament time. So getting those easy wins at Carver Hockey Arena shouldn't be too much of a concern. Hopefully the student section can get out there. I will say, you know, listening to the Iowa-Penn State game, or sorry, watching the Iowa-Penn State game, you could hear the student section just very vocal and very loud. It's something that Troy and I actually talked about on our conversation that you're going to hear in a few minutes, but I had to turn the TV down because they were so, so loud, and I'd love to hear that from Carver on Sunday, make that an easy win.

Sounds like Tyler Cook should be good to go. Sounds like he was available technically if they needed him against Penn State, but Iowa was able to pull away and win that game with some key performances from Jordan Bohannon, Luka Garza, Ryan Kreener, those type of guys. So hopefully we have Tyler Cook. If not, I totally understand. I could see Fran sitting him another day or another game just to give him some extra time to rest

and allow him to be able to come back for that Michigan State game that's coming up next week. Huge game that we'll really need Tyler Cook for. The Hawks should be able to take care of business against the Illini. Coming into this game, Illinois is 5-12 right now. They are 1-5 in conference, so nothing to be too excited about from Illinois' perspective. Their only conference win was actually against Minnesota, and a pretty big win even. It was a couple days ago they beat Minnesota 95-68, So, big performance from Illinois.

In terms of Kempom, Iowa's getting an 82% chance to win this game. Illinois is ranked 84th in Kempom rankings, which is the second worst in the Big Ten behind Rutgers. And we've seen kind of what Rutgers can do. But again, you know the Big Ten is a strong conference. So, no matter what, it's going to be a tough game regardless going into it. Other key things to watch out for this game, like I said, Cook's going to be likely sitting out, I would imagine. Iowa's defense has been kind of up and down. I think against Penn State, Penn State got really hot, was able to shoot a

couple threes. There was some bad transition defense. So I would love to see Iowa buckle it down and really prepare for that Michigan State game because the defensive intensity that they've shown over the last couple of weeks is really going to be needed against Michigan State. Iowa can score with anyone in the country, but can they hold them to a certain amount of points? Can they stop them when they need to be stopped? That's something that I haven't seen consistently from them. So it'd be fun to see that kind of going forward in terms of, you know, defensive rankings, Illinois is not exactly going to be a defensive stopper. Um, they're, they're allowing 74.3 points per game, not exactly, um, outstanding by any means. So again, should be a, should be an easy win,

but there are no easy wins in the big Ten. Regardless, though, on Monday's episode, we will be coming at you with a full recap of what happened, takeaways from the game, etc. Hopefully, we'll be talking about a big and easy Iowa win. But make sure to tune in tomorrow at noon for that game, which will be aired on the Big Ten Network. That'll be it for the Iowa vs. Illinois preview. I wanted to give plenty of time to jump into the interview with, with Troy and our conversation. It's like I said,

great conversation. We talked a lot about all the Iowa sports started with Iowa football. Troy has a relation, you know, has an opportunity to cover Nick easily multiple times over the last couple of years. So talk a little bit about that. Talk a little bit about his experience with the Iowa football program.

Also, we're going to be talking about Iowa basketball, what Jordan Mohannon's big game meant to the Hawks, and how Jordan Mohannon has been getting a little bit of flack, and maybe unnecessarily, for some of his performances over the last month to two months. And then finally, we're going to wrap it up by talking about the women's basketball team and just really how outstanding Megan Gustafson has been, and also just why that's such a big deal. I mean, she was such an unheralded recruit coming into Iowa from a small town in Wisconsin

and it's huge to see the kind of stuff that she's doing right now. Before we do that though, I have a message for you, the listener. Because if you're like me, you hate to miss your favorite team play, regardless of who they are playing. And that's where Sling TV comes in. Now I never have to miss a football or a basketball game, and the best part is, I no longer have to pay for a bunch of channels I don't even watch with a typical cable package. For just $30 a month, you get access to ESPN, the Big Ten Network, and more, without the

hassle of a long-term contract. What's even more exciting is that we have a fantastic offer for you. Locked On listeners can get a free 7-day trial by going to sling.com. That's S-L-I-N-G.com. Never miss a game again with Sling TV. Alright, we are back. Like I said, we have a great conversation with troy hyde sports reporter for the newton daily news avid hawkeye fan and follower and one of the most informed you know sports fans i know so i wanted to have him on the podcast today so we'll jump right into that

interview right now troy thank you for uh troy thank you for jumping on today i really appreciate it obviously we go i would say way back and kind of loose terms I think you covered a lot of the sports yeah you covered a lot of the sports I played in uh back in high school uh god 11 12 years ago um so you've been covering a lot of Newton Jasper County sports for a long time why don't you just tell the people kind of what your role is right now has it been 11 years yeah i think so because seven years since i graduated college four years of that yeah it's been a long time that's not that's crazy um well i'm just kind of in the same role now i'm the just a sports sports writer for the newton daily news the thing that's changed since you have left town or have left school is we now have three weekly papers, too, that I work with in the Jasper County paper, which is kind of covers Colfax Mingo and Baxter.

So awesome. You're a busy man, then you're kind of all over the place. And then you have a daughter and a wife as well, right? I do. Yeah. My wife teaches in the Newton district now, and my daughter just started kindergarten this past fall. So that's exciting time. What grade does your wife teach? Fourth grade. Awesome. That's actually what my wife teaches. Oh, nice. That's exciting. So, Drew, I know you're obviously not from Newton originally, but you are from Iowa. Earl, I believe, right? Yeah, that's right. Okay. Awesome. originally, but you are from Iowa, Earlham, I believe, right? Yeah, that's right. Okay, awesome.

And how did you become an Iowa Hawkeye fan? Because I know some people from Earlham, and the people I know are big Cyclone fans, and obviously it's kind of that weird section of the state. How did you become an Iowa fan? I just grew up watching – I would say my fandom started with basketball more than anything they were always on uh kdsm fox fox 17 on a wednesday nights and i would get home from whatever sport i was playing and go to my room and they would always be on a tv now every every

game and a lot of stuff there's a lot more to tv access now but back back then it was all local stuff and i just was watching uh jess settles chris street that kind of era was kind of started my fan of a sierra back back there in the day so that that's awesome actually it's one of the podcasts it's funny how your viewing rights or your viewing access really impacts how you like teams i mean um one of the podcasts i listened to, I don't know if you listened to Matt Miller from the bleacher report at all. I do. He's my guy. Yeah. Yeah. He's fantastic. So Matt Miller, he talks a lot about, he's a big Texas fan. And a lot of it was because they watched, they just, Texas was always on when they were kids and they just became big Texas fans.

He's from Missouri. Yeah, exactly. So I thought that was really interesting. Funny that you like Matt Miller too too he's anyone listening to this obviously matt miller is a fantastic draft scout someone you should definitely check out so it's um funny you just bring him up because before you got into touch with me i'm i was um i'm i'm currently listening to his his uh latest pod so that was awesome that's actually listened yeah so i looked off before i talked i talked to you that's awesome yeah i usually listen to them at the gym uh monday wednesdays fridays you always get uh the bleacher report boys they're they're a good group to listen to they are they are that's funny

so man troy i wanted to have you on today obviously because i respect your opinion on the iowa hawkeyes i think you're one of the most knowledgeable people i know that i follow i'm about iowa and obviously sports in general and starting this podcast you were one of the first people I thought of when I was like who can I interview or just have to come on and talk about sports so I'm glad you're able to make it I'm glad we're able to figure out a time like I said I know you're very busy and I know one of the things you did yeah one of the things you did for the Iowa Hawkeyes a long time back is you were actually, you started a Twitter account, I believe, Hawkeye Examiner, correct? Yeah, I worked for Examiner.com.

That kind of was a, it's no longer, it kind of folded, but it was never really anything. I just did it for fun. I actually got out of the business for a while, too, and it allowed me to kind of stay in and kind of write. But I was never like anything, it was never too serious. Makes sense, yeah. yeah i mean that's what i'm doing now it's fun to it's fun to be involved and do some things in your spare time and whatnot and write about the the teams and the sports you love and as far as iowa goes right now you cover them a lot i see you're typically at a lot of games you get you know the press passes you're

taking pictures that kind of stuff um how do you like doing that how how much fun is that i guess and how much access do you typically have to be able to see the team and that kind of stuff um well as far as access goes they don't um deny me ever i could go to iowa iowa state i mean i could go to drake you and i we have i have the access based on where i work um i don't go to a lot of basketball games as a media member or or as a fan really because I don't have time. Like, only really a day that I have that I'm not doing anything now is Wednesday nights, and I'm still working.

They're just not games. But football is a little bit easier because in the fall, Saturdays are more open, so I'm able to go. I went to two Iowa State home games this year and and one and i saw i the iowa state game so i saw them three three times but i went to like five or six iowa home games so i i go to home games a lot i stand on the side sidelines um and uh take take take pictures and then because nick easily was on the team it just kind kind of made sense to attend more of his games or go to as many games as we could.

Absolutely, and that's actually a really good segue. I think if anyone's listening to this podcast, they hear me talk about Nick Easley a lot. I think it's really easy for a Newton person to get behind another Newton person and see Nick Easley go to a D1 school. I don't know Nick personally. I know Matt a little bit, but to know just, you know, the kind of kids they are and obviously the work ethic they have and that Nick

has to be able to make it to a D1 program and never give up is, it's pretty impressive. I'm just curious from your standpoint, obviously you've worked with him, you've covered him a little bit recently. You live in Newton now. What is the, how big of an impact is it? Cause when I'm, when I'm at, you know, a sports bar watching Iowa football games, right, I look at my Facebook and it is just flooded with Nick Easley this, Nick Easley that.

Everyone from Newton is just talking about it. So I'm just curious, what's the sense or the vibe from Newton as a community? It really feels like when things like this happen, the community really can get behind it. And Nick Easley has kind of been that rallying point for the community as of late. Yeah, everybody here is very, very, of nick um it's it's not easy he didn't do it the

most conventional easiest way i mean he had uh he didn't get many offers his only offer out of out of newton was a division two hunter i believe he just didn't want to accept that so we went a different route and went two or two years at a Western and became an All-American there, basically, and pick per se, but a free agent like after the process. So that might be in his future too. Absolutely. Yeah, actually, Matt put together, I don't know if you got a chance to see it, but he put together like a 17 minute clip of our video of every single one of Nick's catches. And what stands out to me most about Nick is a,

his separation, his, and his B is route running. I mean, just the way he runs routes is absolutely incredible. And that, and that, that attention to detail will absolutely stick out, I think at the next level. And I think there's absolutely a spot for him. You've seen guys like Wes Welker, who made a name for himself with the Patriots by running those quick intermediate routes and essentially serving as a little bit longer run game. And I think that's the role that Nick easily fit at Iowa. And it didn't produce eye-popping numbers by any chance, but I think there's absolutely a fit for the right team in the NFL.

And regardless, you're getting the hardest-working guy, the guy who's going to be there every single day before the practice, after the practice, working his butt off. So I'm really excited to see kind of how that happens, but I kind of figured he'd be sort of a priority undrafted free agent. Yeah, he's got a chance. I mean, again, he's's gonna have to go out at the hardest way possible but that's all that's all he really knows so I don't think that'll be anything

anything new for him absolutely um so kind of touching point on a couple other guys in the Iowa football program obviously some big losses that we've found the last two weeks with Imani Hooker TJ Hawkinson Anthony Nelson Noah. I thought, I really thought there was an outside chance we may be able to keep Imani Hooker just because of the lack of buzz around him. I think he'll be an excellent player in the NFL, but there's not a lot of buzz with him. Obviously, Anthony Nelson, I thought there could be a chance as well, just because it's such a deep defensive end class, but all four of them are gone. It obviously hurts the program this year.

I think there's, you know, Iowa will rebound in the way they typically do. They do a really great job of plugging players. I wanted to get your thoughts on what this means to our program next year. And then also kind of long-term, having four guys go to the NFL, there's a couple trends here. I think with college football in general, players want to get to the NFL now so they can get their big contract, their second contract, and start that contract as soon as possible.

And then secondly, I think Iowa is getting players who are producing at a higher level quicker than what we're typically used to. I mean, Brandon Scherf is a good example of someone who played really well but wasn't going to be a high draft pick his junior year, stayed back for his senior year, and became the number four overall pick. Now we're seeing guys get drafted earlier and earlier from Iowa. So I think the national perception of Iowa is becoming better as well. became the number four overall pick. Now we're seeing guys get drafted earlier and earlier from Iowa. So I think the national perception of Iowa is becoming better as well.

Wanted to get your thoughts on both of those topics, just what it means in the short term and the long term. It's kind of a double-edged sword because as fans, we want them to be good enough to be able to do this, but we also don't want to lose guys every year in the long term. But I've been really open about it. I honestly don't think Anthony Nelson and Amani Hooker are going to get drafted maybe where they want. I think Fant and Hawkinson are first, second round, third round maybe guys. I think Fant's going to go in the first once he gets to the um combine and yeah

because he's a freak but um hawkinson's probably a first round second round guy too um but the point is now is there's so many guys that are leaving early just for what you kind of said if you're if you if you have 10 years of of really good football left don't get paid for nine get paid for 10 and that's kind of the mindset of like i could stay another year and help my draft draft status but i don't think the kids care anymore if they're going to be a first round second round pick they if they know they're going to get picked they're going to go just because that's guaranteed guaranteed money in their in their pocket at least to start and then they'll figure

it out after that point but as far as the long term i was going to be it's going to be new for for for kirk because he's not used to this he's not he's used to he's used to being able to develop guys for four years and then pan out their last years um now he's gonna have to their last years um now he's gonna have to develop guys he's gonna have to develop guys sooner um he his um developmental program style will be will be tested because this is this just never happened before absolutely i think i think next year will be really interesting too because we're uh there's a very strong chance aj epinesa goes i I mean, he's gonzo. He's a – right now, he would be a top ten pick in this year's draft if he could go. That's what's so incredible to me is the fact that he technically didn't start.

I mean, he played 25 to 30 snaps a game. But if anyone watches his tape, he's insane, man. I love watching him play. I've never focused so much on a defensive end in a football game. Usually you're watching the game and you watch, you know, what the offense is doing, even if your team's playing defense and you kind of see overall. But I specifically watch A.J. Finesse because he is throwing guys.

He is pushing guys in the dirt. That guy is a monster. I'm with you. When I'm at the games and I got my camera up on defense, it's basically zoomed in on him because I feel like something's going to happen every time he's on the field. It's incredible. I mean, the fact that he was number one in the Big Ten in sacks

and limited playing time, I'm excited to see him kind of let loose. And it sounds like Kirk understands with the lack of depth they have at defensive tackle that there's not going to be as much of a rotation. And obviously they would love to have a rotation, but they have a player like Epineza, get him conditioned. That guy can play more snaps and still make an impact down in, down out. He's going to have to. I'm going to guess.

I don't know. I'm not there. The only reason why I could think he doesn't play more or didn't play more this year is because of the run, the run defense, maybe Anthony and Parker were better in that part of the game. But in like, in like passing pounds, he makes everybody better because he just there's I don't I don't know that he's been blocked without being held all season. Yeah, it's incredible watching him play. I'm really excited to watch him play next year and see kind of what impact he can make. He actually wrote an article about him potentially

being an all-American next year. I mean, he was seventh in the nation in sacks. The top four guys, you know, are all-Americans. So, yeah. All right, man. Well, I want to touch on a few other things. Let's jump into men's basketball. Obviously, a big win against Penn State. I mean, big win in the sense that it was on the road without Tyler Cook, and Penn State was hot from deep. They came out firing. So, I mean, I was really excited to see them win that game. Going on the road anywhere is going to be tough,

and Penn State had a pretty hostile environment. I don't know if you saw Jordan Bohannon's tweet, but he basically was like, it felt like a home game. They just kept chanting my name. They were loud the entire – I turned it on mute because they were so – it was so annoying listening to their student section. So I can only imagine being at the game. But what are your thoughts on this team so far? I mean, what does that win for you?

What does that win mean to you? What is the importance of the success of this team without Tyler Cook? I mean, there's a chance he's in the NBA next year, and this team is going to be playing without him. So him so I mean without him being on the floor I think it really shows what Iowa can still do yeah it's good it's good to know that they can win games albeit they haven't played the best teams when he's not on the court but I mean if you take the best player off of any team can they win games that's the key and these both have been road road games um Penn State is not very good I mean they're 0 and 0 and 8 now we're 0 and 0 and 0 and 7 in the league and to

be honest it seems like their best game every every year is when they host the Hawks in and that's in that in that gym um they were hot early it had a feel early of one of those blowout losses again. And I think last year this team probably does lose. But they're a more mature group. I mean, even though they're still young in a sense, they've got a lot of guys who have been playing in a ton of games. The win's big. All road wins are big, no matter who you play. And right now they're sitting pretty good.

I think they're 24th in the new net rankings, which to me makes them an NCAA lock at this point. I mean, they could obviously have a late season, you know, turn like they had before. But right now they're an NCAA team, and that's all you can ask. And, you know, guys like Bo Hannon stepped up in that game. Garza was huge. Weiss Kemp is just a solid player.

He's going to be the next star, I think, at that school. But they're looking good right now. They just can't have any – they have to win the games they're supposed to win. They have to steal a couple against some good teams. And if they do that, I think they'll be fine. I think if they get to nine or ten wins in the league, they're going to make it. And, you know, they're going to be at five.

I'm assuming they're going to beat Illinois at home over the weekend. That'll give them five, and they'll be halfway there. Yeah, I completely agree. I mean, looking at it from the NCAA tournament from last year, there was one team that made it with 19 wins, a couple teams that made it with 20 wins. And I think that's kind of the threshold for Iowa when you're in such a good conference like the Big Ten if you can get to that 21 threshold with a tough conference like that you're going to be in the NCAA tournament and there are five wins away so awesome to see that

from the Iowa basketball program Jordan Bohannon was I loved watching his play I think for the last month or two it's been frustrating watching him play I don't know what your thoughts are but it's been it feels like the offense kind of dies with him in it but you have to keep him in for the stuff he can do against Penn State he has he has no fear taking those shots I mean that three-pointer at the end of the game was from five or six feet behind the arc that is that those are the kinds of shots that you need from your big players. And that's why you keep him in,

but just wanted to get your thoughts on his general integration into the offense. There's a lot more talent around him. He's not able to be that volume score that he was in the past. And it seems like he's struggling. It's kind of like not, this is a way extreme example, kind of like Carmelo Anthony's adaptation into pretty much any offense that isn't centered around him.

I wanted to get your thoughts on that. Right. I've heard that a lot. People – and I'm not meaning to say that what you're saying isn't true. No, you're totally fine. He isn't having a great year, but he's still averaging 11 points and four and a half assists. He's still shooting.

I mean, 38% from three isn't great, but it's from where he started. He was really off early, and I think he's starting to find a shot now. The good news is we don't need him to score 20 points a night with the guys we have, and he's making shots when he has to. I was honestly screaming at the TV. He put that three up, and I'm like, no, no, no, run some clock, and then he made it, and it's like, oh, well, I guess if there's one guy on this team that you want taking that that shot it's it's um probably him yeah i mean definitely a um risky shots but he's been he as he said in

the uh in the media after after the game he's been he's been taking those shots for the last three three seasons and we shouldn't expect anything less absolutely you know and i take no offense to the disagreement i mean i think it's always good to have um that's what i i love and i hate about the twitter world i don't know if you get this a lot but a lot of people just like to say no that's wrong i think it's always nice to have some it's nice to have differing opinions i think it helps you grow and i think obviously it's an opinion that i haven't heard a ton and i love to hear that i think you're absolutely right i mean when you look at it from the broad spectrum he's not doing that bad right no he is he's doing fine sorry my

daughter came in the room no worries at all i'm sure he is one of the guys that'll tell you that he doesn't think he's playing great but um I honestly don't think – if you got Cook averaging 17, Garja averaging 13.5, and Wieskamp's averaging right where he is, and then you got Moss who's averaging almost 10. I mean, that's five guys that are averaging right around double figures. And that's a well-balanced team, and Bohannon doesn't need to be. I honestly think they're a better team with him off the ball and McCaffrey in there at the point.

McCaffrey doesn't put a lot of stats, but if you go back to the Penn state game, he was a plus, he was plus nine in the plus plus minus stat when he was in, when he was in the game. I just feel like if you can get those two on the floor at the same time, they're a better team. McCaffrey's kind of that steady presence. He knows the offense.

He's obviously dad's kid or coach's kid, so he kind of knows what he's supposed to do. And plus, he makes free throws, and that's what's been big for this team all season is their ability to get to the line and make them, and it's given us wins in a lot of games that maybe we shouldn't have won because we're able to make them. Absolutely. I completely agree with the McCaffrey standpoint. I think Connor has been fantastic at distributing the ball. He's always looking to

get the ball to the hot hand. There was a play, I can't remember the specific game, but Isaiah Moss was just hitting everything. And I remember Connor McCaffrey went down the court, stopped at three-point line, turned around, just handed the ball to Isaiah Moss, and then he just drained another three. And I was like, that's the kind of play that you love to see from a kid like that.

I mean, you said it right. The stat line isn't going to blow you away. But what he does for the team, he's just that glue guy. I feel like he gets that team moving and rolling, and he's able to run that offense to perfection and allow bohannon to be that kind of score so definitely interesting to see and and real quick i want to transition over i know we're kind of close on time and um oh perfect okay so let's talk a little bit about the women's basketball team so i think it's easy to focus on the men's basketball team it's easy to talk about iowa

football but i think a lot of people aren't paying attention to focus on the men's basketball team. It's easy to talk about Iowa football. But I think a lot of people aren't paying attention to how great this women's basketball team is. They've struggled a little bit. I think they're still trying to adapt to how to counterpunch when Megan Gustafson is getting covered. Because she is the main person on that team. I think she's arguably the top candidate know the top candidate for naysmith and a player of the year wanted to get your thoughts on the women's basketball team and um how far you expect them to go this year um well i think it's kind of hard because i think

their starting five is very good their starting five is probably as good as anybody in the in the in the nation i just i i'm not a big fan of the bench they only got one player that really comes off the bench um so if if any of the five if any of the five starters aren't on i just it's hard to imagine them beating a really good team but when you've got a girl like megan gus that are on the team you're always you're always in it and never out of it i mean she's averaging 26 and 13 she makes makes 70% of her shots. I couldn't do that in my own driveway. I could do layups.

I don't think I could do – I could not do 100 layups and make 70% of them. She makes 70% of the shots she takes. So, I mean, that's pretty amazing. I do love this team. I mean, I thought all season going into the year that if they were going to make a run deep that this would be one of the teams that would have to uh do it i still think they're a sweet 16 or above type type team i mean let's be honest they've been ranked around 16 all all season so i mean i guess everybody else feels like they should be in the sweet 16

um i think it's going to depend on kind of what what you said when good teams decide 16 um i think it's going to depend on kind of what what you said when good teams decide megan's not going to beat them how will they how will this team respond um taniya taniya davis was big in the other the other game against minnesota the other day when basically minnesota wouldn't let her do anything in the second quarter um they neutralized gusafson they just didn't even let her score at all they did and they kind of had the had had the lead megan got ended up getting getting hers eventually but they're going to need somebody if if she's not able to even get the ball they're gonna have to have the the guards on this team are gonna have to make shots absolutely i couldn't agree more that the game

against minnesota was very telling to me about and I watched a couple of their games too, and it's just very telling to me how well they played against Gustafson. Gustafson got – you know, she got off to a hot start second quarter. They were – yeah, they were attacking her in the second quarter. I mean, every time she got the ball down low, there were two people on her. And you're right, you need to have someone that can score outside of her so you can make them have to match up appropriately and not focus their entire team on Gustafson.

So it'll be fun to watch them as they go deeper into the season. And obviously the NCAA tournament, I think that, you know, you're right. This could be a team that goes pretty far. The game against Notre Dame was a little bit frustrating to see, but I think you're absolutely right with the lack of depth on the bench. It makes it tough for them to go toe to toe against some of the top teams in the nation. But unlike in previous years, there isn't that YukConn that is just head

and toes above every single team. It's a little bit more wide open, I feel like. I think it is too. I think there's not a team that you look and say, well, I mean, UConn and Notre Dame and Baylor I think is really good this year. Those are teams where people expect to be there, but it's not a UConn winning 40 games in a row type year where you know they're not on unstoppable to the point where they can't be beaten um and as long as you got a girl like

megan on your team you're always gonna have a chance because you you're right i mean she probably should be in the conversation for the player of the year if she's not a first team all-american they're not really watching um we can book that right now um and you know it's just gonna it's gonna come down and I shouldn't say that the other girls aren't good because we have Iowa has I mean four players averaging double double double figure scoring I thought Mackenzie Meyer would probably be better than she has has been um her her shots not on like she probably wants it to be. I think if she can hit a couple more threes each game,

this team will be even better than they already are. But even so, with the guards that they have, turnovers have been big. If they don't turn over, they're really good. If they do, they're not. I know that kind of goes without saying. I've never really thought Bloateraters teams played the best defense. Usually they try to out, out scores, out score you. So in some of these games that they don't play well in,

they basically just can't get stops and they're going to have to find a way to get stops against good, good teams. But, but they've got, they've got the pieces to make a deep run. It's just a matter of who they get matched up with, how many home games they get, because with the women's teams, they give home games to the higher seeds. So we'll see how all that plays out. But, I mean, they have some big wins. If you looked around the state even, I mean, Iowa's RPI is 12,

but Iowa State's is 11, and Drake's is 14th, and they beat both of those teams. Big wins. Yeah, so, I mean, and they've got other wins too. I mean, they've had some games where you're like, what? Like the Purdue game where they lost by one or two. Like that was a game they probably shouldn't have lost. But, I mean, come tournament time, I think this team will be ready to go, and I think think they should I don't think it's a matter of they can get far I think they should I think this team should and if they don't it's probably considered a disappointing

season absolutely and I just while you're talking I looked up the stats real quick Gustafson is is leading the the NCAA in points with 25.9 she's leading the NCAA in field goal percentage with 70. And she's fifth in rebounds. 13. Yeah, so, I mean, if she's not in that conversation, that would really upset me. And you're absolutely right. People aren't watching that, those games. She makes 76% from the line, too.

That's incredible. Yeah, she's not. They can claim that. Yeah, that's pretty impressive. I was looking at some of the all-time stats, and with a season like this, she could put herself into one of the best seasons of all times in terms of field goal percentage with minimum shot attempts. So pretty exciting stuff.

Who would have thought that would happen? She comes from a town of like 100 people in Wisconsin. It's hard to even get to the town by car. It's just amazing that a girl that comes from that place has been what she is, but it's just crazy. Yeah, you don't know where you're going to get people. I mean, that's the whole idea of Iowa sports, I feel like, in general, especially with the football team.

I mean, they get so many guys from eight-man teams or 1A teams that played quarterback and safety and kicker and punter and they're also the kick returner and all of a sudden they make them into an offensive tackle or a linebacker like like chad greenway so i think i think this is the very iowa thing to do it is yeah you're right well troy um i've really enjoyed having you on i have one last question for you um we talked we very briefly just talked about drake real quick and um being from newton i wanted to get your thoughts on garrett starts uh not really expecting him to play a lot this year but um walk on has done pretty darn well for the bulldogs this year the bulldogs until nick norton's

injury looking like a cinderella team a team that could maybe make the ncaa tournament by winning a week mbc so i want to get your thoughts on Garrett starts. Yeah, first we'll let's start with the Nick, the Nick Norton injury. I thought Nick, Nick going down, I thought they were the potential Valley favorite with him without him. I just don't know how good they're going to be as far as Garrett goes. We kind of went into the season, not sure what was going to happen. It looked like they had a transfer come into the school. That was a sophomore that if he got cleared by the NCAA, Garrett was going to sit out the year,

but that kid ended up not getting cleared. So that kid couldn't play. So then that meant Garrett was on the go to play. And we were told that Garrett was actually notified a couple of games into the season. The coach went up to him and said, just so you know, it didn't get approved. You're going to play. And he basically didn't know it until like an hour before the game, and he got into that game.

So it was sprung on him pretty quick. He didn't even know what he was going to be doing. And I think he's played well. What I'm really surprised about and i've i've kind of made this comment i expected his minutes to go up after norton got hurt but yeah he's his minutes have gone down like drake has kind of went to a we're going to play the starters all the starters like 30 30 plus 30 plus minutes and the bench just they've only played two or three guys off the bench i think the most minutes he's gotten since the injury is like 17 where he was averaging about 20 before um he's

had some big games i mean he had a game where he had 16 points i mean i know it was a division two school and he probably played a whole a whole bunch of minutes but um i think um he's a good piece for him right now and in the future he's definitely going to play a bigger role um i just think he has to kind of get through this first season and kind of see where he's at but he's a good piece for him right now and in the future he's definitely going to play a bigger role. I just think he has to kind of get through this first season and kind of see where he's at, but he's a fearless kid. He's definitely not scared. We actually have two kids on Newton. Yeah, Connor Golsan too.

He had a brutal injury to his ankle, I believe, or knee. Was it his ankle? Yeah, kind of like a Paul George-ish type thing. Real gross. He has a chance to play, too. I don't know where he would have fallen this season

had he not gotten hurt. He did register last year. We have a few reasons to want to pay close attention to Drake. I'm actually hoping to get to a few reasons to want to pay close attention to Drake, and I'm actually hoping to get to a few games at the nap this season to kind of just go and cover Garrett while he's playing,

and hopefully he'll get extra playing time and some more minutes as the season goes along. I'm just kind of puzzled by how your minutes go down, but maybe they just feel like the starters are the best way to go. I mean, obviously that's their thinking. Otherwise he would play, but, um, I don't think he played bad ever when he goes in. Um, so it's just kind of weird to see his minutes go down, but we'll, we'll see how the season plays out, but we're excited. The community is also excited about Garrett starts. Um,

it's kind of fun when your town has players that are on the highest of stages. I'm sure he'll get the kind of love that Nick easily got when he gets older too. Absolutely. Going to Drake, I love seeing the guy. I did go to Drake. I love seeing Garrett Sturtz and Connor Golsan go there from Newton. And absolutely. I 100% have a ton of hometown pride in those guys and I'm going to my alma

mater. So definitely been following them even closer since then. Right. It was good to us. Talk, talk to you again. I haven't seen her for a while. So absolutely. Troy. Well, thank you, man. I really appreciate you jumping on. Whenever you're back in town, let me know. Absolutely. I'll be back a Memorial day weekend. I'll hit you up we get a drink let me know all right awesome that's good well have a good day Troy you too we'll see you later see you man thanks for having me absolutely boy and that'll do it for our Saturday morning episode I hope you enjoyed having a weekend episode obviously we're a little bit sparse on the

the episodes this week so my apologies for that. Some things coming up. Not a huge week in Iowa sports in general, but like I said, we have a fantastic week coming to you. We have multiple guest appearances, hoping to get a crossover show with Locked on Spartans. We're also looking to have NFL draft analyst Nick Kendall come on and talk about some of the draft prospects for the Iowa football team. What to expect there. That's going to be a very good conversation. Something you're going to want to tune into.

We'll probably break it up into two or three parts. So we'll be kind of airing that out throughout the week. And obviously giving you previews, recaps of the other Iowa athletics that are going on right now. I hope you have a fantastic weekend, though, Hawkeye Nation. I am your host, Andrew Wade, and you can find me on Twitter at Wade underscore Andrew. You can also follow all the exciting happenings of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast

on Twitter at LockedOnIowa. Make sure you're also subscribing to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts at, and please leave us a review. We love to hear from you, love to hear what you think of the show, content ideas, et cetera.

And then lastly, you can reach us through email at lockedonhawkeyes at gmail.com. Again, thank you for tuning in with us, Hawkeye Nation. We hope you have a fantastic Saturday morning. Thank you for joining us on the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. And we'll be back on Monday.