Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - The end of an era for Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball

Episode Date: March 23, 2021

The Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team fell to Oregon yesterday and were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. We discuss the game and what the future holds for this team with Locked On Big 10's Big T...en Ben Stevens.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.BlueChewTry BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code LOCKEDON at bluechew.com at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. All right, welcome everyone to the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Podcast Network. As always, I'm your host, Andrew Wade, and today sucks. Let's just be very frank about that. But I wouldn't want to do this show with anyone else but big 10 ben stevens i felt like ben i just needed someone to be here with me because i'm going through a tough time as is all of hawkeye nation but i don't think you're doing so well yourself man but how are
Starting point is 00:00:38 you doing i'm doing terrible you're going through a tough time i feel for you obviously i wanted iowa to beat oregon on monday as well i'm going through it as a Big Ten guy that has seen seven of the nine teams as it stands at the moment of this a single team from the big 10 conference in the sweet 16 i don't know i was very high on a lot of these teams i had iowa to make the elite eight probably losing to gonzaga i had illinois and have said on record multiple times winning the national championship i don't know if that was going to happen but i expected better than this to have a chance they're not going to be a team get out of the first weekend i mean goodness i mean good days ago we were talking about could there be an all big 10 final four that was four days ago now we're wondering will the big 10 make it out of the round of 32 and i'll be honest iowa i didn't out of all their matchups i actually felt like oregon was probably their worst matchup because of what
Starting point is 00:01:40 oregon brings the table size wise yeah luca was going to get his, and he did, and he dominated throughout this game. But where Oregon lacks in height, they make up for in size, or sorry, length and athleticism. And it showed in this game. They absolutely dominated Iowa. Iowa couldn't do anything defensively. It was frustrating. And then I look at the other piece too. Oregon was so good offensively, but Iowa couldn't hit any shots. So when you look at what Iowa did, Luka Garza, Joey's camp combined for most of Iowa scoring output, Luka Garza and Joey's camp, six of 12 from three for 50%. The rest of the team, two of 13 for 15. Luka Garza and Joey's camp, 21 of 37 from the field, 57%. The rest of the team, 10 of 31 for 33%. from the field, 57%. The rest of the team, 10 of 31 for 33%. Man, Oregon had a great game plan, and they executed it perfectly. And I really felt like, and I want to get your thoughts on this, Luka Garza was not getting the ball very easily as an entry pass.
Starting point is 00:02:35 I mean, Oregon was on top of him, and despite having that size differential, they did a great job of guarding him. Is that what you saw as well? They have great athleticism. Eugene Ovarui is only 6'6". Will Richardson, guard is not a he's actually not a small point guard who's the other guy i'm picking up eric williams that's the other guy who's their other forward also six six but they converged they had the game plan they knew if that ball was going to get inside of luca garza as it should for fran mccaffrey's team that they were going to swarm and make it difficult
Starting point is 00:03:02 the tough thing for luca, especially in that second half, based on the rotations that Fran had to play to get some sort of defense out there, he didn't have the usual cast and characters to be able to knock down threes. Jordan Bohannon wasn't out there much in the second half because he was a defensive liability. Conor McCaffrey wasn't out there much in the second half to be able to facilitate. C.J. Frederick had a very bad game on the defensive side. So the guys that were playing with Luka outside of Joe Wieskamp were Patrick McCaffrey and Joe Toussaint and Tony Perkins, and they're not knockdown shooters. So that made everything that much more difficult. So for Luka
Starting point is 00:03:33 Garza to still finish with 36 points on 20 shots shows how efficient he is. And again, it's a sad culmination to his career in an Iowa jersey, but show us just how talented and a special talent he was. And we appreciate his time throughout his years at the university of Iowa, but a very difficult matchup for Luca because of the fact I, Oregon could focus their defense on him. And he didn't have the normal outlets to be able to knock down threes to really space out the offensive scheme. Oregon didn't really have to respect the shot of Joe Tucson or Tony.
Starting point is 00:04:04 Yeah. And that's the issue with Iowa. We've seen that in other games this season. Indiana is a great example of this. Iowa couldn't hit the broad side of a freaking barn. And what they did was like, we're going to triple team Luca every time. Then if you're not going to hit your shots, we don't respect you driving the ball to the basket. And Oregon, you know, credit them. They had a great defensive game plan, right? I mean, they were like, we're going to force you to make shots, but we're also going to get to you too. We're going to contest those three-point shots. Regardless, no one could hit anything. Jordan Bohannon, 0 of 2 from behind the perimeter. CJ Frederick, 0 of 2. Keegan Murray, 1 of 5. Keegan had, and Keegan's going to be a phenomenal
Starting point is 00:04:37 player in the Big Ten for years to come, but he had a terrible day shooting the ball. He just couldn't hit anything. Patrick McCaffrey, 0 of 2. I don't really like Patrick's shot typically, but he's about a 30 to 33% shooter. You expect him to hit one of those. Tony Perkins, the only guy to hit a three outside of Joe Weiskamp or Luka Garza, and I guess one from Keegan Murray. That's really not going to cut it for your team. I do want to note the fact that I got this question a couple of times on Twitter. Iowa took out their three starters. They basically benched Jordan Bohannon in his final game in a Hawkeye uniform. They benched CJ Frederick. He played 13 minutes and Connor McCaffrey played 12.
Starting point is 00:05:12 Connor McCaffrey apparently has two torn labrums in his hips. I don't know how the hell he's out there playing basketball, but when you can't shoot the ball, like he can't, let's be honest, he's just not a very good shooter. And you're also no longer able to move. Yeah yeah that's going to make you a big liability sounds like cj frederick also um a liability out there still dealing with some nagging injuries and then jordan bohannon his his sweet spot has never been defense right it has never been the defensive side of the ball but he has put up some really big energy the last couple weeks on the defensive side of the ball but he was
Starting point is 00:05:43 just getting freaking torched and man defense by Oregon's offensive players and what sucks the most is Iowa struggles in zone but when you struggle in zone typically what that means you're allowing some open looks from three and Oregon just absolutely converted hit 44 percent of their shots it felt like every time they shot the ball it was going in man that was that was probably one of the toughest things to watch just getting beat that way yeah when you look at the box score it's actually pretty fascinating both iowa and oregon took 68 field goal attempts both iowa and oregon shot 25 threes oregon did it at a slightly better clip obviously and that resulted in more points for the oregon ducks obviously but when you look at how this game played out and you look at what
Starting point is 00:06:24 fran mcafree had to do coaching this game he he had to take out C.J. Frederick and Connor McCaffrey and Jordan Bohannon because they were getting worked on the defensive end of the floor. And Oregon's guards are so, so good and athletic and great off the bounce, great shooters today. We saw L.J. Figueroa absolutely light it up. He was five of nine from three, but Chris Duarte, the Pac-12 player of the year, showed his strength. I have been very high on this Oregon team. I watch a lot of what Dana Altman does, going back to my days working in Omaha, Nebraska, when he was the former head coach at Creighton, obviously was out in Oregon, but he is a Wilbur, Nebraska native. He's a name around Omaha a lot of people know, and I've been very impressed by what he's done with his Oregon teams in the NCAA
Starting point is 00:07:01 tournament. He has that team again this year, and Will Richardson, their very talented point guard, missed the first month and a half, two months of the season with a broken thumb. When he came back in early February, Oregon ended their final 12 regular season games 10-2. You see that a lot in the NCAA tournament, where you see a team that might be slotted where it is on the seed line based on their overall resume, but you look at how they're playing heading into the NCAA tournament, it can be a completely different team. I think that's the case with this Oregon team, that at full strength with this athleticism, with this potential on offense, really more like a four
Starting point is 00:07:33 or five seed. So a tough draw for Iowa in this spot, obviously, but still you need to beat good teams to get to where you want to go to make a deep run in March. So you're not really going to hear too many excuses that way, but Oregon, a very good team. I thought it would present a tough matchup for Iowa. I thought Luka Garza could take advantage of it down low and he did, but I also knew that Jordan Bohannon and CJ Frederick and Joe Wieskamp were going to have to knock down their threes. And when two of those three guys only played 19 and 13 minutes
Starting point is 00:08:00 respectively, that's not a makeup for success for Iowa. Not, not at all. I mean, they hit, they combined for zero points. You're not going to win a game when three of your starters combined for zero points. I don't care who the hell you are and who you have as the other two guys, Iowa has two potential NBA players, but you need to hit a few shots. And I think that's the, I mean, you look at Bo Borowski was the ref, right? And a close game, maybe you blame it on Bo cause he sucks. And that's an easy thing to do.
Starting point is 00:08:23 Iowa lost this game. Oregon had a fantastic game plan they executed perfectly they got out in transition they were out running Iowa and Iowa could hit their shots if Iowa hits their shots maybe it's different game if they hit it at 40 percent clip they make four extra threes bam 95 to 80 they're already in that game I mean that's the there were plenty of open looks there. So Iowa had had opportunity unable to convert. I, again, I thought this was a bad matchup for Iowa out of all the matchups they possibly have. Do you think, or, I mean, I don't want to be biased now to see what Oregon just did to Iowa because Iowa is probably one of the less athletic teams and the tournament,
Starting point is 00:09:02 as far as what they handle in Oregon, But is Oregon a final four contender? I mean, they could do this to Gonzaga too. All right. We're going to quickly pause the conversation with Ben, you know, talking about this Iowa, Oregon matchup and what happened in that game to tell you about rock auto
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Starting point is 00:09:48 attest to this. I saved $50 on two engine air filters by going to rockauto.com. So right now, go to rockauto.com and see all the parts available for your car or truck and write locked on in their how did you hear about us box so they know we sent you. amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need, rockauto.com. Get all the sports news you need in under 20 minutes with the Locked On Today podcast. Host Peter Bukowski updates you on the latest news in every major sport with the help of our local experts. Follow the Locked On Today podcast wherever you get your podcast at. Oh, I think so. I think Oregon's going to be in the Elite Eight.
Starting point is 00:10:23 I think it's going to be Gonzaga and Oregon facing off for that spot in the final four out of the west region the west region other than oregon and iowa and gonzaga i think is a little bit down you have usc in kansas later on monday night to see who gets to the sweet 16 who will match up against the oregon ducks but i think it's a very favorable bracket for gonzaga and i think you could use that conversely we talked about it before the tournament for iowa as well get to an elite eight. You can say the same thing about this Oregon team that if they play at this level today that we saw on Monday against Iowa, they can compete with Gonzaga. They are that good and they have that much depth across the rotation. You saw guys get in off the bench. Dana Altman played nine guys today. They have some depth
Starting point is 00:11:01 there. They can work it around a little bit. And some of that size they lack, they make up for in length and athleticism across their five-man rotation that start for them. So this Oregon team is dangerous in my mind. Obviously, if they're going to shoot 44% from three and 55.9% from the field, that's going to be a pretty tough team to beat, but they had a wonderful game plan. You're right. And that's one of the points I thought that really got the game away from Iowa early in that second half. Oregon got out in transition quickly off made baskets, off any mistake Iowa made, and they took advantage where they were running a track meet. Because I thought towards the end of that first half, about three and a half minutes left, game was tied around 46, I believe. Oh my God, we're going to win this game. I thought Iowa was in a great position. I completely agree with you.
Starting point is 00:11:40 They missed a couple of open buckets they normally would make, and then it got up to 10 at the half. And I was like, this is a danger position because if Oregon continues his offensive pace, it doesn't matter what Iowa does offensively. They're not going to be able to keep up because if they can't stop Oregon, it's going to be a very, very difficult final 20 minutes. And then you saw Fran so frustrated by Iowa's mistakes and them getting, allowing Oregon to get out and transition as easily as they wanted to, that he slammed down the clipboard and he pulled cj and jordan and connor pretty much right there and we didn't see them much until late in the game when they needed a couple hoist threes from jordan bohannon who he airballed one and it was a very tough game and very sad for jordan bohannon very sad for all the experience
Starting point is 00:12:18 on this iowa team that this is the way they go out this is jordan bohannon's last game most likely in an iowa uniform luca garza's last game most likely in an Iowa uniform. We can discuss Joey's camp, I think, in a little bit, but just a very disappointing result. Not the way you want it to end your Iowa career, although Luca Garza with the performance and the effort he put in today, obviously, never should he have a reason to, but nothing to hang his head on. Yeah, I mean, Luca's performance was just legendary. It goes to show you why he is the National Player of the Year. It goes to show you why he is one of the best players to ever play college basketball and the best player in Iowa basketball men's basketball history when I look at the game you mentioned 18
Starting point is 00:12:53 minutes I think that's a turning point the 18 minute mark or the two minute mark I was like I was in this game you know they didn't they didn't convert a few things yeah they got a little sloppy at times but overall I thought they were matching up pretty well I thought they were doing what they needed to do and I thought there's no way Oregon shoots this well going into the second half and Iowa will eventually get to the you know get a little bit better shooting uh yeah Oregon didn't shoot as well in the second half but Iowa actually managed to get worse uh shooting the ball which is unfortunate I do want to call you mentioned the bench of Oregon and they did play some of their, their, their bench guys and they did a solid job, but 40 minutes, 34 minutes, 32 minutes, 32 minutes, 30 minutes. Those are the starters minutes for the ducks, Iowa, 36, 33,
Starting point is 00:13:34 19, 13, and 12. I will really went to their bench, especially in that second half. Again, pissed off. They're not playing defense. He plays Keegan Murray, 23 minutes, Patrick McCaffrey, 19 Tony Perkins, a true freshman only started getting minutes towards the end of the season. 14 Joe they're not playing defense he plays keegan murray 23 minutes patrick mccaffrey 19 tony perkins a true freshman only started getting minutes towards the end of the season 14 joe toussaint 13 aaron ulus ulus i always butcher his like i struggle with the use it doesn't matter anyways aaron 12 minutes um iowa actually managed to close the gap in a sense right so that first half they had a 10 point deficit only a five point deficit in the second half um that to me speaks volumes though about this this bench as well for iowa and the potential they have going forward so i know a lot of iowa fans are very upset as am i uh i've
Starting point is 00:14:14 cried today that wasn't fun um i'm sad that's why i have you here so i can at least pretend to be happy or have someone to talk to because i'm not doing it by myself i was like honestly i was about to just not even record a show so I was like, I'm done. I'm out for the week, but the show must go on. We have women's basketball that is in action tomorrow as well. But the bench played phenomenally, I thought. I mean, for true freshmen, it gives you a lot of hope for what to think. If they can continue to surround them with some shooters,
Starting point is 00:14:39 CJ Frederick coming back. We have another guy next year coming back, or Peyton Sanford, who should be a knockdown three-point shooter. I mean, you have those guys surrounded by Keegan Murray, Patrick McCaffrey, Perkins, Toussaint. I mean, that's some athleticism, and I feel like that's a strong defensive team as well. Yeah, the future is very bright in Iowa City.
Starting point is 00:14:56 Obviously, some of the faces we have come to recognize over the past four, five, six years, if you're Jordan Bohannon, are not going to be there anymore in Luka Garza and Joe Bowe and maybe Joe Weiskamp as well. But the athleticism that is coming to this Iowa team that has been very different from the Iowa team we see here and today is going to be exciting for Hawkeye fans in my opinion because I think their offensive games will also grow as well are they going to be the knockdown shooters of a Jordan Bohannon or a Joe Weiskamp probably not but can Tony Perkins improve
Starting point is 00:15:22 absolutely can Joe Toussaint improve offensively. I think he's a great facilitator as it stands right now. And these are going to be much better on-ball defenders than we have seen over the past couple of seasons in Iowa City. I like what Patrick McCaffrey will do. I think he will only expand his shot as well in his offensive repertoire. The future is bright in Iowa City. I think right now, though, you're left with a bad taste in your mouth knowing what this team was and how special they were to get knocked in the round of 32 is not how you wanted this season to end. And although the bench did play a lot of good minutes, you are probably looking for guys like C.J. Frederick and Jordan Bohannon to have a much better effort against a seven seed in the NCAA tournament when you were a number two seed
Starting point is 00:15:59 in the NCAA tournament. But by the way, this is now our 12th upset as deemed by the NCAA, where it's five seed lines or lower, where the lower seed is five seeds behind the higher seed, however you want to describe that. But a two seed versus a seven seed is an upset. This is our 12th upset already, halfway through the round of 32. That is the NCAA tournament record. So this has been filled with chaos, filled with chaos. It always is madness in the month of March, obviously.
Starting point is 00:16:26 But 20 of the underdogs of the 44 games we have had at this point have won outright. They haven't just covered whatever spread it was. 20 of the 44 underdogs have won outright. This has been mayhem that we come to expect for the NCAA tournament, but on a larger scale than we've ever seen in history. Yeah, it's crazy to me. And I think a lot of that has to actually go back to the fact that there wasn't a lot of non-conference play. So we didn't get a great evaluation of how these teams stack up against each other. Then you got to factor in
Starting point is 00:16:51 all the COVID pauses. Then you have injuries. I mean, it's just, it's, I think it was, I think clearly March Madness is March Madness, right? It's always insane. But I think the seating might've been a little bit off in general for most teams because there hasn't been as much correlation you know not as much uh collaboration between the different you know conferences actually play you're not seeing the big 10 play a bunch of different conferences i do think the big 10 is as strong as we thought it was which i think is kind of a hot take considering how bad they're doing but i think they just had some bad matchups and bad performance purdue has been known to do what they did. Iowa has gone cold five times this season,
Starting point is 00:17:29 and they got blown out in those five games. Illinois is lackadaisical as hell against teams that they're not respecting and appreciating sometimes, and they cost them the game. So, I mean, we've seen this with some of these teams, some of these concerns, but you just don't expect them to all come out the exact same weekend, the first weekend of March Madness. You talked about the future. I want to get to Luka Garza and then Joe Wieskamp, and we all come out the exact same weekend, the first weekend of March madness. You talked about the future.
Starting point is 00:17:45 I want to get to Luka Garza and then Joe Weiskamp and we can close out the show. Luka Garza, again, a phenomenal performance. Watching him come off the court, I think elicited a ton of emotions. You could see his dad recording it. You could see Luka starting to realize what was happening. And I think the thing that got me was him just breaking down into Fran McCaffrey shoulders. Just he,
Starting point is 00:18:09 like, I think if he could have Luca would have stayed there for about 30 minutes left. Fran just hugging. Cause I mean, what, what a, it just sucks,
Starting point is 00:18:16 man. It just sucks. So freaking bad. What were your thoughts when you saw that? All right, y'all last pause before we get into segment number two, or excuse me, segment number three of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. I gotta tell you
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Starting point is 00:20:19 Like, it was very hard to see him cry as much as he did because it's the finality of the moment. We all knew this was coming at some form or fashion in this month of March, maybe even early April, Luka Garza was going to play his last game for the Iowa Hawkeyes. But the finality of the moment to go out as it did was just so difficult to watch and to know, and to have an appreciation of watching Luka Garza play these past years in the big 10 conference to be a two-time Big Ten Player of the Year, and then to know that that guy would no longer be suiting up in the league that we love so much,
Starting point is 00:20:51 it is very, very difficult. But he will leave, obviously, scoring 2,306 career points, the all-time leading scorer in Iowa basketball history, number 55, will hang up in the rafters of Carver Hawkeye Arena for a very, very long time. And as our good friend, Derek Andresky, who has been on your show multiple times, my show as well, he had a great quote from Luka after the game in his post-game press conference. I love the University of Iowa. These guys changed my life.
Starting point is 00:21:15 I worked as hard as I could. It hurts that it's over. For me, it's added motivation to do great things in the future. That goes to show you and speaks to the guy that Luka Garza is, always thinking about that next step and what this time in Iowa City meant to him. So very sad to see a moment that is why we love college athletics in a way, though, because you know how much being an Iowa Hawkeye meant to Luka Garza. You could see it when he hugs Fran on the sideline.
Starting point is 00:21:36 But the finality of the moment, difficult for any fan of college basketball, not just in the Big Ten, not just of Iowa, but knowing Luka Garza's place in the history of this great sport. Couldn't agree more. I mean, I think that's perfectly said. So I have literally nothing to add. I just, it just sucks. But another guy who might be leaving a lot of, I mean, I started getting some comments on Twitter as well. When I said this could be Joe Wieskamp's last game, people are saying, why, why would this be his last game? Well, I'm not trying to like take away your thunder here, but Joe Wieskamp, in my opinion, has done about as much as he could for his draft stock.
Starting point is 00:22:09 He could come back and he could be the guy. He could put up 25, 26 points a game. Peter Jock was a senior for a young Iowa basketball team a couple of years ago, put up some fantastic numbers. He spent two years with the Northern Arizona Suns, and now he's overseas in Europe. Peter Jock is a phenomenal player. I'm not saying Peter Jock and Joe Wieskamp are the same player. I think they bring similar things to the table, but Joe Wieskamp's stock, in my opinion, doesn't
Starting point is 00:22:35 go up any more than it already has this season with his phenomenal play down the stretch. He's a three and D kind of guy. He can pop a shot. He's not going to be a guy who's going to score 30 points in the NBA, but they don't need that from him all the time. But he's a guy who could go in the second round. And I don't think he gets into the first round by having a phenomenal season. So I want to get your thoughts on that. What do you think, what do you think happens with Joe? And just before I say that Joe also said he has not made a decision yet, or at least is not discussing it at this point. To me, I think he's going to evaluate the situation. There's a chance maybe he comes back and he wants to be the guy.
Starting point is 00:23:06 But I think when you're looking at the future, you're looking at what this team had from an expectations perspective. You're looking at the injury he started to deal with with an ankle and then dealing with the injury in the game today with his Achilles. And the fact that next year's team's going to be young, I think he's gone. I think your point there that you ended with is why I think Joe Wieskamp has probably played his final game in an Iowa jersey just because of all the turnover we will see and although we highlighted the athleticism and how it will be good to have those fresh faces and it will be a
Starting point is 00:23:33 different maybe style of basketball than we've seen the last couple of years for Iowa it's just a change the guys that Joe played with are now going to be gone the guys that he grew up with in his time in Iowa City are gone and not that he's not friends with Patrick McCaffrey or Keegan Murray or Chris Murray. I'm not saying that by any means. But this is maybe the finality for him as well. It's time to usher in the new guard and he can take advantage. When you look at his draft stock, I agree. I think he's one of the best prospects that the NBA can see coming out of the Big Ten
Starting point is 00:23:59 Conference because he is your prototypical 3 and D player. I think there is a place for him in the NBA. Now you have to understand what Joey's camp might be going for. And that's where your point is also well taken. Can coming back for his senior season, improve his draft stock, maybe a couple of picks, but I think unless he truly is a world beater next year and takes over the
Starting point is 00:24:20 landscape, which I think Joe could come back and average 19 points a game. Don't get me wrong, but unless he really does something phenomenal that would blow us away and have a historical season, I don't think he becomes a lottery guy or even a top 20 pick in the NBA draft in the first round. So I think this might be his ceiling. And I think really with kind of changing of the faces that have been a part of his program
Starting point is 00:24:41 that he is known for the Hawkeyes basketball program, I think we've probably seen his last basketball in an Iowa Jersey. If he came back, I wouldn't be shocked, but if he left, I think that's probably what is more certain at this moment. But I agree. And his point that he said in the press conference today, he respects the question that has to be asked, but right now he hasn't really gone through that process. So at this time it's undetermined.
Starting point is 00:25:01 I don't think Joe East camp will be back next year in Iowa city. Yeah, I would give it 70, 30. And I also appreciate the response that he gave very mature response, which is what you'd expect from Joe Weiskamp. I think regardless, today stings or yesterday when people were listening to this stings for all Iowa fans everywhere, it was not the way we expected this season to end. Especially after last year of COVID, you know, cancel the tournament Iowa was doing pretty well towards the end of that
Starting point is 00:25:24 season. We had high expectations coming into the season when Luca Garza decided to After last year of COVID, you know, canceling the tournament, Iowa was doing pretty well towards the end of that season. We had high expectations coming into the season when Luka Garza decided to return. And it's not what we wanted, but, you know, that's why we love the sport. That's why we love watching the game. That's why we love March Madness. Things like this happen. Ben, as always, I appreciate you coming on.
Starting point is 00:25:42 I truly don't, like, I know I think I might be taking this a little bit more serious. And a lot of people realize, but like, I am hurting so bad. And I don't think I could have done this without you. So thank you, man. Where can people find you, by the way? They can find me on Twitter at Ben Scott Stevens each and every day, like Andrew does here on Locked On Hawkeyes. I host a Locked On Big Ten podcast for a broader look at this glorious conference that's going through a little bit of a rough fetch the last 72
Starting point is 00:26:02 hours, but Hey, I appreciate this as well. It's like sharing our condolences with each other getting to get some things off our chest so this was very nice for me as well i appreciate being a part of this podcast i am also very upset that iowa got knocked out in the round of 32 so not a great day for me as big 10 ben for the big 10 conference in general or the iowa hawkeyes but they will be back the future is bright and caitlin clark is a hooper so let's tune over to the ncaa women's tournament as well. Dude, Caitlin Clark is the boss. And yeah, I think this was very, um, what's the word I'm looking for? Not relieving. Therapeutic. This is why you're here. You're the wordsmith, man. Therapeutic. Very therapeutic for me. Thank you all for tuning in
Starting point is 00:26:36 though. Hopefully it was therapeutic for you as well, because I'm sure if you listen to this, you're just a big puddle of sadness like I am as well. But thank you all for tuning in to today's episode of the show. Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Give us that five-star review if you like the sadness or just like anything we cover about Iowa Hawkeyes. And make sure to tune in to Caitlin Clark and the women's basketball team taking on Kentucky today when you're listening to this.
Starting point is 00:26:57 I was going to give a preview, but honestly, I just don't have it in me to do basically anything but vent. So tune in to that. We'll be covering that game as well. Thank you all for tuning in, though. Have a fantastic Tuesday, and let's go Hawks.

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